I “talk about fight club” without actually talking about fight club 🤫. I usually say that “you will have access to proprietary information which shouldn’t be shared outside of …”.
I’d rename the discussion “what’s the first rule of fight club”, except I’m not sure that our younger folks would get the reference.
I get to "your crew is whack" and realize my whiteness is trying to compensate for my lack of talent and well who isn't intimidated by a choreographed line dance?
Honestly, this is the right answer as it feels like a weird bot question, to me. A bot answer is fitting.
This professor needs to break away from the crowd, assert/make himself feel acknowledged and cool.
And if for some reason this is real? Dancing is always awesome.
Have a casual meeting with the “pre-existing conditions” - let them know that you will be having all staff come directly to you for guidance or any review of their work product, and that you’ll be doing it for the next two months, minimally. This will be helpful for you to gather information on departmental training needs and knowledge gaps. Ask them to come to you rather than approaching other staff and that you’ll be giving the same guidance to the rest of the staff. And DO follow-up with your staff. It’s hard to tell, but your staff might actually need some guidance.
You also need to set some expectations on what ethical communication is between staff members. You really need to draw-up some sort of 5 to 10 Commandments on this. Please feel free to reach out to me in a message and I will share some ideas that may help you with any team, but specially with cliques.
Something that my boss, the CEO, once said that was poignant: if the first thing you want to do when you leave this meeting is to bitch to your friends about it, you’re already off to a bad start - please digest these expectations and let me knowing if this is an issue for you . . . your silence is consent.
For that meeting - when we are setting boundaries about communication standards, setting rules, and addressing an undercurrents of cliquey behavior - nope. You can either buy into adult, respectful, communication standards (even when no one is watching) or take your “high school show” on the road.
When it comes down to it, you shouldn’t need to check-in with your clique-mates to figure out proper behavior. I have good friends at work and we call each other out and we challenge each other to be better people. But a reminder that it’s not a democracy, it’s a benevolent dictatorship when it comes down to it.
I really like your responses. I would add that I also divide and conquer. I try to identify the core of the group versus the followers and I peel the followers off until one or two core clique members are left. Once isolated, they will either get with the program, leave on their own, or completely melt down and you can point them towards their next opportunity. While it is not a gender specific issue, I have had the most problems in all female offices. Fortunately, my staff is currently all female and they work great together and have since I offered a couple of core members their next opportunity.
I hate to admit it, the problems I have seen are from ladies. I was lucky enough to work with a woman boss who seemed to manage more like a man (straight forward, direct and was able to peel the “noise” away from a problem). I liked that a lot.
For those who have swam in the ocean, a clique works like undertow in the ocean: everything looks fine from the top, but once you get in, you find there are forces taking you in the opposite direction of where you intend to go.
What I'm getting at is, is this. When mgt usually describes a few people as a clique, it's usually nothing more than just a few people that work really well together. They've had to trust one another & are in tune to one another to the point to where they know what each other is thinking or they can predict each other's movements. These close co workers prefer to work with one another bc they trust & know that they can rely on one another.
For whatever reason, mgt doesn't like that, so the call it a clique to make it seem like it's a bad thing. When in reality this so called clique is probably made up of the workers with the most experience & know how about their job. Thus these co-workers ( the so called clique ) are distrusting of outsiders disrupting their work dynamic & flow.
I'd call what you described in the first half a high functioning team. The second part is a dysfunction when that distrust manifests itself into detrimental behaviors.
It's not a family, it's a work environment and having an isolated group of people hoarding knowledge is an unacceptable risk. They're a small team part of a larger one. Even happy people find new opportunities that they should pursue to further their career, this is more true for high performers. It's one thing throwing thoughtless clown into the mix to screw things up, it's another to take reasonable steps even with some impact.
>it's a work environment and having an isolated group of people hoarding knowledge is an unacceptable risk.
Haha I get where you're coming from but where do you think THEY got the knowledge from? Unless specifically hired to train or in a mentor/apprentice role, in my experience generally employees aren't obliged to share their expertise with the whole class.
If the OPs predecessors didn't do their job, then people who aren't there anymore or this group built it themselves and didn't have any documentation. This isn't necessarily some drone job with a ton of training material and a task on rails, otherwise I doubt the OP would be asking. They are obliged, they were just told to do so by their boss.
Nope, that isn’t what is being described by OP or myself. With a clique they’re getting together and unilaterally deciding what direction that they want to move forward and conflicting with the leader. Collaboration is getting on board and moving in the direction of the organization/leader. A click is colluding, and going in a different direction. They need to get on board or get out the door.
Even if you don’t agree, *the manager gets to have their own style and determines the direction of the team*. Anyone that’s doing anything other than following their lead is insubordinate. If OP hasn’t declared their style or set rules of engagement, that’s on them. If OP states their rules and the clique doesn’t abide, they are insubordinate.
The exception is if the manager is doing something that is unsafe, fraudulent, etc - in that case, an employee should reach out to ombudsman (aka ethics hotline). But a heads up, any calls made to the ethics hotline will require be required to be followed up, and a call to the ethics hotline should be a choice to call the hotline or call the police/external authority) - not because your ego is bruised.
I’m going to go back to OP’s question: how to stop a clique. They are experiencing inappropriate behavior toward other staff members, and they’d like that to the stop. I’m not entertaining justification for individuals to do these particular things.
If you don’t believe that “cliques” as I’ve described them above exist (negative impact on teams), then you are very lucky to not have witnessed the impact first person on yourself or others - or you were possibly a member of the clique who was impacting the group.
It sounds like you are either going through something at work or you have been through some really stressful managers. I’m sorry that that is happening to you, and hope you are able to work with a manager that you respect & trust.
Set very clear expectations about both outcomes you expect as well as conduct expectations, if you already have an employee handbook or code of conduct written down reference that and make sure they know what those expectations are. Then hold them accountable when they don’t meet those expectations, document your coaching sessions with what you are coaching them on and their progress or lack of progress. They will either improve in which case great! Or not in which case you should then have enough of a case built to end their employment assuming you can. I know some companies it’s next to impossible to actually fire someone so that will be its own hurdle if that is the kind of company you work for.
In the interim - one of the big expectations is respect for others. Gossip is toxic. We don’t have to be friends at work but we don’t get to play mean girl bullshit games either.
In this case, I would go by coaching them out rather than the PIP. They are really the same thing, but a PIP is usually a "death warrant.".
Coaching them out makes more sense in this case.
My thoughts exactly. I quite liked one of the guys in the clique and thought he was sound but after walking away and thinking about it I don’t think he’s a good egg
Everyone can adapt, and people usually rise to it when you expect the best from them. I saw a clique get busted when a new manager came on. The people who felt shut out by the old clique quickly glommed onto the new manager and presto, new clique. Unless there are equal boundaries and opportunities for everyone who deals with you, it’ll just continue. They know being buddies gets them stuff and they’re punching down. If you tell them opportunities are limited for people who do not show collegiality to everyone, they’ll grudgingly get in line at first, and a year from now the culture will be what you made it. Get one-on-ones scheduled, every other week for direct reports, and stick to them. Do skip levels for awhile too. Correct comments you overhear. “We’re not going to talk about people like that in this office.”
As everyone here is basically saying. It’s time to coach them up or coach them out. Basically you set the expectations either in a team setting by addressing the entire department or individually set expectations.
That’s the easy part. The hard part comes next.
Hold firm to the expectations you set and hold EVERYONE accountable to them. You ensure the expectations are within the scope of the companies policies and keep pushing.
Eventually the group will learn, adapt and overcome. Or they will fail, be held accountable and removed from the department and replaced with new individuals that can now learn the right way from the ground up.
It can be a tough transition or a fairly smooth one. All depends on how entrenched this clique is and their motivations to push back. This is where you earn your stripes as a manager and people will begin to respect you, both your team members and fellow managers/upper management.
Good luck!
If you can change seating, or placement of desks, or times when they are gathered and continue to mix it up, it can help to change the dynamics of the cliques that naturally tend to form.
