Hi All,

At my last job, I was a project manager, and I managed a lot of people. My projects were always at different facilities and my team members were always changing from project to project. If I had any "Hard to manage" people they were gone in a few months and I didn't really have to worry.

I have taken a job at a new company as an IT manager with a dedicated team of people.

I was just wondering how others handle the "Hard to manage" people in a dedicated team environment, and any team building ideas you might have.

mot98

"Is it friday yet?"

I have let those people know that I would rather not be a micro-manager, but that I am willing to do so if they cannot seem to take direction.  Typically that is all it seems to take with the few I have had to deal with.  If I have had to take on the reigns of micro-manager, I continue to dole out tasks, but target specific timelines or deliverables.  As they achieve or don't achieve I can evaluate them accordingly.

Can't say it's the best approach, but it tends to work with those that would rather be 'managing' themselves.

~Thadeus

First rule is to insist they meet your standards from day one. Never come in as the nice guy. Document anyone not meeting the standards - give them a chance to fix this  by telling them specifically what they have to fix and if they don't fix it by a certain time frame, then get rid of them. You aren't doing your team any favors by supporting dead wood.

Questions about posting. See FAQ183-874

Project managers are the make, and the break of the project, end of story.   They are responsible for the project, and thus need to manage it, as well as the resources needed for the project.   This includes the people resources as well as the physical resources.


The single best resource a project manager has is the feedback of the human resources they utilize in completing their projects.   Listen little to positive feedback from the human resources about your project management.  Encourage negative feedback by listening, validating, utilizing the feedback to improve the way your project management proccess, and style of management impacts the project resources.   

A good project manager serves those who work the project, not the other way around.   They are more important than you are, and need to be made to feel so by you.   In most cases, if you were a guru at what they did, you would not be allowed to stop doing it, and thus not be a project manager in the first place.  

These "hard to manage"  people are probable products of previous project managers/managers that quite frankly alienated people with their lack of servant attitude.  No one wants to be managed, they want to be lead.   The great leaders served thier people, not the other way around.

Maxwell has a great book called "developing the leader within you"   check it out, I have lead many teams over the past 20 years, and I use it like a field manual.   It serves me well.   Also, find the person in your life who you most wanted to follow, emulate them, and see if they will mentor you.   

Bad leaders in postions of power are followed by most paid to follow, with a few stragglers, or "hard to lead" followers.   Good leaders in positions of power influence most who they lead, and have very few "hard to lead"  followers which they learn to influence by leading.   Great leaders have next to none "hard to lead" followers because they have learned to create followers.    

if you want to decide if you are a bad, good, or great leader, look behind you, and see if you have followers.   The more you have, the better leader you are, the less you have the less of a leader you are.   With very, very, very, very few exceptions in a leaders life  the look behind says more about you, and less about them.   

lastly, a good leader is allergic to taking credit, and addicted to taking the heat.   

The answer to your question is based on a number of factors...

How big is your shop?
What is your management style?
How effective are the people in question at their jobs?
Are they received as key players? (by others in management, not you)
Does the difficulty arise form a power struggle?

How honestly you answer those questions determines how you should go forward.

Ok, here I go….. blahhhh, blahhhh, blahhh….

I’ve been on both sides of the fence, technical and non-technical.  I find non-techincal people are more easily managed.  

Managing projects is much different than managing people.  Also, when a project manager moves around a lot they have the pleasure of  not having to learn to deal with difficult people because they will be “gone in a few months”.  Development teams can have the same attitude about temporary PMs.  If you are in a permanent position with a permanent staff it’s a whole new game.  You are more accountable to your staff than you ever were as a PM.  I’ve seen staffs break bad managers like an egg on hot pavement.

Some people go into new manager positions and think they are going to save the world, fix things, set examples, let people know who is in control.  Sometimes it works.  Usually, the only time it works is when they were hired to clean house and were given a list.  

You don’t have to be a ‘nice guy/gal’ but you do need to build a relationship of trust and respect.  Respect is earned not given because of a title.  It’s not earned by making committee decisions, being nice, trying to motivate people that don’t want to be motivated, firing people or any number of other things.  It is earned by, for appearances sake anyway, treating everyone equal, acknowledging good and bad work, holding people accountable for the work they do, holding yourself accountable for the mistakes you might make, listening to subordinates until its irrefutable they are incompetent idiots (fire them) …..

Until you know how the shop works, why certain things are done the way they are done, what problems are real verses perceived who is leveraged for what and why, I’d hesitate to make big changes.  

I’ve been lucky enough to be mentored by one of the most successful (retired) bankers in the US.  He told me more than once ‘…if I fired everyone I didn’t like I’d be running things by myself…’.  He didn’t cosy up to people but when he walked thru departments he said hello to everyone he was acquainted with.  He knew something about most people that showed he knew more than their name.  He set people goals one notch higher than what he believed their abilities were.  He praised good work publically and chatised poor performance privately.  

At last, my real advice, figure out who your core people are, why and how to leverage them.  Try to work with people that are perceived as critical even if you don’t like them.  If you just can’t get along move them into a non-critical path or better yet don’t stand in their way when they want to transfer.  No matter what though don’t make them feel small.  Its easier to get people to work for you if they think you respect them.  

Superb advice, all.

Also I recommend my "Leadership Bible" - 'Small Unit Leadership' by Col Dandridge Malone USMC.  Yes it's for soldiers, but every example and method can be read across to civilian business, with great effect.

Hi all,

Thanks for all the good advice, and recommended books. I will definetely check them out.

I have been at the new job for a couple of months now, and am settling in nicely.

I seem to be developing a good working relationship with my team, and we have had no issues so far.

Thanks again.

mot98

"Is it friday yet?"