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Abstract

d="cfb7"><b>Effectiveness:</b> As part of the overall approach to helping the employee, EAP is OK, but unless they have someone who is an expert in anger management and the employee gets more than three sessions, more would be needed.</p><p id="a602">Check with your EAP provider if an expert is available and how many sessions your organization will pay for.</p><h1 id="10d9">Online anger management courses</h1><p id="d062">Though I love online courses and buy heaps of them myself, it’s not a good choice unless supported by counseling for someone experiencing anger management issues to the extent it affects their work.</p><p id="9f0b">An online course wouldn’t be specific enough to create behavior change. It seems like too much of a ‘tick the box’ solution.</p><p id="cb71">An online course could be used for information and as a prompt for conversations with a counselor though.</p><p id="cb98"><b>Cost: $</b></p><p id="09eb"><b>Time commitment:</b> A few hours for the L&D professional to locate and then a few hours for the employee to spend doing the course.</p><p id="1122"><b>Effectiveness:</b> Good for information but only if followed by discussions with a health professional.</p><h1 id="77a2">Face-to-Face anger management courses</h1><p id="2e4c">I’d be in favor of this option if you could find a face-to-face course that the employee would be able to attend. Some are held in the evenings, which may pose issues for the employee regarding travel or childcare.</p><p id="4c44">Another consideration would be whether the employee would agree to attend. Some anger management courses are mandatory for people who have broken the law and used as a diversion (in NZ, this means all charges are dropped if a person agrees to go to the anger management course).</p><p id="1247">The nature of the course and the other attendees may put off your employee.</p><p id="b221">At this point, you may be wondering why the employee’s opinion matters and thinking, “Just make them go.”</p><p id="74ca">If you aim to assist your employee with their anger management issue and enable them to carry out their employment without further problems, forcing them to attend a course won’t work.</p><p id="0d39">It will cause too much ill will in someone who is not naturally inclined to comply with authority in the first place.</p><p id="fa57"><b>Cost:</b> $$</p><p id="726e"><b>Time commitment: </b>a few hours a week for several months for the employee, a few hours to set up for the L&D professional.</p><p id="1a57"><b>Effectiveness:</b> In my experience, employees with anger management issues will always have them to a certain extent. However, attending a face-to-face course with a qualified facilitator over an extended period might help mitigate the issues or encourage the employee to examine their behavior and talk about it.</p><h1 id="0ebe">Counselor or psychologist</h1><p id="c02a">Along with a face-to-face course, this is the most likely solution to work. Should the budget allow, this would be my favored solution if the employee was willing to make changes.</p><p id="a3dd">The employee would be able to discuss their anger issues with a qualified mental health professional on a one-to-one basis, meaning any advice would be tailored to their needs rather than limited by a course curriculum.</p><p id="8fb0">In addition, the counseling could take place within work hours and, depending on the employee’s computer literacy, could take place on Zoom if need be.</p><p id="4357"><b>Cost:</b> $$$</p><p id="1bf5"><b>Time commitment</b>: An hour a week plus travel for as many sessions as the organization is willing to pay for or until the anger issues are resolved.</p><p id="61e2"><b>Effectiveness:</b> This is the option most likely to help the employee.</p><p id="b1d5">This is only my opinion based on my experience. I’m not a medical professional, so you’ll have to decide base

