Basics in Addressing Employee Performance Problems
Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2008.
Adapted from the Field
Guide to Leadership and Supervision.
(Note that if your organization's policies about performance management indicate a specific procedure for handling performance issues, that procedure should be followed very carefully. Otherwise, a court may interpret your official policies to be modified by how you actually handled a performance issue and you may lose protection from your related policies in court.)
1 . Note that performance issues should always be based on behaviors that were actually seen, not on characteristics that you or someone else senses or intuits about the employee's personality. .
2. Convey performance issues to
employees when you see first see the issues!
Don't
wait until the performance review! Worse yet, don't ignore the
behaviors in case they "go away."
3. When you first convey a performance
issue to an employee, say what you noticed and would like to see
instead.
Be specific about what you saw that you have
a problem with. Ask the employee for feedback. Ask the employee
if there's any special training or more resources they need to
do their job. Explore if the job is configured so that must people
would probably fail, and so the job needs to be redesigned. Tell
them that you want the behavior to improve. If they react strongly
and claim they will quit, give them a day to think it over. In
any case, remind them that you support them in their role.
4. Consider special circumstances.
You can usually fire someone if they committed certain gross
acts, such as theft, blatant insubordination, a major impropriety,
e.g., telling information to competitors or spreading confidential
information about clients, etc. However, if there is poor performance
or chronic absenteeism because of potential verified alcoholism
or depression, it's best to consult an expert to deal with this
situation.
5. Make notes about the first meeting
and its results, and keep it in a file for yourself. You might
mention the situation to your board.
This note may
come in handy later on if the performance problem persists. The
board will likely be a precious and objective asset to dealing
with this situation, especially if things with the employee get
worse.
6. If the problem occurs again
over the next two months, immediately issue them a written warning.
Also, update the board.
In the memo, clearly specify what
you saw, mention the previous meeting and its date, say the behaviors
have not improved, warn them that if this occurs again over some
period (e.g., the next month), they will be promptly terminated.
Meet with them to provide them the memo. If you are convinced
that the employee is trying hard, but can't improve, consider
placing him or her elsewhere in the organization. Attempt to have
this meeting on other than on a Friday. Otherwise, employees are
left to ruminate about the situation without ready access to you
for at least three days.
7. On the third occurrence, consider firing the employee.
For the Category of Supervision:
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
For Supervising Yourself, See
Personal Development -- Related
Books
For Developing Individuals, See
Training and Development
-- Recommended Books
For Supervising Teams, See
Facilitation and Teams -- Related
Books
General Information About Supervising Other Individuals
Field
Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit, utilize and evaluate the best employees for your business. Includes guidelines to effectively lead yourself (as Board member or employee), other individuals, groups and organizations. Includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem among employees of small businesses. Many materials in this Library's topic about staffing are adapted from this book.
Field
Guide to Leadership and Supervision With Nonprofit Staff
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit, utilize and evaluate the best staff members for your nonprofit. Includes guidelines to effectively lead yourself (as Board member or staff member), other individuals, groups and organizations. Includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem among nonprofit staff. Many materials in this Library's topic about staffing are adapted from this book.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Also See
Human Resources -- Recommended Books
Leadership -- Recommended Books
Management -- Recommended Books
