troublesome people at work · 2012-01-04 · troublesome people at work how to coach, counsel and...

TroublesomePeople at Work

How to Coach, Counseland Turn AroundProblem Employees

SPECIAL REPORT BTPW

BusinessManagement

Daily

SPECIAL REPORT BTPW

TroublesomePeople at Work

How to Coach, Counseland Turn AroundProblem Employees

BusinessManagement

Daily

AUTHOR

Rebecca M. Saunders

EDITOR

Kathy A. Shipp

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Patrick DiDomenico

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Adam Goldstein

PUBLISHER

Phillip A. Ash

© 2004, Capitol Information Group, Inc., 7600A Leesburg Pike, West Building, Suite 300,Falls Church, VA 22043-2004. www.BusinessManagementDaily.com. Phone: (800) 543-2055.All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any meanswithout written permission from the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

ISBN 1-880024-69-1

“This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regardto the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is notengaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional service. If legal advice orother expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional personshould be sought.”—From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a committee ofthe American Bar Association and a committee of publishers and associations.

About the AuthorRebecca M. Saunders is a New York-based business writer andmanager with 30 years’ experience. A former contributor toHarvard Management Update and Harvard CommunicationsUpdate, she has authored numerous articles and books, includingThe Agile Manager’s Guide to Performance Appraisals, Business theDell Way and Business the Amazon.com Way.

Contents

IntroductionPoor Performance: You Can’t Afford to Ignore it 1

Part I: Understanding the Counseling Process 5

1. The Basics of Counseling 7Accept Your Responsibility 7

The Big Picture 8

Set Clear, Measurable Goals 10

5 Lousy Excuses for Not Firing Someone 12

2. Document, Document, Document 14Don’t Rely on Memory 15

Stop Making Excuses 15

Good Documentation 15

3 Mistakes to Avoid 16

Secondhand Reports 17

Cuff Notes, Logs, Memos 18

Red Light: Legal Points 19

After Counseling 20

3. Counseling Interviews 21Conducting the Interview 21

Charlie’s Problem 22

The Need for Training 23

Meet Barbara 24

The Give-and-Take 24

How to Be Assertive 25

4. Follow Through on Action Plan 26The Turnaround Plan 26

Follow-Up Meetings 26

‘How Long Will All This Take?’ 27

You Missed Something 27

‘I’m Serious—You Could Lose Your Job’ 28

Setting Time Limits 29

Document the Follow-Through 29

Alternative: Agreeing to Resign 30

5. The Termination Interview 32Be Confident in Your Decision 32

Firing in Anger 32

Ask Yourself Key Questions 33

The Litigious Workplace 34

Another Legal Restriction 34

Easing the Blow 35

Conducting the Meeting 35

Releases, Severance Agreements 36

Choosing Your Words 37

Cover the Facts 37

Federal Fair Employment Laws 38

Documenting the Meeting 39

6. Post-Termination Communications 40Announcing the Firing 40

Just the Facts 41

Steer Clear of Defamation 41

Giving References 42

The Impossible Happens 42

The Replacement 43

Unemployment Benefits 43

Part II: Specific Counseling Situations 45

7. Counseling Marginal Performers 47A Disappointed Employee 47

Micki’s Appraisal 48

Avoidance Tactics 48

Constructive Confrontation 49

Cindy’s Game Plan 50

The Meeting 50

Ongoing Feedback 51

The ABCs of Feedback 52

8. Counseling Troubled Employees 54Wishful Thinking 55

Larry and Beth 55

7 Steps to Helping Troubled Employees 57

Employee Assistance Programs 58

9. Counseling Rule Violators 60George’s Hostile Employee 61

What George Did Right 62

Conducting an Investigation 63

The Absentee 64

10. Counseling About Attitude 66Malicious Disobedience 66

The Passive-Aggressive 67

Addressing the Problem 67

Guidelines for Dealing With ‘Attitudes’ 69

Action Plans 70

11. Counseling Rebellious or Hostile Types 72Defuse at the Start 72

The Need for Assertiveness 73

All the Wrong Moves 74

What’s Next? 74

The Aftermath 75

Dealing With Angry Behavior 76

Security Issues 77

12. Counseling Substance Abusers 78Red Flags 78

The Supervisor’s Guilt Trip 79

What Should You Do? 80

Case in Point: Joe’s Drinking 80

Counseling Do’s and Don’ts 82

Substance Abuse and the Law 83

Part III: Creating a Positive Work Environment 87

13. Coaching Your Team 89Making Good Hires 89

Day 1 on the Job 90

How Do You Rate as a Coach? 91

Ongoing Coaching 92

When Coaching Comes in Handy 92

Feedback Sessions 93

A Coach’s Solutions 94

14. Go the Extra Mile 96Make Jobs More Interesting 97

1

Introduction

Poor Performance: You Can’t Afford to Ignore It

When an employee’s performance is unacceptable, it’simportant to step in and steer things back on track

right away. The cost of poor performance is immeasura-ble. Lousy work and bad behavior take their toll on pro-ductivity, quality, time and morale.

Even more importantly, poor performance is contagious. Didyou know that rotten performance by one member of your team canruin the work of the entire department?

Why You Must Counsel UnderachieversIf you ignore it, subpar behavior can quickly become the standardfor your operation. At the very least, it can cause frustration—among even your best workers. If you demand that your staff coverfor a slacker, you can expect resentment. You also may run intoproblems keeping your most talented employees, who want to asso-ciate with high achievers, not slugs who bog down the pace orsharks who make the workplace scary.

You also can’t ignore how these slippery creatures undermineyour reputation. With escalating time pressures and constantchange, upper management is on the lookout for managers whorecognize their obligation to confront poor performers. Good man-agers will work with them to find a solution or make the tough deci-sion to fire them. Some managers think they can overlook marginalperformance, but that can be a huge mistake if you get slapped witha lawsuit.

Whether employees are grappling with personal problems or lackthe right skills or attitude, counseling them isn’t easy. That’s whywe’ve designed this special report to show you how to deal with poorperformance before it escalates into serious trouble for you and yourorganization.

How This Report Can HelpThis special report will identify the many pitfalls to counseling andshow you how to avoid them. You’ll learn:

• The art of constructive feedback. You’ll be able to start talkingwith a problem performer and discuss work without triggeringdefensiveness.

• The nature of documentation. You’ll see how proper record-keeping can convince your employee to acknowledge a per-formance problem. A good paper trail also will protect you fromwrongful-termination lawsuits.

• The way to create workable action plans. You will discover notonly how to move from discussing a problem to forming a cor-rective plan, but also how to elicit buy-in for it.

• How to prepare for and conduct a termination interview.Since counseling may not always work, we also describe thelawful steps for reassigning or dismissing workers if their per-formance doesn’t improve.

Where to Find What You NeedPart I of this special report will help you master the critical elementsof counseling. If you don’t know how to proceed or have a generalconcern about the process, you’ll find the answers in this section.You’ll learn about pitfalls in various stages and how to make thetime you invest in your people as productive as possible. There’seven a chapter to help you communicate with the co-workers of atroubled or troublesome employee if he’s terminated.

What if you have a specific problem right now? Look in Part II,where we identify various kinds of performance problems, such asmediocre work, substance abuse, rule violations (e.g., tardiness),anger and violence, and poor or misguided attitudes. Further, with-in each chapter, we address more specific problems. Then we giveyou the start of an action plan to begin your discussion with anemployee.

In Part III we show you how to build a positive work environmentin which you shouldn’t have to use your new counseling skills sooften. We devote an entire chapter to coaching as a means to avoid

2 BUSINESS MANAGEMENT DAILY

TROUBLESOME PEOPLE AT WORK 3

counseling entirely. Like the work of a professional football coach,managerial coaching involves not only assessment of needs but alsohiring the best players for your team. Through coaching you cantrain newcomers to close skill gaps and help experienced workersupdate their skills.

Finally, we’ve assembled a checklist you can use to build the kindof environment in which employees are motivated to do their jobsfully and well.

This report won’t end performance problems, but it will makeyou feel more confident when you have to cope with them. Your staffwill actually appreciate your efforts. Employees who don’t workeffectively need to know it and require your help to improve.

PART I: UNDERSTANDINGTHE COUNSELINGPROCESS

7

Chapter 1

The Basics of Counseling

When your employees meet or exceed expectations inthe form of standards or results, you need do no

more than congratulate them on their good or excellentwork. But not all employees will excel with such minimalcare and support from you.

At some point, you will have to face an employee who performsbelow standard, is insubordinate or violates rules, ranging fromthose that govern the start and end of the workday to more seriousones that protect the safety of co-workers and the good of theorganization (think “disclosure of proprietary information”).

When such challenges arise, your options range from completeinaction or avoidance to a miscalculated overreaction and termina-tion of the employee without cause or documentation. In this reportyou’ll learn how to deal with the problem in the most suitable, effec-tive and legal manner.

Accept Your Responsibility Organizations want and will reward managers who can handle peo-ple problems. This report accepts the premise that both deciding toconfront an employee and following through on it may be uncom-fortable and risky. But it acknowledges that the bar has been raisedand companies can’t tolerate managers who fail to confront prob-lems that lead to:

• Lost productivity. Did you know that a poor performer pro-duces only about one-third of the work done by your averageemployee? As a member of your team, a poor performer candisrupt the work flow of your hard-working staff.

• Lost business. Have a tough customer? You’ll probably lose thatcustomer if he meets up with a problem employee.


• Lost time. Poor performers eat up a disproportionate amountof supervisory time—as much as half of it! This leaves littleroom to attend to the rest of your staff, including time to trainthem, and pursue your own projects.

• Lost talent. No matter how many people are in the job market,you don’t want to lose your best employees as they begin todoubt your ability to run a tight ship. Your average workers willstay, but no longer being afraid of you, they may try to get awaywith the same stuff your troublesome workers do.

• Lost self-esteem. Often, managers try to make up for shortfalls ina problem performer’s work, putting in longer hours themselvesto close the gap. Over time, such behavior can affect their health.They become angry, frustrated and burned out. Even their self-confidence may decline as they blind themselves to their failure.They’ll lose the respect of their colleagues and staff, as well astheir own self-respect.

• Rule violations. Some infractions like tardiness can impedeproductivity. Others can endanger employee health or safety,such as failure to wear safety goggles.

The Big PictureTo understand the importance of counseling, you need to see thebigger picture. First and foremost, counseling in most organizationsaddresses two kinds of problems: performance standards requiringyour management and rules that you must enforce. Most compa-nies have separate procedures for each.

Performance managementLet’s look first at problems in performance, which takes us to jobdescriptions, standards and performance assessment. You’ll need tounderstand these three elements to appreciate counseling’s role inmanaging performance:

q Job descriptions. We tend to think of job descriptions solely asthe documents we use to define responsibilities for recruiting. Notso. Done correctly, the description should explain the position so that


you, as a manager, can list its main components to measure the staffmember’s performance. Most job descriptions include a sectioncalled “Standards” listing the minimal requirements for perform-ance. Sometimes, these standards are the basis for the performanceappraisal. Other times, the organization uses “results” or “objectives”to measure endpoint performance. Where results or objectives areused for performance assessments, they still need to be based on thejob description.

q Job standards or objectives. At the beginning of the calendaror fiscal year, the manager and employee sit down to determine theresults by which the manager will assess his performance. A tele-marketer might be judged by a standard like the average number ofsuccessful sales during a day, whereas an administrative assistantmight be measured by her ability to complete an important reporton time (results). But work problems should not wait for quarterlyreviews or the annual appraisal. For that matter, failure to meet thestandards should not be the only reason to meet with an employeeto discuss a problem. Counseling isn’t linked exclusively to per-formance appraisals.

Since counseling and annual assessments are related, however,we’ll discuss them in some detail below.

q Performance appraisals. Most companies have some form ofannual appraisal process that calls for evaluating employees’ work.Besides an annual assessment, evaluations of performance basedon standards are done at least twice a year, sometimes every fourthmonth, sometimes every quarter. Whatever the frequency, theintention is the same: to ensure that good workers get the recogni-tion (including dollars) they deserve and poor performers learnabout problems before they grow out of control.

Two to six clearly worded standards or objectives and carefulmonitoring of performance form the basis of most annual ap-praisals. But these standards or objectives are also essential forcounseling in that they signal problems in performance. As theaphorism states, “What is written is measured.”

How do you set performance standards or objectives? As men-tioned, work on them with the employee, whom you should involve

from the very beginning. Write down the standards or results forwhich you’ll hold the employee responsible. Then discuss how youbelieve her performance should be measured.

Besides your own list, you might want to encourage your employ-ees to prepare their own. Those closest to the work often know betterhow it should be measured than their supervisors do, and you dothem an honor by asking them to participate in setting yearly objec-tives or job standards.

In addition, involving them in the process increases the likeli-hood of buy-in to the standards, goals or results that the firm uses aspart of its assessment process. Less motivated workers may even beenergized by the exercise.

Rule enforcementPreviously we mentioned that most companies have two tracks: oneto address performance problems, another to cope with rule infrac-tions. Management recognizes that rule violations demand a differ-ent approach.

You’ll learn more about disciplinary issues in Part II of thisreport. But here we’d like to share seven rules for disciplining


Set Clear, Measurable GoalsWhat elements constitute good goals? Working with your employees,you should write goals that:

• Define specific results clearly.

• Set timetables for achieving them.

• Are measurable. That is, it should be possible to measure per-formance related to meeting the goals.

• Are feasible. New research shows that people tend to be wildly overoptimistic about what they can accomplish in a given time. Be realistic.

• Support the strategic and tactical goals of the organization.

Failure to meet these goals demands counseling.


employees who break the rules. Review them and then look at sub-sequent chapters that focus on specific discipline situations—fromsubstance abusers to hostile employees to safety violators.

1. Don’t lose your temper. Although an employee may be belliger-ent or rude, you shouldn’t allow yourself to become angry. Oncevoices are raised, you lose your position of authority and thesituation changes to two people having an argument.

2. Get the facts. False accusations can harm your relationshipwith not only the worker but your entire staff. So before youconfront an employee about mischievous behavior or worse, besure you know the entire story.

3. Be consistent. It’s poor practice to enforce rules one week andlet them slide the next. Rules are either important or not, withno room for flexibility.

4. Stick to job performance. When holding a disciplinary inter-view, remember that the issue is what impact the behavior hason job performance. Bringing in character or personality isirrelevant. What is relevant is that the infraction may sabotageproductivity or threaten safety.

5. Respond appropriately. The discipline cannot be so severe thatit’s unfair or so mild that it’s meaningless. You need to evaluateeach case on its seriousness, the circumstances, any precedent,company policy and the employee’s record.

6. Reprimand in private. All disciplinary actions should takeplace in private. To do otherwise would incite hostility andundermine your efforts to improve the employee’s work.

7. Keep a record. Managers must keep a written record of all dis-ciplinary actions, just as they keep records of performance andcounseling. You may need these to justify your actions. Therecords also can be reviewed to help decide what step to takenext if the problem persists. Critical to the success of thisprocess is telling the employee what’s expected. He must leavethe meeting with a clear understanding of what will happen ifhe repeats the infraction.


5 Lousy Excuses for Not Firing SomeoneSomewhere along the line, you will encounter someone who whines,assigns blame, worries incessantly, watches the clock or even gets intofistfights. These types might improve with counseling, but the odds arethey won’t. Why, then, might you hesitate to fire such people?

Here are five lousy excuses for not imposing proper discipline. Do any ofthem sound familiar to you?

1. “I need him.” The poor performer has an indispensable talent or con-nection the manager doesn’t want to lose.

Solution: If you ever find yourself in that position, try to be realistic.Poor performers, regardless of their unique skills, never justify theircosts. You can replace them with other talented people who won’t beproblem employees.

2. “That would be punishing her.” Don’t confuse discipline with punish-ment. When an employee is counseled, fails to improve and then isterminated, some managers think they are playing the heavy. Not so.Counseling provides an opportunity for employees to take responsibil-ity for themselves.

Solution: Go into the counseling optimistically. If the situation doesn’tchange, know that you’ve done all you could to salvage the employee.

3. “I feel sorry for him.” If you discover the performance problem is dueto a personal matter, you may want to hold off on dealing with theemployee’s sliding work. You may feel you’d be piling on, adding theissue of job security to a problem about a sick child, marital woes orfinancial worries.

Solution: Rather than console the employee, do something. Refer himto an appropriate resource to get the help he needs.

4. “Now I’ll have to tell my boss how serious the problem is.” You’dreally rather not admit to what feels like a failure to manage yourentire work group effectively.

