People suck! Okay, not all people. Just those people that are toxic. You know the type. They’re negative, bitch and complain about everything and make the overall working environment bad for everyone.

These are the kind of people that I call “carriers.” I call them that because they carry their negativity around like a disease and try to infect everyone around them with their sour, crappy attitude. Sometimes we can’t get away from them…we’re tethered to them. So, if we’ve got a carrier on the team, what is a leader to do?

This week’s Leadership Happy Hour podcast addresses just this issue. I had the great privilege to talk to Randy Keirn, CSP. Randy is a seasoned leader that has done some incredible work all around the globe helping organizations deal with the carriers in their spaces without shutting the person down (productivity wise) and moving the whole team forward in the process.

Here are a couple of the nuggets he shared when dealing with a carrier:

Address it, right away. Remember that ignoring problem behavior makes it acceptable behavior. Pull the person into the office and go direct.

Ask questions. Really work to find out what’s going on with that person. Be in listen mode. Our team members are whole people and bring their whole selves to work. That person may have a lot going on away from work that no one knows about. Seek to understand, then to be understood.

Make them part of the solution. Team members are ALWAYS more committed to working towards a solution if they are a part of the solution. Plus, they know it’s a doable plan. Nothings worse than pushing compliance on someone who doesn’t want to comply in the first place. Put together some actionable goals that stem from the person sitting in front of you.

We all have to deal with a toxic person at one point in time as a leader. Today’s leadership calls for us to be whole in our approach to match the whole person on the team.

Listen to the whole episode on Stitcher! It’s free, fun, and you’ll thank yourself in the morning for doing it. Also…if you’d like to leave a review I’d be eternally grateful.