On any given day, any one of us is capable of being a pain in the butt to our bosses. We may complain, challenge, be less cooperative, collaborative or communicative than they’d like, or just be in a bad mood. The best employees recognize how destructive this can be. They’re self-aware enough to know when their negative behaviors get in the way of their goals and so keep them to a minimum.
But what about employees who seem chronically negative? Apropos of this holiday season, you might call them the Grinches of the group, those who are especially adept at killing joy. How should bosses manage them and their impact on the team?
What we’re really talking about are “malcontents.” Webster’s definition of that word is important:
B. One who is in active opposition to an established order or government
Those two definitions describe different types of unhappy employees. “Malcontent A” feels an injustice has been done to him or her and is acting out of sadness or anger. “Malcontent B” is an in-house critic, continuously campaigning against the establishment. Both are problematic.
Managers often think their most immediate goal is to get these malcontents to change their attitudes. They’re wrong. The most important thing to address is their behaviors. Here’s why:
- Behaviors have the greatest impact on the team.
- Behaviors can be objectively described.
- Behaviors can be objectively measured.
- Bosses can’t successfully require people to change their minds, only their behaviors.
Malcontent behavior can range from bullying to tantrums to passive aggression. It often meets the test Stanford professor Robert Sutton describes in his book, “The No Asshole Rule“:
1. Does the other person feel worse about him or herself after an interaction with an individual?
2. Does this individual typically aim abuse at less powerful, not more powerful, people?
Sutton, by the way, blogs about organizations that have successfully applied his rule for all who work there, including bosses.
The bottom line for managers of malcontents is simple: Don’t avoid the difficult conversations. Learn how to handle them well. Make it clear in these conversations that failure to cease bad behaviors will have consequences.
This doesn’t mean managers should ignore the feelings and beliefs that underlie the actions of unhappy employees. In fact, great bosses know how to be tough about confronting malcontents on their destructive behaviors and sensitive to investigating the backstory of their grievances.
In those stories, bosses may discover their own piece of the mess, something they did in error to the aggrieved “Malcontent A” and can fix. With both “A” and “B,” they may be able to separate misperception from reality, and not only change behaviors but ultimately help heal negative attitudes. Some malcontents fight the system because they feel they’ve been pushed to the side. The mere act of being heard may get them reinvested in the team.
Or, bosses may come to understand that nothing they can do can bridge the gap, and it’s time for the malcontent to move on.
I’m an optimist, though. I really believe great bosses weed out Grinches in the hiring process, tackle difficult conversations early and often, and therefore rarely need to manage out a malcontent.
If you struggle with how to launch one of those tough conversations with a malcontent, listen to today’s podcast, “What Great Bosses Know about Malcontents,” in which I’ll demonstrate.
Poynter’s “What Great Bosses Know” podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Poynter’s leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information on leadership and management that’s valuable for bosses in newsrooms and all walks of life.
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