Solution: Once again, the sooner you come to grips with the situation,the better. Level with your own boss and HR about the seriousness ofthe problem. Review the steps you’ve taken. Ask your manager for a


timetable for ruling out any unfairness factors like discrimination, forcounseling the poor performer and for taking action to terminate her ifher performance doesn’t improve.

5. “It’s my fault.” Some managers believe that the employee’s failure todo a good job reflects poorly on their own ability to hire good peopleor supervise them.

Solution: Maybe you failed to see some potential red flags when you hired the person, or maybe you didn’t coach the employee when youfirst had an inkling of problems and allowed him to grow beyond yourcontrol. On the other hand, maybe there’s no way you could haveanticipated how a blowup with a boyfriend would cause your assis-tant’s performance to tank, or that a staffer’s hidden drug problemwas causing him to fall asleep on the job. Learn from your mistakesand move on.

14

Chapter 2

Document, Document, Document

Today’s managers need to be concerned about the qual-ity and accuracy of their documentation of employee

behavior and performance. If you think that means noth-ing more than trivial recordkeeping, your documentationwill be insufficient or of little value to its two purposes: asa defense against a wrongful-discharge suit and as a wayto foster employee development.

Most managers accept the importance of good documentationfor protecting themselves against charges of discrimination by a dis-gruntled ex-employee. Yes, documentation tracks managers’ effortsin the event that disciplinary action is required. But the value ofdocumentation lies beyond proving that your actions were justified;an even better purpose is heading off the need for discipline byidentifying problems before they grow out of control.

A consistent record of evaluations, including examples of goodand bad work, will help you pull together accurate performanceappraisals.

For example, Caroline may have done a spectacular job on ateam project but was mediocre in her day-to-day tasks. Withoutgood documentation for the entire year, you might have given her ahigher rating than she deserved, especially if the team project justhappened and is fresh in your mind.

Good documentation works the other way, too. You might have ahard worker who makes one major blunder. Without documenta-tion, that one error might have overshadowed all his other work anddominated his annual assessment. With the documentation, you’llbe able to identify the reason behind that big mistake, develop a wayto prevent a recurrence and note the incident in its proper contextduring his appraisal. So, good documentation lets you pinpoint theareas for improvement and even the means to do it, as well as accu-rately record the employee’s development.

Don’t Rely on MemoryTo see a troubling pattern that justifies counseling, you need toexamine the employee’s performance over time. When you sit downto discuss a performance problem, you can point to one or moreincidents that prompted the meeting.

But as confident as you may be about your recollection, every-body’s memory will fade or morph within weeks and you will needto cite specifics about any incidents to show a pattern of problems.Most people remember clearly only events that happened withinthe last few weeks.

Without documentation, it will be just the employee’s memoryagainst yours. The more specific the information—time, day, cir-cumstances—the employee will be less likely to argue over details ortry to deflect responsibility and will be more likely to accept theneed to improve.

Stop Making ExcusesYou may recognize the value of documentation but still fail to keepwritten records. One excuse: You don’t have time. Yes, you’ve neverbeen busier than you are today. But documentation need not takemuch time if you keep your recordkeeping simple.

While documentation has been shown to be a strong defense inwrongful-discharge cases, some managers argue that a paper trailcan get them into legal trouble. Unlikely! As long as you zero in onjob-related facts (think “work performance”) rather than person-ality, mental or physical ability or any speculation about theemployee’s problems, you should have no reason to worry.

Good DocumentationThinking in these terms should help you determine what consti-tutes good documentation. It should be:

• Accurate.• Based on fact, not opinion.• Based on observations of actions and results, not hearsay.• Written immediately after an incident. • Consistent.



Your documentation should also be behaviorally oriented. Thatis, you may be tempted to write, “Joe is lazy, introverted and inse-cure,” but that is an opinion and, as such, poor documentation.Rather, you should write, “Joe doesn’t meet established deadlines”(give examples). “He doesn’t make phone calls that are necessary toget the job done unless he’s asked more than once” (again, cite inci-dents). “Finally, he stops working until I personally review his workand tell him he’s doing fine.”

Quantity isn’t as important as quality in documentation. In fact,overdocumentation can get you into legal trouble. If you write pageafter page of details, not only do you waste time and alienate theemployee but also you might raise suspicion in the minds of a judgeand jury that the employee is being singled out.

3 Mistakes to AvoidManagers commonly make three mistakes when documenting employeebehavior or performance:

1. Forgetting to record their efforts to help the employee. Such docu-mentation can be valuable proof that you tried to turn around theemployee before termination became necessary. Be sure to docu-ment whatever steps you took to help.

2. Documenting impressions of the employee’s state of mind. Thisincludes charges that the employee “willfully,” “purposely” or “mali-ciously” did this or that. Such speculation may appear to strengthenyour documentation, but it only gives the employee’s lawyer anopportunity to claim that you were discriminating or maybe evenperceiving the employee as disabled.

3. Exaggerating the consequences of an employee’s behavior. Yourintent during counseling may be to play up the shortcoming or viola-tion to pressure the employee about the need to change her behav-ior. In court, however, you may be asked how such and such offenselost the company an order or how an employee’s repeated latenessstalled all deliveries for the day. Better to be realistic about theimpact of the misbehavior or poor performance in both the counsel-ing and documentation.


As you document performance, think of yourself as a reporter.Describe an employee’s behavior factually by stating:

• Who witnessed the incident.• What occurred, as opposed to what was expected.• When it happened. • Where it occurred.• How the situation unfolded.

When you report your observations, consider using phrases like“I saw … ” and “I heard … ” For instance:

“I saw Ralph come into the office at 11 a.m. Although he’s on flex-time, he’s expected to be at his desk by 10 a.m. Ralph told Janet, a co-worker, that he had overslept. This represents the third time Ralphhas arrived late.”

Certain details are important. It isn’t enough to record, “Ralphwas late.” As plainly factual as it is, that statement may come acrossas a subjective evaluation, whereas the more detailed descriptionabove is objective.

Secondhand ReportsIf someone reports to you a situation about one of your staff mem-bers, you need to investigate. You would not document the remarkuntil you had looked into the situation to determine its accuracy.

John tells you, “Kim is on the phone all day.” That’s hearsay andisn’t suitable for documentation. Observe Kim at work. How muchtime does she spend on social calls? Is the hearsay valid? If so, youmay want to talk to Kim. Remember: Neither opinions nor rumorsalone should be the basis of documentation.

Most organizations are mired in rumors. Many can be ignored,but you need to investigate some: those that might hurt the reputa-tion of the employee or the organization and might be true.

When a rumor suggests unethical behavior on the part of anemployee, for instance, the manager must talk to the individual. Ifthe manager doubts her story or, despite the employee’s denial, therumor seems to carry seeds of truth, the manager may have to puton a deerstalker hat and play Sherlock Holmes.

Let’s say a manager hears that a salesperson is padding his trav-el and expense account. The manager might ask to see receipts of all


his expenses. Or, someone whispers to an art director that one of thepurchasing managers is taking kickbacks. The art director needs toreview invoices, talk to the purchasing manager and vendors fromwhom he buys, and even call client firms.

The results of an investigation, if critical of the employee, shouldbe documented, and the investigation should be the basis of a dis-ciplinary or counseling session with the person.

You can handle most performance-related rumors by simplyobserving the employee on the job. Rumors, however, that suggestrule violations or even unethical practice will need more carefulinvestigation.

What if the employee works in another location and you have fewopportunities to observe her at work? Then you must depend onother people’s observations. This is especially true when employeesspend much of their workday dealing with people in other depart-ments or outside the company. Ask those managers to record theirobservations and incorporate them into your documentation. If an individual refuses to put his observations in writing, that fact doesn’t belong in the assessment.

Also keep a record of the employee’s impact on the job perform-ance of others and the nature of that impact—good or bad.

Following these rules can help ensure that you maintain fair andaccurate documentation. To make the task as simple as possible,you need to select a format that makes note-taking quick and easy.

Cuff Notes, Logs, MemosThe simplest form is the cuff note, or a brief entry in a notebook inwhich the manager describes situations involving her employees.The entries identify the employee, date, location and nature of thesituation (good or bad).

The notes are solely for memory recall and aren’t shared with anyemployee. As such, they have less legal value than fuller documen-tation but can be helpful during counseling sessions when ques-tions arise about specific situations.

A more structured approach—certainly one more in tune withthe electronic age—involves maintaining “critical incident reports”on your computer and updating them weekly. In these files youshould record only important situations (good as well as bad).


If employees receive special assignments, you also may want todevelop “progress reports” that evaluate their accomplishments orlack of progress. Besides team projects, these reports can be a wayto record any training employees have taken and the positiveimpact it has had on their work performance.

The formats for critical incident reports and progress reports aresimilar. At the top, list the name of the employee and job title oremployee code. Below this, set up four columns: Date, Event,Action, Result. Progress reports usually have three columns for thedate, nature of the project or training effort, and the assessment(problems or successes).

The most efficient way to maintain employee documentation isto set aside a convenient time during the week and mark it on yourcalendar. Friday afternoons are good, say from 3 to 5 p.m., when theweek is coming to a close. Most reports can be created weekly, butyou should record special incidents (serious problems or outstand-ing successes) as soon as possible.

Also, don’t forget to keep records of your appraisal reviews withemployees, especially meetings with those you are counseling. Notewhat you said, the response and action plans.

Red Light: Legal PointsThe safest way to fire someone, from a legal standpoint, is to have doc-umentation created in the normal course of business that demonstratesa valid, nondiscriminatory business reason for the decision. Don’t getcaught trying to reconstruct documentation (such as warnings or poorperformance reviews) after the fact, when you should have been creat-ing it all along.

Check your cuff notes or incident logs, too, before you terminate anemployee. You shouldn’t use documentation to “build a case” againstone worker when you haven’t done so for other workers in similar situa-tions. A judge or jury may regard “selective” documentation as proofthat the terminated employee was a victim of discrimination.

In a similar vein, you won’t want to claim that an employee is showing apattern of misconduct if his record reveals exemplary behavior or a dif-ferent set of performance issues entirely.


After CounselingShould counseling be called for, you need to be familiar with twoother documents: the performance memo and the written warning.

A performance memo records the pattern of behavior thatprompted the need for counseling, as well as the action plan agreedon by the manager and employee. It contains not only what needs tobe done but also when. The manager should place the memo in theemployee’s personnel file and give him a copy.

Unless your organization has a form to fill out for warnings, it’ssuitable to use a standard memo identifying in the subject line“Written Warning” or “Warning Letter.”

If the situation detailed in the memo requires disciplinary actionon your part, you may want the employee to read and sign a docu-ment acknowledging that she agrees with the facts as stated. Thiswill protect you and your company from an employee’s accusationthat you misinterpreted the situation. If the employee refuses tosign the document, you may want to call in a third person as witnessthat you met with the employee, charged her with the misbehaviorand weren’t swayed that she wasn’t guilty of the rule infraction.

What if the employee continues to deny the charge against her?Depending on the nature of the organization, the employee can goto the union steward and demand a review of the case, take thecharge to grievance if your firm has such a program or go to thehuman resources department or the manager to whom you reportfor review and consideration.

21

Chapter 3

Counseling Interviews

You will find yourself in a counseling interview for anynumber of reasons. Your employee may have lost

interest in her job. The worker may just not fit into thecompany culture. Maybe the employee has a personalproblem. Or, the employee’s actions may indicate that helacks key attributes, like honesty or good judgment. Thenagain, the problem may be as simple as lacking skills thatyou could help correct with training.

In holding a counseling meeting with an employee, your inten-tion is to identify the cause of the problem and then work togetherto find a way to solve it.

Conducting the InterviewThe cause of the performance problem—much less the solution—won’t be evident if you dominate the conversation. So it’s criticalthat you don’t do more than 20 percent of the talking.

Begin the interview by stating that a performance problem exists.Despite the fact that your problem performer may be a textbookcase, it’s unlikely that she will accept your statement. You may haveto substantiate your concerns about her work by referring to recordsabout her performance. Cite situations, including when and where.If you were present, note this as well.

If it’s a discipline problem, invite the employee into a neutraloffice or conference room as soon as possible after the incident.

In the case of a performance problem, you want to meet with theemployee soon after you realize the need for counseling and havesome documentation. Don’t procrastinate.


Charlie’s Problem Let’s say you learn that Charlie, one of your sales reps, has beensnapping at customers on the phone. While monitoring a number ofCharlie’s phone tapes, you discover that he was rude on three occa-sions with callers. These callers represent big accounts.

After scheduling a meeting with Charlie in the afternoon, youneed to think clearly how you will find out what caused Charlie tolose his temper and use four-letter words during those calls.

During the counseling session, Charlie says he’s been coveringcalls for both himself and a colleague who’s been out following sur-gery. He tells you that in each instance it was such a busy day, thephones were ringing off the hook, he had paperwork to complete,and he was juggling some other project as well.

You can accept Charlie’s explanation and apologize for the addedworkload, even offer to find him some help, or you can sit quietlyand wait. Look at Charlie. What is his body telling you? Verbal com-munication accounts for only about 7 percent of the message; into-nation, inflection, pitch, emphasis, speed and volume account foranother 38 percent. The remaining 55 percent is expressed in bodylanguage (eyes, face, posture and gestures).

Lack of eye contact suggests dishonesty. Is Charlie looking intoyour eyes or is he staring at the bridge of your nose? Or are his eyescast downward or darting rapidly around the room?

Maybe he’s smiling, but does the smile extend beyond his mouthto his eyes? Are his arms folded across his body? Or are his handsfidgeting with clothes, hair or objects, suggesting unease and doubt?All these gestures and expressions discount his assurances that hisoutbursts were isolated incidents caused by a heavy workload.

Should you tell Charlie you think he’s lying? No. Rather, youshould repeat his last remark as a question. “So these were the onlytimes you lost your temper with customers?” Now don’t say anotherword. Wait for Charlie to answer.

Most people can’t take silence and will often speak to fill it—sometimes revealing information they might not otherwise do.“Well, maybe there were other times,” Charlie tells you.

“Were the circumstances the same?” you ask, pausing again forhim to fill the silence.


Charlie leans forward and says less calmly, “Look, I guess I’vebeen having some financial problems lately, and I am quick to losemy temper. I may be taking it out on my calls, but I don’t think it’s aserious thing.”

You could easily get caught up in a discussion of Charlie’s person-al problem. But as you will see later in this book, that isn’t really yourresponsibility (see Chapter 8). Your mission is to point out that hispersonal problem could have serious ramifications on your business,alienating customers who could just as easily go elsewhere.

“Charlie, I’m sorry you’re having financial problems,” you say.“These are tough times economically. If you want, you could speakto someone in our employee assistance program. It’s confidential,and the counselors may be able to help you get control of your tem-per. However, I can’t allow you to yell at our customers, talk inde-cently to them or otherwise not be professional on the phone. If youlose your temper again, this will become even more serious. It willget you fired. I can’t solve your financial problem, but I can help youin other ways. Are you really overworked while Marilyn is out?”

Now you and Charlie can work out a plan whereby you mightassign someone to share Charlie’s extra load. You’ll remind him thathis work will continue to be monitored, and another case of cursing

The Need for TrainingIf training may help, discuss it with the employee. Ask her:

• What aspect of the job do you find the easiest? What do you find thehardest?

• How would you assess your understanding of the industry jargon?

• Do you think you could benefit from more training in using ourequipment? Why or why not?

• How do you think your formal education has helped you succeed?What subjects were particularly useful? Is there anything you wishyou’d studied that would have been relevant to this job?

• What are your career goals? What kind of training and experiencedo you think you’ll need to achieve them?


or yelling at anyone will be grounds for dismissal. You plan to meetagain in two weeks. You have been very clear with Charlie.

Meet Barbara Let’s look at another conversation. Barbara is an editor who’s alwayslate sending her copy to the production department. The delays arecreating workflow problems affecting several other periodicals, aswell as delaying delivery of Barbara’s journal. You’ve asked her tocome in and discuss the fouled-up schedule.

When you raise the issue, she denies it exists. “Yes, we’ve hadsome delays but nothing serious. I take work home and we getcaught up,” she says, her voice rising. “I don’t see why I’m the onlyeditor being called on the carpet. Others are late.”

“You’re right—others have missed deadlines,” you admit. “Butyou’re the only editor who’s repeatedly late.” You point to the sched-ule and, more importantly, to the record you’ve been keeping on herperformance. Barbara continues to argue, but she also agrees to aplan of action that you hope will enable her to make her deadlinesin the future.

While you may have liked to have Barbara admit that she’s guiltyas charged, that won’t happen with everybody you counsel. Does itmatter? Not really. After all, you don’t want to win an argument.Rather, you want to get the job done. If the problem flares up again,you may have to meet again and review your action plan.

