How do you set clear expectations and boundaries for challenging behaviors?

Modern OD practices increasingly incorporate data analytics to gain insights into organizational behavior and performance. By analyzing employee engagement surveys, performance metrics, and turnover rates, OD practitioners can identify trends and root causes of issues, enabling more targeted and effective interventions.

It's one thing to be resistant to change - I think we all have elements of that. But disruptive and disrespectful employees? Maybe you need to resolve your Human Capital policies and procedures before you start thinking about organizational development. Sometimes these types of employees can be converted, but most of the time, I think it's a wasted effort and those people should be encouraged to find other jobs. Once disgruntled, disruptive and disrespectful behaviors set in, it isn't just a development issue, it's an organizational culture issue.

To manage challenging behaviors, clearly define and communicate expectations using a good model: SMART, CLEAR, CCL's SBI and more. Establish firm boundaries aligned with organizational values and apply them consistently to ensure fairness and be sure to maintain discipline. Provide comprehensive training in skills like conflict management and communication, while also offering support systems such as coaching and mentorship. Implement a transparent feedback mechanism for both reporting and discussing behaviors, ensuring it’s accessible for all employees. Regularly review and adjust these practices to adapt to organizational changes and employee feedback, thereby maintaining relevance and alignment with overarching organizational goals.

Organizational development is a strategic, ongoing effort aimed at improving an organization's effectiveness through planned change in processes, structures, and culture. It requires assessing needs, designing interventions, and implementing strategies that foster employee development, enhance communication, and promote innovation. Just as important, OD is NOT about imposing quick fixes, micromanaging, or focusing solely on the bottom line without considering the human element. To help employees understand OD, make sure communication about the goals and processes of OD initiatives. It will help build trust and engagement, ensuring that everyone is aligned and committed to the change process.

Start by identifying behaviors that need addressing and understand their impact on the team and goals. Communicate expectations clearly, using specific examples to illustrate acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Establish concrete boundaries and consequences that are consistently enforced to maintain fairness and integrity. Engage in open dialogue with individuals involved, allowing them to express their viewpoints while reinforcing the set standards. Provide support and resources, such as coaching or training, to encourage positive change. Regularly revisit and adjust expectations as needed to adapt to evolving team dynamics.

OD is extremely relevant in that the environment must continually be looking to improve so that fostering of talent, developing cultures of inclusion, while establishing accountability checkpoints all aid in hopefully minimizing the amount of "difficult employees". Also the environment should help to support the engagement factors that help motivate the employees to feel empowered.

Empower employees by providing them with greater autonomy in their roles. This can include giving them a say in decision-making processes, opportunities to lead projects, and the flexibility to innovate in their work.

OD is quite useful for managing challenging employees as it offers insights into human behavior and interpersonal dynamics. Well-designed OD interventions enhances communication, aids in effective conflict management, and provides change leadership strategies. It includes development programs to improve interpersonal skills and a systemic approach to understand how organizational elements influence behavior. Regular feedback mechanisms integral to OD promote self-awareness and personal growth, helping transform conflicts into opportunities for development. This holistic approach ensures that interventions are aligned with overall organizational goals.

OD plays a critical role in managing difficult employees because it addresses underlying issues at both the individual and organizational levels. By using data-driven methods to assess behaviors, communication patterns, and workplace dynamics, OD helps identify root causes of challenges. This holistic approach enables leaders to implement tailored solutions that not only resolve the issue but also strengthen team cohesion and organizational culture.

Involve the employee in developing a plan to address the identified issues. Work together to set clear, achievable goals and outline specific actions that both parties can take to improve the situation.

When diagnosing employee behavior issues, watch your biases. They can lead you to make assumptions or judgments based on incomplete or inaccurate information or to overlook important factors that may be contributing to the behavior in question. This can result in a misdiagnosis of the problem, and lead to ineffective or inappropriate interventions that may make the situation worse. I recommend: - Increase your self-awareness by taking time to reflect on your own attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions. - Seek diverse perspectives to help you gain a more objective and well-rounded understanding of a situation, and identify any biases or blind spots that you may have. - Using data and evidence to inform your decisions.

Diagnosing difficult employee behaviors requires a thorough analysis of the employee's performance, interactions, and overall work environment. Performance data, peer feedback, and one-on-one conversations can reveal patterns of behavior that point to deeper issues such as misalignment with company values, personal challenges, or unclear expectations. Once these behaviors are identified, OD tools like behavioral assessments or coaching can offer insights into their root causes.

After 25 years of managing staff, communication without emotions is paramount when working with difficult employees. Manager may become emotionally triggered by their frustrations, but it's prudent to interact with the difficult employee in a calm manner. Managers who display emotions such as resentment, anger, etc risk the employee escalating the emotional froth which often time sabotages the otherwise good manager intentions. It can be challenging to be Zen, but ultimately worth remaining in control of one's emotions.

I would never rule out the need for more therapeutic interventions as a potential resource if not a solution. Managers should be working closely with their HR/BP to partner on solutions and assess root causes. There's always a reason for behavioral and performance changes and it's not always easy to diagnose. If a manager (and/or HR) doesn't feel equipped to address this level of conversation then utilizing outside mental health resources as well as speaking with their significant others, partners, and family to better assess what may be happening outside that's impacting their inside performance and productivity.

When you have a team or a department, a good strategy is to ask them to create a team charter and that addresses how they wish to work together. Behaviours they expect, expectations on things like transparency and communicating with authenticity and integrity and allow them to self police. Once their rules and guidelines are established it makes it easier for people to align and collaborate better, because it’s their ideas. They will need guidance on how to establish these rules, what to include and what goes to far in prescription, but again this can be established quite easily and where conflicting ideas occur in the forming stage go first with the basic of what’s commonly agreed. In time they can build on that with experience together.

Modeling the behaviors we expect is a necessity to help foster an environment that breeds positivity and encouragement. Setting the example as a leader can be challenging especially with so many changes in recent years to how we engage our workforce ,but nonetheless is essential to the overall success of your team. How can we teach or influence change if we have not mastered the behaviors ourselves?

I know first-hand how a leader can allow their own emotions and lack of self-care to influence their reactions to difficult conversations which results in poor leadership interactions. My challenge to fellow leaders is to seek out personal assistance before their is a personal problem. Find a counselor or personal advisor that you can trust with that which is heavy on your heart and mind. It is very healthy to be able to share and listen to others viewpoints on your situation and accept advice that is given to help better manage those personal matters before they bubble over into the professional.