Power plays of difficult employees: A three-question litmus test to gauge the likely effect of your rules to change bad behavior

Our most negative employees can batter the morale of an entire school or district. Preventing the detrimental effects they cause is one of the biggest challenges an educational leader faces.

Difficult employees can take their toll on the rest of us in various ways. However, the one aspect over which we retain the most control is how much power we choose to give them. We surrender Way too much power to these negative people. And it isn't just us. Everyone in our organization does.

People in leadership roles often make decisions based on their least effective staff members rather than their most effective and essential contributors. Even as peers we give away too much power to our most negative coworkers.

Test Yourself

Leaders often make decisions based on their most negative and resistant employees. That is human nature. We worry about how the most cynical staff member will react or how the few "gripers" will talk about us or this new idea in the lounge. Being aware of their potential reactions is fine. However, making decisions with them in mind rather than our most positive and productive people is a big mistake.

When deciding whether to implement a new policy or rule, ask yourself these three quick questions to determine whether the proposal is likely to have a positive or a negative effect:

1. What is the true purpose in implementing this rule or policy?

2. Will it actually accomplish the purpose?

3. How will my most positive and productive people feel about it?

This sounds basic, and it is, but it can be a powerful measure of not only future implementation; it can also help determine the value of current procedures. Let us apply these questions to a scenario common in many schools: exceeding the photocopy machine budget.

In many educational settings, we realize about mid-February that we have almost exhausted the copier budget for the entire school year. We also realize several individuals are constantly at the copier and may seem to be using it disproportionately compared to other faculty. One thing that happens in many organizations is a sign gets posted by the copy machine: "Limit 20 Copies!"

Forecasting Effects

With this scenario in mind we can apply the same three questions to the change in behavior we are attempting to put in place to control a few difficult staff members, Will the new rule likely have an appropriate and positive effect on our school?

Another common situation that arises in schools is faculty use of supplies at a frequency that quickly will exceed the annual budget. Our instinct suggests a few people most likely are using things in an inappropriate manner or maybe even for personal use. As a result, we are tempted to implement much stricter restrictions on accessing the supply cabinet. We may require all staff to sign a piece of paper indicating how many copies they use. Or we might have all staff sign up on a list when they take any supplies. We may even issue a memo expecting staff to reduce their use of photocopies or supplies.

This is the guilty until proven innocent approach. Or we can apply our three rules to gauge whether this approach is appropriate.

What is the true purpose in implementing this rule or policy?

Your first reaction might be to say that the purpose is to tick people off. However, that is the result, not the purpose. The purpose in creating this rule is to prevent those people who are wastefully using the copier or taking too many supplies from continuing these practices. In other words, it is to stop those who are abusing the copier.

Will it actually accomplish the purpose?

If people are doing something that is inappropriate, they probably already know it is improper and just choose to do what they want. No one assumes it is OK to run copies of their Christmas card letter on the school copier. You might be thinking, "I have people in my school who think it is OK to abuse the copier."

If that is true, ask yourself this: Would those individuals ask the principal or department chair to run off the copies for them? Obviously not. They sneak around and do it when no one is watching. If this is true, it means they do know it is wrong but do it anyway. Some people will do so at any opportunity. However, these are very few. Is the sign likely to prevent the inappropriate usage of materials? Probably not.

Even if your answer is "maybe" or yes," we still need to examine the potential result on our most important staff members--those who follow these behavioral standards before they are even put in writing.

How will my most positive and productive people feel about this policy?

High achievers, including your most effective staff, are often guilt driven. They are likely to assume that any time a new rule or procedure is implemented it could be because they have done something wrong. When you tell the staff that the copier is being used too much, the high achievers recall that time two years ago when they ran 25 copies for an activity for which they ended up needing only 15. They are the most likely faculty members to restrict their usage of materials or supplies. Is this going to have a productive effect on the school?