1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1
There are three ways — ineffective
ways — of dealing with Problem Employees. Each of them, Avoiding Confrontation, Overreacting
and Complaining, reduce your effectiveness as a manager and
should be recognized and avoided.
1.2
In the following Operating Procedure, each
tendency is covered along with information on why some managers behave this way
when confronted with problem employees, and reasons are given for why managers
should behave differently if they want to improve employee performance.
2.1 Avoiding
confrontation simply means putting off, postponing, or deferring the act of
sitting down with a problem employee to review the person's work performance
and to set goals for improved performance.
2.2 Why
Do We Managers Avoid Confrontation?
There are a number of reasons:
2.2.1. Confrontation
can be anxiety producing. Sitting
down and talking with an employee about the person's work performance makes
managers nervous, especially nervous if the person is a real problem. Most people tend to avoid things that make
them nervous.
2.2.2 The
employee may quit. Many managers are
afraid that giving negative feedback to employees will cause them to get very
defensive and to overreact. Some
managers fear that the employee will actually quit. This fear is especially strong when the
problem employee is in a highly technical job in which the demand for skilled
people often exceeds the pool of available job applicants.
2.2.3. It's
not going to do any good anyway. Many
managers frequently make protests like this:
2.2.3.1 "Look, what do you want me to do? I've spoken to this person on at least eight
different occasions, and there hasn't
been
any change. Why do you think talking to
the person one more time is going to do any good?"
2.2.3.2 It's frustrating when repeated efforts don't
lead to change. Understandably, a lot of
managers conclude, "The hell with it.
I've got better things to do with my time."
2.2.4. I
don't know how to do it. Most people
avoid taking on a task that we don't think we're competent to perform. The same holds true for uncertain managers
and supervisors when it comes to sitting down with a problem employee to go
over that person's performance.
2.2.5. Things
could end up worse off than they are now.
This is a kind of catchall reasoning.
We've all used it. Listen:
2.2.5.1 "Yeah, well, he's performing poorly now,
but if I sit down with him to talk about his performance, I might have an even
bigger problem on my hands. If he is a
member of a group protected by federal legislation, then the company, or even
I, could get sued. Or it could backfire
in another way. He could get all PO'ed
and defensive and do an even worse job than he's doing now. And, another thing that could go wrong is . .
."
2.3 Why Avoiding Confrontation is Bad
2.3.1. Avoiding
confrontation about a problem will not make the problem go away. The thought of confronting a problem
employee may make you nervous, may make your heart race and your palms sweat,
but the consequences of not confronting the person will usually do a lot more
to your nerves, your heart and your palms down the line.
2.3.2 Procrastination
rarely pays off. The idea of sitting
down with the employee to review his performance may be unpleasant, but nowhere
near so unpleasant as the problems you'll face when the entire organization
eventually feels the impact of his incompetence.
2.3.2 The problem is likely to get worse, not
better.
2.3.4 It's
very difficult to change our behavior.
In fact, changing behavior is plain hard work - work that a lot of us
would just as soon duck. This holds true
even more so for the problem employee.
They're usually people who have had a history of avoiding positive
change and of taking the easy way out.
Without your help, the chances that a problem employee will change for
the better are very small.
2.3.5 Think
about this also - the fact that the person doesn't change makes the
situation even worse. As the manager,
you see the problem, you have avoided it so far, and you're becoming more
frustrated. Other people who work with
the problem employee are also becoming more frustrated and are beginning to
feel resentful. The general pressure on
you to take some decisive action keeps mounting.
2.3.6 Unfortunately,
some problem employees will have to be separated from the company - the
separation process is much easier if the employee has had some advance, honest
warning.
2.4 No
organization can indefinitely sustain the burden of a problem employee, and
when something has to give, in most cases it's the employee.
3.0 OVERREACTING
3.1 Overreacting
is the unnecessarily harsh manner in which a manager responds to an employee's
performance problems. For lack of a
better term, it's verbal abuse.
3.1.1 Why
Do Managers Overreact?
3.1.1.1 It offers a powerful outlet for frustration.
3.1.1.2 There's something about losing your cool that
has a very cleansing, purging
effect for some people.
3.1.2 It
seems so justified at times.
3.1.2.1
Most of us feel that we have a right to get angry
and frustrated when we repeatedly make reasonable requests of
other people that never get
fulfilled.
3.1.3 It
gives some managers a sense of control and power.
3.1.3.1 These are some of the things that employees do
when managers make the mistake of losing their tempers:
3.1.3.2 They look startled and frightened.
3.1.3.3 They look down and remain very silent.
3.1.3.4 After awhile, they apologize (even if they
don't know what they are apologizing for.)
3.1.3.5 For at least a few hours, and sometimes several
days, they treat their supervisors with kid gloves.