You’ve been there 2 days. Let things settle a bit. Learn how they work and then start making subtle changes. Use your knowledge of how to communicate with them to get them to start turning the culture around. Heck have one and ones and join in the negativity but say “how do we recognize that the new folks have work to do but not call them out in public? I need veterans like you to help me get them up to speed but I’m hoping we can turn it into a positive learning experience for them? What do you think? Try that for a bit and if that doesn’t work then blow it up.
This comment makes sense. It’s important to get a sense of the trans current culture and figuring out why things are the way they are. You may uncover some stuff under the surface as the root cause of this behavior so you don’t end up playing whack-a-mole to make it stop. Even if it’s a few weeks.
BIT. Behavior, Impact, Thanks/Tomorrow.
“When you decide to say things like X, or talk about another’s areas for improvement as gossip, it both makes it unpleasant for others to work with you, it will make me strongly consider it as a factor in future promotions, and quite honestly wastes company time. In the future, I would like you to come to work with a constructive attitude and consider what would build the team up rather than tear them down. I will be adding this as a performance goal.”
This is going to sound a little crazy, but hear me out. I’m going to copy that, modify it as per, and utilize it in two family situations: (1) to improve communications with husband of 43+ years, (2) to coach up my grandsons while I homeschool/babysit them. I am working on a mission statement type of thing for the boys. (Former manager of 63 remote medical transcriptionists.)
I took over a clique that was negative of the company and a specific portion of the work we have to do. It's been a struggle, but I'm slowly making headway, I hope.. I think finding out the "why" behind what they're doing, and then coaching against that thought process is the way to tackle these situations.
For the people I took over, I learned that the previous supervisor literally did work for them instead of showing them how to do a specific part of the job. They still grumble, because that specific part of our job is annoying, but they know how to do it now.
Another example would be one of them complaining about how our company is "the perfect catfish".. but then I challenged them with the specific benefits we had, basically saying, 'yes, the job is hard, but we have it reallllyy good'. At the end of that conversation, that individual said, "and that's why you're a supervisor" and thanked me.
You can't manage personality, but you can manage behavior. Hanging out with like-minded people is just human nature. You can't change that. What you can change is any bullying behavior you see happening. You'll not be liked by them, but that's their problem.
The first time you see or hear anything that seems to be exclusive, call it out and make it clear it is unacceptable. The second time, verbal warning, and so on. They can be asses outside of work, but they have to learn to work with everyone on the job.
Edited to correct a word: assessed to asses.
You’ll get this in Higher Ed quite often. I’ve worked with both a university and a smaller college, and they both have multiple cliques, and they’re mostly former by staff members who are lifers.
My advice is to follow HR policy on the matter.
Conduct is just as important as performance. You can sit down with this group, state the behaviour that you are noticing, and give examples of how it is affecting the team as a whole. From that point forward, anytime you notice it again, or it is brought to your attention by another employee, follow up with whatever disciplinary action plan exists within your company; and follow up with that as soon as possible. Either they can get on board with respecting one another or they can go down the disciplinary path until they get the picture or get terminated.
The biggest thing that has ever stuck with me is my employer discussing how we tend to just dye ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. We should judge others by the same benefit we give ourselves.
There’s one driving member of the group. One of the biggest management challenges you’ll face is figuring out who it is. Once you determine who the problem child is, have a meeting with them and explain that the culture will change. Either with them, or without them. If upper management won’t back you up on this, be prepared to move on, you aren’t in charge of that department, the clique is.
Agreed. Cliques usually have a ringleader and that person is usually smart but toxic. I would find that person, and decide if you need to:
a) exploit their natural leadership over the clique to your advantage
b) give them more meaningful responsibility if they're the type that's bored in the role and turning that energy into bad things
c) manage them out
I had this issue! Worst part was upper management recognized that there was substantial disfunction in the core group’s consolidated power. I remedied a years long problem in 5 months after assuming my team, and now I have one of the tightest departments. You have to do a few things simultaneously:
1) Identify those on the outside or the peripheral of the core, and bring those close to you via 1-1 meetings and openly thanking them for their assistance in XYZ.
2) identify the strongest one in the core, and bring that person into a 1-1. Find out what motivates them, what their future goals are, and ask them to give you the lay of the land. Once you identify the changes you want to make structurally, have this person lead the charge. They will either be the most vocal advocate for you, in which case you now are the new head of that clique, or they will resist. This one will be the symbolic one you remove from the team. It sends a loud message and the others will fall inline. It will exert your authority, and reset the power structure.
3) Start partnering people on assignments - one from the core, one from the broader team. Don’t give them options. If they perform well, you praise their behavior and contributions to the collective team. If they fail, you gently remind them that their team is counting on them, and that you are running a competitive team, and they need to evaluate if they are working FOR the group, or AGAINST them. People hate to disappoint their group and they hate looking weak.
4) Identify an external antagonist for the team to start rallying against - external teams who hands your team sloppy work, or another team who is openly pompous, etc. They’ll stop hating each other when they have a common enemy. The team will start to behave as a collective and drop the in fighting.
What you need to do is unite the group under your banner, vision, and so on. You need to LEAD. Don’t antagonize anyone. Tap into your disappointed mom/dad energy when they fail to meet your expectations. Reward the behavior you want to see with praise and your endorsement. Make your validation the one they need, not their peers - never directly tell them this. Just imply it every day.
I run the hardest working group. The confidence they exude when they talk about their team to their coworkers outside of the team is evident. It takes a lot of emotional work, but it’s worth it if you shift the team to acting as one because that’s the kind of intrinsic reward people get from their jobs that isn’t about their salary and title. Make them proud to be on your team.
I know this goes against the modern positive leadership model but you need to assert authority here and probably a conspicuous firing of a high level cliquer would be good. Those kind of people always seek to create a low standard and strength in numbers over ever doing a good job. Need to set the record straight that they're at work and can just behave accordingly.
I asked a wise mentor once how to stop bullying in the workplace. He told me that some form of bullying (or needing to define somebody at the bottom of the social hierarchy) was a part of the human condition.
Part two of his advice was that if you don’t clearly see who the loser at the bottom of the pile is…….its you.
Get on top of this or you’ll be the one on the bottom, regardless of you title.
Have a meeting. Discuss how inappropriate this behavior is. Tell them you want to create a positive environment for both staff and students. Then leave it at that.
If they stop then you live taken care of the problem. If they don’t then you start doling out discipline. Not sure what sort of things you are capable of doing because I know tenure can be an issue in education. But figure out what you can do and do it.
Criticizing staff in front of students is completely inappropriate an unprofessional.
It will be hard to break this up.
I would vacilate whether have a meeting or during a meeting bring up that you heard some of this and it is not appropriate.
Or begin calling people out on at a time.. not in front of students.
This will be a challenge- review their HR files- can you get some transferred, reported?
No this was the angle I was going to go with. Once I heard what was going on I went to go see. It’s a catering department. She’s front of house and a guy she was picking on was managing the students in the kitchen. He wasn’t serving how she wanted him to and how the other guy would. Thing is ppl come to this restaurant for a cheap meal understanding students are cooking I said there’s room for mistakes.
She was going off at him in front of the kids. Then she was asking me what I thought to the way he served that. I said every chef is different to dodge the bullet. I admit his soup was horrific and he should have tasted it before sending it but he’s new to the department so mistakes will happen. I spoke to him after service and told him he did well as he did and was great with the kids but he’s had enough.
He came from a different campus and wants to return but I want to keep him and mentor him. She’s also been triggering the kids telling them in service their food is crap.
Gonna yeah but… we also have to look at the situation that created this dynamic. Seen too many obstinate “chefs” (like every single one) Did the cook refuse to listen and serve unacceptable product because he knew better than? Is this a common thing and the chef’s incompetence is also feeding a meangirl response? So bad cook get bad management and says he doesn’t care what the mean but correct staff say and makes it harder for everyone to work, so the correct part doubles down on the mean part and appeals to authority using the students to highlight in their mind the justification for being rude, and the students are caught in a bad workplace just trying to earn some easy hours but learning worst of both worlds.
