An employee, that you manage really gets on your nerves. It's not that their performance is all that bad.

An employee, that you manage really gets on your nerves. It's not that their performance is all that bad. For example, the employee always does what is required of them in terms of professionalism, administration tasks and dressing appropriately. They meet sales targets and their customer service ratings on their performance scorecards are good.

On the other hand, the employee does not really respond to the team training and team-building sessions that you have initiated and have proven so effective in sustaining team morale and driving others to success. Other team members seem to thrive on, and draw energy from, these team sessions, while this employee, if anything, appears emotionally drained from interacting with their peers.

The employee says that they would rather work individual and that all the team stuff is suffocating. You've really tried hard to build a culture of teamwork and this feels like a slap in the face.

3a. How would you set aside your own emotions to focus on and identify how the employee (probably) feels?

Refer to relevant principles of emotional intelligence, and describe how knowledge of, for example, learning styles, personality types or communication styles, could help you relate to and understand the employee better and adapt your response.