Managing Employees

If you were to put a dollar amount around how much mindless complaining costs you each year, what would be the amount?   How much of your time is spent fielding complaints from employees?  Do they also come with potential solutions?  How much of your time do you complain about your complaining employees?  In managing employees, how do you deal with all of the complaints?

Employees have different communication styles.  One style that seems to be problematic for a manager is the talkative employee.  In an ideal world, your goal is to manage your employee’s communication skills.

Talkative employees express themselves differently.   Find one that resonates with you.

• FRIENDLY - The friendly, upbeat person who enjoys talking with different people.  Great if they are in your call center or are an account manager because they easily engage others.  Yet, in excess this style of communication can be disruptive to others on their team.  
• PERSONAL - What about the person who shares a lot of personal information with extensive details.

• Fearful they will lose their jobs – if an employee feels they could potentially lose their position because of their performance or the company’s performance, it’s important to provide clear and constant communication to minimize their anxiety.  
• Not fully trained around their responsibilities – if the employee bumps into their lack of knowledge, they will naturally feel insecure until they are properly trained.   This is not a chronic insecurity issue, but rather a training requirement. 
• Your management style – you are not clear or your interaction with them is upsetting them.   Some employees seem to handle any type of boss and still perform.   Most employees react negatively to a manager who isn’t clear and is disrespectful towards them.
• Miscommunication in the company – when this happens it misdirects employee’s performance levels.  Employees know already that something is not right and start checking in more frequently for direction.
• They are fearful of making a mistake – here you need to discern whether their reaction is their own internal processing, or are they reacting to you because you are anxious about their performance.   If your concern is based on specific performance or behavior issues, then in managing this employee, you need to coach or counsel them on performance expectations.