Managers often struggle when they have to give someone corrective feedback at work. Let’s look at how to take some of the pain out of the process.
First of all, managers need to realize that by not confronting a performance issue it hurts the employee who may not know they aren’t performing, it hurts the good performers in the workgroup because they want the boss to do something and it hurts the manager themselves by causing continued stress and aggravation.
Most managers find it easier to confront a “results” type problem where the employee is creating a lack of production or quality problems – they find it less easy to tackle a behavior problem – like negativity. The behavior problem likely affects more employees in the workgroup.
Here are a quick few steps to take to be more effective and confident in confronting an employee performance problem:
1. Prepare – specifically describe what is happening and what you want to see happen
2. Meet – present to the employee what you are observing and the impact it is having on the organization, tell them what your expectations are, offer any assistance and set up consequences if the problem continues.
3. Follow-up – observe and signs the employee is making some strides in the right direction and offer some praise and encouragement. If the behavior problem continues, then repeat the steps and increase the consequence – verbal warning, written warning, suspension and termination.
Addressing employee performance problems takes time and yet the manager and work group will be better off as a result.
