How to Motivate Your Problem People

A Case Study

1. Case Summary
A lot of employees are low maintenance self-starters. But following the 80:20
rule, it´s the 20% of difficult ones that take 80% of the average managers time.
The article from Nigel Nicholson gives some insight into how managers can get
these people to follow their lead ?

2. Problem Identification
How do you motivate intractable employees--the ones who never do what you
want and also take up all your time? According to Nigel Nicholson, you can't:
Individuals must motivated themselves.

3. Problem Analysis
The manager can only create the circumstances in which their inherent
motivation, which most people have, is freed-up productively for the company.
The article proposes a three step approach to dealing with such employees,
based on three assumptions:
• That everyone has motivational energy.
• That this energy is, for whatever reason, being blocked in the workplace.
• That removing such blockages requires employee participation.

4. Problem Solving & Recommendation

The three step approach then begins with “Creating a Rich Picture” of the
situation. The manager needs to properly understand what drives the person and
what blocks him or her. Nigel Nicholson recommends informal conversations to
achieve this. Listening to how the employee describes him or herself can be
insightful, since they will probably use very different words to do this than the
manager would use. And as direct bosses are the most potent source of

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employee dissatisfaction, the manager needs to reflect on his/her role in causing
the problem, beginning with something as basic as how he/she talks to the
employee. Analysis of the context is also important – is an aspect of the current
situation bringing out the worst in the employee or the manager?

Step 2 involves “Reframing Your Goals”. This doesn´t mean surrendering to

the employee´s every wish, but implies a willingness on the part of the manager
to be flexible in his/her aims and be ready to consider alternatives that he/she
may not have considered. The manager may not get exactly what he/she wants
from the employee, but will certainly get more than before.

Step 3 is called “Stage the Encounter” and describes the meeting, held on
neutral ground, at which the manager´s observations and reflections are voiced
to the employee, in the hope that this revised analysis of the situation may open
up new views along with new solutions.

Nigel Nicholson concedes that the process can be time-consuming, but argues
that the benefits justify this, with the improvement of both individual performance
and the positive effect on the organization as a whole, as people see problem
cases being dealt with. Nicholson doesn´t promise a solution every time, but
assures that the process always leads to resolution of the problem. This well-
structured article also includes a helpful checklist on “Seven Hazards in Handling
Problem People”:

• The Mulberry Bush Chase

Have you been going round and round with someone, having the same fruitless
conversations over and over? That's a sure sign of the need for a new approach
and fresh start.

• The Huckster Hazard

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Have you been trying to "tell and sell" - that is, convince the person of the
reasonableness of your position? Don't be an evangelist. Be a psychologist. The
most successful salespeople discover and fulfil people's needs rather than try to
change them.

• The Ignorance-is-Bliss Syndrome

Have you been contentedly clueless, neither knowing nor caring much about
what makes an employee tick? You have to dig deeper to find out what drives
that person - and what may be blocking those drivers.

• The Self-Centeredness Trap

Do the words that spring to mind when you think about this person's behaviour
reflect a blinkered point of view? Ask yourself what words this individual would
use to describe those same behaviors. It may give you a fresh insight into the
nature of the problem and how to attack it.

• The Hanging Judge Tendency

Have you been proudly occupying a moral high ground in your perspective of this
person? It won't help to think of your employee as in the wrong while you act out
the role of judge and high priest. Decide now whether you really want to solve the
problem or sit in judgment.

• The Monochrome Vision

Have you failed to search for any redeeming features in this person? Think hard.
Because discovering even one positive characteristic in someone can colour
your relationship in entirely new ways and create a starting point for you to
connect.

• The Denial Danger

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Have you been dismissing out of hand how someone perceives you? Remember
the dictum, "if something is perceived as real, it is real in its consequences." It is
the other person's reality you are going to have to work with, not just your own.