What if employees felt like they had a legitimate Avenue for expressing their complaints in a way that would be taken seriously?
Telling someone “you just have to live with it, but don’t talk about it” is not really a non-toxic situation to begin with.
That.
Drill Sergeant explained to us that it’s right and natural to express dissatisfaction with unsatisfactory conditions. However, if you don’t offer a solution in the next breath you’re just bitching and actively destroying the morale of those around you. On the other hand, if you advance an idea to improve what you’re dissatisfied with you are not only addressing an issue that surely also troubles those around you, you are also leading the way out of the morass–and that’s a good thing.
To the OP: your minion’s talent for identifying shortcomings in procedure and atmosphere is a rare and unharnessed strength. Rather than curtailing the habit he should continue, BUT he can work on developing solutions to the problems he sees. As a manager, the health of the company is in your hands, and the health of the company depends on the satisfaction of even the lowest employees on the totem pole. Therefore, you have an interest in hearing about problems and in empowering your minions to solve them either directly or by taking ownership and proposing solutions to management through you. If the solution is untenable, then you can reveal that part of the larger picture to the complainer.
For the review, note that you have identified leadership potential in the employee and you would like to work with him to develop it.
Spends a little too much time expressing negative/nonproductive thoughts.
That’s just a dumb, self-serving management double-talk rubric.
It’s pronounced “Ah-SPEE-pay!”
Is not.
Negative. Their attitude is too negative; that is the literal truth. Unprofessional is okay, but not precise enough. Many things are unprofessional that are not what this guy is doing.
“Toxic” is metaphorical (it’s also an extremely overused, and therefore confusing, metaphor.) This guy is not literally toxic; substances are toxic, people are not. Avoid metaphor. Be as literal as possible; if you must describe their attitude, say it is negative. Better yet, do not describe their attitude. Instead state what they are doing wrong, as literally as possible; “Jim complains excessively.” Use examples. Attempting to describe what is inside a person’s mind (like attitude) is not advisable. Describe the BEHAVIOR that you do not want. Who cares if he has a negative attitude, really? What matters is how he behaves. If he stops whining and bitching and works hard you’ll be happy, right? You’ll never know his attitude is still negative.
“Demoralizing” is not a very good word at all. While it is literal, it describes the attitude of other people; it assumes Jim’s bitching actually has a significant effect on Sally’s morale, which might or might not be true and is more an issue for Sally. Say, literally, what Jim (I made that name up) is doing wrong.
Is the guy lying when he complains? If his complaints are truthful then Ant resulting demoralization is management’s fault, not his.
Nm
I don’t see the need to come up with adjectives. I would simply describe the behavior itself and explain that it’s not acceptable.
What word(s) have you used to describe this behavior to him in any previous conversation(s)? Just use those. If you have not had a previous conversation about this behavior, don’t put it in the performance review. A performance review is a time to follow up on behaviors, good or bad, that have been previously discussed. It is your job as manager/supervisor to have those discussions regularly, praising good behaviors and coaching on the not-so-good. If you wait for review time to do that, then you’re not doing your job - IMHO, of course.
I agree with the others that if you haven’t addressed this outside of a performance review, you’ve waited to late. And that looking for one word to summarize this problem is a bad thing, unless this is being forced by corporate - in which case, the thing to do might be to “damn with faint praise” and address this informally.
There should never be surprises in formal reviews.
I’m curious - is he being overly dramatic about normal events that are expected to be a part of your daily life, like the copier being out of paper again ? Is he complaining about things that are a problem, like, say, the copier that he needs to do his job isn’t working and it’s taking a long time to get it fixed - thus impacting his work? Is he complaining about other co-workers? Management? These are different problems and need to be addressed in different ways.
I agree, Ascenray, but I think the rest of Inigo’s post is excellent.
Maybe the employee is suffering from depression? Does your health insurance cover any kind of mental health services?
I also agree with this, and would use Disruptive as well (assuming it can be proven.)
OTOH, in reviews I’ve given, I tell staff that if anything I say in a mid-year or year-end review comes as a surprise, then it’s me who has failed. The goal is continuous conversation and correction, not a big reveal once a year.
Edit: Also agree with Inigo Montoya to an extent. What should be avoided, however, is having a disruptive employee occupy an excessive amount of a manager’s time. Not everyone wants to rise to their potential and it’s not fair to other staff to be unavailable.
Great. What about when the solution is obvious to everyone, but management has no interest in fixing it.
“We’re behind in this project because everyone with any brains has left for more money.”
Solution?
“Pay industry standard wages or better.”
And screw up our management bonuses? Next!
This “give a solution” stuff assumes no one else is smart enough to see the solution. Most things workers can control they don’t complain about. When workers get stiffed on wages and management gets immense bonuses, you think the “solution” is going to do any good.
She’s a great worker, but she seems to be venting her frustration to others. Encourage her to come to YOU with her frustrations. As her supervisor, you may be in a position to either resolve the issue, be a sounding board, or explain why things must be done this way.
People are going to bitch. But bitching in a productive manner takes skill AND a sympathetic ear from the boss. I also agree that when she comes to vent that you encourage her to come up with solutions. Do not be dismissive. I’ve been on the receiving end of that and all it does is tell me that my boss does not have my back.
Odious?
Antisocial?
Or, alternatively, management has considered that solution but there are other constraints in play. I work with these young teachers who are fond of proposing solutions, but the solutions are incredibly impractical or short-sighted. It’s awkward, because they are just sure we are making up bullshit reasons to say no because we are stupid.