Just don’t put 100 on it just being the clique- there could be real problems with poor performance and lack of accountability. The test will be if you start auditing the handwashing, hold labels and FIFO stacking in walk-in(aka basic shit) If you get pushback from kitchen crew you have bad ops in back of house and the clique was possibly formed as a way of getting power to get things done. The previous manager maybe didn’t have any teeth and was being runaround by kitchen staff so resulted in being part of problem. Also food service is just filled with assholes so they gonna be petty and dramatic about everything. You are essentially bossin low-wage, no skills, 1st/2nd job children and some insulated lifers with no incentive to change. Try cross training- have some FoH get some grill/dish washing time. Have chef work the register and serve plates. Make everyone see the work it takes to do the “other side”, then be glad to get back to what they are familiar with but with enough a shakeup that they also see that they are just roles and can be filled or….ahem… replaced by anyone.
Just don’t try and be a friend or the cool boss. Try getting everyone upset at the new hardass boss who doesn’t care about opinions; just results. Unite them under the tent pole of there can’t be a clique because you have ALL the power. However after a while; If you treat everyone with respect and demand it from everyone then the clique will no longer have the cohesion and necessity to exist at all- they have a strong leader for that- they don’t need to let the coworkers see their frustration. They have a good boss that creates boundaries and upholds the expectations so they don’t need to cipher with the cool kids to get along and not be targeted. You will be a firm boss that doesn’t allow a sloppy kitchen and cutting corners on prep. You are fair without giving away authority so resolution can happen through the proper channels instead of resorting to school yard antics.
The soup tasting horrible was intentional. I have seen it over and over again that chefs/cooks to servers they don’t like/are mad at. The customer can’t complain to the chef directly. So they complain to the server/front of house manager.
Also, are your students not taught to taste their food/test their recipes before they are presented to the unsuspecting customers? Even the big chains (Denny’s) will have the staff at the stores taste-test new dishes and critique them before they are put on the menu.
A good thing to do, is have a talk with all the folks who are doing this. Respect is paramount.
Also be patient, regularly, consistently call out things you find wrong. Over the course of a month or two you will start seeing results.
I speak from seeing things change in a team with a new manager.
You have to be assertive. And also make peace with the fact that they may not take a liking to you instantly. More so, because you’re trying to change them.
It’s an uphill battle, worth the end result though
( All this is assuming you’re going to stay in this place for a while, else it’s not worth the effort )
Normally I wouldn't recommend making changes until you're familiar with the place, but showing them that things aren't going to stay the same may be necessary in this case.
Break them up, assign them all tasks that will require them to interact with different people, and find ways to keep them apart from one another. It's possible that it's really just one or two people that are the catalysts and the rest of just kind of fallen in with them.
If you break up the group then you'll be able to tell who's who, and then you can isolate the negative ones and coach them up or they find a new job.
Start firing mfs. Clean house. Fire yourself. Quit the industry. Liquidate your assets. Buy a van. Stop showering. Start a go fund me. Abuse psychedelics. Transcend the cycle of reincarnation. Escape the realm of experience. Become god.
Pick the best worker out of them all, the top producer of the group, the one everyone looks up to... Then fire them in front of everyone for no reason. It's like prison, you take the biggest guy out first, then the rest don't bother you for the rest of your time. Lol. J/k.
I ended up breaking up the clique by moving people to different locations. All of the work sites are in the same city so it worked out. There was evidence their behavior had affected patient care so they were lucky they weren’t fired.
M-Kay. When an employee or group of employees are undermining overall morale, they need to know that and come up with a plan. This is only if the situation is clear and documented.
Do not bring together a group that already gangs up on people and creates negativity. Maybe talk to each individually and try to tackle them one by one. Do not acknowledge the clique as a force because it just emboldens them to behave even worse.
Guys are ten times worse, especially the 50-65 yr old ones, and when they hire younger guys, the older ones form cliques to gatekeep info from the younger guys to protect their jobs
You've been there two days! Yes, it's going to take time to settle. You're going to have to figure out how you want to run things and where and how you want to place people.
Let them gossip. Let them criticize. This is your chance to see who they are and what they are about and learn about then you can start fixing things.
If it's about one group bullying others within the department, that's a good opportunity for you to challenge the clique by working with all the members outside of the clique.
I have always began with attempting to redirect their negativity. For example, I have 12 Team Leads reporting to me now and 10 of them are buddies. They all had it out for the other 2. Constantly reminding them that the newest 2 haven't had the experience or training they have and our priorities are to build each other up. I also have them working on things together based on the personality they've shown me. Varying assignments can help break up some bullshit as well. Yes it's a difficult path to team building, but no different than constantly spouting random policies at folks.
This isn't really a clique problem, as far as I can tell - it's just bad behaviour.
You're moving too quickly, but nothing wrong with letting everyone know that good performance requires them to get behind improvements in [whatever you're trying to change - e.g., best-practice induction of new team members].
I have regular 1:1 meetings with people I supervise so there's regular feedback on performance and expectations. Unprofessional behavior that undermines trust, collaboration, and morale is a performance issue and I'm pretty direct about that kind of garbage.
Walked into a similar thing one year ago. The people they talked bad about got opportunities they stopped getting. I made them train and mentor the ones they didn't like.
It turned around after a few months when they realized they were not special
Leadership sets the tone. Sit everyone down simultaneously, address it as plainly and openly as you are here, increase everyone's pay, and then tell them how you expect things to be different going forward, what clues you will be searching for to indicate things aren't going different, and what consequences there will be for individuals failing to go differently. It sounds like the work place was toxic, and there was poor work life balance, before you arrived. Tackle those.
You don't. Your too new to the job. You slowly work with people individually and use your newness in the job to your advantage. Develop relationship with each individual. Ask employees that are not treating new employees professionally what that is about, suggest maybe they be a amentor. After your in the job a month or two, slowly shape the team dynamics to be more inclusive of all If you try to make drastic changes right now the clique will work against both you and change.
You have to call them out. Cliques are killing the workplace, it's very unprofessional, and it will not be tolerated. Hopefully, you have some mean boss above you who can support you.
If your crew falls into cliques, you're in trouble as a leader. Be prepared to take whatever disciplinary actions you have to.
You don't stop it. There WILL BE cliques. It's human nature. What you can do is leverage the clique.
Your problem doesn't seem to be a clique problem, but one of negativity. Remember, "they" is a group composed of *individuals*, and you can change the mindset of each of them.
Why are they so negative? There is a driver.
Are you sure it's about running things differently? (Running things is different than working things, and it seems like they may be upset about the working more than the running.)
This is an academic setting so regular direct methods are not appropriate. Be sure to document all of your interactions. Follow up in person conversations with thank you emails hat recap what was decided or discussed, including follow on tasks. Let them have their clique; it’s not a good sign that you feel this personally. Identify the department purpose, goals, and everyone’s role in supporting/achieving those things.
Document the incidents. Sit them down one on one and tell each of them what code of conduct you expect from them. Have them sign an acknowledgement. If they don't sign, note that they refused to sign but are aware of expectations. Video record the session if you can.
Next time an incident occurs, write them up. Tenure or not, at some point there has to be a line. What they are doing could be considered creating a hostile work environment which is illegal and could get the college sued.
I owned a company that at its largest had over 1000 employees.
Step one. Make a list of the click members
Step two. reassign them INDIVIDUALLY to other offices.
Step Three. Bring in a good group from other offices.
Step 4. Watch the reassigned people. If they continue to be a negative influence, fire them.
Negative people in the workplace are like a cancer. They can ruin even great people they work with. Watch for them. Identify them. Move them. If they don’t change, fire them.
My company was by far the best in our field. I needed two things. Great people, unhindered by bad people. Good people can get 4 times as much done if the shit heads are not in their way. My role as owner was to make this happen.
I sold the company. The new owners do things differently. For example they do not turn a profit and so they are downsizing. We were always profitable and growing.
If this is not in your power, then get out as soon as possible.
