As an employer or manager, it gets frustrating witnessing employees breaking rules and risking a company’s reputation with non-compliant behavior. Despite all the compliance training from platforms like True Office Learning, there will always be one who defies all rules, even acting passive-aggressively about it.

This may leave you wondering what to do with a non-compliant person. Before anything else, remember that your task isn’t to make people comply, but to explain and enforce the consequences of one’s choice of noncompliance. You must not use force, especially physical force!

Read on as we share key verbal intervention tips to manage a non-compliant person in the workplace.

1. Maintain rationality and place responsibility

If you lose your cool, you will deal with a power struggle and you will end up in a no-win situation. The more irrational and frustrated you feel, the more the non-compliant person will feel defiant, pushing your buttons further. Stay calm when dealing with non-compliance, just as you would when conducting training for topics like cybersecurity learning from True Office Learning.

Moreover, take that burden of responsibility from your shoulders and give it to the non-compliant individual. For instance, if the noncompliant individual says, “Make me do it,” inform them that you cannot make them do anything. Instead, explain that they make the choice and you are merely there to issue a directive and enforce the consequences.

2. Explain the directive and set reasonable limits

More often than not, employers assume that the individual is aware of why the directive was issued. There are times that the individual isn’t completely aware of the reason, so give them the benefit of the doubt and explain why the directive is issued.

When doing this, always set reasonable limits when enforcing consequences because an individual will always test how far you can go. If you set unreasonable limits or consequences, they know you can’t enforce them.

3. Prepare to enforce the limits

Following the last tip, make sure that when you impose limits or consequences, you must also prepare to enforce them. If a non-compliant knows you won’t enforce the limits, the chances of compliance will greatly diminish. You will also have a difficult time setting limits with your employees in the future.

4. Don’t focus on the negatives

The limit setting doesn’t always need to be a threat or ultimatum. Every coin has two sides, and one’s compliance will have positive consequences. You won’t need to pass judgment. Instead, be as objective as you can as you explain the choices.

For instance, if someone were to defy rules, you can let them know the choices, both the positive and negative ones. This will help prevent verbal power struggles while giving the noncompliant individual the choice of whether to follow the rules or not using clear, non-judgmental consequences. And again, if the individual chooses to be non-compliant, don’t be afraid to enforce the consequences.

Wrapping It Up

If ever you deal with non-compliance in the workplace, think of these tips to deal with it calmly.