KEYGroup Newsletter EZINE Archives [back to EZINE archive main page] April 6, 2006 Let's face it … no one really likes to be the bearer of bad news. And when it comes time to speak with your employee about his or her behavior you'd probably prefer to be anywhere in the world (like sitting in a dentist's chair waiting for the drill to descend) than sitting across a desk from the offending employee. As you clear your throat to begin the disciplinary discussion, you unconsciously start searching for the employee's reaction. Will she look hurt or angry? Will he become defensive and argumentative? Will the employee take your criticisms constructively, or become bitter and resentful? Will this interview be a defining moment for you and the employee? You hope it will steer him or her onto the path towards better performance. But what if it has the opposite effect? What if it turns a marginal employee into a troublemaker? Next to having to tell an employee "you're fired," most supervisors (with the possible exception of Donald Trump) hate having to discuss behavior problems with their employees. You think avoiding discipline is not a widespread problem? One large-scale study* found that out of more than 124,000 federal workers who were identified as poor performers, around 3% were removed, less than 0.1% were demoted, and 88% were given pay raises! Clearly, disciplining employees is not an easy chore for supervisors! * A Bureaucracy with a Difference? Hopes and fears for the "homeland" force, by Kate O'Beirne, National Review, July 15, 2002). Maybe The Problem Will Just Go Away! The key word here is "magic," because without your direct intervention it would take a piece of good luck, or a little magic, for most problem employees to correct themselves on their own. Sure … some employees have personal problems beyond their control, like health issues, family issues, and other personal problems. But good employees won't let that interfere with their jobs if they can avoid it. Plus, they may still need your help to get the job done while dealing with their issues. So you really can't solve employee problems by putting off that disciplinary discussion. And, in truth, you really can't afford to put off that disciplinary discussion, no matter how uncomfortable it is for you. There are bigger issues at stake! Excuse Me? A few years ago Accountemps, the world's largest specialized staffing service for temporary finance professionals, developed a survey that asked executives: "What are the most unusual reasons you have heard for why employees request time off?" here are some of their employee's gems (along with the responses I imagine those employers wanted to make):
Have you heard some funny employee excuses? If so, please email them to me. I plan to showcase them in upcoming issues of "Sujansky Says …" Don't Skip the "Dots" and the "Crosses" First, how long can your company afford to let poor job performance or policy violations go? What effect is that one employee having on other employees? Do you really want to let that bad apple spoil the barrel? I mean, sometimes the situation is so intolerable that you obviously have to act quickly and decisively. You can't let a case of harassment go unchecked, can you? But even less grievous infractions – an employee who is habitually late or one who doesn't always follow procedures – can lower the morale and reduce the productivity of all employees. Second, what if the corrective actions you hoped would solve the problem don't work? You'll probably have to fire the employee in that case, but if you haven't done the disciplinary discussions properly you're just going to have to start over. It can be a laborious process getting rid of a mismatched employee (just ask the people supervising those federal employees I mentioned earlier), so having a well-documented history of disciplinary actions can speed the process at the end. If you've already reached that point, you may want to review my special report How to Fire Someone: A Guide for the Reluctant Manager, visit www.howtofiresomeone.com. But, if you still hope to save your employee from an early exit from his or her job, then it's just amateur of conducting disciplinary discussions properly! Employee Discipline That Works That's why I recently created a special report on the subject, entitled Employee Discipline That Works. In this report I cover some real-world examples of discipline problems and I pinpoint the critical factors that determine what should be done—both type (which of the four options is right and why) and tone (what to say during a session and how to say it). This eBook answers a few of the questions supervisors all over the world have asked me following numerous presentations and workshops. In this report I will tell you:
For more information on my report Employee Discipline That Works, visit www.howtodisciplineanemployee.com. But, always remember that the goal of conducting a disciplinary discussion is to turn the employee around. Done correctly, you may be able to turn a marginal employee into a valued member of the team. You may be able to head off problems before they go from inconvenient to intractable. You may be able to prevent a good employee from stumbling seriously. And you may even be able to build a stronger sense of morale among the other members of the team. Look. We all want to work within an environment that is motivating and supportive. And there's no more supportive environment than one in which employees clearly know the rules and that you will also be there to help them if they make a mistake or encounter problems. If you approach employee discipline problems as an opportunity to help your employees – rather than as a burden of punishing them – you won't have to worry about creating the kind of workplace culture that makes employees want to follow the rules and contribute to the best of their abilities. An Ounce of Prevention … A "Pound" of Culture But what if you begin to detect a pattern? What if you find once-reliable employees showing up late or missing work. Or increased employee grumbling or missed deadlines or shoddy work. You could be developing a problem with the dreaded "C" word … Culture. It's a problem I talk about often in consultations with CEOs and in keynote talks. But it's a confusing topic and I often get asked, "Joanne, just what IS culture, anyway?" The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines culture as "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes a company or corporation." In it's simplest sense "Culture" is the unseen "glue" that holds your organization together and guides its course. Culture, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad, positive nor negative. Your organization may enjoy a culture that drives it towards success or it may suffer from a culture that dooms it to failure. But, whatever your organization's culture is, there is no question that you have one. The question is whether your culture is working for you or against you! But, how do you know a culture problem when you see it? Well, if you find your employees spending endless hours working at their jobs but with disappointing results, that's culture. Or, if your employees seem to spend too much time watching the clock and not enough time watching the bottom line, that's culture. If your employees seem more like they "rent" their cubicles than they seem to "own" them, that's culture. And if incidents requiring employee disciplinary discussions are escalating, that may well be culture, too. In my work with organizations of all types I have found that those organizations that are best positioned to compete in today's competitive climate are those in which every employee thinks and acts like an owner. By nurturing the right type of culture today's organizations can create the necessary conditions to inspire their employees to reach new levels of achievement. These cultural elements are the source of productivity and profitability and they are the one thing that your competition can't replicate or steal. I call this type of organization a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Organization and I have developed a new eBook that describes in detail how leaders can go about creating an exciting, productive environment within their own department or organization. (It may actually be easier than conducting all of those disciplinary discussions!) For information on my eBook visit www.howtohaveacompetitiveadvantage.com All contents copyright 2005 by KEYGroup® Contents may not be reproduced without permission.
To learn more about how you can create a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Organization contact KEYGroup® at 724-942-7900 or visitour websites www.keygroupconsulting.com and www.joannesujansky.com.
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