difficult employee

[karl]

I hope someone can help me with this little issue.

One of my employees is a good worker, I inherited him when I moved into a management position 5 months ago and although he required some careful handling in general he would get on with his job and give support when required.

Just recently I have noticed that he is becoming a bit dictatorial, the odd remark which isn't totally focused but generalised and given as advice in the shape of demand.

Such as 'I said we needed more cover in the branch', 'someone needs to get that sorted out because we are all busy', 'no one is visiting the customers'.

He is/seems very busy and has a lot of work on his desk. While he is busy he seems intent on trying to dictate what I should do to make everyones life easier etc and it's a struggle not to try and help out because it seems that everyone is under pressure and producing the figures. Yet when the phone goes quiet he is suddenly complaining about the lack of sales. It's quite a roller Coaster.

I can see where this is going and I know it needs to be sorted out before it escalates. An additional set of Siddhis might be useful, however maybe someone can suggest a response for the short term ?

[HathaTeacher]

Hi Karl,
not too much tantra in this, so I Googled staffing and mobbing - and got 8200 hits. Some read reasonable to me, such as hiring a coach or making a highly respected person within the team your nearest ally.
Just making it a long patience exercise for you might be perceived as an abdication by all the others, whose workplace atmosphere you're supposed to take care of. IMO, when somebody's getting onto a destructive track (abuse, mobbing, whatever), then the earlier the correction, the easier.

My 2 eurocents :-)

[Lili]

Hi Karl,

In exchange for your insightful posts in my topic I might try to help out in here. It seems to me that there's nothing wrong with the guy except his style--e.g. "I said this and that", "We need X&Y". You are proabably concerned that him talking like that in front of the team may be perceived as undermining you--e.g. like he is leading the team in practice. I guess the best strategy is not to take him seriously and keep your cool, especially if the team as a whole is performing. Host a bi-weekly half an hour team meeting and set the agenda for it just to remind him and the folks that you're in charge. Perhaps organize team building outings once in a while like bowling or drinks. And check out Byron Katie Sorry about that couldn't help it--I got it about 3 times in the other topic

[karl]

I just changed my way of thinking on this and it all settled down very nicely. That's the advice I give to others and it worked just as well for me.