Turning a Negative Employee Into a Positive Asset

Several years ago, I took over the supervision of a section in a Public Agency. I was a newbie in management, enthusiastic, and excited about the opportunity that lay before me. I was informed by my manager that I had a problem employee on my team. He described her as unpleasant, resistant, not a team player and told me that I would have my hands full managing her. He stated that she had been forced upon him by another department and now we had to deal with her. I listened and filed his comments.

Within the first few months,I met with each of my team and talked with them about my philosophy, expectations I had for the department, and engaged them in discussion about their future career plans. The problem employee was not very forthcoming and I sensed the resistance that I had been warned about. Throughout the next year, I continued to engage her in conversation, even if she was noncommittal. I paid close attention to her work product. In my observation, I noticed that she was exceptionally bright and productive. But her demeanor had led my manager and others to form a negative opinion.

I began to look for special projects, that were in alignment with her skills and assigned them to her. She excelled beyond my expectations with each project. At one point, she began coming to me with suggestions for projects that she wanted to manage. I had discovered a diamond in the rough. I suspected that she was a long term public employee who had not had the right management support to be successful. She had been given a tag of problem employee and put in the corner to waste away. What a disservice to her and the agency.

Over the years, as we worked together our relationship continued to build as one of mutual trust, respect and support. I continued to promote her abilities to others whenever the opportunity arose. She continued to be an asset to the company.

Managing your company's most valuable resource (people) can provide challenging and rewarding opportunities for your own professional development and growth. The manager must find creative solutions to promote the best in each of their employees. Mentoring employees who suffer from agency attention deficit requires that the mentor use techniques which provide measured success for both the agency and the individual.

Communicate your expectations to employees

Communication is a basic practice that should be an ongoing interchange between managers and their work teams. Establishing a communication model that allows employees to understand what you expect from them and in turn what they can expect from you, sets the foundation for trust building in the workplace. Meeting with employees to outline your management philosophy, style, and expectations sets the work relationship ground rules, opens the lines of communication, and gives the employee an opportunity to share their vision and perspectives.

Don't believe what you hear about someone

Relationships in the workplace are complicated, limited, and not necessarily the best method of defining the real person. Individual relationships are unique from person to person and new managers should be wary of any press about their employees, negative or positive, until they have had time to do an independent assessment of employees' skill set and performance. As with any story there are always two sides. The employee/organization relationship is no different.

Promote and seek the best in people

What we look for is often what we see. Managers need to look for the best in our people and give them the opportunity to be the best. Our role is to put our employees in situations to diminish their weaknesses and promote their strengths. Identifying projects for an employee that will give them a chance to let their strengths be highlighted is a professional ego boost. If we look for and expect the best we are often successful and are rewarded with a desired result.

Don't step up and then step off

Managing under challenge requires consistent, sustained, repeated positive behavior on the part of the manager. If you identify an employee who may benefit from attention and support don't take on the task and then back off when something else becomes more interesting or distracting. You must be in it to win it. Remember working with a person who has had a history of negative press and behavior as a result, takes caution and care. The commitment must be on the part of the manager to stay focused on highlighting the abilities of the employee. If you give up there is a cost to you, the agency and the employee. Your professional creditability will be compromised, the agency will continue to support a mediocre performance, and the employee will take another hit to their professional self-esteem.

As managers, we have the responsibility to promote, encourage and support the positive development of our team members. Even the most challenged employee can receive the benefit of good management strategies. Employees who are in situations where they have been overlooked often times have skills, abilities and resources that are untapped and under appreciated. It just takes a committed professional to unleash the potential that is trapped inside. After all, as managers, isn't that our role to enhance the overall performance of the agency. What better way to do it than by changing organizations one person at a time.

Teresa Miller is a seasoned midlevel manager at a public agency. Teresa has a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelors in Communications. Teresa holds a credential as a Trainer and is currently pursuing certification as a Life Coach.

---

How to Enhance Quality in Your Business

Every business must strive to provide quality products and services... Read More

13 Comments on Bad Meetings

Bad meetings are a cultural malady that senior executives pass... Read More

Communicating In Chaotic Environments

How do you, or would you, communicate in a chaotic... Read More

What Cross-cultural Training Can Do for You

International business is more complex than ever before. Success in... Read More

Six Honest Business Friends - They Guide Me In All I Do

SIX "HONEST BUSINESS FRIENDS" - THEY GUIDE ME IN ALL... Read More

Lessons From Innovative Companies

What do the companies 3M, Polaroid, and Walt Disney have... Read More

Are Your Marketing Pieces Up to Date?

The other day someone asked me for one of my... Read More

The Top 5 Signals That Your Business Is Running You

Starting your own business is a great undertaking but running... Read More

Understand What Flows Through Your Business to Find Improvement

I remember once seeing a cartoon which showed two people... Read More

How Managers Can Turn Failures Into Successes

Although there are real, external reasons for managerial difficulty ?... Read More

Crisis Management Essentials - How to Communicate Effectively During a Crisis, Emergency or Disaster

A crisis, emergency or disaster can happen at anytime and... Read More

Vampire Meetings and How To Slay Them

Meetings can be like mythical vampires ? sucking the life... Read More

Money, Motivation, Success and Who?

It was 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and I was... Read More

Effective Meetings: Why Most Meetings are a Waste of Time

Whether your company holds one meeting a week or dozens... Read More

Are You the Culprit?

Are you a business, non-profit or association manager who pretty... Read More

Middle Managers Behaving Badly ? How To Stop This Damaging Your Results

More and more I hear and read about a looming... Read More

Smart Staffing Practices: Don?t Confuse Activity with Results

Does your hiring process consist of proven practices or just... Read More

Christmas and Business Gifts for Your Clients and Employees!

Tis' the season for business and corporate gift-giving! If you... Read More

Five Habits of Highly Effective Conflict Resolvers

Steven Covey had the right idea. There are discreet skills... Read More

Quality Standards with ISO 9001

Standardizing Quality SystemsThe ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, was... Read More

Do Customers Like the Feel of Your Organization?

In two recent articles "Some Evidence of How We Are... Read More

Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 1, How to Plan a Teleconference

Teleconferences can be a boon or a bust. On the... Read More

Think it Over

You can't solve a problem with the... Read More

Dealing with Marginal Performers: The Therapeutic Approach

--PREPARATION: The purpose of the therapeutic approach is to spark... Read More

How To Learn Great Management from Our Kids

Learning comes from many places. And one of the most... Read More

How Managers Can Help Retain Their Best Employees

A major problem for employers today is attracting the best... Read More

The Higher You Go

The higher you go, the cooler it becomes. Really? Let... Read More

How To Jump Start Your Profits and Keep Your Profits Rolling

There are so many ways to jump start your prifits... Read More

Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees

Managing for Best PerformanceIn it's simplest form, performance management is... Read More

Motivating Employees - Ten Ways to Start You Off

Yet there is a place for those external 'raft-build's', 'away... Read More

Turnover is Not a Problem

"Ha!" you say. "For someone to make a statement like... Read More

Executives and Emotional Self Awareness

A major problem impairing an executive's performance is his Emotional... Read More

Managing Rebellious Employees

Surveys of executives reveal that many companies fall short of... Read More