 When you have team members who don't want to work in your team, it is really frustrating, annoying, painful even. In fact, it is all around bad news for everyone in the team and definitely for you. The pressure is on you, the manager, to fix the problems quickly and this pressure will keep rising. Other team members will start commenting, your boss will start commenting and it goes downhill from there. You want to change the attitude of team members who don't want to work as quickly as possible, preferably before everyone starts venting their frustrations. I'm going to take you through six different approaches to tackle this situation. The most important thing for you to do is to take effective action to reduce the impact of those team members who don't want to work. My name is Jess Coles and I've had a 25 year management career in corporates and household names through to SMEs. I've had to deal with a number of team members who didn't want to work and in most cases turned this around to my benefit and the team members' benefit. If you're new to this channel, Enhance.Training shares business and people management expertise to help you improve your performance and that of your team and business. And if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe. The first step to deal with employees who don't want to work is to work out what went wrong. 19 out of 20 people or more want to do a good job at work. They don't want to let their team members down and they don't want to be at the bottom of the pack socially or professionally. So when handling a team member who doesn't want to work, it makes absolute sense to find out what is causing the lazy work attitude. Most of the time there are reasons for the drop-off in work ethic and these reasons can be fixed. Ask the individual who you are having problems with. Find out what has happened to change their attitude. Just be mindful that it could be you or something you said or done. Think through all the possible actions that you've taken which do impact the person who doesn't want to work to see if you can figure out possible causes. If the individual is not happy to talk to you or gives you bland answers which tell you very little, you could be the problem and you should try a different approach. Ask one of the other team members you trust and who trusts you to try to get the answers you need and do specifically ask them to find out if you, the manager, is the cause of the individual's work ethic problem. And as a last resort, you could ask a member of the HR team to speak to the individual to find out what the issues are. Once you have a better idea of what is causing a team member not to want to work, you will have a much better chance of fixing the issue quickly. The second way to handle team members who don't want to work is to make sure they know what is expected of them. I know this sounds obvious to many of you. I'm always surprised at how many situations the individuals have a very different expectation of what's expected of them compared to their manager. Setting clear expectations helps everyone. Do take a look at our How to Manage Expectations at Work video for more advice on this. Spend time working out exactly what you expect of each team member, taking into account their strengths and capabilities. Then be really clear in how you communicate your expectations of what you think they should be delivering. Also, ask for their input. The aim is to come up with a set of expectations that you both understand and accept. Then put this in writing to the individual so you both have a written reference document. Work out how you're going to measure progress or ask the individual to work out this step. With a team member who doesn't want to work, getting clear expectations will usually produce one of two general outcomes. The first is they are delighted to know what is expected of them and they will start delivering against these expectations on their own or with your help. The second outcome, which does happen, is that they are unwilling to meet these expectations or they're unable to meet these expectations. Take a look at our video on How to Deal with Underperformers. With expectations clearly set, you are in a good position for either outcome and can take the appropriate next steps. The third way to deal with team members who don't want to work is give them confidence to share their problems. It can be pretty scary for team members to share their problems with their manager. The employees are worried about the consequences of doing so. Will their manager think less of them, cut them out of interesting projects or activities, put them down, criticise them and so on. We all have to deal with problems all the time in life. Sometimes these problems significantly impact us and we are not able to overcome them without help from others. A helping hand, giving the person extra space, reducing their workload, just listening to them and being empathetic can all make a huge difference to the person with, say, problems in their personal life that is impacting their attitude and performance at work. Giving support in their moment of need can pay back any increase in motivation, loyalty and performance later on. So show support and empathy and emphasise that you are there to help support them to help them do the best job that they can. Your actions, rather than your words, will build trust. With trust, you will be much more likely to find out what their problems are and can help them fix them. Not unsurprisingly, I think finding out about work related problems is actually harder than finding out about the personal life ones. But again, approach in the same way I've just outlined. If you don't know what the problems are, your options to help them are limited. The fourth way to deal with employees who don't want to work is to spell out what is in it for them. Motivating employees is not always easy and everyone has different motivators. Common motivators might include, firstly, getting praise and recognition. Secondly, it could be getting challenge and learning opportunities. It could be third, more money through bonuses, et cetera. Or fourth, it could be getting greater responsibilities. Fifth, it could be increasing social and professional status. Sixth, it could be getting promoted, which incorporates most of the points we've just talked about. And there are others. Some employees need what is in it for them spelt out. Find out what their motivators are. Give them a path to achieving what they want. Help them with the how to achieve each stage and to help them progress. And of course, align this path with what you need them to do, with what the team and the business need them to do as well. In many cases, this can help in handling lazy team members who don't want to work or who are drifting through their days at work. The fifth way to handle team members who don't want to work is to help them develop the skills to do their job. The most common reason team members don't have the skills to do their job, certainly that I've come across, is when the business is growing and the team members have not grown their skills with the growing requirements of their role. Recruitment issues, changing business requirements and expectations and pressures put upon employees, which they just can't deliver against, are other reasons for this type of situation to occur. And there are plenty of other reasons too. Once you've worked out that the person does not have the skills to do their job well, a couple of broad options to consider are. Firstly, train, mentor and coach individuals that have the aptitude and will to learn quickly so you can get their skill levels up to the level required. Secondly, you could move the individual into a more appropriate role within the business that plays to their strengths and skill level. And third, you could move the individual out of the business if they have little interest in learning a poor attitude or other performance issues. Which route or combination of routes you take will depend very much on the situation, the company culture and approach, and of course, the individual. Increasing the team members skill level is usually the best option for everyone concerned. It may not always be practical or sensible to do this. The sixth way to deal with employees who don't want to work is to spot those unwilling to work and take action quickly. You'll come across employees who simply are not interested in really working, doing a good job or have a strong sense of entitlement. Or even worse, they might be toxic employees or difficult employees for various reasons. Do take a look at our video, Outlining Five Steps to Manage Difficult Employees. You can try some or all of the ways I've already outlined. There will be occasions when, whatever you try, the team member will not improve their approach to work and you will have to decide if you still want this person on your team. A negative employee or a person who is obviously not pulling their weight can be very demotivational for the team as a whole. Take action if you find yourself in this situation. I would recommend putting the team member who doesn't want to work onto a personal performance plan quickly. This plan sets out expectations, milestones, goals and measurement methods for the various aspects of their job in a formal way. This gives them a chance to improve and it also makes it clear that you're not going to let their continued behaviour approach an attitude slide. A personal performance plan also lays the groundwork for disciplinary action and the potential removal of the employee for poor performance if this is needed. You can also take a much more direct approach and remove the individual. Always check the employment laws before taking these steps and comply with them. So don't leave a difficult individual who doesn't want to work in your team. Do take action. In summary, they have six ways to deal with team members who don't want to work. The six ways are firstly, work out what went wrong. Secondly, make sure they know what is expected of them. Thirdly, give them the confidence to share their problems. Fourth, spell out what is in it for them. Fifth, help them develop skills to do their job well. And then sixth, spot those unwilling to work and take action quickly. Don't procrastinate or take no action. This is the worst approach of all. Having difficult conversations is not easy for anyone, even the most experienced managers. Yet they are conversations you must have to do a good job as a manager and keep the majority of your team happy and productive. Good luck in the actions that you take to handle team members who don't want to work. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below and I'll get back to you. Thanks very much for watching and I look forward to seeing you again soon.