Three Tips to Help Leaders Eliminate Workplace Drama

Three Tips to Help Leaders Eliminate Workplace Drama

by Marlene Chism | Talent Management

 

Whether it's complaining, negative attitudes or stress-related illnesses, workplace drama hampers productivity and personal effectiveness.

 

According to research firm Gallup, negativity costs the U.S. economy more than $3 billion a year in lost productivity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 90 percent of doctors' visits are stress-related and a top stressor is employee complaints.

 

To facilitate positive change, leaders must recognize the power of choosing consciously instead of reacting to circumstances. Here are three conscious changes a leader can make to get back in control and eliminate drama in the workplace:

 

1. Master Your Emotions.

It's important that managers and leaders set the example through their own self-management of their emotions. "Studies show that the strongest emotion in a team can ripple out and drive everyone to resonate with the same emotion without anyone consciously knowing why it is happening," author David Rock writes in his book The Brain at Work. Leaders can't be irresponsible with their emotional energy and expect to garner responsible behavior from their workers.

 

How to apply this principle:

Leaders must become more aware of their emotional state and mental dialogue. Keeping a simple journal for a month could prove useful in determining one's emotional responses to drama. For example, when a leader is irritated, frustrated or angry, does he immediately blow up, get sarcastic or avoid the other person? Learning to become calm and centered before addressing hot issues is helpful.

 

2. Set Realistic Expectations.

Companies frequently downsize and double the workload, yet expect the same amount of productivity. To add to the problem, employees are afraid to tell their bosses that meeting these requirements is impossible out of fear their jobs might be next to go. The elephant in the room goes unaddressed, communication is at a standstill and everyone is frustrated. Managers shouldn't give employees any more than 10 percent more workload without increasing resources. Too often, they keep piling on additional work with new deadlines, making it nearly impossible for the employee to complete projects successfully. A leader's responsibility is to set employees up for success by engaging them in the process.

 

How to apply this principle:

Leaders can set up scheduled communications with an agenda, during which they can get feedback from employees about their progress, where they're having problems and what resources are needed to help them complete their projects. Creating small benchmarks to celebrate small successes and, if possible, letting employees who have completed projects deliver a short overview of their successes can enable them to feel motivated instead of overwhelmed.

 

3. Promote Personal Responsibility.

It's often challenging for managers to promote personal responsibility. An indicator of irresponsible thinking is drama that manifests itself as complaining and excuse making; for example, employees running to the boss to solve a problem or tattle on another co-worker. Many managers are proud of their open-door policy, but this policy can make the situation worse. Employees may drop in at the most inconvenient time, and, as a result, the boss may multitask and merely act like he or she is listening - or worse, promise to get back to the employee but forget about the promise. This creates a lack of trust and contributes to workplace relationship problems between bosses and employees.

 

The reason employees participate in blaming, complaining, backstabbing and excuse making is because it lessens the pain and discomfort that taking responsibility requires. When a manager fixes the problem, the employee continues to respond from a victim mentality instead of an empowered and responsible mindset. Managers that spend excess time putting out fires instead of developing responsible employees end up wasting time and energy.

 

How to apply this principle:

Putting boundaries and systems in place for dealing with complaints can be helpful. Instead of an open door at any time, managers can set office hours for registering complaints. In addition, they can train employees to come with specific criteria when registering a complaint:

 

1. What is the situation?

 

2. How does this situation impact productivity, customer service, teamwork or the bottom line?

 

3. What are some possible solutions or ideas?

 

This simple solution can show workers that managers are serious about hearing their complaints, but that they are also expected to help solve the problem.

 

 

[About the Author: Marlene Chism is a professional speaker and author of Stop Workplace Drama.]