Encouraging Performance Improvement

Scenario: You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.

As a manager, delivering feedback and building and maintaining positive relationships is one of the most important aspects of your job. Your direct reports depend on you for guidance and leadership. When things are going well, the results are typically very rewarding. When things aren't going so well - as outlined in our hypothetical example above - a good leader will rise to the challenge and attempt to set things right.

When confronted with a potentially damaging situation such as the one being discussed here, my first course of action is to try to gather the facts surrounding the grievances. In this instance, given that there have been complaints by both customers and co-workers, it seems likely that there is validity to the accusations. Nonetheless, it is important to understand what alleged transgressions have occurred in order to fully and correctly approach the situation. To that end, I would analyze the customer and co-worker complaints to determine if a pattern emerges. Has the employee's work always been substandard, or this a new phenomenon, and has anything about the job responsibilities changed recently?

Once I had conducted the appropriate research, I would sit down with the employee, and calmly and rationally explain my concerns, without any hint of accusation. (Note: Without wanting to create an environment that appeared adversarial, I may have a third party, e.g. a representative from Human Resources, present during the discussion.) In order to properly address the situation, I need to understand the root causes behind the employee's behavior. By some accounts, nearly two-thirds of performance-related problems occur as a result of strained relationships among employees ("Workforce Conflict"). Ultimately, it needs to be determined whether the employee's behavior is a result of other stresses in the workplace, or the cause of it? Are there other factors outside of the job that are causing the decline in performance? Does the employee recognize that their work has been suffering as of late?

Creating a hostile work environment is unacceptable, however. And while certainly taking the time to actively listen to the employee's response to my concerns, I would make clear in no uncertain terms that their confrontational behavior must cease, or they run the risk of further disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Nevertheless, I would also make clear that my main goal would be to improve the employee's attitude - and hopefully performance - and that if they sought the same outcome, I would do everything in my power to be of assistance.

Managers tend to avoid confrontation when it comes to dealing with performance issues. Delivering bad news is usually about 43rd on the to-do list. Likewise, people generally don't like to receive criticism, so they often react poorly, sometimes lashing out at the messenger. In my experience, the retort from an employee on the receiving end of this type of conversation typically mirrors the delivery. Overtly negative comments made by the manager are often met with the same from the employee. As such, it is crucial to deliver feedback constructively - yet firmly - which is more likely to encourage the employee to take responsibility for their actions, along with encouraging their buy-in on the proposed solution. “Offer consistent feedback to all employees, and if correction action is necessary, encourage employees to take such action as a way to assist them in their goals to move forward in the company (Xavier, 2002, p. 41).

Finally, I would place the employee on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), clearly outlining my specific expectations along with a timeline for which to meet those expectations, which will be attainable and measurable. Along the way toward achieving our agreed upon goals, I would schedule time to meet with the employee one-on-one to discuss - and recognize - their successes, along with identifying areas which still need further development. To be effective, feedback needs to be two-way, engaging, responsive, and directed toward a desired outcome (Lawrence & Wiswell, 1995, p. 49). To that end, I would ensure that the employee understands that only together will we fully and completely rectify the situation that brought us to this point, and that my success as a manager is tied directly to their accomplishments and development.

References

Lawrence, H. V, Wiswell, A. K. (1995, July). Feedback is a two-way street. Training & Development, 49(7), 49. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database.

Xavier, Stephen. (2002). Clear communications and feedback can improve manager and employee effectiveness. Employment Relations Today, 29(2), 33-41. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database.

Workforce Conflict Resolution (n.d.). Business Performance Improvement Resource. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from www.bpir.com/workplace-conflict-resolution-bpir.com/menu-id-1/expert-opinion.html