How To Deal With A Difficult Employee

Dealing with difficult employees is unavoidable. But the good news is that taking the time to deal with a difficult employee can have a dramatically positive effect on the team. According to Harvard Business School professors Michael Housman and Dylan Minor, the productivity boost gained from removing toxic employees is greater than any boost gained from adding a star performer.

In this episode, we’ll lay out a five-step process to help deal with a difficult employee.

0:00 Introduction
1:57 Identify The Problem
3:46 Examine It Closer
4:51 Give Direct Feedback
5:45 Explain The Consequences
6:55 Document Everything
9:07 Conclusion

While these five steps may make the process easier, dealing with difficult employees is hard. It’s difficult and its’s draining. So, remember to give yourself some grace as well. No one handles it perfectly, and good leaders likely don’t want to become good at this part of their job. But it can’t be ignored. If it is, it will fester and infect the team. But if it is dealt with, it’ll improve the morale and performance of the team. It will help that difficult employee and the whole team do their best work ever.

//DO YOUR BEST WORK EVER

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//ABOUT DAVID
One of the world’s leading business thinkers, David Burkus’ forward-thinking ideas and bestselling books are helping leaders and teams do their best work ever.

He is the best-selling author of four books about business and leadership. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into dozens of languages. His insights on leadership and teamwork have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USAToday, Fast Company, the Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, CNN, the BBC, NPR, and CBS This Morning. Since 2017, Burkus has been ranked as one of the world’s top business thought leaders by Thinkers50. As a sought-after international speaker, his TED Talk has been viewed over 2 million times. He’s worked with leaders from organizations across all industries including Google, Stryker, Fidelity, Viacom, and even the US Naval Academy.

A former business school professor, Burkus holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University.

//SPEAKING

//CONNECT

//MUSIC

[Devildog]

I personally work with the owner's son. He asked me last week why I thought the morale was low out in the plant. I gave him a straight-up honest answer.. he looked
at me and said NOPE! WE have a couple troublemakers that's why the morale so low.

Employees got one raise out of the last 3 years.. Most of them got a 30 cent raise
Most the skilled/educated people left
Went from 200 employees down to 75 employees "So now we all have extra duties"
We have a handful of people here including "myself" that can fix the machines when they break down. "They show zero appreciation" by us saving them thousands of dollars not having a technician come out. And since we quit randomly drug testing now we got some employees coming there with THC vape pens high on the job. And if you vent to other employees.. Management wants to call them

But after 25 years of service, I'm leaving soon. They just don't know it yet.... Cuz I'm playing my part..😁


I do understand that there is trouble making employees but sometimes the manager/owner misses the mark on why....

[tylerkrumichspiano]

Teamwork makes the dream work, a difficult employee can bring everyone down!

[darrellharmon]

Thanks, David! Another great "workshop in a box" (brief).

You cover a complex issue thoroughly yet succinctly. I've seen too many leaders give up on an employee too soon, rather than do the tough work of trying to redirect an employee who's off-track. My philosophy is "reform, then replace"--in that order. Many times, you can save an otherwise good employee who's struggling through some relatively easy coaching. That's why "examine [the problem] closer" is key. The hard conversation isn't limited to just firing someone; often, the harder conversation involves digging into the underlying issues and finding a way to turn behavior around. Then, if that fails, you can move to replace. But when it works, you become a better leader and can set your employee on an even better trajectory forward. A great resource is the book, "Crucial Accountability."

I appreciate your solid advice on this tough topic.

[leegatewood]

Thank you for this video- wish you would come to my job and be the encouragement!

[MrBrodhi]

Great video, as always. Where do you get all of your cool shirts?

[tomthumb]

What about some who is great at their job but is not a team player