How do I handle this?

[Tomicca]

One of my direct reports has been badmouthing volunteers at my work. Obviously our volunteers are highly respected and this behaviour is unacceptable. I am fairly new to line management and I am meeting this staff member next week about the incident. I am looking for advice on how to handle this?

They are new to the company and I have already had to pull them up on being rude to other staff, they are very arrogant and short tempered. They have lots of great qualities around their own role but their people skills are terrible. How do I sit them down and manage the meeting while ensuring they won’t blow their top ? Any tips!

Are you familiar with your organisation's disciplinary procedure, Op? I would have a read of it and be willing to instigate it.

I would have another person in the room as well, someone impartial who can take notes if necessary.

Not fully but that’s a good idea I will read up on it on Monday, I’ve not had much training on the line managing side just the operational side of things.

I just want to be prepared if that makes sense

Ok that would be good as evidence.

Speak to your HR team about it & gauge how formal it should be - could be an informal chat which is still documented but not a disciplinary. Or could be a formal meeting with a follow up plan which if breached could lead to disciplinary procedure

We don’t have an HR team that’s why I’m coming here! I will discuss with my own manager on Monday and read up on policies. I think informal but documented might be good and if things don’t improve I can carry out the disciplinary procedure.

If they are new and they have already been pulled up on their behaviour before, then I would start something more formal

There is no point them being good at their job if they piss off the rest of the team

How new? Probation? I would seriously consider if they are a good fit. I have one of those - great at her work, but 0 social skills, rude and unpleasant. The trouble is, not really unpleasant enough for a disciplinary, so nothing is done, just continues making everybody else's workday miserable.

If you want to keep them you could always send them on a training course about how to be respectful of colleagues. Although honestly it’s not that difficult!

They are very new so yes under probation and yes it’s a worry that they may not be a good fit.
Thanks for your advice I will update next week after it’s taken place. They need a firm word but I want to be prepared, I know they will get defensive and it’s going to be difficult although because we have evidence of this badmouthing it guess it gives me something concrete to go by which helps a lot.

Does the company have a set of Values or expected behaviours?

What is this persons overall performance and capability like?

As someone who has been managing teams for about 20 years now, I generally find it easier to manage underperformance than poor behaviour.

Something like bad mouthing colleagues is ingrained behaviour, it shows a flawed personality and you will be telling them they need to hide that side of their personality at work, and they possibly won't agree that they're doing anything wrong.

So unless they are very talented, very capable and a difficult role to fill, I'd be looking at whether or not you want them to finish their probation.

Probation period is there so you can decide if someone is a good fit for the role and the company and so they can decide if the company is a good fit for them.

ˇI would want to see how they react. Embarrassed, admitting it happened, promising to take concrete steps to do better? Or rudely denying everything?

HR should help you through this. They know the policies and processes.