Dealing With Angry Employees
Tips & Techniques For Dealing With Overt Angry Behaviour
Concerns about workplace violence are increasing. It’s important that managers understand and become more effective when dealing with angry employees, whether they be the garden variety of angry employee or the potentially violent. Managers play a critical role in determining which of these results will come about. The way the manager deals with conflict and anger will set the climate for employees.Basic Principles
1. Conflict/Angry situations become negative and destructive when they are not dealt with promptly and effectively. When the situations are dealt with properly, there is a tendency for a team to get stronger and better.
2. While angry employees may appear to want a specific issue addressed, they are looking for something else that they see as equally or more important. They want to be heard. If you don’t provide a means for them to be heard, they will find other more subversive ways to be heard (and you won’t like it much).
3. Staff will watch very closely to see how you handle anger directed at you. Even if you have a private discussion with an angry employee, staff will know about it. Your ability to lead will depend on your behaviour, and the interpretation of your behaviour.
4. Most people react to anger directed at them with a fight or flight reaction. That is there is a gut reaction which, unchecked, results in “firing back” with an aggressive manner, defending oneself, OR, avoidance. Only in rare occasions will these gut reactions result in dealing with anger effectively. Take a look at these 9 methods on dealing with the anger.
