Stopping Drama in Its Tracks

Lana J. Chandler
April 16, 2012 | COMMENTS

“Finger-pointing (blame) and power struggles are the two most common types of office drama. And many times the two are entwined,” observes Debbie Varney, senior consultant for DeemHR in Charleston, West Virginia. Office drama negatively impacts everyone in your branch. It can wreck teamwork, morale, productivity, employee retention, and even client service. So how do you stop the drama?

“Removing the ‘third rail’—generally the supervisor or manager—can stop office drama in its tracks,” Varney says. “Many times managers want to swoop in with their capes and fix everything. Even though things may feel better for the short term, this approach doesn’t work long term. Enabling employees to work things out together in an exercise as a teaching tool of how to make things work is a better, longer lasting solution.”

Leadership Style Matters

Two situations that invite office drama are when:

• Employees are kept in the dark

• Employees are treated with less dignity or respect than another employee

“Some managers actually use this as a type of management style. But all it does is breed ill will and discontent within an employee. Then it surfaces outward toward others in the office,” Varney says. “Effective leadership takes time and effort. Training and education of your employees can go a long way in avoiding office drama. Effective, non-judgmental communication is the very key to unlocking office drama.”

Trifecta for Prevention

To deter drama, Varney advises suggests the following three strategies:

1. Hire the right people for the job. Place people in positions which are a good match and let them succeed. If it isn’t a good match, you are setting the employee and yourself up for potential drama. “Pre-employment assessments are at the top of DeemHR’s recommendation list,” Varney says. “Pre-employment assessments can help managers decide if a prospective employee has ‘the right stuff’ for a position or the work environment. Assessments can be specific to a position. For example, a teller needs to have both attention to detail and a demeanor of helpfulness toward clients.”

Assessments can also help determine the group dynamics and help management assess potential in current employees such as whether they trend toward sales or service. Getting the right person for the right job applies to promotions, too. Just because an employee can really do their job well doesn’t mean they can supervise others doing it. When promoting people into supervisory positions, make sure they have the necessary skills and assess their ability to lead others, not control others.

Tip: Leading others at its core is teaching others, whether by example or helping the employee to learn through other methods. “Controlling is like herding cattle. The cattle never learn anything but to do what the herdsman tells them to do,” Varney says. “Leading is the difference between managing and micromanaging—the latter will wear you down over time.”

2. Communicate, communicate, communicate! Open and honest communication is a major factor in preventing office drama. Honesty is the best policy and this means being honest with yourself, too. “When it comes to performance or other office issues, telling white lies to avoid hurt feelings doesn’t serve anyone well,” Varney says. “Most employees know when things aren’t going well, even if they aren’t involved.”

By focusing on the job description, you can tell the truth without being personal. Make sure the job description is well written and contains information that states specific performance goals. For example, run monthly statistics reports with a 95% accuracy rate. Then when a problem arises, state the facts and don’t make a judgment for or against the employee. Active listening can help uncover nearly any issue.
Wrong: “Sharon, you are being lazy and sloppy lately. Your reports look awful. Get your act together.”
Right: “Sharon, your recent performance isn’t consistent with past performance. Let’s discuss this.” Pull the facts of the inconsistency or issues into the conversation to discern if this issue can be resolved or other actions should be taken. “Sharon, the last two management reports have not been complete. There are missing pieces here and here.”

What about situations where you can’t reveal everything? For instance, you know a merger is pending and the rumors are flying. But you’re not authorized to tell what you know. “These are times when the real leader can be born. Leaders don’t sit back and do nothing; they lead by example. If asked about the rumors, be honest and say, “I’m not authorized to discuss it.” Rumors, fear, and panic are emotions that are not conducive to the work environment or on a personal level of making major decisions,” says Varney.
“As a leader, you can help change the atmosphere. You can help employees feel empowered by letting people talk to you and do some active listening. This can help you formulate an informal meeting to discuss the situation/rumors. Don’t brush them aside but assure them: We are all in this together. Everyone is going to be okay. [I’ve been through many mergers and acquisitions; everyone came out for the better over time.] Each person must make their own decisions with the information they have at hand and sometimes people forget they have a choice.”

3. Value everyone on the team. Understand and appreciate everyone for their role in making the organization or department a success. “Often drama occurs when one or more people aren’t ‘working together’ to achieve positive results. Many times employees don’t understand how their work affects others,” says Varney.

You can avoid drama by realizing that every team member is valuable and making sure everyone knows how each person’s work affects another. Varney offers these tips:

• Create a work environment of open communication. Fear is not a great motivator and can really fuel a bad situation or environment; cooperation and comradely go much further.
• Meet informally more often than formally. It’s a great way to build a team! Take time to know what is going on and praise those who do good work. Realize that everyone is going to have an off day or two and build tolerance of that within your team.
• Make objectives and goals clear and avoid blame. The blame game is a sport no one should play. Finding solutions to issues is the game to play.
• Train employees on how to listen to others without judging. Many people just need to vent or explain their feelings out loud to someone else. Don’t take them on—just listen and don’t judge them. Usually the “real” issue will surface and will be much easier to deal with than what you may be thinking when trying to judge it.
• Train employees on how to talk to each other when there is miscommunication. Practice active listening. When discussing issues, have the other person repeat back what they think they heard.
• Highlight a position each month and tell how that position contributes to the whole. “I personally love to remind people that if it wasn’t for maintenance, we’d all be in the dark and up to our eyeballs in filth,” says Varney.

Prior to joining DeemHR (www.DeemHR.net) Debbie Varney worked in banking positions from teller to branch manager before joining the HR department. This story appeared in Branch Manager’s Letter at www.branchmanagersletter.com and is reprinted with permission. Contact publisher Lana J. Chandler at 304-343-0206 or Lana@BranchManagersLetter.com.