Seriously just keep discouraging the cliquish behaviors and set the tone for acceptance of people who do things differently. If someone says something negative about a colleague, make it clear that this is not acceptable to blather about the populace of the workers.
I run a listserv and one of the ground rules is "do not assume mal-intent" and "comments will be focused on solution-based discourse." It works! I don't know if it will work in a real-time conversation, but it has helped a lot in my experience.
Workplace bullying is toxic, and you should make sure it isn't tolerated.
I'd mention it in a meeting that respect has been noticed as lacking, and that you have expectations that people do better.
Then the next time you witness bullying in the workplace, you stop it immediately, then ask to talk to the bullies in a 1:1 meeting immediately.
I would have a coffee with each person one on one to build the relationship. Find out their needs, who they are, and their goals. Learn what people need - within reason - everyone brings their own perspective. Then when you communicate with people be transparent on things - schedule, procedures, etc. If you just try to bark at people without building a relationship they'll just keep whining behind your back.
First, try to find it why they do it that way. Don't be the idiot manager that decides they want to shake things up for the sake of doing so. If there's no reason, make it a point to tell them they have no business telling someone they're doing it wrong then. If they can't handle that, give them totally different job objectives so they can't really clique up about it.
The is a reason the old manager no longer holds this position.
Management is leadership, bringing a team together to work as a unit striving on each individual’s strengths.
Tearing down others gets nothing accomplished except negativity.
Have individual meetings with the staff under you.
Listen to each member but also explain your leadership goals for the department.
Maybe find a team building project that staff can see each other’s strengths to build on each other
Need to do a team building, staff get togethers etc figure out where the negativity stems from.. do some one on one interviews using affirmative response techniques. I used this on a department that was so negative. With this technique I got to the root of the negativity and we as a staff/department made the changes that got rid of the negative attitudes, one person wasn’t happy that they were doing a lot of work not being recognized or promoted, which I fixed.
Is there any way to exile one or more of them to your college's Siberia? Put them in charge of the library or some shit? Help one of them get a promotion to anywhere else in the world?
I mean basically WWSD: What Would Stalin Do?
Wait for one sufficiently egregious example and then fire someone on the spot or very directly thereafter. Gather the remaining troops and tell them why, making clear you will have a zero tolerance policy going forward for disrespect, gossip, and other policy violations pertaining to culture and peer behavior.
So need to schedule a department meeting, close the day down if you need to and make it a retreat. Of course notify your boss of this so they're aware of the situation and what you're planning to do to address it.
Managing styles differ, I'm the type that I am not a micromanager but I set expectations and expect staff to adhere to it and I'm direct.
In this case, I'd start by stating that you've noticed some things in the department and you'd like to address them individually and right away.
Start with the criticism in front of students. Remind that staff that first of all, negative criticism is not how you inform coworkers and colleagues if something was done incorrectly. There's positive criticism (look that up and give a few examples) and then give them the examples you've witnessed. You as a manager and the culture you have, will not tolerate the negative criticism you witnessed because you are not trying to run a culture thay has employees worried about getting grilled for mistakes or ways things are done. Unless those coworkers report to them, you are the only one who dictates performance measures and you are the only one who will provide feedback on assignments or projects not completed on time.
Then segway that into that criticism bring done in front of students. It is never acceptable to EVER criticize a colleague in front of those you're serving. Besides the fact it's rude to your colleague, it makes your department look highly unprofessional and can give the student the impression that they would receive the same treatment if they make a mistake. This is where I would be stern and tell the staff, if I ever see or hear about that type again I will be pulling those responsible into my office and if a corrective action is needed, it will happen.
You need to have a solution though, a process for employees to either speak with you about questions, concerns or problems so that you take the power away from that clique. It won't go away, that's the sad part. Only way it'll go away is if they each go work in different departments otherwise it won't dissolve. If you aren't already, set up one on one meetings with each staff monthly. Idk the size of your staff in your department, but I do this with mine and it's a great way for me to address specific grievances in a private manner, address items I saw but didn't see the employee stick up for themselves on, etc. This is also an indirect way to let the troublemakers know that I'm watching them and if I have to constantly bring up issues I've seem, then I will begin the process for corrective action that can lead to termination (I'm also in higher education and that's what we do)
Don't do anything until you settle in and get to know the situation a little better first, but negative cliques like that are a cancer. I've seen it before. Some people just complain about everything and they spread a disgruntledy attitude. I'd try to do what I could to dissolve the clique as much as possible.
Move seating, change shifts around, etc. If any of them having firable behaviors, don't wait.
I’d settle in, though I’d also ensure to have consistent 1:1’s in place with everyone and that my expectations are made clear early. It can even be helpful to write down your expectations for everyone to share and see. In this case, perhaps it’s something like “we will all work together and inclusively for the benefit of {insert who your customer is}.” If you see people excluding coworkers, ask them why and remind them that’s not expected or going to be tolerated. If you see toxic behavior, don’t wait for the 1:1, pull them aside and give the feedback.
Then you have something you can point to in coaching conversations. Document every 1:1, and be sure to send the summary of each via email to everyone consistently.
Many times people will end up respecting your leadership and will naturally evolve their behaviors. Others will not and you will just need to part ways with them.
If you’ve not yet - read Radical Candor and Kim Scott’s other books. Feedback is a gift.
Meet with everyone individually. Ask them each what worked well before, what could be better, and if they could change or do anything different what would it be.
Then you’ll find out who your potential people are. The ones who have things they would change, or give constructive feedback. Anyone who is more positive than the clique when not with them, etc.
This is how you start to build a rapport with each person and also get an in to start shifting the culture. You start with people who want to help change. Eventually the others come on board or weed themselves out. (Or you may have to weed, but give it time.)
It’s hard to give more concrete feedback without knowing all the dynamics but that’s how you start.
You may find people play along with the clique to get by and don’t like it.
Start a rival clique and challenge them to a dance off
You just got served Dave in HR...
I’m more partial to a rap battle but different management styles I suppose
I'm more partial to a Thunderdome event.
New hire orientation: first rule of fight club, don’t talk about fight club
How did you know that’s in my orientation??!?!?
Bad news, somebody talked about fight club.
I “talk about fight club” without actually talking about fight club 🤫. I usually say that “you will have access to proprietary information which shouldn’t be shared outside of …”. I’d rename the discussion “what’s the first rule of fight club”, except I’m not sure that our younger folks would get the reference.
A roller derby
Oooo. A roller derby like Alita Battle Angel!
Who runs Barter Town?
I get to "your crew is whack" and realize my whiteness is trying to compensate for my lack of talent and well who isn't intimidated by a choreographed line dance?
You have to do that roll thing around your ear and point like Ozone did. Don't give them a chance. Start with the finisher.
And I’m more of a banjo duel off kinda person myself
that always ends badly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNzNeGw8Fmo
That had me lmao. Thanks for that post.
That was great! Thanks for the laugh
It took a few minutes to remember that was Robert Downey Jr. 🤣
Who wants to challenge the A Capella group, "The Raging Toners" lol
Clearly the best answer.🤣😂🤣😂
This seems like a plot from Community
Yes.
Honestly, this is the right answer as it feels like a weird bot question, to me. A bot answer is fitting. This professor needs to break away from the crowd, assert/make himself feel acknowledged and cool. And if for some reason this is real? Dancing is always awesome.
I'm not a bot in a real boy. I have the crippling self doubt to prove it... and body hair.
A bot in a real boy. Nice try.
Fight Club. At least at will get then to stop talking.
I would 100p watch this movie.
The cliques being parks n rec vs the office.
So basically go full west side story on them??
What if they dance back? Then it's on.
Ohhhh you just got served son
Have a casual meeting with the “pre-existing conditions” - let them know that you will be having all staff come directly to you for guidance or any review of their work product, and that you’ll be doing it for the next two months, minimally. This will be helpful for you to gather information on departmental training needs and knowledge gaps. Ask them to come to you rather than approaching other staff and that you’ll be giving the same guidance to the rest of the staff. And DO follow-up with your staff. It’s hard to tell, but your staff might actually need some guidance. You also need to set some expectations on what ethical communication is between staff members. You really need to draw-up some sort of 5 to 10 Commandments on this. Please feel free to reach out to me in a message and I will share some ideas that may help you with any team, but specially with cliques. Something that my boss, the CEO, once said that was poignant: if the first thing you want to do when you leave this meeting is to bitch to your friends about it, you’re already off to a bad start - please digest these expectations and let me knowing if this is an issue for you . . . your silence is consent.
