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Automotive Sales Management Training Articles

"Managing Negative Employees in an Artful Way "

In every every dealership one reality exists. There are going to be negative employees. If not carefully managed, these individuals drain the life force of productivity out of the entire organization.

Managers generally think twice about terminating negative employees especially if they are good workers, productive or have the essential skills needed or experience that if replaced takes needed time and resources to retrain. It may also be hard to accept that their indispensable nature comes at the expense and productivity of others. Yet, if problems these individuals create places a drain on the overall workplace environment, ignoring them is one sure way to create in-house chaos, job dissatisfaction and time consuming energy and valuable resources to remedy.

What's a manager to do?

First closely examine the situation and the person absorbed in negativity.
Ask yourself, "Exactly how much does this individual personally contribute to the overall success of the department, office or business as a whole?" Once a clear picture is determined, move to the opposing side of the equation.

Weigh your above responses against these questions.
How much discord does this contribute to their overall productivity? How much disharmony are they creating? How much of an overall negative impact are they having on others? How many times have you had to intervene because of their negativity or cause and effected related issues?

How much time and energy is personally lost because of it?
How many others are they affecting? How does this negativity translate into lower quotas, or reduced enthusiasm and productivity? Lastly, are there any legal ramifications I need to be aware of before terminating their employment or intervening in a way that can cause legality issues to surface???

Before assuming the ultimate recourse of termination, think about how the situation can be rectified. Plan a course of action. If the decision is to salvage the employee, consider using the following ideas.

Have a one to one discussion with the person involved.
Don't be surprised when they express ignorance of the situation, or blame others for their troubles. They may even become defiant and begin to play mind games over the situation to get and keep you off focus. The object is to get them to voice their own complaints so addressing the problem is put onto the table. Often times, negativity arises as a symptom, not a cause. It is best to address the causes, not the symptoms.

Evaluate what is said by the employee without jumping to judgment.
Look at things from their perspective first, as well as your own. Negative people often can have legitimate complaints and reasons behind their attitudes and reactions.

Create a list of their legitimate concerns that need addressing.
Maintain a list of personal responses to your remarks or direct questions. It becomes easier to identify whether complaints are a smokescreen for general overall negative behavior, or if the negative behaviors have a legitimate reason for occurring. Viable solutions are produced faster if these evaluations are given thought and attention.

Focus on behaviors that need changing, not individual actions or attitudes.
It is easy to confuse issues, especially if individuals are defiant or blaming. Be aware that it may be impossible to recreate this person into an ideal employee, or one you and others can legitimately live with. All good managers can do is to plan and chart a course of action to improve, one small goal at a time, following up on it consistently. The rest is up to the employee.

Make sure all goals and actions for improvement are very specific and put in writing.
Double check to see if they are thoroughly understood. Follow through on the progression of goals at of minimum of once per week. Set your managerial goal on observing one small noticeable change. Make a verbal compliment upon it. Do this as an ongoing intervention. Once there is continual improvement, move to another area. Never fail to set limits on the total process. The employee should be given these limits in all fairness. If limits are not held as a top priority, there is no urgency for an employee to change.

Consider finding a place or position where a negative employee can work in isolation.
Often times this may not be possible in close knit team situations. However, if it is possible it may work to keep their negativity out of earshot from the rest of the workers. Many times, negative employees desire to seek out an audience of co- workers. You may find a negative employee wanted to work in isolation in the first place. Placing them with others might be the initial root of the negativity problem.

When written and verbal evaluations fail, and numerous written documentation falls short of expectations and other attempts to change a negative employee's behavior have become unsuccessful, termination becomes inevitable.
Once this decision is made obvious, hesitation or procrastination can become a real detriment to effective managing.

To find out more about Mike Whitty and Salesperson, Inc., visit www.mikewhitty.com and www.slpinc.net.