{"id":178,"date":"2018-07-24T11:01:01","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T11:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/107.170.231.162\/2018\/07\/24\/how-to-handle-a-needy-employee\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T11:02:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T19:02:52","slug":"how-to-handle-a-needy-employee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2018\/07\/24\/how-to-handle-a-needy-employee\/","title":{"rendered":"How to handle a needy employee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You have a needy employee. What do you do now?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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This (very cute) photo credit goes to Wikipedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m going to have to let someone go.\u201d I was at lunch the other day with an executive who admitted this to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked her why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s in my office every five minutes, asking me for help. I don\u2019t have time to answer her questions\u200a\u2014\u200aI just can\u2019t get anything done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s another way to put what she was describing: Her employee was needy. I understood where she was coming from. I\u2019ve managed employees who came across as needy in the past too. The person would ping me incessantly. Every decision required my input. The hand-holding drained me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always struggled with what to do about a needy employee. It\u2019s difficult to discern if this person simply wasn\u2019t a good fit for the role and needed to be reassigned (or let go)\u200a\u2014\u200aor if there was something more (and better) that I could do as a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help you make this distinction, I\u2019ve shared five things I\u2019ve learned from hundreds of conversations with CEOs and other leaders about managing a needy employee. It\u2019ll help you answer, \u201cWhat should I do before deciding to let go of a needy employee?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask what their previous manager was like.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you get burned, you don\u2019t forget it. Often times, a needy employee comes to you all the time because their previous manager punished them for mistakes\u200a\u2014\u200aand they fear similar repercussions. To figure out if your employee has gotten burned, you can ask, \u201cWho\u2019s the worst manager you ever had, and what did you not like about that person\u2019s leadership style?<\/em>\u201d Then based on their answer you can share how you currently are or would like to be different than this \u201cworst boss.\u201d Understanding who this \u201cworst boss\u201d was can help you adjust your own behavior, as needed. And, knowing that you\u2019re not this \u201cworst boss\u201d can help this employee become less fearful and overly reliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give permission to fail.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your employee might be a perfectionist. She\u2019s not used to messing up, and she doesn\u2019t want<\/em> to mess up. So she\u2019s sacrificing speed for smoothening edges that don\u2019t need to be smoothened. To curtail perfectionist tendencies, you need to give this person permission to fail. One of my favorite ways to do this is to borrow a few phrases from Reid Hoffman<\/a>, Founder of LinkedIn. He told<\/a> his Chief of Staff at the time that he wanted him to make judgment calls on a range of issues on his behalf without checking with him. Then he said, \u201cIn order to move fast, I expect you\u2019ll make some foot faults. I\u2019m okay with an error rate of 10\u201320%\u200a\u2014\u200atimes when I would have made a different decision in a given situation\u200a\u2014\u200aif it means you can move fast.<\/em>\u201d Tell your employee you expect foot faults and be clear on what error ratio you\u2019d prefer. When you do this for a perfectionist, you give them permission to not check in with you as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instill confidence in their role.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Insecurity drives us. And it often drives a needy employee. They want to impress you. Or they\u2019re worried about you firing them or passing them up for promotion. Now I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s your job as a leader to compensate for people\u2019s insecurity. Rather, I am saying to acknowledge the role insecurity plays in how people perform in their jobs. When you address someone\u2019s insecurity directly, you can minimize its effects. For example, when you directly say to your employee, \u201cI believe in you\u201d or \u201cI trust you on this\u201d, it means a great deal. Keep in mind if you do<\/em> say that, you must hold up your end of the bargain. You can\u2019t say you trust someone and then yell at her later for making a mistake. One phrase\u200a\u2014\u200aand one that you mean<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200acan go a long way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make clear what \u201cgood enough\u201d is.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A needy employee can act needy because you haven\u2019t given them what they need: Context. Your employee isn\u2019t clear on expectations. Have you explained the standard for what is \u201cgood\u201d work? Have you shown examples for what that \u201cgood\u201d work looks like? Have you talked through how you make decisions, and what criteria you judge? Have you defined the markers of success? Your employee\u2019s neediness may actually be confusion\u200a\u2014\u200aand it\u2019s your job as a manager to create coherence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell it straight.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you want this person\u2019s behavior to change, be straight forward about it. Let your employee know that you want to be less dependent on you. As harsh as it might sound initially, you can deliver the news kindly and helpfully. For example, you could say something like, \u201cI think you have the potential to take more ownership over projects. I can envision you coming to me 80% less of the time. What can I do to help make that happen?<\/em>\u201d When you\u2019re clear about what you want to be different, the person can just then go do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You might try one of these suggestions, you might try a few. Either way, I hope you give them a shot before choosing to letting someone go. Sometimes letting the person go is the right answer\u200a\u2014\u200abut you\u2019ll know it\u2019s the right answer if you\u2019ve tried at least one of these recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll be sending this article to the executive I saw for lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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