I once had a co-worker in our section at AECL who procrastinated testing and put team members down to make them look better. As a result, samples that they were responsible for were analyzed beyond the requested holding time. They missed the client’s expectations. The team morale went down. Some internal clients chose to subcontract analysis for a better turn-around-time service.

[Ron described it as: the person was not up to the challenge.]

I have developed some strategies to resolve the situation with the manager, which can be categorized into improvement, mitigation, and control.

1. Setting performance objectives with the SMART approach (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). It is an effective tool because they agreed upon those objectives at the beginning of the fiscal year.
2. I observed that they were good at keeping their reputation in public. Therefore, my manager and I held them accountable in section meetings. They accomplished work very well, and we recognized their efforts in public.
3. The person worked better under the senior technologist’s influence. Therefore, I leveraged the peer influence to push them to get started. Occasionally the senior technologist had to work with them side-by-side. They accomplished works well, but it is not sustainable. Once the senior technologist retired, their productivity suffered.
4. I realized that they were good at administrative work. As a result, the manager and I reduced their analysis responsibilities to minimize the operation’s damage and assigned more administrative work. In addition, we asked them to join the site safety committee and other administrative-related work.
5. I applied the idea of “the emotional bank account” from the book “The 7 habits of Highly Effective People” to them. We maintained a positive work relationship, even though I had to deal with conflicts with them. With the advice of the Employee Assistance Program at Morneau Shepell, I was able to identify the root cause of their behaviour. I shared it with the manager, but we did not come up with better solutions for this one.

Looking back, I wish I could have been trained earlier in business psychology at AECL before handling the difficult employee situation. Here is an example: I later read a book, “The Platinum Rule,” later on. The principle is “Do unto others as they would like done unto them.” Then the author developed strategies to work with persons in four categories, Directors, Socializers, Relaters, and Thinkers. I can relate that person to Socializer, and I learnt that I followed some of the guidelines in the book, but I missed others. I would have more strategies to help them out. I applied this principle at LifeLabs. I could identify different personal styles and manage to work with them better.

I will continue to learn business psychology in the new job position to ensure the smooth and successful running of the laboratory.

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