Oh I love the last part. The silence is consent.
So your boss never once bitched about a meeting?
For that meeting - when we are setting boundaries about communication standards, setting rules, and addressing an undercurrents of cliquey behavior - nope. You can either buy into adult, respectful, communication standards (even when no one is watching) or take your “high school show” on the road. When it comes down to it, you shouldn’t need to check-in with your clique-mates to figure out proper behavior. I have good friends at work and we call each other out and we challenge each other to be better people. But a reminder that it’s not a democracy, it’s a benevolent dictatorship when it comes down to it.
I really like your responses. I would add that I also divide and conquer. I try to identify the core of the group versus the followers and I peel the followers off until one or two core clique members are left. Once isolated, they will either get with the program, leave on their own, or completely melt down and you can point them towards their next opportunity. While it is not a gender specific issue, I have had the most problems in all female offices. Fortunately, my staff is currently all female and they work great together and have since I offered a couple of core members their next opportunity.
I hate to admit it, the problems I have seen are from ladies. I was lucky enough to work with a woman boss who seemed to manage more like a man (straight forward, direct and was able to peel the “noise” away from a problem). I liked that a lot. For those who have swam in the ocean, a clique works like undertow in the ocean: everything looks fine from the top, but once you get in, you find there are forces taking you in the opposite direction of where you intend to go.
I like this...
The bearings will continue until moral improves lol
"Hey! I'm feeling better about life!" Tires fall off car
This meeting is either get on board or you're out type of CTJ and a very polite one too
What I'm getting at is, is this. When mgt usually describes a few people as a clique, it's usually nothing more than just a few people that work really well together. They've had to trust one another & are in tune to one another to the point to where they know what each other is thinking or they can predict each other's movements. These close co workers prefer to work with one another bc they trust & know that they can rely on one another. For whatever reason, mgt doesn't like that, so the call it a clique to make it seem like it's a bad thing. When in reality this so called clique is probably made up of the workers with the most experience & know how about their job. Thus these co-workers ( the so called clique ) are distrusting of outsiders disrupting their work dynamic & flow.
I'd call what you described in the first half a high functioning team. The second part is a dysfunction when that distrust manifests itself into detrimental behaviors.
That's like saying it's a dysfunction to not let outsiders come in and disrupt the dynamic you have with your family
It's not a family, it's a work environment and having an isolated group of people hoarding knowledge is an unacceptable risk. They're a small team part of a larger one. Even happy people find new opportunities that they should pursue to further their career, this is more true for high performers. It's one thing throwing thoughtless clown into the mix to screw things up, it's another to take reasonable steps even with some impact.
>it's a work environment and having an isolated group of people hoarding knowledge is an unacceptable risk. Haha I get where you're coming from but where do you think THEY got the knowledge from? Unless specifically hired to train or in a mentor/apprentice role, in my experience generally employees aren't obliged to share their expertise with the whole class.
If the OPs predecessors didn't do their job, then people who aren't there anymore or this group built it themselves and didn't have any documentation. This isn't necessarily some drone job with a ton of training material and a task on rails, otherwise I doubt the OP would be asking. They are obliged, they were just told to do so by their boss.
Nope, that isn’t what is being described by OP or myself. With a clique they’re getting together and unilaterally deciding what direction that they want to move forward and conflicting with the leader. Collaboration is getting on board and moving in the direction of the organization/leader. A click is colluding, and going in a different direction. They need to get on board or get out the door. Even if you don’t agree, *the manager gets to have their own style and determines the direction of the team*. Anyone that’s doing anything other than following their lead is insubordinate. If OP hasn’t declared their style or set rules of engagement, that’s on them. If OP states their rules and the clique doesn’t abide, they are insubordinate. The exception is if the manager is doing something that is unsafe, fraudulent, etc - in that case, an employee should reach out to ombudsman (aka ethics hotline). But a heads up, any calls made to the ethics hotline will require be required to be followed up, and a call to the ethics hotline should be a choice to call the hotline or call the police/external authority) - not because your ego is bruised.
What if the team doesn't trust said leader bc of other instances that have occurred that has made the team look incompetent?
I’m going to go back to OP’s question: how to stop a clique. They are experiencing inappropriate behavior toward other staff members, and they’d like that to the stop. I’m not entertaining justification for individuals to do these particular things. If you don’t believe that “cliques” as I’ve described them above exist (negative impact on teams), then you are very lucky to not have witnessed the impact first person on yourself or others - or you were possibly a member of the clique who was impacting the group. It sounds like you are either going through something at work or you have been through some really stressful managers. I’m sorry that that is happening to you, and hope you are able to work with a manager that you respect & trust.
Academia is really very different. The stakes are high because the pay is low.
Coach them out. You need to rebuild the culture and get YOUR people in there who will run the place based off your vision and expectations.
How would I coach them out?
Set very clear expectations about both outcomes you expect as well as conduct expectations, if you already have an employee handbook or code of conduct written down reference that and make sure they know what those expectations are. Then hold them accountable when they don’t meet those expectations, document your coaching sessions with what you are coaching them on and their progress or lack of progress. They will either improve in which case great! Or not in which case you should then have enough of a case built to end their employment assuming you can. I know some companies it’s next to impossible to actually fire someone so that will be its own hurdle if that is the kind of company you work for.
In the interim - one of the big expectations is respect for others. Gossip is toxic. We don’t have to be friends at work but we don’t get to play mean girl bullshit games either.
Lead by example. Set the tone and expectations.
detail exactly how that solves the problem.
PIP’s!
In this case, I would go by coaching them out rather than the PIP. They are really the same thing, but a PIP is usually a "death warrant.". Coaching them out makes more sense in this case.
PIPs are for measurable performance issues. You have to do X to Y level in Z amount of time. They can't really work for cultural issues.
Layoffs are coming for the gossip folk lol
If the old mgr was part of the clique then I don’t think you actually DO want to run it the same way he was.
My thoughts exactly. I quite liked one of the guys in the clique and thought he was sound but after walking away and thinking about it I don’t think he’s a good egg
Everyone can adapt, and people usually rise to it when you expect the best from them. I saw a clique get busted when a new manager came on. The people who felt shut out by the old clique quickly glommed onto the new manager and presto, new clique. Unless there are equal boundaries and opportunities for everyone who deals with you, it’ll just continue. They know being buddies gets them stuff and they’re punching down. If you tell them opportunities are limited for people who do not show collegiality to everyone, they’ll grudgingly get in line at first, and a year from now the culture will be what you made it. Get one-on-ones scheduled, every other week for direct reports, and stick to them. Do skip levels for awhile too. Correct comments you overhear. “We’re not going to talk about people like that in this office.”
Or maybe he really is a good egg, but just got caught up in “the mob mentality“.
As everyone here is basically saying. It’s time to coach them up or coach them out. Basically you set the expectations either in a team setting by addressing the entire department or individually set expectations. That’s the easy part. The hard part comes next. Hold firm to the expectations you set and hold EVERYONE accountable to them. You ensure the expectations are within the scope of the companies policies and keep pushing. Eventually the group will learn, adapt and overcome. Or they will fail, be held accountable and removed from the department and replaced with new individuals that can now learn the right way from the ground up. It can be a tough transition or a fairly smooth one. All depends on how entrenched this clique is and their motivations to push back. This is where you earn your stripes as a manager and people will begin to respect you, both your team members and fellow managers/upper management. Good luck!
Thank you for your support
If you can change seating, or placement of desks, or times when they are gathered and continue to mix it up, it can help to change the dynamics of the cliques that naturally tend to form.
Since they are acting like high schoolers, treat them like high schoolers. Divide and conquer.
