Performance Management

My ideal work environment is sitting at home in my comfy clothes with my dogs lying at my feet while I write and edit in total peace and quiet.

In reality, I work in an office full of people. And while most of my co-workers are great, a few of them – to put it nicely – are a bit annoying.

But it’s pretty much unavoidable that someone’s going to annoy you when you’re in an office 40 or more hours a week, and you combine a bunch of people with different personalities and backgrounds.

In fact, one in eight people will leave their job due to incivility and never report it.

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Most managers dread giving negative feedback, and most employees hate hearing it.

Our brains tend to go on the defensive the instant anyone launches into corrective feedback.

But good managers still know they have to do it.

When employee feedback is done well, you end up with a better performing and even happier employee.

As it turns out, even bad employee feedback is considered better than no feedback.

The statistics paint the picture of what’s really going on.

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So, after much consideration and hand-wringing, you’ve finally decided you have no choice but to terminate that misfit-of-an-employee who just never seemed to catch on … to anything … ever … no matter how hard you tried.

The training didn’t take. The pep talks fell on deaf ears. The performance improvement plan sputtered — and failed. Now, you’re out of tricks.

But, pro that you are, you’re well-prepared for that difficult final meeting.

What could possibly go wrong?

Lots of stuff.

So brace yourself for one or more of these 11 scenarios.

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Michael gets a promotion. Kelly, his soon-to-be-former team member, feels hurt and left behind. How do you handle this as a manager? (Yep, we’re talking about TV co-hosts Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa.)

Watching this situation unfold in the media took me back to my college TV news internship when a similar situation happened at the TV level.

And, just like the Michael-and-Kelly saga, it wasn’t pretty.

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Do you consider yourself an open-door manager?

Well, when you swing your door open wide, you’re bound to encounter some sticky situations.

How you respond to employees in those first moments when they walk through your door says a lot.

Say the wrong thing and, instead of building confidence, you can leave a person feeling shattered and alone.

So when the moment calls for aplomb and a deft touch, how do you respond?

Here are six things employees want to hear most when they come to you for help.

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Face it, we all have them – unreasonable and difficult people we have to work with.

They burp. They yell. They spread rumors. They take NO accountability..

And as a manager you know you’re going to have to do something about it — eventually.

You’ve probably gotten plenty of advice:

• Keep your cool.
• Be proactive.
• Pick your battles.

But somehow, like the spaceships in an old Galaga arcade game, they just keep coming at you – in droves.

Here are the nine difficult people that give me ulcers:

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A good workplace needs good rules. Otherwise, there would be total anarchy … instead of just the usual partial anarchy.

HR folks will attest that a solid employee handbook can help keep employees in line – and employers out of legal trouble.

They’ll also tell you that, for the most part, a company’s rules tend to reflect its values and ethics.

So, when an employer enforces draconian or even silly rules, what does that say about the business?

We scoured the globe looking for unusual rules at real workplaces.

Some seem a bit mean-spirited. Others are just plain quirky.

But they all have one thing in common: You’re probably glad you don’t have to follow them.

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They are, quite possibly, the most irritating people in the workforce. They preen, they posture, they bully, they make outrageous demands.

And much of the time, those demands are met.

They are the prima donnas. The hardest part is, they’re often the company’s best performers.

Of course they are. How else could anybody justify keeping them around for so long, alienating staff and creating chronic headaches?

The challenge with this particular breed is that its members come in all shapes, sizes, personality types and degrees of quirkiness.

Four of the worst are:

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Firing someone is more than just an uncomfortable task. It can be a hazardous walk through a legal minefield.

(In case you don’t think so, the headlines in the graphic above are all from the past few months. Pretty frightening, eh?)

Most companies work hard not to discriminate. They try to adhere to the dozens of workplace rules and regulations.

But there is much potential for missteps, which is one reason why unlawful termination lawsuits increase year after year.

While most are without merit, they can still be expensive.

Throw in lost staff time and productivity, and the real cost is much higher.

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Ask any employment lawyer the first rule of thumb for workplace documentation and she or he will tell you:

“If it isn’t in writing, it didn’t happen. Period.”

OK, that may not be totally true, but it’s a good guideline.

Yes, it’s a chore and many of us aren’t certain what to do when documenting employee behavior.

Hint: It ain’t just the bad stuff.

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