Difficult people cost businesses money; they can erode profit margins and undermine competitive edge. And they can also have an impact on staffing.
Recruiting and replacing staff is expensive, often costing up to twice the annual salary for senior professionals. ‘Quiet quitting’ is also damaging: companies with disengaged employees are 15% less productive and have 30% lower customer satisfaction ratings.
When faced with disruptive behaviour, how do leaders go about turning a negative working environment into a positive one?
When leaders fail to inspire people, some team members may become difficult
Leadership lapses
Good leadership is increasingly challenging. Modern leaders must manage traditional hierarchies while also guiding more informal ways of working. When leaders fail to inspire people or provide effective responses to setbacks, some team members may become difficult and behave counterproductively.
To ensure that leaders set an example and support people in navigating change or dealing constructively with problems, they should focus on developing skills in:
- expressing purpose and vision
- providing constructive feedback and recognition
- agreeing clear priorities
- turning plans into actionable steps.
Turbulent times
Change and uncertainty are part of today’s business – the American Psychological Association found that half of the workforce experiences organisational change each year. Individuals respond to change differently, so leaders need soft influencing skills to manage the following:
- Those who disagree with how change is being handled. You need to influence them and ensure their voices are heard, or they may sabotage your efforts.
- Those who internalise the impacts of turbulence. These individuals may not show distress, but without support and a forum for concerns, they may burn out.
- Those who externalise the impacts. Instead of burning out, these individuals spread their discomfort, negatively affecting others. Leaders must carefully enforce behavioural standards during change.
Comfort zone
Management theorist Alasdair White described the comfort zone as a state where things are familiar, and people feel in control. Spending some time just outside this zone provides motivation and leads to optimal performance at work.
If people stay too long outside their comfort zones, they risk aggressive behaviour
However, if people stay too long or venture too far outside their comfort zones, they risk anxiety, withdrawal or aggressive behaviour.
Developing self-awareness and interpersonal-awareness skills helps to manage this issue. Leaders can start by asking themselves:
- How confident do I feel?
- How achievable are my current goals?
- How confident am I in learning what I need to?
Once leaders achieve self-awareness about their own comfort zones, they can model for others how to stretch themselves healthily and sustainably.
Stress management
Other related causes of difficult behaviour at work involve how individuals unconsciously handle stress and how they typically focus on their work. Three common stress strategies, when extreme, can cause problems:
- disconnection: distancing from others outside their trust circle
- excess: increasing energy, pressure and ambition too much
- avoidance: trying too hard to avoid errors, conflict or rejection.
There are also three types of ‘attention focus’. When people adhere strictly to one and don’t adapt to the people and circumstances around them, they are often perceived as difficult. The three types are:
- tasks: the focus is on discrete tasks with tangible outcomes
- systems: the focus is on interconnected systems and processes
- people: the focus is on others’ thoughts, feelings and social status.
For leaders seeking immediate improvement, three tactics will always help guide difficult people back to great working relationships, no matter what their type.
Role modelling. If you have any kind of responsibility, power or even visibility in your organisation, other people will base their own behaviour on yours. So the first step in dealing with bad behaviour is for leaders to rigorously set the right example.
Defining boundaries. Lieutenant General David Morrison, the former head of the Australian Army, once said: ‘The standard you walk past becomes the standard you accept.’ Calling out examples of behaviour that aren’t up to scratch is a crucial task for leaders. Don’t walk past an unacceptable standard just because it is challenging to address and tricky to get right.
Seeking help. Leaders often overlook the behaviour of difficult people at work because they are worried they will make a bad situation worse or even damage their own standing. But with the right support, there is always something practical and positive they can do. There is no shame in asking for help from HR, for example. It’s a good reflection on any leader that they know how and when to seek support.
Work should be a place where people can come together to achieve things they couldn’t on their own. If difficult people are helped to find approaches that build great working relationships, then everybody wins.
More information
Visit ACCA’s wellbeing hub for advice and resources to support your mental health at work.
Nick Robinson’s book, The 9 Types of Difficult People, was recently published by Pearson.