The Give-and-Take How defensive an employee becomes is directly related to how youapproach the problem. Consider the difference in these scenarios:

1. “Mike, you’re not pulling your weight around here. You’ve got towork faster and stop messing up.”

2. “Mike, I’d like to go over your work with you. If we put ourheads together, I think we can find a way for you to get moredone with fewer mistakes.”

The difference between the two approaches should be obvious.The first is harsh and blames the employee—and some managers


actually do talk this way. In the second example, the manager alsoidentifies the problem but suggests working together to correct it.The manager shows a willingness to help and a belief that theemployee can improve.

At the end of the counseling session, you should set meetingdates to follow up on the employee’s turnaround effort. In the nextchapter you’ll learn how to handle these subsequent counseling sessions.

How to Be Assertive When you confront an employee about his or her behavior, you have tobe assertive, not passive or aggressive. So what’s the difference?

Passive communication is hesitant, shy, insecure, apologetic, meek.The basic message of passivity is “My feelings don’t matter—onlyyours do.” The goal of passive communication is to appease and avoidconflict.

Aggressive communication is designed to dominate and win. Victory isensured by humiliating, degrading or belittling the other person so she’sless able to express and defend herself. The basic message is “I thinkyou’ve been getting away with murder here, and I’m not going to allow itto continue. Shape up or I’m shipping you out.”

Will the session change behavior? Sometimes it will, but often it alien-ates the employee, who walks around the workplace grumbling abouthow she was treated.

Assertive communication lets you share your thoughts and feelings indirect, honest and appropriate ways that don’t violate the employee’sright to share insights. It’s interactive and acknowledges interdepend-ence with others. The basic message of assertion is “This is what Ithink. This is how I see the situation. What do you think?” You then lis-ten—truly listen—to the employee’s side of the coin.

Assertive communication, accompanied by appropriately assertive bodylanguage (erect posture, direct eye contact, clear and audible voice,expressions and gestures in sync with your words), will reinforce yourmessage about the need for improvement.

26

Chapter 4

Follow Through on Action Plan

Once you have an action plan worked out, you maythink the matter is settled. But that’s far from the case.

The plan should include scheduled times you and theemployee will meet to discuss his progress.

The Turnaround PlanIdeally, the improvements the employee agrees to should be meas-urable: say, by an increase in the number of accounts handled, adecrease in tardiness until the problem goes away or whatever thenature of the problem. Dates for the follow-up meetings shouldhave been set when you agreed on the action plan.

If a problem occurs before the first meeting, don’t wait. Rather,meet immediately to discuss what happened. Depending on theproblem, you may decide to re-evaluate the earlier plan. Or, it maybe better to issue a warning. A repetition of the incident might resultin termination. If someone has violated a serious rule, you mayneed to fire her immediately. It may be too dangerous—either to theemployee or co-workers—to risk another violation.

Follow-Up Meetings During each follow-up meeting you need to review the employee’sperformance and behavior. Review the goals and the person’s effortsto meet them. If you don’t trust his word, check the status of his var-ious projects on your own.

Until the meetings unfold, employees may be reluctant to tellyou that your peers or their colleagues aren’t holding up their end ofthe workload. For instance, your employee, under continued pres-sure to meet deadlines, may finally reveal that another department’ssupervisor had never communicated deadlines. Furthermore, the


worker may have felt justified in using that extra time to ensure bet-ter quality in her job. Consequently, you’ll have to bring the othersupervisor into a collaborative (not accusatory) discussion so thatyou two can create and enforce a realistic schedule. Your employeewill now have an achievable action plan and will discover that shar-ing problems with you helps get the job done.

‘How Long Will All This Take?’Managers often are leery about the time counseling will consume. It’seasy at today’s fast pace not only to overlook bad performance butalso to put off meetings in which you promised to discuss it. You haveagreed with the employee on the timing, type and purpose of the fol-low-through; but if you fail to fulfill your side of the agreement, you’llleave the employee treading water or, worse, sinking and drowning.

Many managers don’t like these meetings because it appearsthey are playing cat and mouse, looking for mistakes in a game of“gotcha.” They would prefer to let things go after the initial counselingsession. If need be, they would rather do the employee’s work themselves than provide feedback or “nag.” So, the employee’s per-formance remains at the same low level, which interrupts thedepartment’s workflow and fouls the attitude of co-workers, whomay wonder why the manager can’t run a tight operation.

The alternative is intervention. But does counseling alwayswork? Unfortunately no: Some employees just can’t be saved.However, even if your company has an employment at will policy,it’s still wise to go through this process. You can document the effort,showing you tried to help the employee. Should the person bring alawsuit, you’ll have a written record.

So expect that counseling won’t always work. Besides the possi-bility that the person just doesn’t give a damn about changing hisbehavior and staying employed, you may have to contend with twoother situations, discussed below.

You Missed SomethingSay you and the employee have set up an action plan and youbelieve that she’s committed to improving. Yet problems continueto crop up in her work. Go back and review the nature of the


problem. You may have been focusing on the symptoms rather thanon the cause.

The most obvious example is when you suspected a moraleproblem yet work problems continue to arise. The issue may be assimple as the employee needing further training in the job, proce-dures or process involved. Another hidden cause may be a personalproblem that’s distracting her, regardless of her passion for the work.

‘I’m Serious—You Could Lose Your Job’A second problem is denial. Painful as it is, you have to makeemployees realize that failure to improve will end in their termina-tion. Sometimes, employees show a little improvement and thenlapse into their marginal performance or misbehavior. They mayeven say, “It’s no big deal.” Managers have to be clear from the firstcounseling interview that failure to improve is a big deal. You wantthe employee to believe that the boss has faith in him, but doing soshouldn’t prevent you from warning that he could be fired.

Let’s take an example. Mark is working on a project with threeother employees. The team leader, the group’s supervisor, notesthat Mark has strong leadership capability but cuts off members ofthe team when they’re speaking. When the supervisor isn’t around,Mark has been known to bully the group to accept his ideas, some-times to the project’s disadvantage. When Larry, Mark’s supervisor,sits down to counsel him about the negative impact he’s having onthe team, he wants Mark to leave the room with two thoughts inmind. First, he has leadership potential, and Larry will be lookingfor opportunities for him to apply that ability. Second, if Markdoesn’t learn that leadership also entails being quiet and lettingothers do their thing, he may be off the project team. Moreover, ifthe problem affects other interpersonal relationships, he may beout of the company.

If the problem is attitude and follow-up shows no change inbehavior, you may want to give an employee another chance. Meetwith her to re-emphasize the need for improvement. “Otherwise,”you may say, “I’ll have no choice but to terminate you.”

Beware that you don’t get caught up in one follow-up meetingafter another without any uptick in performance. Based on conver-


sations with managers, we suspect that one reason—beyond theunpleasantness that comes from judging another person—is that noone wants to admit that his good-faith efforts failed.

Setting Time Limits It’s particularly tough to admit defeat if you believe someone has thepotential to do so much better. But you reach a point where youmust fish or cut bait.

What you have to decide is how much latitude you will give aworker to improve before you decide to terminate her, regardless ofher potential. Whereas in the staff-heavy offices of the past, it waspossible to give a marginal performer as much as six months toimprove, today’s leaner organizations typically demand moreimmediate action.

Disobeying corporate rules should lead to a counseling sessionor even termination depending on the seriousness of the infraction.Usually a warning is given when there’s no work improvement or asecond violation of a minor rule. A third violation of a rule general-ly leads to termination. The same is true if the employee shows noimprovement by a scheduled time—say, two weeks to two months,depending on the type of work. Companies have discovered that it’sbetter to rid themselves of a poor performer or disciplinary problemrather than continue to monitor the employee.

Of course, the employee who continually fails to show any inter-est or motivation, despite your effort to salvage her, should be madeaware that this negative attitude is affecting quality and you won’ttolerate the situation.

During your career, you may encounter employees who believethat as long as they show up and go through the motions, they arefulfilling their obligation. Such employees may simply need to betold in clear terms that the job requires being there in mind as wellas body.

Document the Follow-ThroughWhen you document these discussions, your intention should be torecord them, not substantiate further the existence of a problem.That evidence should already be in your critical incident log or


Alternative: Agreeing to ResignSometimes, you just know that a problem employee won’t improve andyou wonder what you can do.

Some managers try to force out such employees, piling on more workor making conditions so hard that they leave. Unfortunately, such actioncan prompt a workers’ compensation stress claim or charges of wrong-ful termination or constructive discharge. A better solution is to reachan agreement in which the employee decides to leave on his own.

Such agreements are best handled through a third party. If an immedi-ate supervisor tries to talk the employee into leaving, those efforts maybe perceived as self-serving. Also, whatever is shared with the employ-ee may take on a different meaning two years later when the companyis being sued for constructive discharge, in which the conditions atwork are said to have been so egregious that any reasonable personwould leave.

Typically, a human resource director or senior manager is the mediator.The employee is asked questions such as:

• Would exploring other opportunities outside the company makesense for you?

• Would leaving now of your own accord allow you an honorable exitstrategy?

• Would you like us to give you time to begin interviewing at othercompanies?

During this period, all the company should ask is that the employee notneglect her work as she hunts for another job, and that she give thecompany at least 24 hours’ notice of upcoming interviews. If the employ-ee gets a job during this period, the company might ask for a week’snotice so it can transfer her tasks to another person, or it might chooseto let the employee go immediately so her departure doesn’t significant-ly deflate morale.

This velvet-glove approach may be challenging, but it lowers the tensionimmediately. It’s always better to tell employees where they stand thanto make them guess.


other record you keep on the employee’s performance. Your purposehere should be to summarize your conversation and the employee’seffort to improve.

At the end of your follow-through document, you need to indi-cate the next step, whether it be another meeting or a written warn-ing. Give a copy of this memo to the employee and place one in herpersonnel file, but also review it with her.

Is there a downside to this technique? Not so long as:

• You’re sure the employee understands that this is his decision,thereby avoiding a constructive-discharge claim later.

• You advise the employee of the required performance standards ifhe chooses to stay.

• You document the meeting, including the employee’s response.

32

Chapter 5

The Termination Interview

Counseling isn’t a process without end. If the discipli-nary issue or work problem isn’t resolved, you usually

have no choice but to consider firing the person.Communicating this decision to the employee may bethe toughest task you have as a manager. As a matter offact, one new manager admitted that he threw up afterthe meeting.

This kind of emotional response to a firing isn’t limited to recentlypromoted managers. Termination is always difficult. Franklin DelanoRoosevelt could confront the Great Depression, World War II and thescourge of polio. But he couldn’t bring himself to fire HenriettaNesbitt, the famously disastrous chief chef at the White House. Sodon’t think you’re alone in your aversion to this onerous task.

Be Confident in Your DecisionSince firing someone can cost you lost productivity as you scout fora replacement, you need to be confident in your decision. So reviewyour documentation first.

Certainly, don’t let your anger about an incident prompt you to firean employee on the spot. People fired this way are the most likely tosue you or to cause trouble for you and your firm. Even if you think afiring is justified, you should meet with your own manager and theHR manager to discuss the how, what and when of termination.

Firing in AngerLet’s assume that you do fire someone impetuously. Maybe theemployee was insubordinate or you caught him stealing. Whatshould you do?

Your subsequent behavior depends on the individual’s historywith your firm. If you have enough justification based on the docu-


mentation you’ve compiled, you can breathe a deep sigh of relief;you do have a defense in case the individual decides to sue. Still, youshould notify human resources about your action to keep your HRmanager in the loop.

What if you have no documentation of any previous problemwith the worker? Go immediately to HR. You’ll probably be advisedto call the employee, tell her that you acted too quickly and offer toreinstate her. If she refuses, your liability will have dramaticallydropped: The courts tend to see that as a voluntary quit. But if theperson offers to come back, you’ll want to monitor her behavior. Ifthings don’t improve, be sure to document any problems before tak-ing action.

What if you don’t want the employee back? Then you need togather and save any available evidence that supports your version ofwhat happened. HR will likely advise you to sit tight. The situationmay blow over; that is, the employee may go quietly. Or, the employ-ee may blow up during the termination interview but back downlater. If you have reason to suspect that the employee may sue, HRmay decide to work out a deal. The firm will offer to provide someseverance benefits in exchange for a signed release that waives theemployee’s right to sue.

Ask Yourself Key QuestionsWhat if you would like to terminate an employee and you haven’tfallen into the trap described above? As you consider whether to firesomeone, ask yourself:

4 Did you give the employee sufficient training/informationabout the work? Sometimes, an extra week of training will turn aproblem performer into an asset.

4 Have you made clear to the employee the seriousness of thesituation? Reasons for termination should not come as a surprise tothe employee.

4 Is the employee a member of a protected minority group? Ifyou have any doubts about your objectivity, you may want your ownboss or someone in HR to review your decision before you fire.

4 Have you given the employee enough time to correct theproblem? Are two write-ups good enough? How many absences


over a year are grounds for dismissal? If you aren’t sure what consti-tutes “adequate time,” you may want to discuss it with HR. You’llneed to know what’s been done in the past and whether the sameprocess and time frame apply.

The Litigious Workplace You would think that an honest, upfront manager shouldn’t expectany legal hassles. Not so. It doesn’t matter if your company has anemployment at will policy. Disgruntled employees may still sue,charging discrimination.

Employment at will means that you can terminate an employeewithout cause whenever you want; that is, the firing has nothing todo with performance or the corporate economy or structure. Moststates recognize at-will relationships. If you live in a state that does,your organization may establish an at-will policy and communicatethis fact to every staff member. But employment at will does notguarantee that you’ll stay out of court.

There are exceptions to the at-will policy, and the lawyers of liti-gious ex-employees will use them to extract money from yourfirm—and even from you personally. Those exceptions include: acharge that the decision to let the employee go was due to discrim-ination against him or her on the basis of age, sex or race; whistle-blowing; a charge against the firm for an OSHA violation; or avoid-ing a payment to the employee (e.g., pay or pension).

If the employee’s lawyer can prove any of these exceptions, hemay win the case against your firm.

Another Legal RestrictionAn employment contract or a union contract also may govern yourability to fire an employee. To terminate the employee, you mayhave to follow certain procedures. For instance, union contractsoften demand that the union steward be involved before a companydecides to terminate a worker. Or, a written employment contractmay specify the nature of performance problems that would justifytermination.

The courts, too, have taken steps to limit an employer’s ability tofire at-will employees, relying on the following:


q An implied contract limitation. An employee handbook, forinstance, may unintentionally guarantee employment during thefirst six months while the new hire is on probation.

q Public policy limitation. Here, the courts argue that firinggoes against “public policy” by infringing on some right grantedemployees by federal or state law or because it is otherwise morallyor socially wrong. For instance, firing an employee merely for filinga workers’ compensation claim is illegal.

Of course, you also must comply with several federal anti-discrimination laws (see box, page 38). States, too, have laws thatmake it illegal to fire someone—in some cases with protection evenbroader than under federal laws. For example, state laws may protect employees from discrimination on the basis of personalappearance, whistle-blowing or jury duty.

Easing the BlowThe threat of legal action against your organization and sometimeseven against you may explain why companies often offer severancepackages to those fired on condition that they waive the right to sue, even when an employment at will policy is in place. Waiversdo help reduce the number of lawsuits, and the cost associated with them is usually much lower than the legal fees to defend a lawsuit.

But you shouldn’t encourage any action that the courts mightconstrue as abusing the waiver process. For instance, the OlderWorkers Benefit Protection Act requires that an employee age 40 orolder have 21 days to consider the release. In determining whetherto enforce the waiver, courts will, among other things, look at theclarity of language, how long the employee was given to review the waiver and whether the employee consulted an attorney.

Conducting the MeetingThe termination session shouldn’t take more than 10 or 15 minutes. Your sole purpose is to communicate your decision to the staffmember. Be direct and focused. Prepare in advance what you’ll say.For the meeting itself, find a neutral, private setting, like a confer-


ence room, where co-workers won’t overhear you. Try to avoidmeeting in your own office: If the session becomes too emotional,there may be no way to free yourself without literally asking the employee to leave. This would only raise the temperature of the situation.

Your intention at the meeting is to let the employee know thathe’s being discharged and that the decision is final and cannot bereversed. If other positions are open that the company believes theemployee might be able to manage, tell him about them and how toapply for them. Also let him know if alternative in-house positionsaren’t available or that he was not deemed qualified for any currentopenings.

