Investing the time to hear what's troubling a difficult employee can turn around a situation. Mary Mayhre, director of organizational transformation for CIBER, an international systems integration consulting firm, was working with a small company as it implemented new human resources software.
Tammy, a human resources employee, was unhappy because the new software would significantly change her job. Employees had relied upon Tammy to create reports for them, but with the new system, employees would be able to create their own reports.
Anticipating the change, Tammy became abrupt and uncooperative. Mayhre spoke with Tammy, telling her that she would still be very important to the department because of her technical skills and her understanding of the new software. Mary pointed out to Tammy that people would come to her with questions whenever they were having problems with the software and were frustrated.
As a result of this conversation, Tammy became the company's go-to person to deal with the system. Tammy also became more engaged and more helpful. All it took was someone to remind Tammy how important she was to the people around her.