Disarming the Dangerous

Incentive: Strategy

Disarming the Dangerous
April 27, 2009
Don't let malcontents sabotage your company. Instead, create an environment that gives them no power and is conducive to employee engagement.

By Renée Cormier

Malcontents…every company has them, and they are costly to have around. In spite of this, many companies are reluctant to get rid of their troublesome employees. Some malcontents manage to create the perception of having value because they are longtime employees and know many important things. Some companies may even fear that losing these disruptive people will have a negative impact on their business. The truth is that these employees have little or no value to any business, and according to statistics, have a negative impact on customer loyalty. Yes, if they are longtime employees they may be expensive to get rid of, but believe me, they are much more costly to your business if you decide to keep them.

According to a recent Gallup Management Journal survey, these malcontents make up 17 percent of the workforce in an average company. They are the "actively disengaged." What's more, 56 percent of disengaged employees would fire their boss if they could, and two-thirds of these people would never recommend your product or service to others.

Malcontents will not only drive away your prospects, they also will drive away your existing customers. One can assume from these statistics that their presence is a tremendous drain on their bosses and co-workers. All of these factors cost businesses a lot of money. So how do you keep these people from ruining your organization? How can you progress with these disengaged employees sabotaging your business? The solution is simple. You have to fire them. Unfortunately, they are like a bottomless box of Kleenex. Others will pop up to take their place if you don't know how to create an environment that gives them no power. In other words, you need to create an environment that is conducive to employee engagement.

Here are some secrets to creating an environment that will disarm those dreaded malcontents:

1. DETERMINE YOUR TEAM VALUES. Companies often have a set of values posted around the workplace, which may or may not mean anything to the employees of the company. This is usually because most companies post the values and forget to live by them in their daily interactions with their employees. It is as though they were posted for everyone but the leadership team to adhere to. Each workplace team should have its own set of values to work within, and these values should be agreed upon by each member of the group. If these values happen to correspond to the values of the company, then that's a bonus. If you happen to work for a company where people do live by the values, then your own team values will add to your efficiency.

2. HAVE A TEAM MEETING WHERE EVERYONE BRAINSTORMS THE VALUES. Discuss how they would like to incorporate the values into their work life. You may get answers such as "respect for time," "positive attitude," "accuracy," etc. Write all of these answers on a flip chart or white board and have the group narrow them down to five or six of the most important values you wish to adopt. Next, get everyone to contribute examples of how each value will play out in the work day. An example for positive attitude would be "not putting up road blocks every time a new assignment comes up" or "not permitting negative comments about the company or other co-workers."

Once you have established your team's values and have a clear idea of how they can be applied to a day’s work, you have something to refer to whenever your malcontent is not performing according to the values.

3. USE THE COMPANY VISION AS LEVERAGE. All employees need to understand how their role is important to the company vision. They also need to understand how the vision benefits society. If it is not clear in the way the vision is written, then you need to draw a picture for your team. People are more eager to make a contribution to society than they are to make a contribution to the CEO's bonus. Speak of the benefit your product or service has for your customers and remind them the work they do is meaningful to society. Employees who are tied to the vision and believe in the company's goals will take pride in their work and the products you sell.

4 MOTIVATE YOUR PEOPLE. Figuring out what motivates people is always a challenge. The simplest thing any manager could do is just ask. Usually money is not what it takes to get people rolling in the direction you want to take them, so if you're worried that engaging employees will cost you too much money, you can relax. Sometimes a little flexibility in scheduling, allowing people to work from home on occasion, or setting up a recognition board for all to see is all you need to do. Salespeople often ring bells when they close a sale. Keep the environment light. Motivate with positive outcomes, not negative. Avoid threatening with poor performance reviews, firing, suspensions, etc. Those tools should be last on your list of tricks to gain compliance.

Among the most useful things any manager can do when it comes to motivating employees is to align with the most engaged employees (Gallup's top 29 percent). Use those employees to influence your middle group (54 percent). The bottom 17 percent likely will never become your friends, so don't waste your time trying to make them love you. They never will. The middle group can go either way, and it is important for you engage them before the malcontents corrupt them. Use the top 29 percent to give you information regarding what is happening on the ground, so you can circumvent problems before they arise. Communication is the key to your success.

5. PLACE THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT ROLES. One important factor that leads to disengagement at work is people feeling they are ill-suited for the role they are in. Often people are promoted into positions that don't maximize their strengths, and so they underperform. Have conversations with your team members regarding where they feel they can be most valuable. Getting people into the
right position may take some jockeying around, but once you get it right, you'll be glad you took the time. Of course, part of getting people into the right roles also may mean having to let people go. If your team players are not exhibiting the attitude required to get the business moving forward, then you must get rid of them. Offer support to help them improve and if you see no positive change in behavior, then let them go. You can't teach pleasant, happy, or cooperative, but you can teach technical stuff. Don't fire people because their proficiency in Excel is mediocre. You can teach that. At work, attitude is gold. Hire and retain pleasant and cooperative people.

6. SET A SHINING EXAMPLE. Nobody respects leaders who lack integrity. Double standards, playing favorites, egocentricity, manipulative behavior…it's all bad. Your character as a leader will define your success. All of your decisions are a reflection of the character that guides you. Be a shining example of humbleness, integrity, honesty and trustworthiness in both your personal and professional life. That way, malcontents cannot criticize you, complain about your character or condemn you. Live as faultless life as is humanly possible, and when you falter, accept responsibility for your actions and apologize. Getting everyone engaged at work is no quick job. It is a long process, but if you are willing to persevere, the rewards will be enormous. Your company will make much more money regardless of economic conditions, your people will be much more productive, and efficiency rates will be considerably higher. Guaranteed!

Renée Cormier is the president and owner of Powerhouse Conferences, a company dedicated to working with people to produce better business results. She has spent the last 11 years as a training and development professional. Contact her through her Web site, www.powerconferences.ca, or by sending an e-mail to renee@powerconferences.ca.

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