Releases, Severance AgreementsWhen you terminate an employee, it’s always a possibility that theemployee will take legal action against your company. To avoid thisthreat, your firm may negotiate a severance agreement with her. As partof the agreement, the employee will sign a release, or waiver of rights,stating that she forgoes the right to sue you.

Such releases are most useful when you lack documentation of poorperformance or bad conduct. To be effective, the release must be:

• In writing.

• Signed by the employee waiving the right to sue.

• Voluntary.

• Supported by adequate consideration (that is, the employee getssomething of value in return, a benefit that she wouldn’t receivewithout signing the release).

The release should be easy to read (the typeface large enough and thelanguage understandable to the employee). The release should alsorefer to specific employment laws related to a waiver of rights. Conse-quently, the employee can’t claim that she didn’t know what legal rightsshe was giving up. Make sure your company’s counsel—preferably aspecialist in employment law—reviews any waiver before it’s given toan employee to consider.


Choosing Your WordsWe’ve pointed out the need for you to be direct and focused. In addi-tion, you want to come across as being empathetic: that is, aware ofthe fact that losing a job is likely to have a profound impact on theemployee. That’s a fine line to walk.

For instance, you can say, “I know this is hard. I was let go once.”But some managers go overboard, seeking personal exoneration by saying, “Off the record, I don’t think this is a good decision. I’ve always enjoyed having you on my staff.” You cannot undercut your own authority that way. In fact, as heartfelt as it seems, youshouldn’t even say, “I’m sorry,” which may imply that you’ve donesomething wrong. Like it or not, you’re a messenger with bad news.

Don’t excuse the decision as a cost-cutting gesture either. Whileit may appear to be more humane, less judgmental and less accusa-tory to tell an employee that a position has been eliminated ratherthan point to her poor performance, it can be a costly mistake if theemployee decides to go to court. The minute you fill that position orrestructure to get the work done, you’ll be caught, unable to docu-ment your bogus claim. Then you’ll find yourself on the losing endof an employee’s trumped-up charge that the firing was based ondiscrimination or some other illegal motive. Even if you have docu-mentation of poor performance, a court may dismiss it because yousaid the position was eliminated.

What if the employee becomes emotional? If the employee ragesor cries, give him or her time to express those feelings. Empathizebut be firm.

Cover the FactsAt the meeting, tell the employee the effective date of the termina-tion. Today, most companies prefer to have employees leave imme-diately. If they have personal possessions in the office, employeesare told when to come back to retrieve them.

The employee may ask about his benefits, including any sever-ance pay, compensation for unused vacation time, continuation ofhealth and life insurance benefits, and re-employment assistance.Be prepared with answers. For details, tell the individual to go to the


Federal Fair Employment LawsThe following employment laws, which form the foundation of our nation-al system to ensure fairness in the workplace, are critical from the pointof hiring through termination of the employment relationship:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination againstemployees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Equal Pay Act bars employers from paying one gender less than theother if they are working on jobs that require equal skill, effort andresponsibility and are performed under similar working conditions.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination on thebasis of age against employees who are 40 and older.

Pregnancy Discrimination Act makes discrimination against an employ-ee or applicant based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical condi-tions unlawful under Title VII.

Family Medical and Leave Act requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave and employee benefits for a worker’s or familymember’s serious health condition or to care for a newborn child.

Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against dis-abled employees and job applicants.

Immigration Reform and Control Act requires employers to verify theemployment eligibility of all new hires but also prohibits employers fromasking an applicant about his immigration status before a conditional hire.

National Labor Relations Act prohibits discrimination against employ-ees who engage in or refuse to engage in union activity. The law alsoprotects non-union employees who act together to improve or protesttheir working conditions.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) prohibits discharg-ing employees solely to prevent them from vesting or qualifying for ben-efits under qualified pension plans.

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives work-ers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to chooseto continue group health benefits for a limited period under certain cir-cumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss.


HR department. His final paycheck also may be ready there, as wellas instructions on returning company IDs, keys and credit cards.

As you end the meeting, wish the employee good luck andexpress confidence in his future. Finally, stand and extend yourhand. Remain standing until the employee has left the room.

Documenting the MeetingOnce the meeting is over, return to your office and document yourconversation. This is important whatever the reason for termina-tion, but it’s doubly important if the decision was due to a seriousrule infraction rather than to poor performance.

If it was due to a rule violation or other disciplinary matter, youwill also want to have written up the incident, information obtainedin investigating the incident if you did not witness it, and the rea-sons for choosing to terminate the employee rather than take lessdrastic action, such as suspension.

To be sure, after firing an employee, you may feel too emotionalto sit down and document the termination meeting. However, disci-plining yourself to record the session will actually make you focusedand calm, and allow you to capture the conversation before yourmemory of it fades.

40

Chapter 6

Post-Termination Communications

Just as you experience feelings of guilt, anger or pityfrom terminating an employee, so may your staff upon

hearing the news. But unlike you, they also are likely tofeel an exaggerated sense of fear. The truth is, no matterhow well an individual performs, there’s always theunderlying fear of being let go. When a co-worker is fired,your staff members can’t help but wonder, “Could thathappen to me?”

Announcing the FiringYou can’t change how your staff members feel, but you can ease thetension surrounding a firing. Here are some guidelines:

q Let people talk about it. Unless someone who’s been termi-nated is bringing legal action against the company, his co-workersshould be allowed to discuss the issue. Of course, discretion isimportant even if there’s no lawsuit on the horizon. You wouldn’tanswer questions like “How much did he get in severance?” But ifsomeone whose work has been problematic comes in and asks, “AmI next?” you need to confront the issue, explain why it isn’t the sameand say what the staff member can do to keep it that way.

q Replace the person quickly. No matter the state of the jobmarket or the financial condition of the firm, you should make everyeffort to fill the slot of a fired employee. As long as it remains vacant,it will remind everyone of what happened.

q Be discreet and practical. You won’t want the staff telling cus-tomers and clients what occurred beyond saying “X” is no longerwith the company. On the other hand, you don’t want to tell the staffto hide the fact either. While customers sometimes are so loyal tosales reps and other staff members that they follow them to theirnext employer, you shouldn’t be paranoid about the action you’ve


taken. Instead, focus on finding someone else with good qualifica-tions who will keep your current customers and attract others.

Just the FactsIf there’s any general guideline on how to handle queries from thestaff after a co-worker has been terminated, it is to be forthright butbrief. You might say, for instance, “John was fired this morning aftera month of counseling did not help him improve his job perform-ance.” Or, “Despite repeated warnings about her tardiness, Jennifercontinued to come in 30 to 60 minutes late every morning. So I hadto fire her for chronic lateness.”

Your staff will expect you to say something. Failure to do so willonly fan the gossip. Certainly, don’t tell your unit, “Our corporatecounsel has advised us not to discuss the matter.” That’s even morelikely to raise eyebrows and fuel the office grapevine. If you fear that

Steer Clear of DefamationMost defamation cases arise from insensitivity or unpleasantness dur-ing the termination process or revelations about a former employeegiven in a reference check.

Defamation isn’t easy to prove. To win such a case, a former staff member must show that you made a false or damaging statement, com-municated it to at least one other staff member, and were negligent orintentionally shared the statement with other employers, causing thatperson to lose a job elsewhere.

As high as that hurdle is, you should avoid comments implying that theindividual you fired committed a crime or infraction, was incompetent,used alcohol or drugs on the job or otherwise behaved in an unfit manner.

You might think that only the most spiteful managers would get caughtin the defamation trap. The truth is, if you make an unflattering commentabout the terminated employee and you don’t absolutely know it’s true,you could pay for it: for example, saying the employee is a thief, isincompetent or lied about job qualifications. Your best policy is to say aslittle as possible.


the employee may take legal action, ask the corporate counsel tohelp you formulate a statement.

No matter how bitter you are about the troubles your formeremployee caused, keep those feelings to yourself. Your remarkscould trigger a defamation lawsuit.

Giving ReferencesAfter the employee leaves, you may be contacted for references. Youmay want to tell the truth but also fear a lawsuit. You can minimizethe likelihood by warning the employee during the termination meet-ing that he shouldn’t expect a good reference. The employee shouldknow that already, but you can avoid the problem at the outset bystating the obvious: “I can’t provide a positive reference for you.”

Also check your corporate policy on references in advance of thefiring. Most firms have adopted a policy of only giving out the datesof employment, job title and final salary to inquiring employers. Ifyou find yourself cornered, stick to the facts. Now is not the time tospeculate about your former employee’s shortcomings. If you’rereluctant to handle the query, refer it to HR. Don’t just put it out ofyour mind, though; make a record of the reference request in case oftrouble later.

Caution: Some managers feel so guilty after terminating anemployee that, surprisingly, they falsely flatter the ex-employeewhen talking to another employer requesting a reference. In doingso, they put themselves in a precarious legal position. First, theymay end up facing a lawsuit for failing to warn a new employerabout serious performance problems. Second, the employee mayuse the kind words to build a case of bias in court against the termination.

The Impossible HappensSo far, we’ve been assuming that the employee has been terminatedand has left. But there’s always the possibility that someone you’vefired may sue and win. What if that individual decides to return tohis previous job? Suddenly, the worker whom you thought you werethrough with is back. Everyone will be watching to see how you han-dle yourself in this awkward situation.


Behave professionally. Don’t treat the returning employee anydifferently than you would anyone else. Just as you treated him likethe rest of your staff during the counseling process, you need to dothe same now.

Fortunately, most fired employees who have sued and won willchoose not to return. They prefer to take the money—any courtawards and pay since the termination—and run. So it’s highlyunlikely that you will have to address this problem. However, yourstaff may hear about the court decision. You shouldn’t bring it up. Ifasked about it, don’t vent. If you must say something, tell them thatyou wish Jack or Jill the best.

The ReplacementAfter the fact, you’ll have to replace the employee you terminated.As you interview candidates for the position, you may be askedabout the former jobholder. Once again, be cautious about whatyou say. You may be tempted to tell job applicants that the last job-holder was promoted or moved on to a better job, but it’s unwise tolie. Once a new hire comes on board, she will learn the truth.

So if you can’t sugarcoat the circumstances, what should you say?You should tell prospective hires exactly what you told staff

members: “Unfortunately, we had to terminate the employee.” Don’texpand beyond that. Instead, jump right to the fine job done by thefired person’s predecessor or, if that employee predated you, thegood work of a current staffer in a closely related position.

Unemployment BenefitsOne final issue you may have to address is unemployment benefits.If you had to fire someone for cause and you learn that the personhas applied for unemployment benefits, you should inform the HRdepartment.

Sometimes, companies decide not to contest such claims. Oftenthey fight up to the point where they would need to hire a lawyer. Atthat time, they would re-evaluate whether the issue is worth pursu-ing. A lawyer should be able to tell whether a company’s chances ofwinning are good, slim or none.


If your company suspects that an employee is likely to sue andthe documentation seems insufficient to support the terminationdecision, it may not contest the claim. Rather, it will offer a termi-nation package (see Chapter 5), including an agreement that thecompany won’t try to prevent the employee from collecting unem-ployment benefits.

PART II: SPECIFIC COUNSELING SITUATIONS

47

Chapter 7

Counseling Marginal Performers

If you were asked to divide your employees into groupsbased on their performance, you would probably say

that you had some top performers, some not so great andsome in between. The vast majority of employees arethose in between: average performers. Some could bebetter, others could be worse; it all depends on your abil-ity as a supervisor and the reason behind their mediocreperformance.

There are as many reasons for mediocre performance as thereare average performers. Sometimes, these individuals were oncestellar achievers. As their manager, it’s your responsibility to find outwhat went wrong.

A Disappointed EmployeeLet’s use a true story as an example. It happened to a marketingmanager, Cindy, and involved one of her best workers, Micki, a newhire with tremendous potential.

There was only one major problem: Micki hated entering mailinglist corrections and consequently did it as quickly as possible everymorning. In fact, Micki disliked any administrative tasks. She did them hastily and, she admitted privately, often cavalierly. Cindynever said anything. She was pleased that Micki had the free time towork on writing marketing materials and helping plan the next campaigns.

Based on that work, Micki thought she had proved herself readyfor promotion. So she was very disappointed when the position wentto another marketing assistant, someone who lacked Micki’s writingflair but had a solid record for handling the administrative work.

No longer did Micki stay late at work. She was the first onethrough the door at 5 p.m. The quality and quantity of her work


declined. Cindy could appreciate how she might feel, but Micki’sattitude toward her job made it hard for Cindy to give her more thanan average rating in her performance assessment that year. “Shedoesn’t even deserve that,” Cindy thought. Still, Cindy dreaded theend-of-year performance review. Micki might get a raise, but itwould be less than a cost-of-living increase.

Micki’s AppraisalCindy knew she would have to tell Micki that her poor performancewould no longer be tolerated. It would be hard to do since Cindyhadn’t really said anything to Micki about the deep decline in herperformance. She had assumed it would go away on its own.

Even though Cindy hadn’t confronted Micki about her work, shehad kept a critical incident log that listed both the positives andnegatives in her performance during the year. Clearly, the negativesoutnumbered the positives, and Cindy had the proof to validate heraverage rating.

But that didn’t make Cindy any more confident about the up-coming session. “They tell you that you have to confront poor per-formers,” Cindy thought. “The word confront sure is right.”

Avoidance TacticsFor months, Cindy had tried to alert Micki to the problem, but hertactics for doing so would have required a psychic to understandthem. On one occasion, when Micki completed some work too latefor presentation at a brainstorming meeting, Cindy stared silently ather for a few minutes. “If I don’t say anything, maybe she’ll noticethat I’m upset and will realize why,” Cindy thought.

Then there was the day she caught Micki sneaking out early. Shehad said, “It’s really not such a big thing and I hate to sound picky,but you are leaving work pretty early these days.” Cindy hoped thisapologetic statement would get Micki’s attention, but it led Micki toassume that leaving early wasn’t important. So she began leavingeven earlier.

Sarcasm hadn’t worked either. When Micki was caught taking offher coat one morning at 9:30, Cindy said, “Maybe you should ask


Santa for a new alarm clock for Christmas.” Micki stared. She had noidea why Cindy brought up Christmas in October.

Constructive Confrontation The best relationships are built on open, direct, honest communi-cations (see Chapter 14). However, when you confront an employeeabout her poor performance, remember that the goal of your com-munication is to achieve behavioral changes without attacking theindividual personally or jeopardizing the relationship.

If Cindy’s conversation with Micki was to be successful, it had toinclude the following:

• Objectively describing the undesirable behaviors, including aclear statement that Cindy would not tolerate them.

• Listening to Micki’s response.

• Identifying the impact her poor work or behavior has on thecompany’s products or services.

• Describing what Cindy expects.

• Making a commitment as to future behaviors.

Put yourself in Cindy’s shoes. As Micki’s supervisor, you shouldhave begun the conversation about her declining performance assoon as it became evident, identifying the nature of the problems:from tardiness to early departures, to long lunches and indifferenceto the administrative tasks that went with her job.

If Micki had denied the assessment, you would have identifiedspecific incidents in which her performance was below standard.After that, you would have to be as clear as possible about whatMicki should do to salvage her job, let alone her previous shiningreputation.

You wouldn’t just tell Micki, “I expect more from you.” You wouldbe specific, set short-term goals for her and agree on a timetable ofmeetings to discuss her progress. If Micki felt she needed closersupervision on some tasks, you would offer to do so if it made sense.Above all, you would be honest with Micki about the consequencesif her performance didn’t improve. Such was the counseling taskahead for Cindy.


Cindy’s Game Plan Cindy didn’t want to lose Micki. She wanted this counseling meetingto be effective, so she prepared in the following ways:

q Cindy tried to relax. She took some deep breaths and other-wise tried to lower her emotional temperature before the meeting.

q She rehearsed what she would say. Cindy thought about whatshe hoped to accomplish in the meeting and decided what she wouldsay. She wanted to show she cared about Micki’s future, understoodMicki was disappointed about getting passed over for the promotionbut shouldn’t let that influence her subsequent career with the firm,and knew Micki could change.

q She considered not only what she would say but also howshe would say it. She knew the tone of her voice, her facial expres-sions and her body language could have as much impact on the session’s results as what she said.

q She prepared to listen. Key to a constructive counseling ses-sion was Cindy’s willingness to hear Micki’s response to her apprais-al. If Micki didn’t speak up, Cindy had to find ways to encourage herto express her thoughts and feelings.

Note: Hearing Micki out did not mean backing down from herassessment. It was imperative that Cindy make clear to her the con-sequences of continued poor performance.

