Do you have an employee working against you? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Adrian Gostick, an executive coach and the coauthor of Leading with Gratitude. They talk through what to do when your direct report is creating problems only to fix them, one team member is hoarding knowledge, or two employees have created a disruptive office clique.
From Alison and Dan’s reading list:
HBR: How to Manage a Toxic Employee by Amy Gallo — “There’s that one person on your team — the bad apple who has nothing positive to say, riles up other team members, and makes work life miserable. If you can’t fire him, how do you respond to his behavior? What feedback do you give? How do you mitigate the damage he inflicts?”
Book: Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton — “Rather than admonishing right away, we encourage leaders to share with employees who confess shortcomings that they are sure they intended to do well. They often discover that the person was quite committed, competent, and on top of the situation, and that unexpected obstacles were put in their way.”
HBR: How to Prevent Experts from Hoarding Knowledge by Dorothy Leonard — “Lack of time or resources can, of course, constrain knowledge transfer. But one barrier to passing deep smarts along to the next generation that is often unaddressed is the expert’s inclination to hoard knowledge. Financial incentives, personal ego, and discontent or frustration with the company are three of the top reasons individuals choose to keep their expertise to themselves. But they’re also three issues that managers can actually change.”
HBR: Employees Who Create Problems on Purpose by Nate Bennett — “It may involve simply embellishing a real problem or making it appear that one looms on the horizon. Just as solving a problem of one’s own creation can generate rewards, so can bringing an inflated or predicted ‘crisis’ to the attention of others.”