You're managing a difficult team member in consulting. What's the best way to get them back on track?

You have to empathetically lean into unpacking the causes with the employee with a calm demeanour and engaging with active listening. I like co-creating challenge trees so the employee is engaged and involved in unpacking the issue/s, causes and effects. This in turn leads the employee feeling and being involved in crafting a mutually agreeable solution.

Setting up a one-on-one meeting, whether formal or casual over lunch, can provide an environment for open dialogue. It’s beneficial to position yourself as someone who is genuinely interested in their well-being. This allows the team member to express any underlying issues or concerns they may be facing. Sometimes, the solution may involve practical adjustments such as revisiting work schedules or implementing a feedback loop. In other cases, simply offering a listening ear and creating a supportive atmosphere can make a significant difference. By fostering open communication and demonstrating empathy, we can effectively address challenges and guide team members back on track.

The best way to solve any problem is to identify it earlier then usual, and having a plan to tackle the problem without it getting any blowbacks to the project. The stakeholder engagement matrix is one of the key artefact in any project as it lets you know the power and influence of all the concerned stakeholders, and it lets you prepare a plan for each of them. If you see any trouble brewing you can always consult your document and implement the appropriate solution.

The first step would be to meet with the team member and listen to the feedback. No matter how critical the consequences of the issue at hand might be, put your emotions aside and solely listen and observe. By asking the right open ended questions aim to find the root cause of the problem and reflected behavior. Be supportive, put yourself in the shoes of others. 5 Whys technique can help with identifying root causes. When this is finalized, prepare the action plan and ask for a commitment from the team member on the activities and deadlines set. Monitor the progress and reflect on the findings.

Once the problem is identified, its essential to establish clear and effective communication in order to share feedback with the team member. The gap in expectations and individual's performance needs to be communicated in a direct but empathetic manner. As a team lead, you need to be able to help your team member visualize the impact of his/her work at a larger scale, perhaps at organizational level. This would help bring in a sense of responsibility and ownership. In case the gap is due to some other personal reasons of the individual, its equally essential to come up with strategies to manage the individual's workload and personal life. You would have to sit and ideate with the individual to come up with a solution that works for both.

Here comes the tricky part. If the problem is solved and the team member gets back on track, wonderful! However sometimes, despite having taken the most understanding approach and coming up with an 'ideal' solution which works for both, the team and the difficult team member, they still don't deliver as per expectations. I believe a ' continuous feedback loop' helps in this case. Have recurring sessions with the individual to address any further challenges and accordingly tweak the action plan. Suggest ways in which the individual could improve his/her work during these one-on-ones. I can vouch that this approach has proven effective in my professional experiences.

In case your approach doesn't seem to be working don't be shy to ask your seniors/peers for advice. Of course, there's no need of mentioning which team member is causing these problems, but seeking advice from others might help you understand why your approach isn't working. Most times, your peer/senior would draw from their own experience and share an approach which worked for them. Truth be told there is no 'one solution fits all', every individual differs and hence you need to be able to tweak your approach based on the person you're dealing with. And perhaps you might have to tweak it multiple times before the difficult team member actually gets back on track, and that's okay!

This one's important; you need to be able to build trust and rapport with your team. It only then that the difficult team member would be be able to share his/her challenges openly. It could be a skill gap, lack of motivation, personal problem or a personality issue like someone being an introvert and unable to effectively work in teams. Unless you have the basic trust and rapport with your team members, it will be difficult to fully understand where the issue lies.

This one's my favorite, for every unique situation/challenge, much like this one, helps you learn and grow as a leader. The more you face such situations, the more you learn how to tackle them in the best manner in future.