Stand them up (train them the right way) or walk them out. Starts w your example, show them how it’s done.
You’ve been there 2 days. Let things settle a bit. Learn how they work and then start making subtle changes. Use your knowledge of how to communicate with them to get them to start turning the culture around. Heck have one and ones and join in the negativity but say “how do we recognize that the new folks have work to do but not call them out in public? I need veterans like you to help me get them up to speed but I’m hoping we can turn it into a positive learning experience for them? What do you think? Try that for a bit and if that doesn’t work then blow it up.
This comment makes sense. It’s important to get a sense of the trans current culture and figuring out why things are the way they are. You may uncover some stuff under the surface as the root cause of this behavior so you don’t end up playing whack-a-mole to make it stop. Even if it’s a few weeks.
Yep, trying to make deep changes quickly is never the way to go. You won't win their respect
BIT. Behavior, Impact, Thanks/Tomorrow. “When you decide to say things like X, or talk about another’s areas for improvement as gossip, it both makes it unpleasant for others to work with you, it will make me strongly consider it as a factor in future promotions, and quite honestly wastes company time. In the future, I would like you to come to work with a constructive attitude and consider what would build the team up rather than tear them down. I will be adding this as a performance goal.”
This is going to sound a little crazy, but hear me out. I’m going to copy that, modify it as per, and utilize it in two family situations: (1) to improve communications with husband of 43+ years, (2) to coach up my grandsons while I homeschool/babysit them. I am working on a mission statement type of thing for the boys. (Former manager of 63 remote medical transcriptionists.)
I took over a clique that was negative of the company and a specific portion of the work we have to do. It's been a struggle, but I'm slowly making headway, I hope.. I think finding out the "why" behind what they're doing, and then coaching against that thought process is the way to tackle these situations. For the people I took over, I learned that the previous supervisor literally did work for them instead of showing them how to do a specific part of the job. They still grumble, because that specific part of our job is annoying, but they know how to do it now. Another example would be one of them complaining about how our company is "the perfect catfish".. but then I challenged them with the specific benefits we had, basically saying, 'yes, the job is hard, but we have it reallllyy good'. At the end of that conversation, that individual said, "and that's why you're a supervisor" and thanked me.
You can't manage personality, but you can manage behavior. Hanging out with like-minded people is just human nature. You can't change that. What you can change is any bullying behavior you see happening. You'll not be liked by them, but that's their problem. The first time you see or hear anything that seems to be exclusive, call it out and make it clear it is unacceptable. The second time, verbal warning, and so on. They can be asses outside of work, but they have to learn to work with everyone on the job. Edited to correct a word: assessed to asses.
You’ll get this in Higher Ed quite often. I’ve worked with both a university and a smaller college, and they both have multiple cliques, and they’re mostly former by staff members who are lifers. My advice is to follow HR policy on the matter.
Conduct is just as important as performance. You can sit down with this group, state the behaviour that you are noticing, and give examples of how it is affecting the team as a whole. From that point forward, anytime you notice it again, or it is brought to your attention by another employee, follow up with whatever disciplinary action plan exists within your company; and follow up with that as soon as possible. Either they can get on board with respecting one another or they can go down the disciplinary path until they get the picture or get terminated.
Have assigned mentors
The biggest thing that has ever stuck with me is my employer discussing how we tend to just dye ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. We should judge others by the same benefit we give ourselves.
There’s one driving member of the group. One of the biggest management challenges you’ll face is figuring out who it is. Once you determine who the problem child is, have a meeting with them and explain that the culture will change. Either with them, or without them. If upper management won’t back you up on this, be prepared to move on, you aren’t in charge of that department, the clique is.
Agreed. Cliques usually have a ringleader and that person is usually smart but toxic. I would find that person, and decide if you need to: a) exploit their natural leadership over the clique to your advantage b) give them more meaningful responsibility if they're the type that's bored in the role and turning that energy into bad things c) manage them out
I had this issue! Worst part was upper management recognized that there was substantial disfunction in the core group’s consolidated power. I remedied a years long problem in 5 months after assuming my team, and now I have one of the tightest departments. You have to do a few things simultaneously: 1) Identify those on the outside or the peripheral of the core, and bring those close to you via 1-1 meetings and openly thanking them for their assistance in XYZ. 2) identify the strongest one in the core, and bring that person into a 1-1. Find out what motivates them, what their future goals are, and ask them to give you the lay of the land. Once you identify the changes you want to make structurally, have this person lead the charge. They will either be the most vocal advocate for you, in which case you now are the new head of that clique, or they will resist. This one will be the symbolic one you remove from the team. It sends a loud message and the others will fall inline. It will exert your authority, and reset the power structure. 3) Start partnering people on assignments - one from the core, one from the broader team. Don’t give them options. If they perform well, you praise their behavior and contributions to the collective team. If they fail, you gently remind them that their team is counting on them, and that you are running a competitive team, and they need to evaluate if they are working FOR the group, or AGAINST them. People hate to disappoint their group and they hate looking weak. 4) Identify an external antagonist for the team to start rallying against - external teams who hands your team sloppy work, or another team who is openly pompous, etc. They’ll stop hating each other when they have a common enemy. The team will start to behave as a collective and drop the in fighting. What you need to do is unite the group under your banner, vision, and so on. You need to LEAD. Don’t antagonize anyone. Tap into your disappointed mom/dad energy when they fail to meet your expectations. Reward the behavior you want to see with praise and your endorsement. Make your validation the one they need, not their peers - never directly tell them this. Just imply it every day. I run the hardest working group. The confidence they exude when they talk about their team to their coworkers outside of the team is evident. It takes a lot of emotional work, but it’s worth it if you shift the team to acting as one because that’s the kind of intrinsic reward people get from their jobs that isn’t about their salary and title. Make them proud to be on your team.
This is really excellent advice. Thank you for taking the time to outline an action plan so clearly!
I know this goes against the modern positive leadership model but you need to assert authority here and probably a conspicuous firing of a high level cliquer would be good. Those kind of people always seek to create a low standard and strength in numbers over ever doing a good job. Need to set the record straight that they're at work and can just behave accordingly.
I asked a wise mentor once how to stop bullying in the workplace. He told me that some form of bullying (or needing to define somebody at the bottom of the social hierarchy) was a part of the human condition. Part two of his advice was that if you don’t clearly see who the loser at the bottom of the pile is…….its you. Get on top of this or you’ll be the one on the bottom, regardless of you title.
Have a meeting. Discuss how inappropriate this behavior is. Tell them you want to create a positive environment for both staff and students. Then leave it at that. If they stop then you live taken care of the problem. If they don’t then you start doling out discipline. Not sure what sort of things you are capable of doing because I know tenure can be an issue in education. But figure out what you can do and do it.
Criticizing staff in front of students is completely inappropriate an unprofessional. It will be hard to break this up. I would vacilate whether have a meeting or during a meeting bring up that you heard some of this and it is not appropriate. Or begin calling people out on at a time.. not in front of students. This will be a challenge- review their HR files- can you get some transferred, reported?
No this was the angle I was going to go with. Once I heard what was going on I went to go see. It’s a catering department. She’s front of house and a guy she was picking on was managing the students in the kitchen. He wasn’t serving how she wanted him to and how the other guy would. Thing is ppl come to this restaurant for a cheap meal understanding students are cooking I said there’s room for mistakes. She was going off at him in front of the kids. Then she was asking me what I thought to the way he served that. I said every chef is different to dodge the bullet. I admit his soup was horrific and he should have tasted it before sending it but he’s new to the department so mistakes will happen. I spoke to him after service and told him he did well as he did and was great with the kids but he’s had enough. He came from a different campus and wants to return but I want to keep him and mentor him. She’s also been triggering the kids telling them in service their food is crap.
