These articles on, How to deal with difficult employees, were previously published in Dr. Lynn Friedman’s nationally-syndicated, Washington Business Journal Column, Corporations on the couch. Here’s a description of it:
Your job may not be driving you nuts, but if it is Dr. Lynn Friedman knows how to help. By examining workplace dynamics — hiring, firings, narcissistic bosses, and passive aggressive employees, the office scapegoat and the bosses pet, corporate dysfunction and corporate health, happy employees and miserable ones — Friedman puts “Corporations on the Couch” in her widely popular column by that name. The psychologist, psychoanalyst, Johns Hopkins faculty member, organizational consultant and executive coach explains, in frank and often funny terms, how corporate cultures and corporate leaders support and sustain (albeit inadvertently) the surprising, strange and truly bizarre array of workplace behaviors. And, like any good therapist, Friedman helps readers get off the couch, build healthy relationships and end bad ones.
Surviving difficult employees
Don’t let your subordinates delegate work to you
You’ve hired an employee to lighten your load, but at every turn they drag their heels, demand endless supervision and generally drain your time and your resources. What’s going on and what can you do about it? What strategies can you use for surviving difficult employees?
Employee Misconduct can be used as a Learning tool
It’s ugly — and, you wish you hadn’t discovered it. But you did. You’re a senior vice president, and you’ve uncovered a “borrowing” incident among the rank and file. Melinda, a clerk, has been misappropriating small amounts of petty cash. How does one go about understanding and surviving difficult employees?
“Retiring in Place” may point to Management Issues
Many workplaces tolerate long-term employees who aren’t doing their jobs. Over time, other employees learn to work around them, often taking on parts of their jobs. Allowing this sort of behavior has a profound impact on organizational culture and morale. This column examines the effect of this dynamic.
Analyze this: My job, my life and why I’m not thrilled
Many successful people are frustrated and unhappy at work. But how does one clarify and resolve work life issues? How does one know if one needs help? And, after deciding that help might be useful, how does one know what kind to seek? An important starting point is to identify the work-life conflict. In general, people struggle with three work-life conflicts:
- What do I want to do with my life?
- How do I go about pursuing my goals?
- How do I galvanize myself to get started?
Coping Mechanisms at Work: More harm than Good
How do you help and support a superb employee who is sabotaging herself? You are neither a career coach nor a psychoanalyst, but here are some things that you can do to help her to become more self-aware.
Difficult staffer is out, that’s all anyone can talk about
When you fire an incompetent employee, staff members may be relieved but they still grieve and they still worry, here’s why.
The Difficult Boss
What do you do with the boss who yells at you? Or behaves in a, consistently, untrustworthy fashion? What about the needy boss? Or, the demanding one? These articles tell you how these bosses can be understood and they provide help figuring out how to deal with them.
Executive coaching for corporations, educational organizations
Beyond her psychotherapy and psychoanalytic practice, Dr. Lynn Friedman works with organizational leaders to build healthy organizations. Those interested in consultation are welcome to call her: 301.656.9650.
