The Workplace Coach

If you manage a team there is going to come a time when you need to have a conversation with one of your employees about their performance, or conduct, or both. How you handle that conversation is going to have a few important and lasting effects.

It will definitely determine the relationship you have with that person going forward, and it will likely also shape your reputation with the team. The person you are dealing with has relationships with others in the team, and like it or not they are going to share how you made them feel during the conversation. That can be a positive story or a negative one, and it’s totally up to you which way they go.

In prepping for the conversation, think first about about what is your objective? Are you positive there is a legitimate performance or conduct concern? Be sure you have your evidence to support any statement you might make. Remember there are always two sides (some would argue three) to every story, so leave room for an alternate explanation.

I’m always going to recommend that you check your organisational policies and procedures before doing anything. It also wouldn’t hurt to touch base with your HR Business Partner just to get some advice. Usually, unless the issue is so serious that it might warrant summary dismissal (and you want to be on absolutely solid ground before you go there), your objective should always be to resolve the issue with the lowest possible level of fuss and bother.

Ideally, it would just be you and your employee in the room and the chat would be as informal as possible. Best case scenario would be for you to bring up any concerns you have during your regular one on one catch ups. That way its just BAU each week for you talk about what they are doing well, and where you’d like to see some improvement. There’s no need for support people, witnesses, union reps or anyone else to be in the room. This is about doing whatever you can to not make it weird and awkward for either of you.

Note: If the informal process does not yield the intended results, and you end up having to go formal, then you will want to document everything, be sure you invite the employee to bring a support person, and you need to follow your company procedures explicitly.

I’ve been working recently with a client lately who unfortunately made a rookie error and forgot the golden rule of “resolve the issue at the lowest possible level”. For whatever reason, they decided that the best way to deal with something fairly minor was to take a very formal run at it, when the informal approach would have likely yielded far better, quicker and longer lasting results.

“Every interaction is an opportunity to build the relationship… or damage it.”

The employee got summoned to a performance discussion with their manager, and their manager one removed. They were told they could bring a support person. They weren’t given any details as to what they would be discussing other than the boss (and the bigger boss) had some concerns and some client feedback that they wanted to discuss.

How do you think the employee reacted to getting that email?

I feel like any time you tell an employee that they can bring a support person, what the employee hears is “This discussion is not going to go well for you, so you should probably bring a support person.” This a huge warning bell for the employee, like the appearance of a sabre tooth tiger in the mouth of the cave, it will immediately put them into fight or flight mode. Probably not the best way to start a discussion in which you hope to address your concerns, but also to keep the employee engaged and committed to the team, your company and your leadership.

Unfortunately the client didn’t prepare properly or listen to advice and it went badly for everyone in the room. There was yelling, there were accusations and denials, there were demands for evidence and clarification that couldn’t be met, there was uncertainty about next steps. All in all a pretty embarrassing episode for everyone, but more so for the manager, and the manager’s manager.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out. In the meantime if you need some help managing people issues in your team then drop us a line at info@theworkplacecoach.com.au