As an employer, how do you manage loose cannon employees?

Year after year most companies struggle with their employees interms of work ethics, maintaining office policies and secrets.  I use the word struggle because,  such employees could be very hardworking and employers kept hoping they will change for good and not firing them but they keep getting worse getting the company into bigger business/public image mess.

On the other side, there are employers who are totally unaware they have loose cannons working for them and creating problems for them here and there.

Your establishment keeps getting into law suit, online accounts hacked, products imitated by other manufacturers,  and you keep wondering, how on earth did our guarded company secret get out to the public? Loose cannon employee(s)!!!

Take for instance very popular beverages like coca cola, Guiness stout etc, these are products that lots of consumers are aware have secret ingredient(s) they use that gives their drinks that recognized trade mark taste.  There are other cola drinks that looks like coke, and alcohol that looks like guiness stout but their tast are not the same. I once heard from a very reliable source that the Guiness Family have guard their secrets for decades and no one dare leak the secret ingredient(s)…ever!!

Coca cola on its own have a distinctive taste that other cola drinks does not have and those who always go for coke understand this.  These two brands have maintained their signature taste for years without any other company which dare challenge them ever succeeding.

Now how about some big firms who have their office logistic secrets and ethics made open thereby messing up their business blue print/plans and  brand  image? How did such vital and secret documents and policies get to the hands or would i say to the ears of those who use them to manipulate or destroy them? Loose cannon employees!!!

The thing about loose cannon employees is that they do more harm to their employers than good. They hardly add value with their loose office morals/ethics and all they do is leak out vital information and plans of their employers that should not be known by the general public. Who ever wants such employee? Part of the requirement that employers include in employment agreement  document to be signed by an employee is the act of being secretive and not leaking any vital information/secret of the company. Do employees keep to this agreement?  To some extent in this part of the world where we live. Am sure the Westerners take such agreement very seriously but to us down here, it is just one of those papers to be signed when employing someone. Because the employees know employers themselves do not take this serious, they do not think twice or even read the document very well before signing. After all, no one will take note talk of implementing it.

As an employer how do you checkmate employees attitude at work? Are you aware that that your online accounts that was hacked was done by your worker(s)? Whom ofcourse handles very vital documents and office transaction passwords? Certainly someone must be incharge of all these but did you actually pick the right person(s) to handle your office secrets and vital documents? How credible are your staff handling sensitive areas of your business transactions?

Most companies have lost business contracts and proposals because a loose cannon exposed their strategies and plans to other bidder(s).  At times loose cannons do not do this deliberately, they leak the secrets unconciously without knowing. So it is very important, employers train and drill employees before employing and for old workers, regularly so as to know their mental state and morals.  This is not a casual training but a very mental scrutinization of employees to unravel those who are not able to keep scerets, those who are not mentally stable.

Listen readers, not everyone you see around is sound mentally. Some people are mentally mad, they are not sound and stable to handle certain office assignment. They look, talk normal but they are not normal brainwise to deal with the kind of job you assign them to do.

How many employers take time out to train staff in the area of MENTAL STABILITY?  Do most employers even know about such training?  The fact that someone has good grades, dresses fantastically, is always acting normal does not make that person mentally stable at work place. You could be suprise what that young man that answers you –sir..sir…as if ..sir is going out of fashion could do if you subject him to ‘professional mental drill’.

You will be amazed the kind of  quiet lunatic that pretty face lady executive of yours is, when you meet her outside office walls. She could talk and say everything that comes to mind even in the hair dressing salon thereby leaking your office scerets.

How about that IT staff in your office, is he/she credible and mentally strong to keep all your online transactions sceret password? The messenger/ driver….is he the one that keeps his mouth shut when asked to go and drop a document somewhere without opeing the document to know the contents?

How much does  employers actually know their staff mentally? Let me also make it clear here that PROFESSIONAL MENTAL training is not a any casual  training you can hand out to anyone to do. You must ensure you get the appropriate resource persons who are sound in HUMAN BEHAVIOUR analysis, who takes one look at someone and unravels the psychological details of such person and other human factors.

This is one area of staff training i feel most employers should invest on and ensure that when they send staff for such training, all the the staff involved must attend the training from the start till end. I am saying this because Nigerian workers are very good in getting money from their employers to attend workshops/seminars/conferences and they hardly attend the real training. All they do is wait for the end of the training to collect certificate of attendance. How can someone who did not attend the training he/she was assigned to effect positive changes at work places?   

I anchor trainings for employees from different organizations so i am pretty sure what i am talking about here and the training company i represent hardly condone this bad attitude of  giving certificates to staff who refuse to attend training sessions but only interested in workshop materials, foods, certificate of attendance. I personally point this out to all delegates so that they understand that the human resource/development  training company i represent is not into ‘’’business as usual’’ as being obtained in the Nigeria society.

As an employer, ensuring that you train your staff mentally pays off big time!! This helps you avoid having loose cannon employees!!

JACLYN IWU