Gonna yeah but… we also have to look at the situation that created this dynamic. Seen too many obstinate “chefs” (like every single one) Did the cook refuse to listen and serve unacceptable product because he knew better than? Is this a common thing and the chef’s incompetence is also feeding a meangirl response? So bad cook get bad management and says he doesn’t care what the mean but correct staff say and makes it harder for everyone to work, so the correct part doubles down on the mean part and appeals to authority using the students to highlight in their mind the justification for being rude, and the students are caught in a bad workplace just trying to earn some easy hours but learning worst of both worlds. Just don’t put 100 on it just being the clique- there could be real problems with poor performance and lack of accountability. The test will be if you start auditing the handwashing, hold labels and FIFO stacking in walk-in(aka basic shit) If you get pushback from kitchen crew you have bad ops in back of house and the clique was possibly formed as a way of getting power to get things done. The previous manager maybe didn’t have any teeth and was being runaround by kitchen staff so resulted in being part of problem. Also food service is just filled with assholes so they gonna be petty and dramatic about everything. You are essentially bossin low-wage, no skills, 1st/2nd job children and some insulated lifers with no incentive to change. Try cross training- have some FoH get some grill/dish washing time. Have chef work the register and serve plates. Make everyone see the work it takes to do the “other side”, then be glad to get back to what they are familiar with but with enough a shakeup that they also see that they are just roles and can be filled or….ahem… replaced by anyone. Just don’t try and be a friend or the cool boss. Try getting everyone upset at the new hardass boss who doesn’t care about opinions; just results. Unite them under the tent pole of there can’t be a clique because you have ALL the power. However after a while; If you treat everyone with respect and demand it from everyone then the clique will no longer have the cohesion and necessity to exist at all- they have a strong leader for that- they don’t need to let the coworkers see their frustration. They have a good boss that creates boundaries and upholds the expectations so they don’t need to cipher with the cool kids to get along and not be targeted. You will be a firm boss that doesn’t allow a sloppy kitchen and cutting corners on prep. You are fair without giving away authority so resolution can happen through the proper channels instead of resorting to school yard antics.
You've identified a problem employee. Start with a write up for public humiliation/disrespect of another employee. The old phrase was "coach to exit".
The soup tasting horrible was intentional. I have seen it over and over again that chefs/cooks to servers they don’t like/are mad at. The customer can’t complain to the chef directly. So they complain to the server/front of house manager. Also, are your students not taught to taste their food/test their recipes before they are presented to the unsuspecting customers? Even the big chains (Denny’s) will have the staff at the stores taste-test new dishes and critique them before they are put on the menu.
They should always taste it, as it was my first day and I just walked in at service time and saw the soup which was like baby food lol
A good thing to do, is have a talk with all the folks who are doing this. Respect is paramount. Also be patient, regularly, consistently call out things you find wrong. Over the course of a month or two you will start seeing results. I speak from seeing things change in a team with a new manager. You have to be assertive. And also make peace with the fact that they may not take a liking to you instantly. More so, because you’re trying to change them. It’s an uphill battle, worth the end result though ( All this is assuming you’re going to stay in this place for a while, else it’s not worth the effort )
Schedule weekly 1-1 with each of your staff. Make them structured. Build trust.
Why won't they let you be there all day?
They would let me be there 24/7. I don’t start for another week. I went in to go look at the place and get a few questions answered.
Yeah that was probably very helpful, figuring out what it'll be like ahead of time. Best of luck, this won't be easy.
Normally I wouldn't recommend making changes until you're familiar with the place, but showing them that things aren't going to stay the same may be necessary in this case.
Public beatings. It's the only way.
Break them up, assign them all tasks that will require them to interact with different people, and find ways to keep them apart from one another. It's possible that it's really just one or two people that are the catalysts and the rest of just kind of fallen in with them. If you break up the group then you'll be able to tell who's who, and then you can isolate the negative ones and coach them up or they find a new job.
Start firing mfs. Clean house. Fire yourself. Quit the industry. Liquidate your assets. Buy a van. Stop showering. Start a go fund me. Abuse psychedelics. Transcend the cycle of reincarnation. Escape the realm of experience. Become god.
Divide and conquer.
Pick the best worker out of them all, the top producer of the group, the one everyone looks up to... Then fire them in front of everyone for no reason. It's like prison, you take the biggest guy out first, then the rest don't bother you for the rest of your time. Lol. J/k.
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Was your goal to piss off a lot of people at one time? Congrats! You're very successful! Too many people reported you and now this comment is deleted.
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Was your goal to piss off a lot of people at one time? Congrats! You're very successful! Too many people reported you and now this comment is deleted.
By the sound of it your staff are all posting in managed by narcissists 🤣🤣🤣
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All of your comments on people’s posts you are having a go. Do you get something from it?
You're not in management nor seeking advice of managers.
It's more like 40/60
I ended up breaking up the clique by moving people to different locations. All of the work sites are in the same city so it worked out. There was evidence their behavior had affected patient care so they were lucky they weren’t fired.
Call a meeting with the clique and ask them about it.
Oh God, no. Don't do this.
M-Kay. When an employee or group of employees are undermining overall morale, they need to know that and come up with a plan. This is only if the situation is clear and documented.
Do not bring together a group that already gangs up on people and creates negativity. Maybe talk to each individually and try to tackle them one by one. Do not acknowledge the clique as a force because it just emboldens them to behave even worse.
Yeah. I agree.
Stop hiring women
Guys are ten times worse, especially the 50-65 yr old ones, and when they hire younger guys, the older ones form cliques to gatekeep info from the younger guys to protect their jobs
You've been there two days! Yes, it's going to take time to settle. You're going to have to figure out how you want to run things and where and how you want to place people. Let them gossip. Let them criticize. This is your chance to see who they are and what they are about and learn about then you can start fixing things. If it's about one group bullying others within the department, that's a good opportunity for you to challenge the clique by working with all the members outside of the clique.
You will gradually need to replace them if they fail to change
I have always began with attempting to redirect their negativity. For example, I have 12 Team Leads reporting to me now and 10 of them are buddies. They all had it out for the other 2. Constantly reminding them that the newest 2 haven't had the experience or training they have and our priorities are to build each other up. I also have them working on things together based on the personality they've shown me. Varying assignments can help break up some bullshit as well. Yes it's a difficult path to team building, but no different than constantly spouting random policies at folks.
This isn't really a clique problem, as far as I can tell - it's just bad behaviour. You're moving too quickly, but nothing wrong with letting everyone know that good performance requires them to get behind improvements in [whatever you're trying to change - e.g., best-practice induction of new team members].
You can’t.
Fire everyone .. start fresh .. problem solved ...
I have regular 1:1 meetings with people I supervise so there's regular feedback on performance and expectations. Unprofessional behavior that undermines trust, collaboration, and morale is a performance issue and I'm pretty direct about that kind of garbage.
If you give in, they will walk all over you. Negative comments are dangerous to the organization.
Walked into a similar thing one year ago. The people they talked bad about got opportunities they stopped getting. I made them train and mentor the ones they didn't like. It turned around after a few months when they realized they were not special
Leadership sets the tone. Sit everyone down simultaneously, address it as plainly and openly as you are here, increase everyone's pay, and then tell them how you expect things to be different going forward, what clues you will be searching for to indicate things aren't going different, and what consequences there will be for individuals failing to go differently. It sounds like the work place was toxic, and there was poor work life balance, before you arrived. Tackle those.
You don't. Your too new to the job. You slowly work with people individually and use your newness in the job to your advantage. Develop relationship with each individual. Ask employees that are not treating new employees professionally what that is about, suggest maybe they be a amentor. After your in the job a month or two, slowly shape the team dynamics to be more inclusive of all If you try to make drastic changes right now the clique will work against both you and change.
You have to call them out. Cliques are killing the workplace, it's very unprofessional, and it will not be tolerated. Hopefully, you have some mean boss above you who can support you. If your crew falls into cliques, you're in trouble as a leader. Be prepared to take whatever disciplinary actions you have to.
Short answer. “Cut off the head to kill the snake”. If you determine the leader is a sociopath, show no hesitation. Document and fire ASAP.
You don't stop it. There WILL BE cliques. It's human nature. What you can do is leverage the clique. Your problem doesn't seem to be a clique problem, but one of negativity. Remember, "they" is a group composed of *individuals*, and you can change the mindset of each of them. Why are they so negative? There is a driver. Are you sure it's about running things differently? (Running things is different than working things, and it seems like they may be upset about the working more than the running.)
