Have you ever had to deal with a difficult team member who affected your team’s performance, morale, or culture?
The key is to ensure you’re enrolling them in wanting to have this conversation. That means setting positive intent, as to what you’re doing, why & what’s in it for them. This defuses what would often be considered a difficult conversation. Here’s an example:
“What I want for you is to maintain the positive brand you’ve created & achieve your career goal of moving into management. I’ve noticed some behaviors that may impede this, which is what I wanted to bring to your attention so we can work through this together & ensure they don’t impact your goals but instead, enhance your personal brand. Please know I’m sharing this with you to support you so you’re positioned for your next career move. So, are you open to having this conversation
Quite often the difficult team member may lack the self-awareness to realize they’re being difficult. The only thing to stimulate self awareness are questions for them to self-reflect.
1. How would you describe your personal brand?
2. How would others describe you?
3. Can I share what I’ve noticed?
4. If nothing changes, how can this affect your (relationships, reputation, career)?
5. How do you want to be known?
6. What would be possible if you made these changes?
7. What’s the conversation you need to have to positively reset your relationships and create relationships of mutual support that achieves everyone’s goal? What would it sound like?
8. If I see you reverting back to toxic behavior, is it okay for me to let you know?