101 Tough Conversations to Have with Employees: A Manager’s Guide to Addressing Performance, Conduct, and Discipline Challenges

CHAPTER 10Personal Style Issues

Personal style issues come in all shapes and sizes. In fact, you could categorize almost any attitude problem or work ethic shortcoming into a topic this broad. As usual, we’ll want to focus on the most common and the most serious topics that are likely to come your way as a supervisor. We’ll address everything from suspected alcohol abuse to oversensitivity and from anger management to plain old laziness, while keeping an eye on handling predictable objections that may come your way, as well as dealing with hotheads who may respond emotionally.

Remember that when touching on topics that are near and dear to an employee’s heart and sense of self, your best bet will be to proceed in a sensitive but firm manner. ...