3.1.4 Why
Overreacting is Bad — Because we're human and because anger is such a
primary emotional response, all overreacting will not instantly cease even in
the face of compelling reasons. But,
there are some definite reasons to try to stop overreacting completely:
3.1.4.1 It can have bad physiological effects.
3.1.4.2 When you get angry, your pulse rate increases,
your blood pressure goes up, adrenaline starts pumping, your pupils dilate, you
throat dries, and so on. In short, your
body mobilizes itself for a fight. There
is a lot of evidence to confirm that if this mobilization process occurs too
frequently, you end up giving yourself ulcers, high blood pressure, or any
number of other physical ailments that are now associated with poor temper
control.
3.1.4.3 Generally, its effect is temporary.
3.1.4.4 It's a little hard to explain why, but overreacting
doesn't have a lasting effect on employee behavior.
3.1.4.5 Oh sure, people do tend to scurry around after
they've been chewed on, but usually within a day or two, people go right back
to their old, comfortable behavior patterns.
3.1.4.6 It
results in lowered respect for you. Managers
who frequently overreact eventually lose the credibility and respect of their
employees. Well, what does that
mean? What happens then?
First, employees start withholding
information from you and begin to tell you only the things they think you want
to hear. Some people, especially problem
employees, become passive-aggressive.
They intentionally do things that will make a manager look bad.
3.1.4.7 Problem
employees spend more time trying to shift the blame than they do on improving
their performance. Managers who
overreact generally want their employees to take more responsibility and
initiative. Unfortunately, the opposite
usually happens. Their employees start
coming up with the ready-made excuses, alibis, and other ways of deflecting
your wrath onto somebody else.
3.1.4.8 It
sometimes has destructive effects on employees.
3.1.4.9 In every organization, there are people who are
particularly sensitive to their managers' overreactions. Unlike a lot of employees who can shrug it
off and say, "It's just another one of his temper tantrums," these
people tend to take what their manager says to heart. They remain down in the dumps for along
periods of time and, as a result, never even come close to fulfilling their
potential.
4.1 Complaining
simply means unloading your frustration over a problem employee on somebody
other than the employee. Remember this: When you complain to other people about
your problem employees, you are talking to the wrong people.
4.1.1 Why Do Managers Complain? Everybody
complains once in a while.
4.1.2
Complaining
is a very common habit in our society. It's hard to be around other people for an
hour, much less a day, and not hear
somebody
complain about something. There are lots
of candidates to choose from: the weather, the crime rate, the economy,
corrupts politicians, giant corporations, and so on.
4.1.3 It
often creates the illusion that you're doing something about the problem.
That’s worth repeating — It often creates the illusion that you're
doing something about the problem.
4.1.4 When you complain to another person about
anything, you usually end up feeling better.
Here's how it works: you express your frustration to another person; that
person says that you have every right to feel the way you do; and you walk away
feeling less upset. You haven't changed
a thing, but you do feel better.
4.1.5 You
usually get some support for your opinions.
One of the things that managers often try to do when they complain
about problem employees is get a little support from whomever they're talking
to.
4.1.6 When you think about it, a lot of things
that problem employees do are frankly very puzzling. It's very hard to explain, for example, why
employees continue to do something after you've asked them not to do it five or
ten times.
4.1.7 Oftentimes, when managers complain about
problem employees, they're really asking the question, "Is it just me, or
do you see the same things I do in John?"
They're looking for confirmation of the fact that their perceptions of
the employee's lack of effectiveness are accurate.
4.2.1 You're
talking to the wrong person, and your focus is on the wrong person.
4.2.2 When you complain to another person about a
problem employee, you're automatically talking to the wrong person. It's the problem employee that you should be
talking to.
4.2.3
Don't confuse complaining with seeking
advice. If you go to another person to
seek help on how you can do a better job in coping with a problem employee,
that's not complaining because
the focus of the conversation is on
you, not the problem employee.
4.2.4 It
reduces your credibility as a manager.
There are two important things to think about:
4.2.4.1 To whom are you complaining?
4.2.4.2 How frequently are you complaining?
4.2.5 Perhaps the most negative consequence is
that people will stop being open with you for fear that you can't keep anything
confidential.
4.2.6 The more you complain the lower your
credibility drops. The more you
complain, the more people see you as someone who is only interested in talking
about problems, not solving them.
4.2.7 Complaining
is a big waste of time. Think about
it - complaining doesn't move you even a fraction of a step closer to solving
the problem. If anything because
complaining allows you to temporarily reduce your frustration, it fools you
into thinking you're doing something constructive.
4.2.8
It's a
very seductive habit. It's
hard to break, but it's definitely worth the effort.
Ken
Roys, CEO
BTF
Management Consultants Inc
866-385-1900
Toll Free 713-983-7904 Fax
Ken.Roys@btfmanagement.com
www.btfmanagement.com