In this instance, since Cindy had not been forthcoming before—in fact, had hardly said a word—about the problems with Micki’swork, she also had to accept her share of the blame for the situation.Cindy spoke to the HR manager, and they agreed that Micki wouldget a 3 (the rating for a mediocre or average worker) as a conse-quence. Also, Cindy’s failure to communicate clearly the problemswith Micki’s performance would be part of the record in her person-nel file.

The MeetingCindy recognized what had triggered Micki’s change in perform-ance. So, during the meeting she mentioned how Micki could betterprepare herself to qualify for the next vacancy. But she also made itclear that a promotion wasn’t guaranteed. Micki would have a better


chance to get the position if her job performance improved and ifshe spent time developing the administrative skills that a promotionwould demand.

Together, they worked out an action plan. Every two weeks,Cindy would meet with Micki, check administrative reports and liststo see that all the work was done. She would continue to involveMicki in the creative side of the job but only if she had mastered thedull side.

Micki was expected to put in her seven hours every day. If shecame in late, left early or took an extended lunch two days in a row,she would be put on warning, with termination the consequence ofa third violation.

Ongoing FeedbackMost important, Cindy committed to communicate regularly withMicki about performance problems, as well as to praise her accom-plishments. Lack of feedback had been responsible for the problem.Specific, task-oriented feedback was the solution.

This brings to mind an old joke about airline food. The first pas-senger says, “This food is terrible!” The second passenger adds, “Andthe portions are so small.” Most of us feel the same way about feed-back. The only thing worse than getting poor feedback is gettingnone at all. Its absence also communicates acceptance of anemployee’s ideas or behavior, whether that’s what the managerbelieves or not.

Feedback is the only way employees know how you feel abouttheir performance. Consequently, good feedback is imperative. Butwhat constitutes good feedback?

q First, it is immediate, not delayed. The exception to this rulelies in the sage advice that you should count to 10 before respond-ing when angry. Even then, when you wait too long to talk about aproblem, your feelings may have festered. Give yourself a brief period to regain your composure, then talk to the employee.

q Second, verbal feedback is vital even when nonverbal feed-back is positive and frequent. You may think a grimace or smile issufficient to communicate your reaction to the employee’s perform-ance. Not so. Employees like reassurance that they’re “reading” you


The ABCs of FeedbackAlthough few rules on communication apply to all circumstances, theseare important guidelines in giving feedback:

• Focus on facts: “I count seven copies here.” Don’t depend onhearsay or rumor.

• Emphasize what can be improved: preferably tasks that can beredone or buffed up right away.

• Be thoughtful. Find a private place where you and the employee canspeak confidentially.

• Find time to talk about the positives in an employee’s work, not onlythe negatives. Rather than say, “That wasn’t the right way to … ,”rephrase your feedback to suggest that you expect improvement onthe employee’s part: “I’m sure you’ll be able to process 65 or 70invoices a day by next month. Here’s how you’ll do it.” No point insaying, “You were three short of our goal,” when you can say, “Youreached your personal best in sales this month.”

• Don’t use feedback as a weapon: “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told youa hundred times, you’ve got to send these letters first class.” Thiskind of feedback is mean-spirited and patronizing. Plus, after you’veunleashed it once, it loses its impact.

• Don’t rely exclusively on either verbal or nonverbal communication.Neither is sufficient alone. A grimace tells an employee only that youaren’t happy, but not why. For all he knows, you might not like thecolor of his tie. Ask questions, paraphrase the employee and checkfor understanding.

• Don’t assume that an employee who doesn’t ask questions got yourmessage and knows exactly what to do. Encourage questions. Inviteinteraction.

• Don’t confuse feedback with either praise or criticism. Feedback isinformation-specific, issue-focused and based on observations.Praise and criticism, by contrast, are personal judgments about aneffort or outcome.


correctly. They want to know whether the pat on the back means“You’re doing great,” “You’re doing better than most beginners,” or“Just keep at it—you’ll catch up eventually.”

There may be times when silence is golden, but not so when itcomes to feedback. It’s more often the words we didn’t say about anemployee’s work that we most strongly regret.

q Third, employees must be primed to be receptive to feed-back. They need to know exactly what’s expected of them: what theyshould be doing, how well and by when. Once your employeesunderstand your expectations, they’ll be more willing to listen toyour feedback about their performance. If an employee hasn’t beenclearly directed or hasn’t participated in developing his own per-formance standards, he will be defensive when you give feedback,no matter how diplomatic you are.

Just as you keep a record of key incidents, positive and negative,you need to document those instances in which you give feedback.

54

Chapter 8

Counseling Troubled Employees

At one time or another, almost all your workers willhave a personal problem that hinders their job per-

formance. Often the problem won’t be too serious: Theworker will get over it, and his or her performance willquickly return to normal. The difficulty for you, of course,is in determining at the outset if the problem is minorand short-term or something more serious and chronicthat could undercut productivity.

How do you know if it’s a personal problem rather than a skilldeficit or bad attitude? Your first clue will be the employee’s history.A solid, dependable worker whose performance turns iffy doesn’tlack for skills but may have suffered a shift in attitude or run into apersonal problem. (With a new employee, you’ll obviously have tostart from square one.)

Some telltale signs of a problem:

• Tardiness

• Excessive absenteeism (even within approved sick leave)

• Pattern absenteeism (Fridays, Mondays and before or after holidays)

• Changes in work relationships

• More time on the phone with family members

• Anxiety or stress

• Defensive behavior

While these symptoms alone do not indicate that an employee is suffering from a personal problem—that is, he’s a troubledemployee rather than a troublesome one—they will help you elimi-nate some reasons behind a performance problem, such as the needfor more training.


To determine if the problem is personal, also look for tearfulness,longer than usual work hours, early departures and extended lunchhours, irritability, emotional outbursts, withdrawal from co-workersor excessive sharing of stories.

Substance abuse falls into the category of personal problems.Since many legal issues are associated with counseling for chemicaldependency, this report devotes the entire Chapter 12 to the topic.In this section we’ll talk about other personal or family problems,such as marital separation, divorce, personal or family illness, deathof a loved one, domestic violence and problems with children.

Wishful ThinkingMany managers feel uncomfortable poking into an employee’s per-sonal life, particularly if they don’t have the kind of rapport thatallows such sharing of personal information. They would prefer toavoid or ignore the problem, especially if the employee has provedto be effective, dependable and conscientious. They hope the prob-lem will go away on its own—which it sometimes does. But toooften, it worsens.

As a manager, if you have a problem with an employee’s per-formance, you need to bring it to her attention, along with the con-sequences if it continues. If that means asking personal questions,so be it.

Admittedly, it’s easier if you’ve developed a good working rela-tionship with a staff member to ask if the cause of the problem ispersonal. If you’ve always shown personal interest in an employee,all you have to do during a counseling session is ask about thechange in behavior: for example, his irritability, agitation, pressuredspeech or isolation from others. If you don’t have this kind of posi-tive long-term relationship, talk about the job. After all, your focusshould be on his work anyway.

Let’s look at a situation that Larry encountered with Beth.

Larry and BethLarry was relatively new in his position as manager and conse-quently knew little about Beth. During the few months they hadworked together, she seemed friendly and easygoing, so her sudden


coolness to colleagues, combined with frequent personal phonecalls and agitation, signaled a personal problem.

Larry didn’t feel he knew her well enough to ask about her situa-tion. But when she failed to meet a big deadline and risked losing animportant client, he knew he no longer had any choice.

“Beth, this assignment should not have caused you any prob-lems,” he said. “Could there be something else complicating the situation?”

She looked at him. “The assignment was simple, but I just havebeen feeling depressed lately and can’t focus. I’ll make up for themistake ... get my act together,” she said, rising to leave.

Larry would have liked to end the conversation, but he knew hewouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t uncover the nature of the prob-lem. So he asked her to stay and said, “Is there something that’smaking it harder for you to focus on your work?”

“No,” she answered. Larry knew how silence can be a tool, so he said nothing. The silence seemed to last an hour, but only a minute later Beth

blurted, “I found out my husband is cheating on me. We’ve decided toseparate for a while. He is looking for an apartment. In the interim,he’s living with me, which is putting a strain on both of us.”

“I’m sorry,” Larry replied. He hadn’t known about her troublesand didn’t know what to offer. He had friends who’d gone throughmarital problems and he could share their experiences with Beth,but he didn’t. And rightfully so. Even if he had suffered marital prob-lems himself, he wasn’t qualified to counsel her. His duty was tocounsel Beth only on her performance—to see that her personalproblem didn’t take a toll on her job.

Larry knew he shouldn’t play Dear Abby and try to give advice offthe top of his head. “What if I reassign her to less difficult tasks for awhile?” he thought. Although it might seem to help Beth, he realizedit wouldn’t. She had to deal with her problem; reassigning her eas-ier tasks would only be giving her a crutch. Further, it could causemorale problems or frustration among the staff.

“Beth, I’m truly sorry,” he continued. “We have an employeeassistance program in our company. Have you consulted the coun-selors there? They may be able to help you.”


“I don’t think I need help,” she replied. “I’ll be OK.”“I hope so,” Larry replied. “But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I

didn’t make the situation clear. Because you missed your dead-line, we almost lost an important client. If it happens again, I’ll have to put you on warning. Any problem after that would mean terminating you.”

Beth replied, “If I went to the EAP, would you be willing to forgetwhat happened?”

7 Steps to Helping Troubled EmployeesIdentifying and confronting troubled workers is a seven-step process:

1. Be alert to signs of a troubled worker. Common symptoms are tardi-ness, absenteeism, changes in work relationships, a big jump inphone time, anxiety or stress, defensive behavior, tearfulness, achange in hours, extended lunches, irritability, emotional outbursts,withdrawal or excessive sharing of stories.

2. Document the performance problem. This is something you shoulddo anyway, but in the case of a personal problem a record may helpalert the troubled worker to the harm his problem is inflicting.

3. Decide when to bring up the problem. You don’t need to confront theemployee at the first sign of trouble, but it’s a mistake to wait untilher job record has been seriously damaged.

4. Focus on work-related facts. The issue is work performance, not adivorce or a son’s misconduct. Avoid focusing on the personal prob-lem. Gently remind the employee that he’s responsible for the workregardless of what’s going on at home.

5. Involve the employee. Ask for suggestions on solving the problem. This may include identifying outside sources for counseling. If theworker is eligible for family leave, be sure that you’ve checked it out in advance of the employee’s request and are open to it.

6. Point out the consequences. Explain that more lackluster work maylead to the loss of a promotion, at the least, or the job itself.

7. Develop a plan of action. Be sure the employee understands exactlywhat she must do to bring performance to an acceptable level.


“No, I can’t do that,” Larry said. “But I can note in my record ofthis meeting that you indicated a desire to address your personalproblem by seeking outside counseling.”

“You’re going to have to tell people,” she said.“No,” he answered. “What you’ve told me is confidential. I’ll put

it in the personnel file as a record, but I won’t share it with any co-workers.”

Larry monitored Beth’s work performance. She came close tomissing another deadline, but he saw that she stayed late Fridaynight and worked over the weekend to complete the project on time.However, her stumble prompted her to call the company’s employ-ee assistance program and seek counseling.

Since Larry knew she was suffering, he tried to be understanding.He hoped that his caring would make it easier on Beth. So when shecalled to ask for a day off to meet with a lawyer, he agreed. He alsolet her know that he’d be there to talk through any problems with herprojects, easing some of the pressure on her. He didn’t want Beth tofeel that he was checking up on her; rather, he wanted to show hewas willing to help so she could complete the project.

Larry was fortunate. Not all such incidents work out so well.When an employee refuses to use EAP and shows no improvementin performance, a manager may be forced to make it a condition ofcontinued employment.

Employee Assistance Programs In the example above, the manager referred his troubled employeeto the company’s employee assistance program. An alternativemight be an outside organization that could address the employee’sspecific problem. If you have some idea of the nature of the prob-lem, you might identify such services for the employee to consider.

If you aren’t that familiar with the services of EAPs, they deal witha variety of issues, including alcoholism, drug addiction, depres-sion, anxiety, family crises (divorce, illness, death), teen problems,bereavement and suicide prevention. EAP counselors either handlethe problem or will refer employees to the appropriate providers intheir locality.

What if an employee seems unable to stop talking about herproblem after she’s opened up to you? You might say, “Laura, you’re


giving me too much personal information. I care about you, but I’mnot your best resource. Remember, we have an EAP to help us attimes like this. I’m sure they’ll be able to help you better than Icould.”

In the case of formal referrals, you would discuss your percep-tions of the work performance problems with the EAP counselorand, with a signed release from the employee, receive some feed-back about the individual’s progress.

60

Chapter 9

Counseling Rule Violators

As mentioned earlier, most companies have policies toaddress rule violations and other disciplinary issues.

The specific action you take hinges on the nature of themisbehavior, its impact on the unit or the organization,safety issues and the employee’s own record.

For instance, assuming the employee has a clean record other-wise, a verbal or written reprimand would come for a first offensefor any of the following:

• Knowingly filling out the time sheet of another employee.• Being habitually tardy or leaving early without explanation.• Chronic absenteeism.• Disorderly conduct on company property.• Immoral conduct or indecency on company property.• Malicious gossip.

A second offense of any of the above could lead to suspension ortermination. Behaviors that usually call for immediate dischargeinclude:

• Possession or consumption of illegal drugs on company property.• Intoxication at work.• Instigating a fight on company property.• Theft.• Intentional harassment, including sexual harassment.• Destruction of property.• Misrepresentation of important facts in seeking employment.• Violation of confidentiality or leaking trade secrets.• Extended unexcused absences.• Gambling on corporate premises.

Specific help to cope with insubordinate employees, rebelliousor hostile ones and substance abusers is covered in Chapters 10, 11and 12.


In this section we’ll discuss how one supervisor, George, handledan employee who had become a discipline problem.

George’s Hostile EmployeeGeorge supervised a team of eight electricians for a firm that didmajor electrical contracting, primarily for new building construc-tion. Ed had been with the company for two years, was a good electrician and had never caused any problems. The last twomonths, however, he’d been showing up late for work. And duringthe day, he often spoke rudely to George. It was clear that somethingwas wrong.

George had hoped it would pass. But one day when George askedEd to hand him a screwdriver, Ed tossed it carelessly, nearly hittinghim in the head. At that moment, George knew he could no longerignore the situation. He asked Ed to come to his office after lunch.

Ed shrugged his shoulders, but it was clear that he had gotten themessage.

At 1:30 p.m., Ed entered George’s office. “Sit down,” George said.“We have to talk about your behavior these past two months. Do youknow what I’m talking about?”

“Hey, are you going to make a big deal because I slipped whentossing you the screwdriver? It was an accident,” Ed snarled.

“Is it also an accident that you’ve been coming in late two orthree times a week? This isn’t like you.” After a brief pause, Georgeasked, “Is something wrong at home?”

“Nothing’s wrong. And if there was, why would I tell you?” Edanswered.

George could sense the hostility in Ed’s voice. He thought thatonly by bringing it out in the open could their relationship ever besalvaged.

“Is it something that happened at work?” George asked. “Are youangry over something I did or said to you?”

Why is Ed so angry?Ed blurted out, “Oh, so you’re concerned about my feelings now,huh? Where was your sincere concern when you gave my job to Bill?I spent days designing that job, and then you assigned Bill to install


the system! Didn’t it occur to you that I might like to see the job fin-ished the way I intended it?”

George was surprised. He had to think for a minute about exact-ly what Ed was referring to.

“Ed, the reason I gave the installation job to Bill was that I need-ed your skills on the next assignment. You did a fine job designingthe system. In fact, the plans were so well drawn that I felt someoneelse could easily follow them. I wish you would have spoken upabout it then. I had no way of knowing how you felt.”

“Yeah, well, you should have.” Ed looked at the floor. His angerhad died down.

“Now that I think about it, I wonder if we could roll out your sys-tem as a regular part of our installation work or maybe even pack-age it for a bigger market,” George mused. “Would you be able tomeet with Pete and me on Monday to talk about it?” Ed agreed.

An unfortunate misunderstandingGeorge knew that he would have to let Ed out of the meeting withsome self-respect. So instead of admonishing him for acting imma-turely, he addressed him candidly: “This was an unfortunate misun-derstanding. I’m glad we straightened it out. If you ever feel I’mbeing unfair, I want you to tell me right away. And I trust you’ll findit easier to get here on time from now on. You know as well as I dohow being late can disrupt everyone’s work.”

Ed left the office and George felt relieved. He had handled the sit-uation well and was sure that Ed’s behavior would soon return tonormal.

What George Did RightGeorge had indeed handled the situation properly. He had arrangedfor a private meeting and responded calmly to Ed’s personal attack.Although he hadn’t known why Ed was so hostile, he let him voicehis grievance and was prepared to deal with whatever it was.

