The Workplace Coach

Twice this week I’ve had clients tell me that they are having challenges dealing with ‘combative’ employees. I thought it was interesting that they both used the same word, combative, and it got me thinking.

In the early 60s Douglas McGregor came up with his theory on employee motivation. His X and Y theory suggested that there are two categories of employee – the X category who dislike work, lack ambition, avoid responsibility and need constant direction and control, and the Y category who are self-motivated, enjoy challenges, take on personal responsibility and seek autonomy.

McGregor recommended very different management styles for each category. He suggested that the X employees would need a rigid, authoritarian style with close supervision, and liberal use of both punishment and rewards. The Y employees he felt would work best with a more collaborative, empowered approach with delegation, trust and autonomy.

He’s probably not too far off the mark but thankfully management theory has evolved a little in the last 60 years. Something that we can take from McGregor is the notion of trying to understand employee motivation. What would motivate an employee to be ‘combative’ with their manager? Surely they don’t think that giving your boss a hard time is going to end well?

In most cases, it’s probably going to be something of a self-protection defensive mechanism. The employee may not have the skills, knowledge or experience to be very effective in their role, they might be suffering from some imposter syndrome, and they desperately don’t want to be caught out. So to distract from their lack of capability, they might take an aggressive approach to dealing with feedback or criticism from their manager, peers or even customers.

There is a couple of ways this might manifest, and if you’ve experienced this type of behaviour then you might relate to some of these examples:

• They openly challenge you or your authority in meetings,
• They question your knowledge or technical expertise,
• They start looking for support from peers to create an alliance against you,
• They undermine you overtly or covertly,
• They appear to be doing what you asked but then white-ant you or sabotage the results,
• They start acting out, raising their voice or making threats.

Now I know it’s tempting sometimes to fight fire with fire. You might feel like putting the ‘boss hat’ on, to be the big dog and exercise positional power or authority. Let me tell you… that rarely works and at best will result in temporary but disgruntled compliance and a longer term problem.

Call me an optimist but I do think that we can get many of these relationships back on track. It is going to require you as the manager to be the adult and take responsibility for trying to fix things. Brene Brown talks about being prepared to rumble.

A rumble is a discussion, conversation or meeting defined by a commitment to lean into vulnerability, to stay curious and generous, to stick with the messy middle of problem identification and solving, to take a break and circle back when necessary, to be fearless in owning our parts, and to listen with the same passion with which we want to be heard.

The challenge is in trying to understand their motivation. If we start with the assumption that most people are in the Y category, and that they want to come to work, do a good job, and be recognised for doing so, then we have to accept that a combative employee feels like they are missing out on something and have no other avenue for addressing their frustrations.

Your job is to figure out what’s going on so that you can do something to fix it. Are they feeling overwhelmed? Unclear on their objective? Unsupported or undervalued? Unappreciated?

Do they feel like you are blocking them? Or that you are taking credit for their work? Are they feeling micromanaged? Do they need more autonomy? Or do they actually need more direction?

So how to approach the issue? Well, you are the leader and that means you get to go first. My suggestion would be to start by taking off your armour and inviting your employee to have a real conversation.

You are going to talk about your desire to resolve the tension, work effectively together, actually be on the same side, your intention to see them succeed. This is going to require you to be vulnerable, open to whatever they might say, constantly curious and genuine in your intent to resolve this.

It sounds simple but it is going to be a challenging discussion, and be prepared that you may not crack that nut with the first meeting. Just know that fixing the problem will be infinitely easier, quicker and less painful than trying to get rid of it.

If you are ready to tackle the dysfunction in your team reach out to The Workplace Coach and let us help you get your team all pulling together in the same direction.