Options

d on the individual and what you think will work best.</p><h1 id="32a1">What happens next?</h1><p id="16ad">As an L&D practitioner within an HR team, my role has is restricted to producing a list of options to discuss with the HR Manager, the employee’s line manager, and the H&S representative.</p><p id="501b">I’ve certainly chipped in with my opinion about what will work, but the line manager and HR will decide on which option to take, and that depends on the history of the employee and the cost.</p><p id="d7b1">Getting the employee to attend is the line manager’s role. However, L&D provide the logistics in terms of cost, how we pay, who to contact, any addresses, and anything else the employee needs to know to get them wherever they need to be.</p><p id="ef57">Whether or not the anger management counseling works is down to the employee. If it doesn’t, the HR team and the employee’s line manager will decide on what to do next.</p><h1 id="64fa">Summary</h1><p id="aa5d">Dealing with anger management issues in the workplace is a long and tortuous road. Even if you provide expensive counseling, it is not guaranteed to work.</p><p id="64b4">However, if your organization is keen to give employees the support they need to change their behavior and do well in their role, you may well be asked to find a solution.</p><p id="95da">Everyone deserves a second chance, especially when you don’t know what led to the anger management issues in the first place. You don’t know the employee’s history, and some chemical imbalances or other medical problems might come to light.</p><p id="08ee">Get my FREE weekly newsletter about all things leadership and training <a href="https://artisanal-inventor-759.ck.page/74f7d108ff">here</a> — You’ll also get a copy of The New Leader’s Starter Kit which takes you through how to run One-to-Ones and Constructive Feedback sessions and develop effective listening skills.</p><div id="eac6" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/leadership-styles-when-to-use-them-ccb2693831b"> <div> <div> <h2>Leadership Styles & When to Use Them</h2> <div><h3>Leveraging how you lead to overcome leadership challenges</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*yYWGZIXmj2Fg1aCF)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="969d" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/six-types-of-workplace-bias-to-watch-out-for-every-day-e9a8dcff5f72"> <div> <div> <h2>Six Types of Workplace Bias to Watch Out For Every Day</h2> <div><h3>Yes, you do have workplace bias. We all do.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*yV2Ob1Fe00JHgJ1W)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="81e6" class="link-block"> <a href="https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/12-signs-of-a-micromanager-the-effect-on-the-team-what-to-do-instead-c05cd05bf0f4"> <div> <div> <h2>12 Signs of a Micromanager, The Effect on The Team & What to Do Instead</h2> <div><h3>Unless you want to demotivate your team and suck the autonomy right out of them</h3></div> <div><p>medium.datadriveninvestor.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*h34hsM4-d_sS4TWV)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

How to Find Training & Support for Someone with Anger Management Issues

Helping someone with anger issues will always come up if you are a leader for long enough

The Monday Morning Manager Series #50

As a Learning and Development leader, I’ve been approached many times to help sort out a staff member with anger management issues.

Usually, the angry outbursts have been going on for some time and are not news to anyone who works closely with the angry person. A formal or informal complaint about the angry person’s behavior is generally the catalyst for involving HR or training.

A stressed manager would ask for ‘a quiet word’, and the next minute I heard a tale of lost temper, disgruntled co-workers, and possible disciplinary action or formal complaints.

My job as an L&D professional was to arrange anger management training or support immediately or as a result of a disciplinary outcome requirement.

In L&D, we aren’t medical professionals. We can only facilitate remedies or strategies for anger management via trained experts, so that is what we do.

Here are a few options to discuss with the employee’s manager and the H&S team if you have one.

Research online tips

The least effective option, and one I wouldn’t recommend, is researching some tips and providing them to the person with issues.

I only included it because that’s what managers expect. I wanted to clarify that it will be ineffective.

“Joe has an anger management issue. He’s been shouting at Bob, and he shoved him. Can you find him some tips for not losing his temper?”

If it’s got this far, a few tips about deep breathing and taking up mindfulness aren’t going to help.

The only time I’d provide this sort of assistance would be to someone who wanted help with not getting frustrated at work but didn’t get anything more than a bit grumpy.

You don’t know the underlying causes of the anger issue, you’re not a medical professional, and handing out some tip sheets won’t work.

If you get outranked, and someone senior insists you take this option, get it in writing via an email to your boss that you don’t believe it will work.

Cost: Free

Time Commitment: A bit of research from you and some time for the employee to read through whatever you’ve given them.

Effectiveness: Not very effective for someone with real anger issues.

EAP

The first stop would be the organization’s EAP so the employee can get immediate help.

In my experience, employees with anger management issues don’t take kindly to being told about it or attending any sessions that might help them. You can’t guarantee they will take up the EAP offer, but ensuring they have the chance is essential.

