As a New Years resolution for your business, this is perhaps one of the hardest to face in to, but is also likely to have one of the biggest returns.
Whilst a disruptive or difficult employee’s behaviour might not afford your business the sort of damning spot light recently shone on Korean Air (courtesy of the so called “nut rage" incident) it still causes negativity and ill feeling within the team and a reduction in productivity and “goodwill" that so many of us rely on.
Ask yourself- are you witnessing any behaviours in your business that you really are not happy with, no matter how much you tell yourself it will “blow over" or get better of its own accord?
If, as I suspect it is, the answer is yes, as the business leader, it is your role to face this head on. I can assure you that the rest of the team will respect you more for doing so.
Whether it is continual poor time keeping, an abrasive telephone manner or a constant negative attitude, these behaviours left unchecked by you means that you are effectively telling everyone else that this is OK.
Similarly, if someone on your team is not performing at the level that s/he is required to do so, and you are not having words about this, then you have set your performance standard at this unacceptable level.
Talking to someone about their performance or behaviour is not normally something to look forward to; it can however result in a win/win outcome. Perhaps your poor time keeper needs to amend their working hours to deal with domestic circumstances but had been too afraid to ask. It could be that your office “mood hoover" was totally unaware of their behaviour and makes a concerted effort to make amends.
It's YOUR workplace and you and your team are entitled to be happy in it. To this end, don't ever underestimate the role model that you set.
With more “difficult conversations" under our belts than we care to think about, our HR Consultants are well placed to provide a helping hand in seeing through this particular New Year's commitment to your business