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Employee Interaction Problems: Solve Them or They Plant Roots

Leaders, there are employee interaction bumps that resolve with little effort. There are employee interaction problems that block productivity and profitability. Address these and solve them. Otherwise they plant the roots of a toxic organization that will plague you, the employees, and the entire business.

Employee Interaction Problems: Image licensed via 123RF.com.

Image licensed via 123RF.com Copyright: kzenon / 123RF Stock Photo credit for the image above.

Solve These 5 Employee Interaction Problems

Employee interaction problems that are rooted in disrespect have a lasting effect. Performance, productivity, and profitability suffer as the roots of disrespect create toxic mistrust.

1. Overt AND covert racial slurs. These racial slurs and discrimination cut to the core of respect and trust. Left unaddressed, they infect your organization. Prevent this.




2. Sexist comments AND practices. Equal respect in the workplace says “you all matter.” This translates into high morale and contribution.
Do an Inclusion Skills Assessment. Hold diversity training.


3. Disdain and patronizing put downs. These do not toughen people up and make them work harder. They crush collaboration, innovation, teamwork, and results. Don’t underestimate how much damage this disrespectful behavior inflicts. Teach everyone to be honest with care not blunt and boorish. I can help you with this!




4. Passive aggressive moves and cliques. If this one stumps you, learn what passive aggressiveness is and how to spot it. Passive aggressive behavior and cliques leave a trail of mistrust that lasts a long time.




5. You or employees’ taking credit for other’s work and ideas. This “stomp on others to get to the top” behavior doesn’t make employees more productive. It breeds resentment and revenge. This is hardly a road map for company success.

Leaders, ask yourselves: What standard of respectful behavior have you and your teams explicitly created? Is each team member also encouraged and allowed to speak out when employee interaction problems emerge? Does each know how to apologize without excuses for their interaction mistakes and change their behavior?

What is your role in helping to resolve these employee interaction problems? Do you get annoyed that the trouble exists? Have you said “why can’t you all just get along and work together?” Have you reacted negatively when they do speak out about disrespectful behaviors — labeling them ‘non-team players’? If yes, employee interaction problems will continue and employees that you silence will disrespect you even more.

Start (or restart) with everyone involved to:

• Set the standard of respectful behavior
• Create guidelines on how to address bad behaviors peer-to-peer and with you
• Address needed next steps to handle repeated disrespectful behaviors

Related Posts:
21 Reasons Employees Can’t Automatically Get Along
How Leaders Preserve Bias & How to Stop
Teamwork Persona: Are You Someone Others Want to Work With?

©2017 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

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Tags: behavior, behavior change, Change, communication, disrespect, emotional intelligence, employee, interaction, intercultural, interpersonal skills, Leadership, Leading change, morale, people skills, problem, respect, trust