I need help managing an employees behaviour

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I’m a relatively new manager within the team 2 months and I’ve spent some time having 1-1s and getting a feel for the culture.

One issue has cropped up repeatedly - the noise level of “katie” (not her real name).

Katie is LOUD. She’s loud on the phone, she’s loud across the office and she’s loud when she’s sat next to you.

Katie also likes to talk. A lot. About her dog and what film she watched last night and her lunch and the rain and and and and and …..

Once she’s exhausted chat with one person she’ll have the same chat with another. Then another.

I’ve sat out with the team for the last week and no change, she seems oblivious to how distracting she is. Her productivity is down compared to her peers.

Here’s the issue….according to my handover this is a known issue. Repeatedly tried to be tackled by other managers to no avail. It’s too hard to track “talking” and nobody wants an office like a mortuary.

I have a 1-1 with her tomorrow. How would you tackle this?

Stick to productivity as the primary issue and that it's noted that her talking may be a large part of that.

Are you looking to put her on a PIP for the productivity or any other issues?

You mentioned that in your handover previous managers have ‘tried to tackle this’ - how? Is ‘Katie’ actually aware of how disruptive she is being to the office dynamic and has this ever been communicated to her? If she seems oblivious then is it possible that no one has ever given her this feedback in fear she might not take it very well etc? You also mentioned productivity, which sounds as if it could be related to her willingness to chat over work but still a separate issue. In regards to the productivity I’d use a coaching and feedback approach - “are you aware that your productivity is lower than your peers”, “can you think of any reasons that might account for this?”. In regards to the talking, if you feel that you don’t want to overstep as you are new and still getting to know everyone then I would just say that it has been mentioned in the handover you were given and was she aware of this and just go from there.