Nightmare Employees: A Manager’s Guide to Coaching Difficult People

You’ve either already experienced a nightmare employee or heard horror stories about them from others, like a worker intentionally starting a fire to destroy video footage of him stealing company property — true story. Knowing how to manage difficult people is part and parcel of leadership. It’s your job to ensure your operations run smoothly for the sake of productivity, and your team’s success depends on how you manage all your people, from the top performers to the bad apples.

Avoiding problematic employees isn’t helpful and firing them isn’t always the best solution. Instead, you can help them change their behavior. We’re highlighting four different types of nightmare employees and sharing different strategies for dealing with each. It’ll be a challenge, but well worth the effort to alleviate the stress that comes with toxic people at work.