EAP is confidential, so you won’t know what has been discussed. Still, short term, it could help the employee deal with any recent outbursts and any disciplinary process resulting from it.

Cost: Free to the employee, a cost to the employer as part of the EAP package.

Time Commitment: Most organizations offer three free sessions to the employee, so the time needed would be for the sessions and the travel time.

Effectiveness: As part of the overall approach to helping the employee, EAP is OK, but unless they have someone who is an expert in anger management and the employee gets more than three sessions, more would be needed.

Check with your EAP provider if an expert is available and how many sessions your organization will pay for.

Online anger management courses

Though I love online courses and buy heaps of them myself, it’s not a good choice unless supported by counseling for someone experiencing anger management issues to the extent it affects their work.

An online course wouldn’t be specific enough to create behavior change. It seems like too much of a ‘tick the box’ solution.

An online course could be used for information and as a prompt for conversations with a counselor though.

Cost: $

Time commitment: A few hours for the L&D professional to locate and then a few hours for the employee to spend doing the course.

Effectiveness: Good for information but only if followed by discussions with a health professional.

Face-to-Face anger management courses

I’d be in favor of this option if you could find a face-to-face course that the employee would be able to attend. Some are held in the evenings, which may pose issues for the employee regarding travel or childcare.

Another consideration would be whether the employee would agree to attend. Some anger management courses are mandatory for people who have broken the law and used as a diversion (in NZ, this means all charges are dropped if a person agrees to go to the anger management course).

The nature of the course and the other attendees may put off your employee.

At this point, you may be wondering why the employee’s opinion matters and thinking, “Just make them go.”

If you aim to assist your employee with their anger management issue and enable them to carry out their employment without further problems, forcing them to attend a course won’t work.

It will cause too much ill will in someone who is not naturally inclined to comply with authority in the first place.

Cost: $$

Time commitment: a few hours a week for several months for the employee, a few hours to set up for the L&D professional.

Effectiveness: In my experience, employees with anger management issues will always have them to a certain extent. However, attending a face-to-face course with a qualified facilitator over an extended period might help mitigate the issues or encourage the employee to examine their behavior and talk about it.

Counselor or psychologist

Along with a face-to-face course, this is the most likely solution to work. Should the budget allow, this would be my favored solution if the employee was willing to make changes.

The employee would be able to discuss their anger issues with a qualified mental health professional on a one-to-one basis, meaning any advice would be tailored to their needs rather than limited by a course curriculum.

In addition, the counseling could take place within work hours and, depending on the employee’s computer literacy, could take place on Zoom if need be.

Cost: $$$

Time commitment: An hour a week plus travel for as many sessions as the organization is willing to pay for or until the anger issues are resolved.

Effectiveness: This is the option most likely to help the employee.

This is only my opinion based on my experience. I’m not a medical professional, so you’ll have to decide based on the individual and what you think will work best.

What happens next?

As an L&D practitioner within an HR team, my role has is restricted to producing a list of options to discuss with the HR Manager, the employee’s line manager, and the H&S representative.

I’ve certainly chipped in with my opinion about what will work, but the line manager and HR will decide on which option to take, and that depends on the history of the employee and the cost.

Getting the employee to attend is the line manager’s role. However, L&D provide the logistics in terms of cost, how we pay, who to contact, any addresses, and anything else the employee needs to know to get them wherever they need to be.

Whether or not the anger management counseling works is down to the employee. If it doesn’t, the HR team and the employee’s line manager will decide on what to do next.

Summary

Dealing with anger management issues in the workplace is a long and tortuous road. Even if you provide expensive counseling, it is not guaranteed to work.

However, if your organization is keen to give employees the support they need to change their behavior and do well in their role, you may well be asked to find a solution.

Everyone deserves a second chance, especially when you don’t know what led to the anger management issues in the first place. You don’t know the employee’s history, and some chemical imbalances or other medical problems might come to light.

Get my FREE weekly newsletter about all things leadership and training here — You’ll also get a copy of The New Leader’s Starter Kit which takes you through how to run One-to-Ones and Constructive Feedback sessions and develop effective listening skills.