A three-step plan for dealing with whiny employees

You can see her steaming down the hall toward you, fire in her eyes: It’s Angry Angie, always burning with indignation about something some co-worker did just to irritate her!

This isn’t a problem with Angie’s co-workers. It’s a problem with her. What do you tell her?

You could try this three-step approach:

• Remind Angie that she only has a certain amount of time and energy, and when she spends it watching and complaining about others, she’s taking that energy away from her own performance.
• Don’t let Angie shift responsibility for HER problems onto you. Ask, “How do you plan to deal with it?” (Of course, if a co-worker really has done something out of line, you DO have a responsibility to address it.)
• Make clear that you want positive, not negative, attitudes in your department or team, and what you’re seeing right now from her is the latter.

photo credit: Daniel R. Blume