Dealing With Personalities

Sometimes in dealing with employees, we encounter issues of personality. It may be a personality trait or characteristic that we simply don't like. Or it may be a personality trait or characteristic that other people (such as co-workers) don't like and thus complain to you. Should this be included in a formal or informal performance review? Does it warrant counseling or even stronger disciplinary measures?

Here's the key question to consider: "Does the personality trait impact the department, or does it simply annoy you?" If the personality trait impacts the department, then consider this: "Is it truly disruptive to performance and/or offensive to others, or are others intolerant because they don't happen to like the person?"

Generally speaking (and it is hard to be general about this), personality issues should only be dealt with when the result is a very definite work related performance issue or when a reasonable third party would conclude that the behavior, trait or characteristic is offensive and not acceptable in the workplace.

It's a fine line and there's no perfect answers. For example, do they simply lack good manners (probably not an issue) or are they rude to others (probably an issue)? Do they mumble to themselves when working alone and others complain "that's weird" (probably not an issue) or do they have a loud voice that disrupts the thought process and conversations of others (probably an issue)?

If it's a department performance issue, you'll need to deal with it by way of a performance review and/or disciplinary measures. If its a simple annoyance you'll have to decide how much effort you want to put into attempting to get them to change their behavior weighed against the idea the the co-workers and you will just have to accept it, live with it, overlook it, get over it and move on remembering that each us probably have our own little annoying quirks as well.


About me: Dan Pelley is an educator specializing in management training and development programs for supervisors and other first-line managers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI). The issue recited is often raised by participants in his "Effective Performance Appraisals" and "Handling the Difficult Employee" seminars. These programs can be presented in-house at your company. Contact us to learn more.

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