1 of 2 pages
What To Do About Attitude Problems? Promote Them!
Dealing with a toxic employee who is getting the work done but annoying everyone in the process? Instead of pep talks, veiled threats, and sensitivity training, consider promoting him.
Underutilization is one of the worst injustices organizations impose upon their employees. Our research one in five employees is underutilized. Often, it manifests in the form of attitude problems.
I'm Ok. You're OK. Let's fix the system.
0 Comments on this document
Document Transcript:
injury, that also means Joe is likely capable at the
same level as his manager. This leaves Joe
nipping at his managers heels . His manager
feels threatened, and Joe feels undermanaged.
What To Do With Attitude When the problem can no longer be ignored,
Problems? Promote Them! Joes manager will be forced to begin coaching
him, if for no other reason than to begin the
Michelle Malay Carter
documentation process for his dismissal. This
usually starts with motivational speeches on being
truggling to figure out how to fire an a team player. From there, we move to more
employee who is delivering on his job, but direct threats, You play nice, or well have to let
S making everyone miserable in the you go.
process? Consider promoting him instead.
Joe knows his attitude stinks, but it takes
One of the worst injustices organizations impose tremendous energy for him to maintain his game
upon their employees is underutilization. face nine hours a day. Joe becomes increasingly
Research suggests about one in five of us is angry. His work bores him. With his extra
underemployed. capacity, he can see things in his department that
need fixing, but he doesnt have the authority or
This situation usually presents as six months of resources to fix them. Moreover, rather than
stellar performance followed by a distinct shift in being appreciated for his brilliance, everyone
attitude. It leaves managers scratching their around him resents him. He feels alienated and
frustrated, not to mention underpaid. He cant
heads saying, What happened to the motivated
guy I hired? look to his manager for help, because his
manager just doesnt get it .
What you have here is an employee who
possesses problem solving capability beyond that To add to this toxic mix, Joe will likely feel a
called for by his job. Lets call him Joe. Joe takes rapport with his managers manager (because this
the first few months to learn the culture, the person is likely capable beyond Joes level, and
players, and the job. Along the way, he picks this is what we intuitively seek out in a manager).
some low hanging fruit , makes some immediate Unfortunately, if Joe tries to develop more than a
positive changes and delivers beyond his basic relationship with his manager-once-
managers expectations. About the time the removed so he can garner some satiating
manager is patting herself on the back for hiring leadership, the political beast roars. Joe is now
accused of going over his managers head. Joe
such a gem, Joe traverses his learning curve, and
it happens the tude. cant win.
The tude can take many forms to include silent
Note: This is when some of your best people
withdrawal but will likely take the form of grousing leave your organizationdehumanized and angry.
or complaining, maybe beginning with covert and
escalating to more overt. It may be verbal or may
be more subtle with body language and heavy If Joe doesnt leave of his own accord, this is
sighs. Joe, himself, may not fully grasp why he is when, in enlightened organizations, we call in the
suddenly dissatisfied with his job. consultants to fix Joe - once again sending Joe
the message that he is a delinquent. Calling in
Generally at this point, peers and managers alike help is cloaked as a benevolent gesture and may
begin to see Joe as arrogant, full of himself, and very well be. However, it is likely coupled with the
rightly so. Why? If problem solving capability desire to avoid a wrongful discharge lawsuit,
occurs in distinct layers and Joes ability is one because, after all, Joe is fulfilling the requirements
level beyond that called for by his job, then, he is of his job description. Again, its just the attitude
likely capable beyond his peer group, and nobody that stinks.
likes a showoff , right? And, to add insult to
©PeopleFit and HR.com www.peoplefit.com blog: www.missionmindedmanagement.comThe well-intentioned consultant will investigate it is present in discreet, increasing complex levels.
and provide a diagnosis. A variety of root causes Meaning, people vary in the amount of information
may surface, none being: Joe is overqualified for they can attend to, and their comfort level for
his job. I can bet the farm, no job-valuing dealing with ambiguity and longer-term projects
consultants suggested intervention would read: also varies.
Promote Joe.
All jobs align with a specific level of CIP.
