MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

CFO Daily News

MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Finance Technology
  • More
    • Employment Law
    • Strategy
    • Policy and Culture
    • Fraud
    • Payments and Transactions
    • Budgeting and Forecasting
    • Banking
    • Staff Management
    • Cost Control
    • Supply Chain
    • IT

Poisonous attitudes: Stopping it before it spreads

Jennifer Azara
by Jennifer Azara
April 3, 2009
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

discipline

You’d think these days people would just be happy to have a job. But the bad attitudes are still there. In fact, they may be even worse now.

After all, many folks are being asked to step up and do more — not only without a raise, but in some cases while swallowing a pay cut!  But the last thing you want is for one bad attitude to poison the rest of your finance staff.

So, what’s your best course of action to minimize the damage and salvage the offending staffer?

Here’s a three-step plan that can help turn even the worst attitude around.

Step 1: Decide how bad it really is

Granted, fuses are probably pretty short on both sides of the desk.  So people may be quicker to complain about co-workers.

That’s why it couldn’t hurt to a take step back and determine just how bad that individual’s attitude really is.

In stressful times like these if the behavior is relatively minor, it may be better to let it slide. Someone who talks too much or the opposite — or conversely, is too withdrawn — isn’t that big of a problem in the grand scheme of things. And occasional complaints are going to happen. These are the types of behaviors that may be better left unaddressed so you don’t end up with an even bigger problem on your hands.

However, there are plenty of bad attitudes that cannot be overlooked. A few examples:

  • behavior that upsets co-workers so much it disrupts their work
  • frequent mistakes
  • attendance problems, and
  • constant complaining.

One or more of those, and you’ll want to act fast.

Step 2: Broach the subject the right way

So, you’ve decided you need a sit-down with a staffer who has a bad attitude. Naturally, this is a matter you’ll want to address in private.

But what you say is just as crucial as where you say it.

You’ll have better luck if you address the behavior, rather than the attitude.

After all, you can actually see (and document for performance review purposes) a behavior.

Better to tell someone, “It’s unacceptable for you to turn your back and walk away when another employee is still talking to you,” than, “You have a bad attitude.”

It’s more concrete and more correctable.

Step 3: Follow up and follow through

No matter what the upshot of your conversation, what comes next is key.

First, you’ll want to follow up with this individual in a specified window of time to address whether the problem behaviors are disappearing.

Then be prepared to follow through. If you’re not seeing the improvement you expected by the time you expected it, this could be the end of the line for this person’s tenure with you. If you’re not prepared for that from the minute you start the ball rolling, you may buy yourself some even bigger headaches.

Jennifer Azara
Jennifer Azara
Jennifer, a member of the CFO Daily News staff, has covered business and finance for more than 22 years. She has written for CFOs, credit and collections professionals and accounts payable practitioners and has spoken at industry conferences on sales and use tax compliance.

Keep Up To Date with the Latest Finance News

With CFO Daily News arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on accounting, benefits, payroll & employment law strategies.

Sign up for a free CFO Daily News membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
CFO Daily News Logo
  • ABOUT CFO DAILY NEWS
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Payroll
  • Policy and Culture
  • Employment Law
  • Fraud
  • Finance Technology
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Strategy
  • Payments and Transactions
  • Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Banking
  • Staff Management
  • Cost Control
  • Supply Chain
  • IT

CFO Daily News, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest Finance and employment law news for Finance professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, CFO Daily News delivers actionable insights, helping Finance execs understand what Finance trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

preloader