We all have worked with them, heck some of us live and work with them!  So there is no outcry of foul, for the purpose of this article the term Drama Queen is gender neutral and unbiased towards age.  There are plenty of geriatric and youthful Drama Queens, male and female alike running a-muck, wreaking havoc on the rest of us.  We are only going to kill the work variety in this article.  There are only two known cures for the Drama Queen personality, constructive avoidance and aggressive, negative reinforcement.  OK there are actually three; my favorite, termination.

If the case is mild, simply responding to every drama-rama with a smooth steady "thanks for letting me know", can work, but likely won't.  In years past I have worked with a few, of what I call "Extreme Queens".  The drama they produce is hurricane-ish as it feeds off the energy of the snaking heads and water cooler chatter.  Most Drama Queens will constantly engage their superiors right away with all of their non-sense about how horrible / wonderful everything is based on the given day.  Personal health concerns, tattling on others misconduct sharing their fears of ethics or other rules violations being done by others and practicing civil disobedience are my personal favorite Drama Queen behavior traits. 

While it is very hard to have specific policies against drama, (mine being, save the drama for your mama!), instead I suggest the use of the opposite approach, direct, negative confrontation to let the Drama Queen know that you are not willing to entertain so much drama about issues du jour.  It’s like trying to break a good dog of a particular naughtiness; be happy with less bad behavior at first.  Any and all confrontations about their behavior are best done with a witness taking notes and in private, no sense in feeding the hurricane in public.  Be ready to be baited into a contest or argument, but hold firmly to your message about their behavior, not the person.  "We simply don't allow this type of behavior, or your specific behavior / actions on this day, caused this problem.”  Always state these concerns as performance issues so they are actionable later on.

This is all fine for reforming a Drama Queen.  But alas, some are too wild to tame, too naughty to house-break and that is when you have to systematically rid your organization of them.  Like cutting off the little bit of mold that soon consumes the whole loaf of bread, they will devastate the chemistry of an office faster than a tear gas canister in the lunch room and can completely ruin the reputation of the company as a whole. I say get rid of them, damn the cost.

 These dramas are very expensive and time consuming.  Once, my management group and I spent hundreds of dollars in man hours having to sort out a drama-rama over less than a hundred bucks.

Unless it is catastrophic behavior, always give proper notice.  Deciding if the person and their respective talent are worth saving can moderate the severity and swiftness of your response.  Being a Drama Queen is learned behavior, make no mistake, and it will take time and a lot of energy to cure one, if you can. 

 My theory about the mythical cure for a Drama Queen comes from a bumper sticker seen on I-76 in Colorado.  "Never try and teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig!"   Purge early and purge often, especially in today’s hiring climate. There is a lot of talent on the streets as of this writing.  Employ personality tests and listen to them.  Drama Queens will be charismatic and energetic at the onset; they will however use those gifts for evil given the chance. 

Disclaimer: Make hiring and firing decisions at your own risk. Don't forget that there are rules about how to discipline and fire people.  Don’t actually kill anyone.  To kill means being fired in this article. (Seriously right?)   Check with your HR department before taking action so you don't accidentally kill yourself.