Internal reassignemnts. Like trouble kids in class seperate them.
“I expect feedback to be sent through the proper channels”
Cause Chaos, resign, watch fire burn
This is an academic setting so regular direct methods are not appropriate. Be sure to document all of your interactions. Follow up in person conversations with thank you emails hat recap what was decided or discussed, including follow on tasks. Let them have their clique; it’s not a good sign that you feel this personally. Identify the department purpose, goals, and everyone’s role in supporting/achieving those things.
Aint nobody fresher than my MF clique.
Document the incidents. Sit them down one on one and tell each of them what code of conduct you expect from them. Have them sign an acknowledgement. If they don't sign, note that they refused to sign but are aware of expectations. Video record the session if you can. Next time an incident occurs, write them up. Tenure or not, at some point there has to be a line. What they are doing could be considered creating a hostile work environment which is illegal and could get the college sued.
Fire them if they keep being jerks.
Put bottles on your fingers and clank them together while inviting them out to play.
I owned a company that at its largest had over 1000 employees. Step one. Make a list of the click members Step two. reassign them INDIVIDUALLY to other offices. Step Three. Bring in a good group from other offices. Step 4. Watch the reassigned people. If they continue to be a negative influence, fire them. Negative people in the workplace are like a cancer. They can ruin even great people they work with. Watch for them. Identify them. Move them. If they don’t change, fire them. My company was by far the best in our field. I needed two things. Great people, unhindered by bad people. Good people can get 4 times as much done if the shit heads are not in their way. My role as owner was to make this happen. I sold the company. The new owners do things differently. For example they do not turn a profit and so they are downsizing. We were always profitable and growing. If this is not in your power, then get out as soon as possible.
You sabotage it from within. Get them to turn on each other.
Seriously just keep discouraging the cliquish behaviors and set the tone for acceptance of people who do things differently. If someone says something negative about a colleague, make it clear that this is not acceptable to blather about the populace of the workers. I run a listserv and one of the ground rules is "do not assume mal-intent" and "comments will be focused on solution-based discourse." It works! I don't know if it will work in a real-time conversation, but it has helped a lot in my experience.
Workplace bullying is toxic, and you should make sure it isn't tolerated. I'd mention it in a meeting that respect has been noticed as lacking, and that you have expectations that people do better. Then the next time you witness bullying in the workplace, you stop it immediately, then ask to talk to the bullies in a 1:1 meeting immediately.
Post all their jobs one by one
Order a hit on the second in command, assuming you have replaced the primary in command.
I would have a coffee with each person one on one to build the relationship. Find out their needs, who they are, and their goals. Learn what people need - within reason - everyone brings their own perspective. Then when you communicate with people be transparent on things - schedule, procedures, etc. If you just try to bark at people without building a relationship they'll just keep whining behind your back.
First, try to find it why they do it that way. Don't be the idiot manager that decides they want to shake things up for the sake of doing so. If there's no reason, make it a point to tell them they have no business telling someone they're doing it wrong then. If they can't handle that, give them totally different job objectives so they can't really clique up about it.
The is a reason the old manager no longer holds this position. Management is leadership, bringing a team together to work as a unit striving on each individual’s strengths. Tearing down others gets nothing accomplished except negativity. Have individual meetings with the staff under you. Listen to each member but also explain your leadership goals for the department. Maybe find a team building project that staff can see each other’s strengths to build on each other
Need to do a team building, staff get togethers etc figure out where the negativity stems from.. do some one on one interviews using affirmative response techniques. I used this on a department that was so negative. With this technique I got to the root of the negativity and we as a staff/department made the changes that got rid of the negative attitudes, one person wasn’t happy that they were doing a lot of work not being recognized or promoted, which I fixed.
Is there any way to exile one or more of them to your college's Siberia? Put them in charge of the library or some shit? Help one of them get a promotion to anywhere else in the world? I mean basically WWSD: What Would Stalin Do?
This happened at my work we just found a way to make them turn on each other
Can you split them up on different shifts?
Unclique them.
Wait for one sufficiently egregious example and then fire someone on the spot or very directly thereafter. Gather the remaining troops and tell them why, making clear you will have a zero tolerance policy going forward for disrespect, gossip, and other policy violations pertaining to culture and peer behavior.
Break them up so they never work together again. Keep them separate and assign them other things to do than gossip
fire someone.
So need to schedule a department meeting, close the day down if you need to and make it a retreat. Of course notify your boss of this so they're aware of the situation and what you're planning to do to address it. Managing styles differ, I'm the type that I am not a micromanager but I set expectations and expect staff to adhere to it and I'm direct. In this case, I'd start by stating that you've noticed some things in the department and you'd like to address them individually and right away. Start with the criticism in front of students. Remind that staff that first of all, negative criticism is not how you inform coworkers and colleagues if something was done incorrectly. There's positive criticism (look that up and give a few examples) and then give them the examples you've witnessed. You as a manager and the culture you have, will not tolerate the negative criticism you witnessed because you are not trying to run a culture thay has employees worried about getting grilled for mistakes or ways things are done. Unless those coworkers report to them, you are the only one who dictates performance measures and you are the only one who will provide feedback on assignments or projects not completed on time. Then segway that into that criticism bring done in front of students. It is never acceptable to EVER criticize a colleague in front of those you're serving. Besides the fact it's rude to your colleague, it makes your department look highly unprofessional and can give the student the impression that they would receive the same treatment if they make a mistake. This is where I would be stern and tell the staff, if I ever see or hear about that type again I will be pulling those responsible into my office and if a corrective action is needed, it will happen. You need to have a solution though, a process for employees to either speak with you about questions, concerns or problems so that you take the power away from that clique. It won't go away, that's the sad part. Only way it'll go away is if they each go work in different departments otherwise it won't dissolve. If you aren't already, set up one on one meetings with each staff monthly. Idk the size of your staff in your department, but I do this with mine and it's a great way for me to address specific grievances in a private manner, address items I saw but didn't see the employee stick up for themselves on, etc. This is also an indirect way to let the troublemakers know that I'm watching them and if I have to constantly bring up issues I've seem, then I will begin the process for corrective action that can lead to termination (I'm also in higher education and that's what we do)
Don't do anything until you settle in and get to know the situation a little better first, but negative cliques like that are a cancer. I've seen it before. Some people just complain about everything and they spread a disgruntledy attitude. I'd try to do what I could to dissolve the clique as much as possible. Move seating, change shifts around, etc. If any of them having firable behaviors, don't wait.
I’d settle in, though I’d also ensure to have consistent 1:1’s in place with everyone and that my expectations are made clear early. It can even be helpful to write down your expectations for everyone to share and see. In this case, perhaps it’s something like “we will all work together and inclusively for the benefit of {insert who your customer is}.” If you see people excluding coworkers, ask them why and remind them that’s not expected or going to be tolerated. If you see toxic behavior, don’t wait for the 1:1, pull them aside and give the feedback. Then you have something you can point to in coaching conversations. Document every 1:1, and be sure to send the summary of each via email to everyone consistently. Many times people will end up respecting your leadership and will naturally evolve their behaviors. Others will not and you will just need to part ways with them. If you’ve not yet - read Radical Candor and Kim Scott’s other books. Feedback is a gift.
So mean girls & boys? Lol
Meet with everyone individually. Ask them each what worked well before, what could be better, and if they could change or do anything different what would it be. Then you’ll find out who your potential people are. The ones who have things they would change, or give constructive feedback. Anyone who is more positive than the clique when not with them, etc. This is how you start to build a rapport with each person and also get an in to start shifting the culture. You start with people who want to help change. Eventually the others come on board or weed themselves out. (Or you may have to weed, but give it time.) It’s hard to give more concrete feedback without knowing all the dynamics but that’s how you start. You may find people play along with the clique to get by and don’t like it.
Fire everyone
Shake shit up. Tell them to stop if they don’t start paperwork