All of us know people who like to complain. Those folks can be difficult to be around, and they can be especially tough to work with. And when you’re in a leadership role, you have little choice but to deal with these negative employees regularly.
You may sometimes be tempted to just cut them loose—and frankly, I think that’s sometimes the best course of action.
Before you head down that road, however, it’s at least worth considering that your disgruntled employees deserve a chance at rehabilitation. Let me lay out an argument for you here.
The Link Between Frustration and Innovation
Here’s my case for giving disgruntled employees another shot: It’s often when we’re at our most frustrated that we innovate the most creative, forward-thinking solutions.
Does that mean every negative employee is just on the cusp of some creative breakthrough? Of course not. But it does mean there’s some merit to sitting down with your employee and trying to find out why he or she feels frustrated—then challenging them to find a way to solve their own problem.
This is sort of a put-up-or-shut up school of thought, perhaps, but I think there’s something to it. You find the way we run meetings to be inefficient? Propose a new way for us to collaborate together. Do you think the way we deliver our work to clients is flawed? Well, what’s a better way? You’re annoyed by constant technological limitations? Get with IT and find an alternate way of doing things.
Your employees won’t always use their frustration as a springboard to innovation—but in some cases, they might. It might at least be worth giving them the chance before you terminate them.
Learn More About Effective Team Building
Addressing disgruntled employees is an important part of team building—and it can be a challenging undertaking. I’d love to coach you through it. Reach out to me and let’s talk together about your team building needs.
You can reach me at www.rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098.
Dr. Rick Goodman’s Solutions-Oriented Leader book is now available to order online. In this first-of-a-kind, comprehensive guide, author Dr. Rick Goodman leads you through the everyday challenges of the modern workplace while providing you with easy-to-implement solutions to achieve world-class results!