Once the complaint was out in the open and it was clear the sit-uation had erupted over a misunderstanding, George still conclud-ed the meeting by reminding Ed that the performance problemwould no longer be tolerated. Ed’s tardiness had to stop.

After the meeting, he documented his conversation with Ed.


Fortunately, the problem never recurred. Ed’s behavior straight-ened out. It wasn’t necessary for George to undertake progressivediscipline.

By contrast, a persistent discipline problem—one the supervisorsees as having little potential to straighten out—calls for progressivediscipline, which may ultimately result in dismissal. One plant man-ager confronted a worker who refused to wear safety glasses.Reprimanded, the employee arrived late two days in a row. Thisprompted further discipline, so the employee was suspended with-out pay for two days. Would you believe that the employee wouldcontinue to cause trouble? He did. He refused to put on his safetyglasses and was fired.

Fortunately, his manager had recorded each instance of disobe-dience. By keeping a written record, he protected himself when theunion called a hearing. The employee argued that he shouldn’t havebeen terminated. He hadn’t done anything wrong, he said.

The manager’s documentation proved otherwise. The disciplinegiven was within his supervisory authority, reflecting both an accu-rate understanding of company policy and union rules.

Conducting an InvestigationYou may not be present when an employee breaks a company rule. Ifyou have to interview witnesses, ask them in private to describe whathappened.

q Ask for specifics. Get details. Don’t assume anything. Speak to allthose who were present. Besides the witnesses suggested by theemployee, ask others who might have been there.

q As the employee’s co-workers answer your questions, watch theirbody language. For example, arms folded across the chest, lack of eyecontact, scratching one’s nose and a slight turn of the body away fromyou—all may suggest that the individual is lying or not telling the full story.

q Remain objective until you have a clear picture of what hap-pened. Ask open-ended questions like “What did you do when Kenthreatened you?” Not, “Did you hit Ken when he threatened you?” “Yes”or “no” questions are leading questions, designed to force the respon-dent to confirm or deny your stated or implicit conclusions.


The AbsenteeAnother common infraction is absenteeism. Companies set rulesabout attendance and workday hours, so abuse of these rules callsfor discipline.

Let’s assume one of your employees has a lousy attendancerecord. She’s often out on Fridays and Mondays, seemingly sick, soas to give herself long weekends. But you expect every employee tocome to work every day, on time, fully prepared, clean, straight andsober. Any deviation from that is a violation of the rule.

Talking over the issue with the employee, you need to focus noton the cause of the absence (no matter your view about how legiti-mate it is) but on the impact of her absence on her work. Obviously,if she isn’t showing up for work, she isn’t getting her job done.

Rule violations occur for various reasons. In the case of excessiveabsences, some employees assume that they’re entitled to use up alltheir sick leave available. Not so. Unlike vacation days or holidays,sick leave is designed to provide salary continuation on short noticefor a certain number of days until the person’s health improves.

What if you meet with the employee to discuss her excessiveabsences and she gives you a note from her doctor? That has nothingto do with your organization’s attendance expectation. Even if anabsence is justified and the person is not a liar or a malingerer, thecompany has a right to demand that the employee pull her weight. It’sunfair to co-workers, who must take up the slack while she’s away.

Let’s assume that Sally has a chronic back ailment and her doctoradvises her to stay home when she strains herself. Her job doesn’tinvolve lifting, but Sally loves to garden and it triggers her problem.The fact is, if she can’t come to work every day, you have to find some-one else to do her job. Sally has to find a way to meet her responsibil-ity to show up on time or otherwise quit or be terminated.

Caution: Be aware that Sally’s periodic back pain may fall underthe Family and Medical Leave Act. Under the FMLA, a doctor’s notewon’t always suffice to allow her time off. You should insist that thedoctor’s note certify that Sally suffers from a “serious health condi-tion”: i.e., an episodic or chronic condition that requires inpatienthospital stays, continuing treatment by a health care provider or aperiod of incapacity lasting more than three days. Depending onhow long Sally’s been receiving treatment for her back problem, she


may qualify for FMLA leave, especially if she’s under a doctor’s reg-ular care. The point is, you won’t know unless you ask. If you dis-agree with her doctor’s assessment, you have the right to ask foranother medical opinion (paid at your company’s expense). If yoususpect fraud, be sure to get another opinion. Unless you play bythese rules, you may find yourself in court.

You should also be aware that the Americans with Disabilities Actmay protect workers like Sally if their condition reaches the level ofdisability. You may have to grant her time off as a reasonable accom-modation, regardless of the availability of sick leave.

Impact of FMLA, ADAMany companies are reluctant to confront employees for excessiveabsenteeism for fear of facing a lawsuit due to rights protectedunder the FMLA or the ADA.

The FMLA covers employers that have 50 or more workers. To be eligible for leave, employees must work for the company at least12 months and clock at least 1,250 hours. Covered workers are enti-tled to up to 12 weeks’ unpaid leave for their own or a family mem-ber’s serious health condition; pregnancy and childbirth; or care ofa newborn or adopted child.

Employers are entitled to certification from a health care providerthat an employee suffers from a serious health condition. If you don’tagree with the assessment, the law allows you to ask for a second opin-ion. If that one contradicts the first, you can ask for a third, tie-break-ing assessment. If you follow these rules, you will catch malingerersand liars and protect yourself from an FMLA lawsuit. If in doubt, askyour HR department or legal counsel before taking any action.

The ADA may also impact your ability to discipline workers whoare absent or appear to be abusing sick leave. The law covers work-ers with disabilities and entitles them to reasonable accommoda-tions on the job. Accommodations may include time off or a flexibleschedule. To be a covered disability, the worker must have a condi-tion that substantially limits a major life activity like walking, talk-ing, working or caring for oneself.

Thus, before terminating an employee, review your organiza-tion’s written policy and the laws with your company’s attorney toensure you’re on safe legal ground on this thorny issue.

66

Chapter 10

Counseling About Attitude

Some employees may need counseling even when theirwork is good. Their problem is a matter of attitude,

not ability. For instance, taking orders—no matter how respectfully and politely they are given—can be difficult for some people, who may become surly anduncooperative.

Rather than talk about an employee’s dysfunctional attitude,translate the situation into a behavioral problem. That way, it’s notonly easier to resolve, but also a better way to make a case for dis-missal. If you consider the kinds of performance problems that atti-tudinal issues can cause, you can appreciate why termination maybe your only recourse.

Malicious DisobedienceLet’s use Georgia as an example. She isn’t insubordinate. She hidesher misconduct by practicing “malicious disobedience.” This meansan employee follows a manager’s instructions to the letter, knowingthe consequences will be bad.

Case in point: You asked Georgia to send out warning letters to alist of customers with delinquent accounts. Another employee tellsher there’s been a mix-up with a number of the accounts and arevised list is being assembled. Withholding the information fromyou, Georgia sends notices to the old list. Do we need to tell you thenumber of angry phone calls you can expect? Some accounts areeven endangered.

Georgia did it for some reason that you may or may not be ableto determine. To be sure, placing blame will be difficult. After all,you told Georgia what to do, and you have only the word of the otherassistant to prove Georgia knew better.

Since disciplinary action would be hard to take in this instance,you need to meet with Georgia to try to determine why she behaved


this way. Usually the reason for malicious disobedience stems froma grudge against either you or the company. You need to put your-self in the employee’s place and try to remember anything thatcould have caused such resentment. Was Georgia passed up for a promotion? Is her raise overdue? Does the company maintain arank-conscious attitude toward staff, and she’s at the bottom of thehierarchy?

The goal of counseling here is to discern the reason behind thebehavior. Treating the symptoms will not cure the disease. If youfind the problem lies in your relationship with the employee, you’vewon half the battle, provided you can improve the relationship.

The Passive-AggressiveLet’s look at another attitudinal type: the “passive-aggressive.” Suchemployees deal with anger and frustration by eliciting these feelingsin others, thereby appearing to be the victim of others’ irrationalbehavior. They hear only what they want to hear and purposely forget what you need them to remember. If you ask them to comeinto your office or to complete a task quickly, they will deliberatelytake their time. If you don’t nag them regularly, they won’t get theirwork done.

Passive-aggressives have one of the toughest attitudes to over-come. They seem compliant; their performance may even improvebriefly. But unless you watch them like a hawk, they will revert.

Addressing the ProblemHow should you manage these types? As mentioned, your first stepis to document behavior. Narrow the issue to the precise problem orconcern. Write down the specific verbal and physical behaviors andactions that concern you. Also, check the frequency of such miscon-duct and its impact on workflow and colleagues’ performance.

When you meet with the employee to discuss the situation, try todetermine whether he has a reason for the behavior. If you can’t getto the root of the problem, don’t think you can’t resolve it. Describethe behaviors you won’t tolerate and tell the employee firmly that hemust stop. Follow up with a description of the preferred behavior,such as cooperation, helpfulness and courteousness.


Let’s look at each of these steps more closely:

q Narrow the issue to the specific problem or concern. Identifyexactly what type of behavior the attitude has caused. This list maybe helpful:

• Carelessness• Complaining• Disruptive or explosive conduct• Inattention to work• Insensitivity to others• Insubordination• Laziness• Negative/cynical posture• Surly/inconsiderate/rude talk• Quarrelsome behavior• Excessive socializing

q Write down the specific actions that triggered counseling. Don’tforget to record nonverbal behaviors, such as rolling his eyes, clench-ing his fists and staring into space. See yourself as a movie camera or atape recorder as you report the behavior exactly.

q Record how often the behaviors occur.

q Report the impact on your organization. Make a list of goodbusiness reasons the behavior must end.

q Discuss the situation with the employee. Make sure theemployee understands why the behavior must end. Explain how it’scausing a problem.

q Give the employee the opportunity to speak. The employeemay be unaware of what he’s doing or not realize how he’s impedingother people’s work. It may also turn out that the attitude problemyou’ve identified is a symptom of some more serious problem thatneeds referral to your employee assistance program.

q Tell the employee to stop the behavior. Too often, managersdon’t do this and fail in their counseling efforts.


Guidelines for Dealing With ‘Attitudes’1. Put problem people in perspective. Don’t take their antics personally.

2. Go somewhere to cool off. You can’t concentrate on constructive,creative alternatives while you’re clinging to anger.

3. Learn to respond as well as listen. Be assertive. Don’t expect anemployee to read your mind. Let him know when you’re annoyed,upset or disappointed.

4. Give and request frequent feedback. Don’t stew over what anemployee may be thinking. Ask.

5. Look at policies and procedures first. No matter how angry some-one’s behavior makes you, don’t say or do anything until makingsure you’re on safe ground.

6. Deal directly and discreetly. Choose face-to-face talks in private todiscuss an employee’s attitude or behavior.

7. Always document. Keep a record of all communications to preventlies or faulty recollections from taking over later.

8. Be straightforward. The more you remain matter-of-fact, the lessyou encourage an employee to play games.

9. Be gracious. Someone else’s rudeness, insubordination or otheroffensive behavior doesn’t give you the right to respond in kind.Disarm an offender by treating her with the kindness you’d like to be shown.

10. Be prepared to fail. Some people with attitude problems can’t besaved, no matter how much counseling you provide. Rather thanwaste time on such individuals, it’s better to shorten the deadlineyou give for a turnaround in performance and, with the documenta-tion you need in hand, end the work relationship.

Recommendation: Devote your time instead to coaching the per-son’s replacement to ensure her success on the job.


q Explain the preferred behavior. Again, many managersignore this step.

Actually, some managers make a bigger mistake of not uncover-ing the cause of the problem. They assume they must live with it.Not so. Managers have too much stress already. Every organizationand manager have the right to demand that everyone on the staffbehave in a courteous, cooperative and helpful manner. If theemployee refuses, be clear about the consequences.

Action PlansInsubordinate and passive-aggressive employees may be the twomost infuriating types you have to confront. Insubordination occurswhen an employee willfully disobeys or disregards your instruc-tions. (Abusive language toward you and others may also be consid-ered insubordination.) Passive-aggressives seem to want to respondto your instructions (the passive side), but then they turn on you orotherwise fail to do as you instructed (aggressive).

Both problems have something in common:

• Specific instructions have been given to the employee.

• Evidence suggests that the employee understood the order.

• The employee refuses to obey the order through an explicitstatement or nonperformance.

Your reaction to both behaviors often is also the same: to loseyour temper. With the insubordinate employee, you want to be abu-sive in return. With the passive aggressive, you want to rant andshout.

In both instances, you’d like to terminate the employee immedi-ately. While this is an understandable response, as in all the casesdescribed in this report, you should not fire the employee on thespot. If termination is the best course to take, it will still be appro-priate after you cool off.

In the case of the insubordinate employee, here are some ques-tions to ask yourself:

1. Has the employee been insubordinate before? If not, perhapsyou should issue a one-time warning. If the employee has a his-tory of this kind of behavior, use stricter sanctions.


2. Is the discipline appropriate to the severity of the conduct? Ifthe behavior was serious, like provoking a fight with a co-worker,a warning may not be enough; suspension or even terminationmay be called for. On the other hand, if the employee is pun-ished and the insubordination was really only minor, the disci-pline could backfire and the employee’s attitude and moralecould worsen.

In counseling, determine if the directive was clear to the employ-ee. Was she aware of the objectives and duties expected? Did theemployee directly refuse the order or circumvent it? Was the refusalintentional? What would have constituted reasonable compliance?What about other factors that could have contributed to the situa-tion: for instance, did the employee know about the consequencesof insubordination? Did she have practical or ethical objections tothe order that the company should seriously consider?

As you talk to the employee, determine if he had good reason fornot obeying the order. Remember, the law protects workers who arefired or disciplined for disobeying illegal orders. Was the employee’srefusal to obey based on legal rights? Finally, ask yourself whatimpact the employee’s behavior had on the department. Did it posea safety hazard or affect morale?

A conversation with the employee should clarify what happenedand enable you to develop an action plan, with milestones for fol-low-up, so that you can monitor the worker’s subsequent behavior.A repeat of insubordination can lead to a warning or termination,again depending on the nature of the incident and its conse-quences. Termination would be based on the behavior and itsimpact on your department.

Counseling a passive-aggressive needs to focus on the worker’saggressive behavior: his failure to abide by the work rules and anydecisions made at previous counseling sessions. It’s important withpassive-aggressives not to get trapped into an unending series ofcounseling sessions in which the employee agrees that, yes, there’s aproblem and promises to improve, does improve the tiniest bit andthen falls back into the same behavior. The message has to be espe-cially clear: Any repeat of poor performance and problem behaviorwill prompt termination.

72

Chapter 11

Counseling Rebellious or Hostile Types

When you confront an angry or hostile employee, youwill need to address both the issue and his feelings

to cope with the situation. The angrier an employee, the more important it is for you to acknowledge hisanger first. Show empathy and listen before moving onto the issue.

Problem solving with angry employees often is a waste of timeunless they’re ready to participate calmly in a discussion. While it’sgood to make contact with an angry employee right away, you’llhave to move him into a productive conversation. In this sectionwe’ll show you how.

Defuse at the StartAngry or hostile employees usually indicate their mood beforeopening their mouths. One way to address or pre-empt the attack isto begin defusing the hostility before the worker begins to rant.

For instance, Mary and Peter, two of your employees, have hadrepeated arguments. Mary has met with you and been extremelyapologetic. You suspect that Peter is usually the one who starts thefights. Still, since both are disrupting the workplace, you have tocounsel each one.

Your session with Mary went well. Now you must meet withPeter. As he enters your office, you notice he’s glaring. This will be atough meeting.

To get the conversation started, you might acknowledge his attitude: “Hi, Peter. You look very upset. What’s up?” Your hope isthat this will prompt Peter to open up, freeing him to discuss morecalmly the reasons behind his behavior. At the very least, you hopeyour opening remark will set a more respectful tone for the rest ofthe conversation.


The Need for AssertivenessEarlier in this report, we talked about the need for assertive com-munication. This is one of those times when it’s critical that you notcommunicate passively and certainly not aggressively. If you pushback, you will only deepen Peter’s black mood.

Once you have acknowledged Peter’s obvious anger, you need toreturn to the issue. For instance, you might say, “Peter, I want to sortout what just happened. I want you to sit down and answer a fewquestions.”

Notice that the previous statement is firm, clear and assertive. IfPeter raises his voice or continues to rant about his argument with Mary, you might give him a few minutes to regain control. But if he continues his rage and appears to need more time to cool off,you might say, “I’d like to understand what’s happening between youand Mary. But if you continue to raise your voice and complainabout her, I think it may be better to reschedule this discussion at 4 o’clock.” Try to set the meeting within 24 hours so the issue doesn’t get pushed aside until the next blowup.

