In these difficult economic times one of the most daunting tasks required of a manager or business owner is to keep up morale and help employees stay on track.
Simultaneously addressing performance and morale requires a combination of counseling and training.
We hear a lot about using praise in the context of counseling as an effective management tool. So much so, that it seems the advice is to ignore the poor performance and it will go away. Nothing could be further from the truth. By your not addressing a drop in performance the employee can easily conclude that such a level is acceptable.
Psychologists call it "tacit approval." I call it uninformed (poor) management.
Sure these are tough times, but the longer you wait to correct poor performance, the more likely your employees will assume that the lower level of performance is the new standard.
Training might be the appropriate response to the situation, however the first step should be to engage the employee in a counseling session.
The process of counseling begins with an examination of your perspective of the situation. When an employee’s performance drops, ask yourself:
– What has changed? The short answer is obvious. The economy has taken a dive. But perhaps the more meaningful answer pertains to specific conditions within your company. Have you had to cut staff? Have you lost important clients? Were there significant relationships that have been altered or lost by the changes?
– Are the conditions of the change within the employee’s control? If so: Does the employee have the wherewithal to correct it? If not: Consider how your employee has responded to the change.
– Are there obstacles that keep him or her from performing the task efficiently? If so, is there anything you can do to remove the obstacles?
– Is it a people or system issue? Joseph Juran, the management guru and father of Total Quality Management, discovered that only about 15% of performance problems are generated by people, whereas the other 85% are systemic. Does your system impede or empower your people? Now is the time to look because systemic weaknesses are typically amplified during tough times.
– Is the employee working outside her or his comfort zone? Perhaps you have had to move this employee to a different position that doesn’t quite fit his or her temperament or skill set. Is there a way to restructure the job or retrain the employee?
Now get the employee’s perspective by asking him or her:
– What is the result you think we expect? If your expectation and your employee’s don’t match, that could be an indication that training in policy and procedure is in order. Maybe the expectations are different due to new market conditions, and the employee was unaware of how that change affected his or her job. Again, training could be the solution to the problem.
– How are you trying to achieve that result? Is the process the employee is using still relevant?
– Do you get a chance to do what you are best at every day? Half of our waking hours are spent at work. If an employee spends that much time being frustrated by unsatisfying experiences, it can’t help but negatively impact performance.
– What do you think the obstacles might be? You will discover whether there are any systemic problems that are hidden from your view that can be corrected relatively easily.
The next step is to explore with the employee how your perspectives compare to each other. Then discuss what you can do to reach a common understanding of what the present conditions mean to each of you. When you discuss areas where the expectations don’t match, encourage him or her to give input as to what solutions could work to move the conversation toward problem solving. This is where you may discover specific needs for training.
Beyond training needs, you might discover you have different perceptions of performance expectations, the employee has personal limitations, there are equipment or systems issues that need to be addressed, or he or she just needs a different style of management from you.
You may even discover that you are the one who needs training.
Above all, address the situation in a timely manner. Even though this process may seem time consuming, putting it off will cost you far more than the time you spend counseling and training your employees.
Get in there and "get your hands on the issue." After all, the first syllable of management (man) is derived from the Latin root word for hand. So, think of management as the art of digging in and getting your hands on the problems.
Steve McCombs, a periodic contributor to Small Business Times, is a consultant, author and speaker, and president of Beyond Performance, a management and performance consulting practice in Milton. He has more than 20 years experience in quality assurance, management consulting and employee development. He can be reached at 608-868-4565 or stevemccombs@netscape.net.
Dec. 20, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
