How To Deal With Employees Who Undermine Your Authority

Ever get that feeling at work where someone or something just doesn’t seem right with an employee? While the best leadership rule of thumb is to treat staff with respect and you will get respect back, there is one employee just doesn’t seem to want to get along. They don’t follow your directives because they are so sure that they know better than you and criticize you openly, or worse – behind your back. To keep your leadership and team on track, you have to deal with this toxic behavior. Here is how to deal with employees who undermine your authority.

How you can tell if your authority is being undermined?

When it comes to staff who undermine your authority, the employee may or may not be overt about it. They may publicly question your ideas, or it may be as simple as a dramatic eye roll.

The biggest undermine is if they purposefully deviate from a known process or go against your instructions. Basically, they decide they don’t like the way that things are being done and will do their own thing.

Why do they want to undermine you?

There are two main reasons that they want to undermine your authority; they are insecure or they simply don’t like you and want to make sure that you know it.

They may not be super confident in their own skills and ability, so they need to drag down yours.

They could also be threatened by the change that you are bringing to the table. If you are changing processes or technology, they may no longer be the go-to expert. For instance, they could be insecure about their ability to learn a new computer program. If they criticize it now, when it gets implemented and they struggle to learn it, they can walk around complaining about it not being user friendly. See, it’s your fault, not theirs!

You could just rub them the wrong way. They hate authority, you are too cheerful, you wear hot pink and that is their least favorite color.

OK, the last example is a bit silly, but I just want to highlight that their rationale for wanting to undermine you could be outside of your control. But it is up to you to find a way to manage this toxic individual for the sake of your leadership and team harmony.

Want to keep these toxic employees off your team? Try using these interview questions to avoid hiring toxic employees in the first place!

How to deal with employees who undermine your authority

1. Figure out the source of the hostility

If you are able, try and do a bit of detective work. Is this typical behavior for the individual? Are you making a major change? Did you overlook them for an opportunity?

You could also quietly ask a staff member if they observed some negative behavior from this individual or have insights on the comments they may be making in the lunch room.

This information will help inform your approach in step 2.

If you are reluctant on having difficult conversations, you can check out this post here on how to motivate yourself to have difficult conversations with employees.

2. Call them on it – the first conversation

Ensure that you provide feedback each time they deviate from your instructions or are openly rude or hostile to you. Listen carefully to their response. Why did they deviate?

The first conversation should be casual and offers the benefit of the doubt for them. Either they didn’t understand the instructions and there was no malice, or they deviated because they didn’t like the instructions.

If they didn’t like the instructions, ask them why. They may have a better way to do something. Make sure your ego doesn’t get in the way to hear this because you are mad that they didn’t listen. If they have a great idea that could make a process better, talk it out and see what you can try.

If they didn’t follow instructions because they don’t want to listen to you, off to step 3!

3. Set expectations for the workplace

Let them know how they are expected to operate as a team member and that their behavior is counter productive. They alienate themselves from the team when they undermine your authority. The whole team feels unconformable when they are in a meeting where there is conflict between individuals. They are expected to be respectful towards you, individual team members, and ideas that are produced on the team. In exchange, they will get respect back.

Let them know that your door is always open to discuss something that they disagree with. If they continue there may be consequences, up to and including termination.

4. Have follow up conversations with clear feedback

Make sure that you follow up each time you have a conversation with them about their toxic behavior. Clearly state what they did, the negative impact it has on the team, and repeat the expectations going forward.

Document, document, document! If you aren’t sure what to say and what points to cover in your increasingly serious conversation with them, you can always use the free Feedback Prep Form. For guidance on how to prepare for these difficult conversations, you can read this post on how to give feedback to staff that lack self awareness.

When it comes to how to deal with employees who undermine your authority, be consistent in your messaging about the impact of their toxic behavior on the whole team. Don’t let the behavior slide because “they have always been this way” Guess what? This behavior stops with you.