Monthly Archive for April, 2011
Yes. Discipline Without Punishment solves performance problems promptly and permanently by placing the responsibility for change exactly where it belongs—with the individual. The core concept of giving an individual whose performance is not acceptable a day at the company’s expense to make a final decision about whether he can meet the organization’s expectations and is [...]
There are several reasons that it makes sense to pay the employee for the day he is away from work on decision-making leave. As a practice, the paid suspension: Changes the supervisor’s role from adversary to coach. Demonstrates the company’s good faith. Is more consistent with organizational values. Eliminates money as an issue. Doesn’t harm [...]
Why not just issue a final written warning, or create a performance improvement plan, or place the individual on probation? At the final step of a discipline procedure, when earlier formal discussions have failed to convince the employee to change behavior and return to fully acceptable performance, a dramatic gesture is required to clearly communicate [...]
Our discipline system seems harsh and inappropriate for professional employees with its warnings and reprimands and suspensions without pay. Is there a better approach? The traditional ‘‘progressive discipline system,’’ with its criminal-justice mentality and its use of punitive warnings and reprimands and probation and suspensions without pay, is outmoded. Discipline Without Punishment is a more [...]
The individual’s performance is very good, but her attendance record is spotty. How do I convince someone that we need to come to work, on time, every day? Start by making your attendance expectation clear. The attendance expectation the organization has of every single employee is the same everywhere: ‘‘We expect each employee to come [...]
The individual’s quality and quantity of work are okay. It’s his attitude that’s the problem. How do I solve an attitude problem? Ask any group of managers what the most common ‘‘people problem’’ they encounter is and they will uniformly answer, ‘‘Attitude problems.’’ One of the reasons that attitude problems seem so hard to resolve [...]
When a manager documents a performance improvement discussion or a formal disciplinary transaction, what is it that the manager is actually documenting? Too many managers think that what they are documenting is the existence of a problem. That’s a mistake. You are not documenting the existence of a problem. You are documenting the discussion that [...]
Begin by writing down a clear and unarguable statement of the difference between desired performance and actual performance. If you can’t write down exactly what you want and exactly what the employee is doing that concerns you, there is no way that you can get the individual to agree to change. Next, simply ask for [...]
Probably the toughest ten seconds in management comes when the manager has told the employee that they need to get together to talk about a problem. The appointed time comes, the employee arrives in the manager’s doorway, knocks, and says, ‘‘You wanted to see me, boss?’’ What should the manager say to start off the [...]
The most important step is to clearly identify the difference between the desired performance and the employee’s actual performance. Several other pieces of preparation help ensure that you are successful in your meeting with the individual: Identify the impact. Determine the consequences. Check for defensibility. Tell Me More 1. Identify the impact. What are the [...]