Peter may have made some comment that suggested Mary wasmanipulating you to win you over or put you on the defensive. Or,he might have said something derogatory about you. It may havebeen unintentional. Then, again, it may have been deliberate.

If Peter is an aggressive personality, he may enjoy picking fights,choosing the nearest person to insult or bully. Aggressive, abusiveand manipulative people look for victims, then use a variety of confrontation-provoking behaviors. If you have such a person onyour staff, the message you must send is: “What you’re doing isn’tgoing to work with me. I will not be suckered into a stupid argumentor insulted in a way that makes me react the same way.” Remind your-self that you won’t win anything by trying to out-shout the employee.

This is not to suggest that you should never express anger. Theremay be an occasion when showing anger or, better, expressing feel-ings of anger (“I am angry that you would speak this way about acolleague”) can help; it makes the other person realize the serious-ness of his words or behavior. But, generally speaking, if you losecontrol, you lose, period.


What’s Next?Let’s say you discover that Peter is angry with Mary for failing tocomplete work he needs for a mailing. Even if Mary finishes her partof the job, he’ll still have to stay late to have the letters done in timefor the first mail pickup the next day. Since Peter had plans for theevening, he’s upset.

You can address the actual problem by assuring Peter that themailing can go out later the next day and he can leave at 5 p.m. as he planned. You must also speak to Mary about why her part of thejob wasn’t completed on schedule. But you wouldn’t be a good man-ager if you didn’t recognize that Peter’s behavior was way out of line. This means you must also talk to Peter about his emotionaloutburst.

If you’re fortunate, Peter may be able to point to a personal prob-lem that has made him more volatile, a problem that is short-lived

All the Wrong MovesWhat you say and how you say it will determine whether the angryemployee listens and thinks about your words, is indifferent or, worse,becomes more hostile. Here are five mistakes managers make thatcause employees to dig in their heels:

1. Blame someone. Your goal should be to prevent a recurrence of thesituation by figuring out what happened—not who did what towhom.

2. Act all-knowing. Don’t talk as if you have a long, gray beard and areinfallible, offering unsolicited advice.

3. Gloss over what happened. You’ve heard many a management guruwith easy answers. The truth is, this kind of problem isn’t easy tosolve—either for you or the upset, angry employee.

4. Apply “hot words” that escalate the battle, such as “dumb,” “mali-cious,” “stupid,” “scheming,” “outrageous.”

5. Offer sympathy. You keep saying, “I know just how you feel.” Theemployee simply can’t believe that anyone else could have been sowronged or be so mad.


and will disappear on its own. But more likely, Peter’s outburst is areflection of his personality. Consequently, you may want to suggestthat he seek help to control his temper.

Most companies have written policies that call for suspension foroutbursts and termination in the event of threats. It’s important toremind Peter about such rules. Should he get into an argument with a co-worker, he may have to be put on warning and suspendedfor a week. A third incident would lead to termination. Aggressivebehavior—pushing, fighting or threats—will demand immediatetermination.

The AftermathPeter and others with a tendency toward anger and hostile behavioraren’t likely to take this news very well. You can expect them to leaveyour meeting muttering about how unfairly you treated them. Butit’s critical that they understand how their behavior landed them inthis position.

Those who seek help are less likely to repeat the offense thanthose who consider themselves blameless. Whatever the employee’sview of what happened, you need to be on guard for a repetition. Doyou notice any changes in Peter’s behavior? If you hear him shout-ing, nip it in the bud. Be wary of simple answers or explanations.Document behavior you observe. Be specific.

If this is a second incident and company policy calls for suspen-sion, you have no choice. You may require that the employee seekassistance from the EAP. Further, you should include at least two orthree follow-up meetings to check on progress.

Suspension, with or without pay, may prompt the employee torecognize the seriousness of his problem and seek ways to handle itconstructively. If he returns but refuses to seek help or undergoescounseling but then is involved in a third incident, you’ll have to firehim for violation of company rules.

All this may seem unduly harsh, but recognize that the feelingsexpressed represent only a small percentage of the destructive angerthe employee is experiencing; more anger could surface covertlythrough back-stabbing, lack of cooperation and even organization-al sabotage.


Dealing With Angry BehaviorIf you must confront an angry employee, follow these steps:

1. Deal with it immediately. By making time to discuss the situation,you’re showing your concern: that you value the employee and hisfeelings.

2. Find a quiet place to talk. Some people won’t air their feelings in apublic place. However, if the anger flares at a staff meeting, you cancontribute to a positive work environment by dealing with theremarks there and then. Ask the employee if she would like to dis-cuss the issue now or prefer to talk about it privately. Leave it up tothe individual.

3. Always allow employees to talk. Don’t interrupt unless they’re uncivil or threatening. If they hesitate to talk, encourage them byspeaking in a concerned, nondefensive manner: “You seem a bitupset. I’d like to help even if you’re angry with me. What’s up?”

4. Respond to the employee’s feelings first, not to the issue underlyingthe anger. You won’t be able to discuss the problem until you show awillingness to hear the person out.

5. Don’t rush to give “your side” or your perception of the situation. Besure the person has his say. Use active listening. “Peter, if I under-stand you correctly, you’re angry because you feel that I’m sidingwith Mary on this situation?”

6. Even if you don’t agree on how you perceive the situation, you canagree about something. For instance, “Peter, I think we agree thatwe don’t want this issue to continue to interfere with our work. Isthat true?”

7. At the conclusion of your meeting, gauge how the employee is feel-ing at that point. Ask the employee if she’s satisfied with the resolu-tion: “Do you feel a bit better?” If the employee still appears upset orangry, you may want to let it pass, but follow up in a day or two.Most people don’t want to lose face by letting the anger go immedi-ately. They may just need time to think about your discussion.


Remember, too, that your staff members will watch how youhandle this volatile individual. Even if you have a private meeting,your workers will know about it. Your ability to supervise them willdepend on the way you address this problem. They don’t want theirpeer’s behavior to go unchecked, but they also don’t want to see himhumiliated. If you handle the situation promptly and effectively,you’ll gain their respect and strengthen your team.

Security IssuesTermination is emotional, regardless of the reason. Losing a job isone of the most psychologically stressful events for anyone. But it’smore likely that an employee being terminated for angry or violentbehavior will exhibit similar behavior when being fired than some-one who is terminated for mediocre performance or excessive tardiness.

If you expect the employee to react irrationally at the termina-tion meeting, have the HR manager present or even a security guard,depending on the individual’s previous behavior.

If threats are made against you or the company, you should alertyour security office to keep the employee away from the workplace.If the employee wants to pick up personal items from his desk orlocker, you may want a security officer to accompany him (or if youdon’t have security staff, accompany the employee yourself ).

Remember: A large proportion of the employee’s anger has notbeen expressed and can represent a danger to you, his co-workersand others in the organization. If your company does not employsecurity staff, it may want to consider hiring a security officer on ashort-term basis or making special arrangements with your buildingsecurity to head off any confrontations with the employee later.

78

Chapter 12

Counseling Substance Abusers

Substance abuse continues to be a serious threat toAmerican business. Identifying and removing employ-

ees under the influence of drugs or alcohol is a manager’smajor responsibility. You must prevent accidents and thespread of substance abuse throughout your office or plantwhile, at the same time, steer clear of legal problems.

Red FlagsWorking closely with employees, a manager may suspect that one ofthem is abusing drugs or alcohol long before the problem comes tothe surface. When it does, the symptoms of active use are hard to miss.

Signs of alcohol abuse include: a red, mottled face; clothes dirty orin disarray; slurred speech; hostile behavior and loss of focus.Alcoholics also are often absent throughout the week—not justMondays or Fridays (probably because the alcoholic is trying not todraw attention to the condition).

What about drug addiction? A chronic runny nose and nose-bleeds, excessive visits to the restroom resulting in a change inmood, talkativeness or incoherent speech, and signs of paranoia areall symptoms of drug abuse.

With either drugs or alcohol, there’s nothing you can do aboutaddiction if it doesn’t affect someone’s work. The issue requires yourattention only when you have tangible evidence of inferior per-formance or violations of company rules. Even then, you can’t diag-nose an employee as having a substance abuse problem.

On the job, an employee may show these indicators of activealcohol or drug use: inattention or forgetfulness, erratic work quali-ty and production, mood shifts, tardiness or absenteeism, suddensecretiveness or legal problems that require time off. Still, you’rebetter off not accusing the employee of addiction. Any number of


personal problems—from marital difficulties to a child’s illness orclinical depression—can cause similar symptoms. And accusing theindividual of substance abuse could lead to legal action against you.

Then, too, substance abuse may also be a consequence of a per-sonal problem, such as an impending divorce, financial worries or adying parent.

Rather than deal with the cause of the problem, you should con-centrate on productivity and the employee’s behavior. You mustconfront the employee about any decline in performance. Not doingso would perpetuate the problem and allow the person to indulgeher addiction without consequences.

The Supervisor’s Guilt TripFailure to act can also affect your emotions. Substance abusers canbe manipulative and convincing in getting others to cover for them.Supervisors go through four phases as they work to deal with alco-holic or addicted employees.

In the first phase the employee’s job performance declines inter-mittently. Although behavior deviates from the routine, the disrup-tions are too infrequent to indicate any real problem. In the secondphase, the deviations in behavior increase, but the employee is stillviewed as normal by the supervisor, who blocks remembrances ofpast episodes.

In the third phase, the problem worsens and the manager vacil-lates between identifying the individual as having a substanceabuse problem and considering the behavior acceptable. Finally, inthe fourth phase, the manager can no longer ignore the employee’sproblem. The time for termination or referral to a treatment facilityhas arrived.

The time it takes to reach the fourth phase can be drawn out. Aswe’ve said, alcoholic employees have an uncanny knack for manip-ulating their managers. In many cases, they sense the boss’s wrathand try to block any supervisory action. A favorite ploy is thewhipped-child syndrome, characterized by a hangdog look with “Ican’t do anything right” comments. Almost invariably, these behav-iors tug at your heartstrings, and you find yourself comforting andsupporting the alcoholic rather than confronting the situation.


What Should You Do? When it comes to dealing with a substance abuser, you need to fol-low basically the same game plan as you would for any employeewith poor productivity or work quality.

q Document problems in performance. Absenteeism, tardi-ness and personal conflicts should be noted in the employee’s criti-cal incident file. Indicate dates and times, the nature of the problemand any corroborative observations.

q Confront the employee. Meet with the employee to advisehim that his work performance is unsatisfactory and that he mustimprove or face disciplinary action. Keep in mind that you’re not aprofessional substance abuse counselor or other expert in helpingemployees with personal problems. No matter how you feel aboutthe nature of the problem—be it substance abuse or domestic vio-lence—the only reason you’re confronting an employee is that hisperformance has deteriorated. Focus on job-related facts.

It’s critical during counseling to specify the disciplinary actionsyou will take if the employee’s performance doesn’t improve. Be spe-cific. Let him know exactly what evidence you will require as proofthat he’s correcting the problem. Communicate your willingness tohelp if the employee cooperates.

q Refer the employee to a professional. If your firm doesn’thave an EAP, you can suggest that the employee seek outside help.Don’t get involved in diagnosing the employee’s problem or evaluat-ing treatment options.

q Follow up. Continue to meet with the employee to discuss hisperformance. If there’s no improvement, begin disciplinary actionas you would for any other performance problem.

Case in Point: Joe’s DrinkingJoe is an alcoholic and now his drinking is affecting his work. In thepast, when managers told him that he had a problem, he avoidedthe issue by attributing his excessive drinking to marital difficultiesand pressing expenses.

With one manager, Joe swore that he was under a physician’s carefor alcoholism and was in counseling. He even claimed that his doc-


tor found he had cut down to well within the limits of normal socialdrinking. But Joe’s addiction now has grown to the point where hehas bottles hidden in his office and drinks several times during theworkday.

Joe works in sales, reporting to Constance, a top-notch sales exec-utive. Until recently, Joe’s performance had been average to good. Butas his need for alcohol increased, his job performance declined. Thenone day, when Constance went to Joe’s cubicle to set up a meeting todiscuss the problem, she saw him pour whiskey into a soda bottle onhis desk.

Constance had long suspected Joe’s drinking problem—she hadnoticed his blurry eyes and disorientation early in the morning—but she had no cause to complain about his work performance untilrecently. Now she thought she knew why his phone calls to prospec-tive customers had dropped and his sales were down.

So she asked Joe to meet her in one of the firm’s conferencerooms to talk about it. After pointing to the drastic change in hisperformance and frequent absences, Constance told him that itcould not continue. When Joe tried to blame it on the economy,Constance observed how his colleagues hadn’t experienced such adeep sales slump.

Joe admitted that his work had declined and promised to “dobetter,” but Constance realized that wasn’t enough: She needed acommitment from him to improve substantially. Further, she had tomention that she had seen him drinking in the office. She said, “As Icame over to your desk, I saw you pour some whiskey into a sodabottle. I think what I’m seeing in your performance indicates a seri-ous problem.”

Joe tried to laugh it off, claiming that he and some pals wereplanning a joke on a friend during dinner, but Constance wasn’tbuying it. “Several things have made me wonder,” she said. “I’veseen you drink pretty heavily at the functions we’ve attendedtogether. Some others in the office have even commented on it. Andwith the other problems we’ve discussed and what I saw in yourcubicle, that seems a plausible explanation.”

Joe denied that he had a problem. Constance didn’t argue. “I’mnot an expert in these things, but I owe it to you to point out what Isee and what the pieces of this puzzle look like to me,” she said.


Then she went on to tell Joe that the company had a treatment pro-gram for alcohol abuse.

But Joe refused to look into the program. Constance accepted hisrefusal but added, “If you don’t do something to turn the situationaround, you’re not going to have a job here. The reason I’m talkingto you about this is I’m concerned about you. To the extent thatdrinking is part of the problem, this program could go a long waytoward helping you salvage your job.”

Joe tried to make a deal with her: If he entered the program, shewouldn’t fire him.

Constance rejected the manipulation: “I’m saying you have to getyour attendance under control, meet deadlines and bring your sales

Counseling Do’s and Don’ts • Don’t apologize for confronting the troubled employee. Your respon-

sibility is to maintain acceptable performance for all your workers.

• Encourage employees to explain why their work, behavior or atten-dance has deteriorated. This can provide an opportunity to ask theemployee about the use of drugs or alcohol.

• Don’t discuss the person’s right to drink or take illegal drugs. It’sbest not to make a moral issue of it or get into a legal debate.

• When it comes to alcohol, don’t suggest that the employee use mod-eration or change his drinking habits. Alcoholics cannot voluntarilycontrol their drinking.

• Don’t be distracted by an individual’s excuses for drinking. The prob-lem as far as you’re concerned is how the addiction is affecting work.

• Remember that addiction is a disease and, as such, its victimsshould be given the opportunity for treatment and rehabilitation.

• Emphasize that while you care about the employee, your major con-cern as a manager is her work performance. State clearly that ifthere’s no improvement, whatever the reason for the poor perform-ance, you will take action, such as suspension or discharge.

• Make clear that the decision to enter rehabilitation is the employ-ee’s choice.


up to normal performance standards. If participating in this pro-gram would help you do these things, I think you should seriouslyconsider it.”

Then Joe became upset. He asked, “Will you help me figure outhow to keep my job?”

She replied, “That’s exactly why I’m here with you—to find waysto help you improve your performance and keep your job. But youhave to understand that just completing the program isn’t enough.You’ve got to shape up your performance, too. It will be hard and Ican’t do it for you.”

Constance then set follow-up meetings with Joe to discuss hisefforts to improve, track his output and confirm that he had metwith the EAP coordinator.

Substance Abuse and the LawSeveral employment laws affect how you may counsel substanceabusers. So, besides the human resources department and your ownsupervisor, you may want to consult your firm’s legal counsel.

When Congress drafted the Americans with Disabilities Act, itrecognized that some disabilities, by their nature, pose special risks.Drug and alcohol addiction are two such disabilities. The ADArequires employers to walk a fine line between enforcing reasonableworkplace safety and behavioral rules and making accommodationsfor substance abusers.

As a general rule, employers are allowed to enforce reasonableworkplace rules against coming to work under the influence andagainst disruptive behavior, even if that behavior may be associatedwith drugs or alcohol. That is, employers can punish inappropriatebehavior and require that employees show up clean and sober.

