November 2012

How to apply the steps to progressive discipline to address employee performance problems

Nov 29, 2012 Comments

It comes a time when you need to confront employees on performance issues. This is where a manager needs to understand and apply progressive discipline to attempt to turnaround problem performance situations.

Progressive discipline when applied correctly is what is best for the employee, the manager and the company. Even if you do not have established policies in your company you can follow these steps. They will let the employee know you mean business and will protect you and the company from wrongful dismissal and lawsuits.

You will need to have been given the authority to carry this out by your boss. You should also get familiar with the legal requirements for employee termination in your province, state or country.

Progressive discipline should be the last step in the management process. You should first confront the employee with your concerns about their behavior or performance and discuss it with them. Listen to what they have to say but end with a call to action.

For example if the employee has been late or missed days at work often, meet with them alone. Let them know how their behavior is affecting the work, the team and you. Ask them what they will do about it as it is not acceptable. Get a commitment and write it down. Make sure they see you writing it down. Set a follow-up date in a week o show them that this will not go away. Meet them whether the infraction has been corrected or not. If they have shown up on time every day over that week, recognize them for it. If they have not respected their commitment, let them know that the next time this occurs they will be getting a written warning. Explain the steps that will follow after that as explained below.

Verbal Notice

The first step is to provide the employee with verbal warning of the situation and that it needs to be corrected. Let them know that if the behavior or poor performance occurs again they will receive a written notice. Make sure you have a file for each employee and write the date of the warning and what you said in their file. Make sure to note their response. You might want to ask them to sign the note or you can have a witness present such as your boss or a colleague.

Written Notice

The next step if the situation has not been corrected by the employere is to give written warning. Refer back to the original reasons for the progressive discipline process presently being implemented. Also state the fact that verbal warning was given but the situation has not improved. The written warning should let them know that the next step if corrective action is not taken by the employee is a suspension without pay for one to three days or more. Also state that the last step will be termination if the cause for the progressive discipline reoccurs.

Suspension

Suspension without pay is the last step in the progressive discipline process before termination. This should be done in writing as well. The length of suspension can vary.

Termination

This is the last step so hopefully the progressive discipline has been enough to change the behavior of the employee. In this case you want to terminate employment immediately. A letter of termination must be given that states the reasons for termination and reference to the progressive discipline steps that were taken.

Ideally you won’t have to do this too often. The goal is to hire the right person for the job and train and coach them for success.

Stephen Goldberg

Optimus Performance

How to coach an employee to improve performance follow-up session

Nov 22, 2012 Comments

In this video I will cover how to conduct a follow-up coaching session with the goal of improving employee performance.

In my previous video blog I explained how to use a job description to initiate a coaching process with the goal of improving performance. Prior to that, I showed how to write a job description using my job description template in that blog video. You can download the job description template from that blog article.

The follow-up coaching session is really an ongoing process of coaching for continuous improvement through goal setting, problem solving and clear communication between the manager and his/her direct reports.

Here are some suggested steps to run a successful coaching session.

1. Start of by asking what is going well since the last meeting. Discuss the causes of this and recognize what the employee has done to make this happen. Point to their positive traits and improved behaviors that might have contributed to these results. For example the employee might have said they felt good about putting more time and focus on one of their key tasks that you had discussed with them at the last meeting. You could point out that you are glad to see them making that effort and that their ability to focus on a task is what you see as a key strength of theirs.

2. Discuss the goal you may have set with them at the last meeting and the progress that has been made. Again recognize the accomplishments and what caused it in their behavior. If the action steps toward the goal had not been fully met discuss what happened. This is another opportunity to identify obstacles to job performance and to find and agree on new solutions.

3. Review the actions you as a manager were to take to support them and remove any constraints that had been discussed at the previous meeting. See if there is new support action that you need to take.

4. Review the discussion and summarize and agree on the next action steps both the employee and you will take towards the goals you have set together.

5. Set the date for the next meeting in both your agendas.

Tip 1: Ask questions and listen. Let the employee come up with their own solutions to problems as much as possible, rather than solving problems for them and telling them what to do. This will develop more autonomous and responsible employees who will become self-sufficient with your coaching.

Tip 2: Never point out negative traits but instead focus on the problem. For example if the employee shows sign of poor work ethic, don’t say you really are lazy. Instead just ask what happened; why did they not do what was agreed. If what you hear amounts to excuses, you need to challenge them on this without putting them down. Stick to finding out what they will do to correct this by the next meeting. If this behavior continues it is another type of problem that needs disciplinary action. I will cover this in a future blog article and video.

Stephen Goldberg

How to use a job description to improve staff performance

Nov 12, 2012 Comments

Job descriptions are a great management tool that is often ignored by leaders and managers. After all, once hired or promoted, people should know what they need to do and just do it. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

In my previous blog posts I wrote about the top 10 reasons for writing a job description and I also showed how to write one using my job description template. You can download that here as well as the sample job description.

One of the ways to use a job description is to conduct a one-on-one coaching session. The main purpose of this is to assure that you and your direct reports have clear mutual understanding of what the job responsibilities and tasks are. As well, it is a way to set performance improvement goals.

You might already have department or job goals so this might be a compliment to those objectives. However, in my experience small and medium size business owners and managers often do not set clear expectations of performance.

One of the main benefits of doing this type of coaching session is that people will feel more supported and this added attention will provide some needed motivation and a feeling of importance.

Before conducting a one-on-one coaching session using the job description, prepare yourself by starring the top priority tasks or those that bring the highest value to the organization. This usually equates to 20% of the tasks. So if there are 20 tasks on a job description, there are 4 that bring the most value when performed well.

Steps to conducting the one-on-one coaching session

Make sure both the employee and the manger are in agreement of the requirements of the job. This might take a first meeting before advancing to the rest of the steps.
Discuss what is being well performed in the job. Ask the employee what they feel they are doing well and then add your comments and reinforce theirs’.
Identify and discuss the top priority tasks, those that performed well bring the most return to the organization.
Discuss one or two goals to put into action relative to the tasks of high importance
Establish any external constraints that are hindering performance. These could be things like lack of information, resources, communication from others that the employee does not have full control over.
Establish any internal constraints that are hindering performance. These are behavioural issues such as motivation, resistance to change but could also be lack of knowledge and skills for certain tasks.
Discuss solutions to the constraint issues. Ask them what they see as the solutions, discuss and agree.
Discuss action step to be accomplished for next meeting on both your parts to overcome the constraints and move forward on the goals.
Set next meeting date. It is extremely important to establish this before you end the meeting so there is a sense of urgency and accountability established.
Add the date to your agenda and or shared calendar.

This approach can be used at every level of the organization, even starting at the top with the business owner or CEO. If this is not done in every organization both large and small, the boss might find himself doing some of the work of his managers and so on. I will cover this further in future articles.

Please share your experiences on applying this or similar approaches to improve performance through role clarification and one-on-one coaching.

Stephen Goldberg

Business trainer & coach