Dealing with "The Champion" at Work

Dealing with the “Champion” at Work: The Need for Management Courage

If you own a business or have managed employees as part of your work, perhaps the following scenario is uncomfortably familiar: An employee (of either gender) is walking down the hallway, coffee cup in hand, when he or she hears two co-workers telling some jokes across the room. These jokes certainly aren’t raunchy, but they are a little edgy.

The two co-workers aren’t shouting their jokes; they’re using whispered tones. The passing employee has to strain to hear the punchline, but he or she has picked up enough of the context to be outraged. His or her next stop is your office, where the story comes out in full detail that the office has become the dreaded “hostile work environment.”

This employee sees similar injustices everywhere. (I worked with a woman who kept careful track of the number of times people cursed. If she had worked for me, I would’ve said, “We need to give you more to do.”) The events they witness range from playful banter between two longtime friends, mild flirting between consenting single adults on their lunch breaks, or practical jokes that are fun and funny, without crossing the line of being offensive.

Certain employees who see these things can become the self-appointed “champions” of appropriate behavior in the office. They wear out a literal path to the Human Resources office. They corner every manager, supervisor, or senior executive and rail about the unfair treatment, the hostile work environment, and the certain fact that management is “allowing” these behaviors to take place, to the detriment of all employees who simply want to work in a safe and comfortable place.

Not surprisingly, the “champion” is none too popular at work. Because he or she goes around as the self-selected behavior monitor, co-workers can go deathly silent when the “champion” walks in the room. People who don’t like or trust the “champion” reduce their conversations to “good morning,” “How was lunch?,” and “See you tomorrow.”

The ironic part is that while the “champion” is a great observer of the foibles of others, he or she is not a good employee. And the “champion’s” supervisor has to walk a delicate balance when confronting his or her poor work. Any attempt to write a performance improvement plan or any type of written corrective notice, is met with howls of protest that because the “champion” has blown the whistle, the supervisor is therefore retaliating against him or her.

So what’s the solution? How do you successfully manage the “champions” and their entitlements? How do you confront their poor performance, coupled with the distraction techniques they employ to deny their ineptitude? How do you talk to them about behavior or attitude issues, without thinking you’re going to get sued after every conversation?

The solution to managing the “champion” is a simple challenge: use management courage. We can define these rare skills as both the ability and the desire to have the necessary crucial conversations with the “champions.” Courageous business leaders will say this, “I’m sorry what you heard or saw seemed offensive to you. I disagree that it violates our harassment prevention policies. Our company is careful to evaluate the behavior and performance of every employee. Not everything that goes on here is aimed directly or indirectly at you. I want you to focus on your specific work tasks and activities and simply stop worrying about everyone else. As your boss, I have the right to evaluate your work performance. That’s what I will focus on, so if you see negative marks on your appraisal, know that it has to do with deficiencies I see in either your work performance, attendance, attitude, or violation of our policies. Don’t take this personally; we are having a business conversation. Please go back to work. I will pay attention to our issues here; I want you to pay attention to your own work.”

The tool of choice for the courageous manager is coaching. We define coaching as a mutual, non-disciplinary, performance-focused conversation. Courageous managers can initiate as many coaching conversations as necessary, until they don’t see any changes, which is when they know to switch to progressive discipline.

Dealing with the”champion” by using coaching is paradoxical. The courageous manager knows he or she will have to spend more time with the “champion,” not less. The “champion” will require more meetings, more goal-setting, and more interactions with the supervisor, not less, even though there is the natural human tendency to want to avoid what can be a series of draining conversations.

Workplace “champions” think they win when they are given generous severance or retirement packages to leave, promotions or transfers they don’t deserve, or are allowed to continue to bully their co-workers into submission. The business owner or manager who stands his or he ground can fight the “champion’s” poor performance, disruptive behavior, and entitled attitude with consequences, coaching, and courage.

Dr. Steve Albrecht, PHR, CPP, is a trainer, speaker, and consultant in San Diego, CA. He can be reached at drsteve@drstevealbrecht.com.