Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.

People sometimes behave badly at work. We wish they didn’t. When they do, we would rather not deal with it. We would all prefer that such unpleasantness would just go away and not recur. But our failure to deal effectively with disruptive behavior at work—or anywhere else for that matter—means it will recur more often.

Disruptive behavior creates real problems in the workplace. It causes stress and aggravation for everyone involved. Good people start to dread coming to work. Mistakes happen, motivation falters and results suffer. If this continues, the best workers will find another place to work. When bad behavior goes unchallenged others will conclude they can get away with it too and start to behave the same way. Before you know it, the jerks are running the company.

This means that effective leaders must confront and contain disruptive behavior in the workplace if they hope to retain their best people and produce exceptional results. No large organization has yet reported it has entirely eliminated disruptive behavior. Unrestrained, boorish behavior will always emerge. It is not easy, but inappropriate behavior must be addressed. This blog entry and those that follow will suggest a practical approach to this frustrating leadership challenge and explain exactly how leaders can get it done.

1.  Admit you have a problem. This is not an easy step to take. We select the best colleagues we can find and we hate to admit that we were wrong. Since the most disruptive people usually have critical skills, we are strongly inclined to tolerate their shortcomings.

2. Make up your mind. Most of us know what we need to do, but we just don’t want to do it. If you wait until you feel like confronting disruptive behavior in your workplace, you never will.

3. Line up the support you need. As you know, many executives and board members just want to avoid discomfort. These natural weenies are inclined to wave the white flag when the going gets the least bit tough. You must make sure they will hold the line when the disruptive people reach out and touch them. And they will.

How do you deal with disruptive behavior in your work environment?