In most organisations there will come the time when a new member of staff joins with all the skills needed to do their role, but for one reason or another they just don’t ‘fit in’ with the rest of the team. Here are our top tips on the do’s and don’ts when you have an employee that doesn’t fit in…
Do’s
- Remember that diversity is good for business. The statistics back it up. That said it’s not always easy accommodating different characters, but don’t find in hindsight that you have ‘recruited for diversity, but then dismissed for difference.’
- ‘Odd balls’ often have a very different way of viewing the world. In the modern world that is highly competitive and fast changing, this probably needs to be valued rather than criticised. So ensure other staff do not bully those who do not fit into their neat tidy ‘boxes’.
- Learn to listen rather than pre-judge each person. Whilst your initial thought might be that they are ‘odd’, if you learn to work with them you might find that they have a lot of really valuable skills and behaviours to offer your team.
- Get your team to try to include and engage with those who don’t immediately fit in. Shy is not ‘odd’, reserved is not ‘odd’, having to get home for child care rather than go out with colleagues at the end of each day is not ‘odd’. Encourage inclusion and acceptance of all people.
- Be aware that some ‘odd balls’ are not in fact odd, but have a disability. Human beings have a tendency to call ‘odd’ people who are not quite like ourselves, but this can be dangerous given our employment laws.
Don’ts
- Allow anyone to be bullied just because they are a bit different.
- Think that all managers must have been born with the skills to work with all people. Sometimes they need support, guidance and/or training too. Managing people is notoriously difficult for just about everyone.
- Hesitate to move out of the team, through good management during probation, if someone is so ‘odd’ in their behaviour that team members are uneasy or uncomfortable around them. Be tolerant and encouraging of difference, but you do not have to continue working with someone whose behaviour is extreme or unacceptable.
- Just formally manage or dismiss someone without giving them a chance to understand what aspect of their behaviour is being viewed as ‘odd’ by their colleagues. Not everyone is self aware, so give them an opportunity to understand and then time to change – assuming they are open to change.
- Feel on the back foot just because someone is really ‘off the wall’, different in their thinking, highly intelligent etc. As a manager you don’t need to be all powerful and capable of dealing with everything that might be thrown at you. Instead work on your patience, your listening skills, your empathy and your tolerance, but then step right in with a (metaphorical) left hook if someone is putting you down.
And Finally…
10.5 “The most damaging forms of intolerance are connected with religious, racial and political differences of opinion”. Anyone in your team view someone as ‘odd’, simply because they themselves are intolerant, rather than your other employee is ‘odd’?
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