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Call them difficult Individual/s of the group or Insubordinate towards their peers, intentionally refusing the work assignments and seeking constant contacts.
Aren’t they pain to work with?
Are you thinking someone at work?
If you are, don’t worry you are not alone.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.
Steve Jobs
I have come across managed several types of insubordinate employees, peers in my career whom I have tried to provide enough advice, suggestions and improvement opportunities to change and guide them to the right direction
sometimes it did work and have failed too, but I tried – didn’t give up on them!
I strongly believe that everyone needs an opportunity to change, direct supervisors and leaders should guide them in the right manner
No doubt it needs a lot of efforts and attention from their leaders
Please do read my another blog about How To Build Magical Employees In Our Projects – Project Insights (projinsights.com)
As a Project Manager you will be spending a large part of your time dealing with People.
Here are the Qualities and skills required as a Project Leader laid out by PMI.
I do like the sentence mentioned in the PMBOK Guide goes like this,
Politics and its associated elements are not “good” or “bad,” “positive” or “negative” alone. The better the project manager understands how the organization works, the more likely he or she will be successful.
The project manager observes and collects data about the project and organizational landscapes. The data then needs to be reviewed in the context of the project, the people involved, the organization, and the environment as a whole.
PMBOK Guide 6th Edition
It is a very difficult position to be in as a leader!
You are taking a bait by giving an opportunity to someone who is spoiling the entire teams morale.
An insubordinate employee is dangerous to have on your team.
If you allow insubordination to go unanswered for even one day it will destroy the team as well.
You can’t keep it going and should stop it immediately.
Most of the insubordinate employees are kind of followed by someone whom they think they are cool probably they don’t understand that it isnt.
According to me there are two kinds of Insubordination:
- Behavioral as in Constant Contact Needed and disciplinary issues (example – attendance issues, mobile usage etc.)
- Performance as in Never accepts or completes the work assignment/s or always there is an excuse or delay
No-one can prove unless given an Opportunity – Project Insights (projinsights.com)
Opportunity is not something everybody gets but if you provide it appropriately who know anyone can perform. Everyone wants to be in a winning team not the opposite.
Some Interesting videos & articles I came across while writing this article.
- To know the different types of Insubordination feel free to read this link – What Types of Behavior Indicate Insubordination?
- How to Handle: an Insubordinate Employee
- How to Deal with Difficult People | Jay Johnson | TEDxLivoniaCCLibrary
Conclusion
It is never easy to be a leader, you will be tested even though you have the right skills and qualifications to lead a team.
Especially managing people is not something you can just do by following a book it is an art and it needs constant communication with strong rapport building.
At the same time having insubordination within the team leads to numerous challenges like employee turnover, retentions and more importantly project failure.
In my upcoming article, I will be covering some of the tips and suggestions on how to handle the insubordinate employees along with the actions you must take.
Stay tuned!
So will you try to change/provide an opportunity to your people or just punish them? What type of initiatives did you bring in to change these Insubordinate employees.
Please leave your comments below on how you handled Insubordinate employees.