The sad part here is that in the absence of a Matching an employees CIP level with that called
proper diagnosis, a misdiagnosis will be made. At for by a job is the key to job satisfaction and
best, this will only leave the current situation success. Mismatching them, with merely ONE
unchanged. At worst, it will make the situation employee, will lead to a severe case of tude
worse by wasting time, money, and possibly Joes which can mushroom into the disruption of an
reputation. entire department.
What if the consultant decides Joe lacks respect To avoid this, you can use the aforementioned
for his manager because she is female. This is triad of items as your model for matching
proved by the fact that he goes over her head to employees to jobs. When considering if Joe
talk with her male manager on a regular basis Attitude is indeed overqualified and thus could
right? Or maybe Joe just lacks soft skills, so perform a higher level role, ask yourself the
communications training will fix things, right? following:
Note: This is when some of your best people If Joe Attitude wanted to do the higher level
job (values and preferences) AND &
leave your organization VERY dehumanized, he had an opportunity to gain the knowledge,
angry and, possibly, vengeful. skills and experience necessary for it&
Could he make the kinds of judgments
Id like to suggest an alternative diagnostic necessary for the role and manage projects
process any manager can use the next time he is with the time horizons associated with it?
faced with an employee with major tude. When
matching an employee to a job, please consider This questioning process allows a manager to
three things: isolate the CIP component of the triad model, and
it will tell you if Joe currently has the problem
1. Knowledge, skills and experience. solving capability, i.e. the raw talent, to step into a
(What he knows.) higher level role. (Some training for knowledge or
2. Values and preferences. skills may still be necessary.)
(What he naturally enjoys.)
3. Problem solving capability. If the answer is yes, do what you can to get Joe
(His ability to organize, extrapolate, and apply the knowledge, skills, and experience he needs to
information to plan and make decisions.*) take that next level job. Sit him down to let him
know there is a promotion on the horizon for him
and watch this news change that tude in a way
no well-intentioned intervention ever could.
About the author: Michelle Malay Carter is with
PeopleFit, a management consulting firm
specializing in strategic organization design, talent
assessment, and
managerial leadership
systems. Join in their
blog dialog at:
*Elliott Jaques term for problem solving capability missionmindedmanagement.com
is complexity of information processing (CIP), and
©PeopleFit and HR.com www.peoplefit.com blog: www.missionmindedmanagement.com
same level as his manager. This leaves Joe
nipping at his managers heels . His manager
feels threatened, and Joe feels undermanaged.
What To Do With Attitude When the problem can no longer be ignored,
Problems? Promote Them! Joes manager will be forced to begin coaching
him, if for no other reason than to begin the
Michelle Malay Carter
documentation process for his dismissal. This
usually starts with motivational speeches on being
truggling to figure out how to fire an a team player. From there, we move to more
employee who is delivering on his job, but direct threats, You play nice, or well have to let
S making everyone miserable in the you go.
process? Consider promoting him instead.
Joe knows his attitude stinks, but it takes
One of the worst injustices organizations impose tremendous energy for him to maintain his game
upon their employees is underutilization. face nine hours a day. Joe becomes increasingly
Research suggests about one in five of us is angry. His work bores him. With his extra
underemployed. capacity, he can see things in his department that
need fixing, but he doesnt have the authority or
This situation usually presents as six months of resources to fix them. Moreover, rather than
stellar performance followed by a distinct shift in being appreciated for his brilliance, everyone
attitude. It leaves managers scratching their around him resents him. He feels alienated and
frustrated, not to mention underpaid. He cant
heads saying, What happened to the motivated
guy I hired? look to his manager for help, because his
manager just doesnt get it .
What you have here is an employee who
possesses problem solving capability beyond that To add to this toxic mix, Joe will likely feel a
called for by his job. Lets call him Joe. Joe takes rapport with his managers manager (because this
the first few months to learn the culture, the person is likely capable beyond Joes level, and
players, and the job. Along the way, he picks this is what we intuitively seek out in a manager).
some low hanging fruit , makes some immediate Unfortunately, if Joe tries to develop more than a
positive changes and delivers beyond his basic relationship with his manager-once-
managers expectations. About the time the removed so he can garner some satiating
manager is patting herself on the back for hiring leadership, the political beast roars. Joe is now
accused of going over his managers head. Joe
such a gem, Joe traverses his learning curve, and
it happens the tude. cant win.
