The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handling Difficult Employees

By Robert Bacal

The Complete Idiot's Guide To Handling Difficult Employees, released in June, 2000, and written by Robert Bacal is written for people who work with difficult employees. While the book presents solutions from the manager's point of view, the principles and realities presented in the book are sure to help anyone stuck with working with a difficult employee. Coming in in excess of 300 pages, it is a hands-on practical guide, with just enough theory to help you make intelligent decisions about how to handle those difficult people. We've provided some chapter excerpts and table of contents for your convenience. The final book version may differ slightly from the information presented here. Available in bookstores, you can save by buying at amazon.com by clicking on the cover to the right.

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Table of Contents and excerpts from Part 2

Table of Contents Part I

 Part 1: You Can’t Smack ’Em—Manage Them Instead

Chapter 1 - Don’t Just Sit and Suffer

The Cost of Difficult People
            The Cost to You
            The Cost to Others—It’s Not Just All About You
            The Cost to the Organization
101 Uses for Difficult People
The Canary—Difficult but Handy
Looking in the Mirror
Avoid Being a Victim
The Perils of Inaction
Leaping Before You Look
Four Reasons You Might Choose to Be a Victim
            Disbelief (This Can’t Be Happening)
            Desire to Avoid Confrontation
            Nobody Wants to Be the Bad Guy
            The Fight or Flight Thing
 You Can Do Something—You Must Do Something

 The Least You Need to Know

Chapter 2- The Magical Manipulative Ways of the Difficult

It’s Not the Difficult People, It’s the Difficult Behavior
How Labeling People as Difficult Causes Problems
An Alternative—Focus on Behavior
At Every Desk a Difficult Person (Sometimes)
It Takes Two
The Various Manipulative Techniques of the Difficult
Direct Work-Related Difficult Behavior
Attacks on You, the Manager
Difficult Interpersonal Behavior
Back-Channel Guerrilla Work
Chronic Versus Occasional Difficult Behavior
How Does Knowing All This Help?

The Least You Need to Know

 Chapter 3 - What Makes Difficult People Tick … and Tick …

You Don’t Need to Be a Shrink to Understand Them
Are They Just Screwed Up?
It’s About What People Have Learned
It’s Also About Skill
It’s Also About Emotion
What Are Difficult People After?
Sense of Control
Straw That Stirs the Drink
I’m Not Much So I Have a Lot to Prove
A Reaction—I Need a Reaction
Weird Biology—Weird Science
How Does Knowing All This Help?

The Least You Need to Know

Chapter 4 Why Me, Lord, Why Me?—The Manager’s Burden

It’s Probably Not Personal
… But It Might Be You
Identifying if It Is You
It’s Your Choice to Change
The Manager’s Extra Burden
Responsibility for Your Work Unit’s Productivity
Responsibility for Staff Welfare
Responsibility for Mediation
It’s In Your Self-Interest

The Least You Need to Know

Chapter 5 - Keeping Your Feet on the Ground with Difficult People

It Isn’t Going to Work with Me
Blaming and Problem-Solving—the Difference
Avoid the Lowest Common Denominator
Slow Down Your Talk and Responses
Listen and Paraphrase
Call Time Out
What You Focus on You Get More of
Think Big Picture—Think Long Term
Using Self-Talk to Stay Balanced
Negative, Non-Constructive Self-Talk
Positive Constructive Self-Talk

The Least You Need to Know

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Table of Contents and excerpts from Part 2