The “X files”: managing unwanted staff behaviours and attitudes

Highlights the viewpoint that managers have the “right” to request individuals within their team to modify or change behaviours that may fall outside organisational or desirable team norms and adversely affect individual or team work performance. Empirical and experiential evidence suggest that managers and team leaders, have difficulty in managing such behaviours because they are perceived as personality driven (and largely unchangeable), as opposed to mainly learned – and therefore have the potential to be changed or “unlearned”. Similarly, the fact that behaviours are personal attributes rather than task or technical ones – makes confronting them a contentious and potentially, painful process for all concerned. The application of acute interpersonal skills, together with a structured methodology for formulating and agreeing behavioural performance objectives, can eradicate the more destructive behavioural elements within their team in a constructive way.