The waters get murkier, however, when workers addicted todrugs or alcohol want to clean up their act. In some circumstances,you may be required to accommodate their attempts. In addition,they may be eligible for leave under the Family and Medical LeaveAct. Under the ADA, what the employee is addicted to makes a dif-ference in how much leeway you must provide.

The ADA does not protect current users of illegal (“street”) drugs.It does, however, protect those who have shaken their addiction sufficiently to no longer be classified as active illegal drug users.


Former users should be offered reasonable accommodations tokeep them on track: for example, time off for therapy, counselingand attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings or even inpatientcare for related psychiatric problems like depression.

You can fire people who are current drug users even if their workisn’t suffering. Just be sure that the drug use in question is really“current.” The EEOC says, “Current drug use means that the illegaluse of drugs occurred recently enough to justify an employer’s rea-sonable belief that involvement with drugs is an ongoing problem.It is not limited to the day of use, or recent weeks or days, in termsof an employment action. It is determined on a case-by-case basis.”

So how long does it have to have been since the worker tookdrugs before the ADA covers him? What if your drug tests take threeweeks to come back from the lab? Can he argue that any action youtake against him three weeks later violates the ADA because he’snow a “former” drug user? The answer is unclear. Your best bet is tomake sure that any action you take against him is based on his vio-lation of a workplace rule, not just the fact that he had a positivedrug test.

The ADA covers workers who are alcoholics even if they current-ly drink. To be protected by the law, the alcoholic’s addiction mustbe severe enough to substantially impair a major life function, suchas taking care of himself. Many heavy drinkers may meet that test.That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to tolerate alcoholicscoming to work drunk. Courts have consistently held that employ-ers have the right to establish reasonable work rules and that thoserules can include being clean and sober.

How you treat a former drug user is more problematic. Someappeals courts have taken the position that you can’t have a blanketpolicy in place by which you refuse to hire anyone who has a his-tory of drug abuse.

In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whethera former addict was entitled to a second chance: an opportunity tobe rehired. The man worked for a missile systems company for about30 years, first as a janitor and then as a technician. In 1991 he flunkeda drug test because he had used cocaine the night before. When con-fronted, he agreed to resign for violating company rules rather than


being fired. He then received treatment. Three years later, he wasclean and applied for a job with the company again. It refused torehire him ostensibly because it had a policy against rehiring anyonewho’d been fired or resigned for violating company rules.

The former employee sued, alleging that under the ADA he wasentitled to preferential treatment. An appeals court agreed with himand concluded that workers who’ve recovered from addiction can’tbe excluded from rehiring if the workplace rule they violated hadbeen directly linked to their disability: in this case, coming to workunder the influence.

The Supreme Court concluded that the company had shown it wasapplying a neutral policy, and that it was now up to the worker toprove that the company’s reason was untrue. It sent the case back to the appeals court, which will have to decide whether the employ-er really had neutrally applied the policy or whether it was using the policy as an excuse to cover up discrimination against formeraddicts.

Employers and managers can do the following to protect againstlawsuits by former addicts:

• Establish job-related rules against coming to work under theinfluence of drugs or alcohol.

• Set appropriate behavioral rules such as demanding punctual-ity and regular attendance, allowing for appropriate FMLAabsences.

• Apply the rules consistently to all workers. That is, if you firesomeone who comes to work high, you should also terminatethose who come to work drunk. In both cases, you’re punish-ing behavior (intoxication), not a disability (alcoholism oraddiction).

• Keep records of whom you discipline and why. Review how you discipline workers who violate the rules with an eye towardidentifying patterns. For example, see if you’ve disciplined thosewho come to work late because of an addiction more harshlythan those who show up late for other reasons, such as “traffic”or “car trouble.” Remember, a neutral rule created for a validbusiness purpose, applied evenhandedly, will stand up in court.


Recreational drug use and binge drinkingNot everyone who uses drugs (legal or illegal) or drinks alcohol isdisabled. Remember, to be a disability, a condition must substan-tially limit a major life activity. A worker who sometimes smokesmarijuana or a social drinker who sometimes is hung over onMonday is probably not disabled. Neither one is covered by the ADAor needs to be accommodated.

In fact, you should enforce all workplace rules with these work-ers. The reason is simple: If you go easy on casual drinkers or jointsmokers when you catch them and then land heavily on the trueaddict, you may create an ADA case. You would, in effect, be apply-ing your neutral policy (“Don’t come to work under the influence”)to the disadvantage of the disabled addict. Define the crime, andthen make sure everyone who breaks the rules does the time.

PART III: CREATING A POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

89

Chapter 13

Coaching Your Team

You may be able to avoid altogether the need to counselemployees. From the day you meet job candidates,

you can manage people and the culture of your work-place so that remediation is rarely required.

In this chapter, we’ll explain a very specific skill you need: coach-ing. While coaching is part of counseling, it’s also a way to avoid theneed for counseling. Through coaching you can:

• Help employees work smarter.• Build loyalty. • Maximize productivity.

Making Good HiresThink of a football coach, whose job includes selecting the team.That’s very similar to your role. To build the best unit you can, youwant to hire talented people. The better the players on your team,the less need you’ll have for “saving” them or having to fire them.

After all, one cause of poor job performance is that the personturns out to be a misfit on your staff. He’s under- or overqualified,has a work style different from your unit or is used to another man-agement style.

That’s why it’s so important to find out as much as possible aboutcandidates before you fill a position. You want to know their job his-tory, including any troubles they encountered, and how they feltabout their previous boss and work environment.

Ask them to describe the best boss they ever had. That will giveyou insight on how they feel about authority in general and man-agement styles in particular. Sometimes, these latter issues are moreimportant than the skills someone brings to the job.

You can always train an employee, but it’s almost impossible tochange her work style and attitude.


Let’s assume you run a very team-oriented group and are a teamplayer yourself. You don’t want to hire a hotshot or prima donna. Or,by contrast, maybe you and your company are more individualistic.Someone used to working in a team environment is going to feelabandoned among all you solo players. By the questions you ask,you can determine if the candidate would fit in.

To help you decide whether you have a prospective match or amismatch, describe some of the work involved in the job openingand ask the applicant how he would do it. Discuss a task the previ-ous jobholder performed, and then ask the applicant how he mighthave handled the assignment. If you’re still not sure about an appli-cant, describe your unit’s culture and your personal style. Then askthe applicant outright how he would feel working there.

In addition, you want to get some sense of how motivated theapplicant is. Often you can determine this by asking questionsabout previous jobs:

4 What aspects of your previous jobs gave you the most trouble?

4 What are some disappointments you had in your last job?

4 In what areas did you need help or guidance from your supervisor?

4 For what tasks did your managers compliment you? Criticize you?

4 What did you like most about your past jobs? How about thethings you disliked?

Day 1 on the JobOnce you’ve hired an employee, don’t think you’re finished. Now’sthe time to familiarize your new hire with your unit’s climate andmission. And don’t forget any skill deficiencies identified duringyour interview with her.

Spend the first hour or so discussing her responsibilities: Reviewthe job description, talk about your expectations, discuss thedepartment’s role and identify training needs to help ensure that theemployee will succeed.

Next, introduce your new hire to her co-workers. Get her startedon some work. Don’t leave her on her own with nothing to do. Assign


an experienced staff member as a buddy to answer any questionsabout procedures.

At the end of the day, check back with the employee to see howthings went. Answer any questions, and assure her that you’ll beavailable whenever she needs to speak with you. This is a promiseyou must keep. Indeed, over the next few days, you should drop byto see how she’s getting along. As the employee becomes morefamiliar with the work, you can cut back on these casual visits.However, this doesn’t mean you should ease up on monitoring yournew team member’s progress. Ideally, set up a system whereby youmeet with every one of your employees once a month to discusstheir work and any problems they may be encountering.

How Do You Rate as a Coach?Are you coaching well? To find out, answer these questions:

1. Am I keeping my staff members informed on how well I think they’re doing?

2. Do I offer frequent insights so employees can make the best decisions?

3. Do I communicate clearly?

4. Do I convey my trust and confidence in my employees?

5. Are staff members straight on our priorities?

6. Are both department goals and the organization’s mission clear tothe staff? If they see conflicts, have I taken the time to resolve themexpeditiously?

7. When I meet with staff members, do I ask their opinions on how wecan improve operations, as well as what I might do to help themaccomplish their tasks?

8. Do I seek out information from them about obstacles they’reencountering and how I might unblock their path?

9. Do I give my staff my full attention when we talk one-on-one?

10. Do I keep a record of my coaching sessions?


Ongoing CoachingChoose one day every month to meet with each of your employeesand ask, “How are you doing?” Try to elicit information withoutmaking them feel as if you’re interrogating them. You want to knowwhat obstacles may be preventing them from doing an even betterjob than they are now and how you can help. Or, you might say, “Isthere anything we need to talk about?”

When you observe your staff at work, you may also see situationsthat suggest problems in the making, or performance issues thatcould escalate into trouble and demand counseling. These are theweak signals you want to pick up on before they grow loud. If dead-lines are slipping, ask Joan why. If Tom’s sales are down, find outwhy. Is Tom having a tough time with your competitors? Could moretraining or even a new product line help him boost his sales?

Develop the knack of asking questions. That will help you uncov-er problems that may not otherwise come to light, identify a skilldeficiency or—in a positive light—discover an employee’s interest oraspiration. Encouraging an employee to reveal his career goals, bythe way, allows you to redesign the job and stimulate above-standard performance.

Critical to this coaching process is listening intently to what theemployee is saying. A good coach practices “active listening,” payingattention not only to the words but also to nonverbal signals likeposture and moments of silence. Nonverbal signals often say moreabout how an individual feels than the spoken word.

When Coaching Comes in HandyBesides during one-on-one meetings, also consider coaching when anemployee:

• Asks for advice, assistance or support.• Is taking on a new task or responsibility.• Appears frustrated or confused.• Seems stuck.• Is performing inconsistently.• Expresses a desire to improve or advance professionally.


The most important element in coaching is to keep the lines ofcommunication open. One of the best ways to do that is by practic-ing MBWA: that is, managing by walking around. Jot down casualcomments or observations you can discuss during your meetingswith staff members.

Also, avoid these common pitfalls associated with coaching:

q Don’t coach only when there’s a problem. If you coach only tocorrect poor performance, you’re wasting a valuable managementtechnique. That’s because your employees will consider the meet-ings as always negative. They should regard such sessions with youas a time for growth, not punishment.

q Don’t lecture. Coaching is a two-way street. Telling or directingan employee how to behave in a certain situation is not coaching. It’salso not guaranteed to work: The employee may not see the need tochange or know how to go about it. Coaching means working withemployees to help them develop their skills.

q Don’t talk generalities. Be specific. Offer examples, docu-mented incidents and even corporate stories to make your point.

q Don’t assume your employees know what you expect, how toperform competently, when they have done a good job and, mostimportantly, when a problem is developing.

Feedback SessionsBesides using your one-on-one sessions to address problems early,you also want to compliment your people on a job well done; thatwill reinforce such behavior and increase the odds they’ll continueto perform well. If you think an employee is capable of doing better,use this occasion to offer suggestions for improvement.

After each coaching session, record the main information: deci-sions you’ve made, training needs and plans, answers to routinequestions, scheduling issues, or insights and ideas shared.

Documenting these sessions is as important as keeping recordson counseling interviews, follow-up discussions and even termina-tion meetings. In this instance, however, a memo to yourself may besufficient. Otherwise, share the memo with the employee if youthink the information might be critical to her growth.


Your monthly meetings should not be the only time you offeryour employees feedback. Give them constructive feedback when-ever needed.

A Coach’s SolutionsOne of the signal characteristics of a brilliant manager is anticipa-tion. You have to anticipate problems to avoid them. Here are someproblems that coaches encounter, along with solutions:

Failing to prepare new hiresAlthough a manager may be well aware of an applicant’s shortcom-ings during the job interview, by the time the new hire arrives, themanager’s first thought is to put the person to work.

Solution: Make sure a useful training program is in place, andidentify areas where the new hire needs more training.

Making promises you can’t keepWhen coaching, there’s the danger of tying a request for better per-formance to the promise of a promotion, a big raise or a higher jobgrade. The fact is, the promise can’t be guaranteed. A broken promisecan undo the positive work relationship that coaching sessions create.

Solution: Say, “I can’t promise that a promotion will come of this,but I will do my best to make it happen.”

Managing with a heavy handIf you’re known for being an autocrat rather than a leader who’s “firstamong equals,” employees will initially laugh at your efforts atcoaching them.

Solution: You’ll have to work to gain their trust. Coachingrequires open and honest communication, respect between the par-ties and recognition of outstanding performance when you see it.

Undermining employees’ self-esteemSome managers forget that one purpose of coaching is to demon-strate that they believe employees are capable of meeting theirexpectations. How do you demonstrate your faith in an employee’scapability?


Solution: To begin with, watch your language. Avoid “never” or“always” if it suggests that the employee “never” does such and suchcorrectly or “always” messes up.

Tip: Critique competitors’ work so you can show your ownemployees how to do better without maligning their efforts.

Failing to follow throughSome managers fail to follow through on their stated intentions. Notkeeping their word will only alienate their staff.

Solution: If you promise to arrange for training, intervene withanother manager, remove roadblocks or what have you, followthrough as soon as possible. Demonstrate that your word counts.

Placing blame Some managers blame employees for 100 percent of a problem.They refuse to consider that they themselves may be contributing toit or that some procedure or a staffing issue may be the culprit.

Solution: Be open-minded. Hear out the employee, then investi-gate and identify any other factors that may be causing the situa-tion. A willingness to trust helps build rapport and stimulates betterperformance from the employee.

96

Chapter 14

Go the Extra Mile

As a manager, you can create a positive work environ-ment in which employees are highly motivated to

meet and exceed performance standards. In this sectionwe provide some guidelines to help you achieve thatimportant goal.

q Foster communication with your staff. Actively solicit feed-back about your own communication as well as exchanges withinthe organization. Ask your staff members questions like these:

• “When we talk, are you clear about what I’m saying?”• “Do you think we communicate well around here?”• “Any ideas about how we could communicate better?”

A suitable time and place to ask such questions is during coach-ing or performance assessments.

q Decide as a team how you should communicate. Settle onhow disagreements should be handled, how vertical communica-tion should work (manager to staff member and vice versa), howhorizontal communication should operate (between staff mem-bers) and what information should be available and when. Onceyou agree on these procedures, support their practice through pos-itive reinforcement and coaching.

q Find ways to practice direct communication. Indirect com-munication (information transferred from person to person until itfunnels to the person in need) is notorious for causing problems.You need to identify ways for messages to go directly from sender toreceiver (for instance, by using the intranet and software programslike Quick Place). Emphasize to your staff that they need to commu-nicate directly with one another—or face the consequences fromtheir supervisor.

q Use “active” listening. It’s important for you to listen actively,but you also must teach members of your staff how to practice it,


too. That means paying attention not only to the words but also tononverbal signals like body language and moments of silence.

q Acknowledge effort. Sometimes managers forget to praiseemployees in the day-to-day rush. Even if an employee makes animpractical suggestion, you should acknowledge the effort whilegently pointing out its shortcomings. Look for small victories andtalk about them.

q Show confidence in your staff. By giving your employees theopportunity to make decisions and implement them on their own,you’re saying, “I have confidence in you and in your ability to makethe right choices.”

q Instill a feeling of achievement. Providing a sense of accom-plishment for an employee is critical because it can be the first stepin a series of successes leading to the habit of winning. This doesn’tmean that you walk away from employees and let them sink orswim. You support achievement by asking questions, helping defineoptions and clarifying issues. The questions you ask should bethought provoking. You want to lead employees into thinking thingsthrough and ultimately finding workable solutions.

q Never procrastinate about a performance problem. If youdon’t discuss a situation as soon as it arises, your staff member won’tknow a problem exists.

q Find out what motivates employees and provide it. Whiletickets to a ballgame, a day off or a bonus can motivate some of youremployees, others may prefer a chance to stretch professionally.Make it happen.

q Empower your staff. Giving your people the discretion tomake decisions can significantly boost their productivity. It doesn’tcost a cent and demonstrates that you trust them.

Make Jobs More InterestingYou can give employees more reason to enjoy their jobs by tweakingthe work itself. Here are three ways to do it:

1. Job rotation. Moving an employee through a variety of posi-tions is a good approach for someone who’s been on a job for a long


time, finds it no longer challenging or has a strong desire for growth,activity or change.

2. Job enlargement. By expanding an employee’s duties, youwiden the scope of a job that has become boring.

3. Job enrichment. Make the work more satisfying by giving theemployee greater autonomy, input into decision-making, moreinteresting projects, whole rather than fragmented assignments andinsight into how the organization functions.

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