Managing People Who Are Difficult To Manage: Some Pointers
In an ideal world, everyone you supervise would be dedicated, collaborative, and full of positive energy, in addition to having exceptional abilities. This is, however, not the case. This, however, would not be considered management. It would be like sitting around doing nothing while hordes of highly motivated people worked happily and diligently around the clock. The facts, contrary to popular belief, are quite different.
To put it another way, some people are easy to manage, while others are extremely difficult. Furthermore, the term “hard” can refer to a variety of different things. Some people are extremely gifted, but they do not work well with others. Despite the fact that some people work well together, they aren’t particularly gifted. Some people are overly aggressive, while others are not aggressive enough to be classified as such. Others have good intentions but require a lot of attention, are easily distracted, or are always in a bad mood. Some people are simply impossible to deal with on a daily basis. So forth and so on. You get the gist of what I’m saying, don’t you?
To effectively deal with this difficult subset of the larger employee population, you must first identify the issue. Because of the varying nature of people’s personalities, they must be managed on an individual basis, but there is some general guidance that can be provided. Here are six suggestions for how to deal with difficult people.
Accept responsibility for the fact that management is, by definition, a complex and difficult job
Don’t put up any resistance. There should be no attempt to wish it weren’t the case by wasting time and valuable mental energy wishing it weren’t the case. It recognizes that management is full of frustrations and difficult situations are an unavoidable part of the job. That is why you are paid more than you would have been if you had not been promoted to the management level. When dealing with sensitive employee “issues,” maintain a positive attitude as if they were a difficult puzzle to solve.
Contrary to popular belief, conflict should not be avoided or bulldozed but rather addressed directly and fairly.
When it comes to management, the currency of the trade is in conflict. Management is probably not the best career path for those who despise conflict. When a conflict arises, the best managers do not behave in a “conflict avoidance” manner or rise above the fray and bully their subordinates. Keep in mind that you will need to continue working with these people as part of your job in the future. While “getting your way” is preferable, it is also preferable to seek fair and constructive resolutions.
Make an effort to see things from the perspective of others.
I’ve realized that saying something is much easier than actually doing it. However, there may be valid reasons for a specific individual’s difficulty in controlling his or her behavior. Do you believe this is how he or she has always been, or do you believe new external factors are at work? It’s worth considering whether there are any aspects of your own management style (difficult to imagine, I know!) that might be eliciting an oppositional response. I didn’t realize I was micromanaging people unnecessarily until someone pointed it out to me. You may be able to come up with a viable solution if you can take a comprehensive view of a problematic situation and gain insight into why someone is acting in a certain way.
When you require assistance, ask for it.
This is a simple step that is all too often overlooked. There is assistance available regardless of where you work or whether you work for a large or small organization. Take advantage of the opportunity to gain insight into a difficult employee from a reliable source whose judgment you can rely on. A Human Resources representative, a mentor, your own manager, or a colleague could all be suitable candidates.
Throughout my years in management, I sought advice from each of these individuals on a variety of employee-related issues. It is not, as some may believe, a sign of incapacity. It’s a logical decision to make. Throughout my career, I found Human Resources to be especially helpful, and I made it a point to develop close working relationships with individuals – regardless of position – which I thought were particularly talented in their respective fields. I’ve never looked back on it with dissatisfaction.
Defining specific, measurable job objectives will allow you to determine whether or not your employees have met or exceeded their performance targets as a matter of fact rather than debate.
I only write about well-conceived targets because I believe they are both valuable and underappreciated in the management process. Has anyone ever said that having clear goals that you and your employees can refer to on a regular basis to ensure they’re on the right track is a bad thing? As a result, performance evaluation has become more concrete and less nebulous. When a problematic employee is failing to meet objectives, having something concrete to discuss with them about their behavior is beneficial. In any situation, I’d rather argue with data than anecdotes.
When analyzing your personal financial situation, consider the terms assets and liabilities.
When it came to her romantic relationships with men, an old friend of mine used to ask herself, “At the end of the day, is he an asset or a liability?” Consider keeping him on your team if he proves to be a valuable asset. It is best to get rid of him as soon as possible if he is a liability. Its oversimplification does not preclude it from being useful in management situations. Is it still possible for a troubled employee to make a significant contribution to the organization’s goals and objectives? When I was in management, some of the brightest people I worked with were also the most difficult – uncooperative collaborators who preferred to do things their way rather than by the book.
By a wide margin, the benefits they brought to the company outweighed the problems they caused. As a result, their significance was undeniable. They become liabilities if, on the other hand, their accomplishments are far outweighed by the problems they cause, in which case they become liabilities. That is, they are no longer assets and must be released from their obligations. This, of course, was done in close collaboration with Human Resources to ensure that terminations were handled correctly.) It is debatable whether this is a perfect, nuanced lens through which to view the performance of one’s own employees. Hardly. But how effective is it at removing the “fog of business” from the picture? In my opinion, that is correct.
There are no light switches that can be flipped to provide immediate solutions to employee issues that are causing them to become frustrated. The good news is that there are fundamental approaches that can be used to make the difficult seem routine, and they can be applied to employees at all levels, whether they are on the shop floor or in the C-suite.
