151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People

Description

If you have ever wished you had the equivalent of a Nanny 911 to defuse tensions in the office, your wish has come true. 151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People is the ultimate guide on how to face challenging employees and coworkers. The extensive topics in this book deal with how to handle characters ranging from Bunglers to Backstabbers to Bullies. Few books on difficult employees, if any, offer such an extensive assortment of the characters youre likely to encounter at work and how best to deal with them. When faced with difficult employees, too often managers and coworkers lack the skills for handling the stressful encounters, so they throw up their hands in complete exasperation. Well, all that ends with this book. Youll learn how to: Keep problem employees from setting the tone in the office. Take steps to turn troublemakers into team players. Keep them from demoralizing or scaring away other employees. Know when to cut your losses. Avoid hiring troublemakers in the first place. Confront bullies, harassers, and ageists. Keep a backstabber from sabotaging your career. Keep an aggressive colleague from commandeering your meeting. Deal with colleagues who infringe on your time. Because the information in this book is so concise and practical, youll refer to it again and again. Whether you are a manager or a coworker of difficult employees, the advice will give you the tools to better supervise problem workers or the confidence to stand up to them. You will no longer live in fear of an aggressive employee ruining your day. Carrie Mason-Draffen writes from a wealth of experience. For 10 years she has written an acclaimed workplace column for Newsday, a New York daily newspaper. 151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People draws on the insights she has gained from answering questions from hundreds of managers and employees. For additional information, the author interviewed outstanding experts in the legal and human-resource professions. Mason-Draffen lives on Long Island, New York, with her husband and three teenagers Content: Intro Contents How to Use This Book 1. Establish a Zero-Tolerance Policy 2. Don't Let Difficult People Set the Tone for the Office 3. Bone Up on Dealing With Difficult Employees 4. Don't Wait for the Boston Tea Party 5. Be a Good Listener 6. Work Out a Solution Jointly 7. Follow Through on a Plan of Action 8. What Personality Trait Is at Play? 9. Make Sure the Employee Understands 10. Try Humor 11. Express Confidence That the Person Can Change 12. Thank Them for Their Cooperation 13. Master the Art of Difficult Conversations. 14. Train Your Managers in the Art of Difficult Conversations15. Don't Promote Mediocrity 16. Seek Other Owners' Advice 17. Reign in Difficult Family Members 18. Mean What You Say 19. Handling Resistance to Overtime 20. Dealing With Information Hoarders 21. Know When to Consult a Lawyer or Other Experts 22. Don't Take Problem People Home 23. When an Employee Threatens Violence 24. Offer Bullies Options, Not Just Objections 25. Document Difficult Encounters 26. Monitor Phone Calls for Difficult Employees 27. Acknowledge Employees for Defusing Tense Situations. 28. The Office Isn't a Day Care29. Use Irrational Requests as Conversational Openers 30. Hire Smart 31. Fire Smart 32. Encourage Employees to Tell You About Problem Colleagues 33. Don't Be Afraid to Critique Problem Managers 34. When a Problem Employee Gives Notice 35. Establish a System for Filing Complaints 36. Set an Example 37. Encourage Managers to Communicate Problems Up the Chain 38. No Across-the-Board Reprimands 39. Don't Parent a Difficult Employee 40. Audit Teams for Hot Spots 41. Remove a Team Member if Necessary 42. Mine the Exit Interviews. 43. When Employees Resist Change44. Nix Managers Gossip About Employees 45. The Greatest No-Shows on Earth 46. Is the Work Load Balanced? 47. Don't Undercut Your Managers 48. Don't Forget About Your Other Employees 49. Help! How to Find an Attorney 50. Refer to EAP 51. Give Yourself a Break 52. Put an End to Pilfering 53. Vary Your Tactics 54. Suggest Better Work Habits 55. Send Employees for More Training 56. No Knee-Jerk Reactions 57. Is the Affair Bad for Business? 58. Handling the Nasty End to Subordinates' Romance 59. Addressing an Employee Who Won't Dress the Part. 60. A Wake-Up Call for Stragglers61. Use an Evaluation as a Blueprint for Transforming Problem Employees 62. Call Employees on Inappropriate Computer and Internet Use 63. Nip Managers' Favoritism in the Bud 64. Remove Abusive Managers 65. When Employees Ask to Borrow Money 66. Why an Apology Matters 67. Remind Employees of the Chain of Command 68. Demand Sensitivity Training 69. By the Way, "This Is Your Job" 70. Don't Be Star Struck 71. Know When to Cut Your Losses 72. Discourage Workaholics 73. What's in It for Me? 74. Ask Offenders for Self-Evaluation.