The tude can take many forms to include silent
Note: This is when some of your best people
withdrawal but will likely take the form of grousing leave your organizationdehumanized and angry.
or complaining, maybe beginning with covert and
escalating to more overt. It may be verbal or may
be more subtle with body language and heavy If Joe doesnt leave of his own accord, this is
sighs. Joe, himself, may not fully grasp why he is when, in enlightened organizations, we call in the
suddenly dissatisfied with his job. consultants to fix Joe - once again sending Joe
the message that he is a delinquent. Calling in
Generally at this point, peers and managers alike help is cloaked as a benevolent gesture and may
begin to see Joe as arrogant, full of himself, and very well be. However, it is likely coupled with the
rightly so. Why? If problem solving capability desire to avoid a wrongful discharge lawsuit,
occurs in distinct layers and Joes ability is one because, after all, Joe is fulfilling the requirements
level beyond that called for by his job, then, he is of his job description. Again, its just the attitude
likely capable beyond his peer group, and nobody that stinks.
likes a showoff , right? And, to add insult to
©PeopleFit and HR.com www.peoplefit.com blog: www.missionmindedmanagement.comThe well-intentioned consultant will investigate it is present in discreet, increasing complex levels.
and provide a diagnosis. A variety of root causes Meaning, people vary in the amount of information
may surface, none being: Joe is overqualified for they can attend to, and their comfort level for
his job. I can bet the farm, no job-valuing dealing with ambiguity and longer-term projects
consultants suggested intervention would read: also varies.
Promote Joe.
All jobs align with a specific level of CIP.
The sad part here is that in the absence of a Matching an employees CIP level with that called
proper diagnosis, a misdiagnosis will be made. At for by a job is the key to job satisfaction and
best, this will only leave the current situation success. Mismatching them, with merely ONE
unchanged. At worst, it will make the situation employee, will lead to a severe case of tude
worse by wasting time, money, and possibly Joes which can mushroom into the disruption of an
reputation. entire department.
What if the consultant decides Joe lacks respect To avoid this, you can use the aforementioned
for his manager because she is female. This is triad of items as your model for matching
proved by the fact that he goes over her head to employees to jobs. When considering if Joe
talk with her male manager on a regular basis Attitude is indeed overqualified and thus could
right? Or maybe Joe just lacks soft skills, so perform a higher level role, ask yourself the
communications training will fix things, right? following:
Note: This is when some of your best people If Joe Attitude wanted to do the higher level
job (values and preferences) AND &
leave your organization VERY dehumanized, he had an opportunity to gain the knowledge,
angry and, possibly, vengeful. skills and experience necessary for it&
Could he make the kinds of judgments
Id like to suggest an alternative diagnostic necessary for the role and manage projects
process any manager can use the next time he is with the time horizons associated with it?
faced with an employee with major tude. When
matching an employee to a job, please consider This questioning process allows a manager to
three things: isolate the CIP component of the triad model, and
it will tell you if Joe currently has the problem
1. Knowledge, skills and experience. solving capability, i.e. the raw talent, to step into a
(What he knows.) higher level role. (Some training for knowledge or
2. Values and preferences. skills may still be necessary.)
(What he naturally enjoys.)
3. Problem solving capability. If the answer is yes, do what you can to get Joe
(His ability to organize, extrapolate, and apply the knowledge, skills, and experience he needs to
information to plan and make decisions.*) take that next level job. Sit him down to let him
know there is a promotion on the horizon for him
and watch this news change that tude in a way
no well-intentioned intervention ever could.
About the author: Michelle Malay Carter is with
PeopleFit, a management consulting firm
specializing in strategic organization design, talent
assessment, and
managerial leadership
systems. Join in their
blog dialog at:
*Elliott Jaques term for problem solving capability missionmindedmanagement.com
is complexity of information processing (CIP), and
©PeopleFit and HR.com www.peoplefit.com blog: www.missionmindedmanagement.com
