Dealing with a Neighbor s Dog, Teenagers, or Employees: Tips for Effective Performance Coaching

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1 Dealing with a Neighbor s Dog, Teenagers, or Employees: Tips for Effective Performance Coaching Jim Brooks Human Resource Manager Central Utah Water Conservancy District

2 My Neighbors Dog and My Teenager Digs up my yard Gets into my garbage can Messes in my yard and my teenager won t clean it up Barks all night and keeps me awake. Messes up the house Doesn t take the garbage out Doesn t clean up after himself Stays up late and keeps me awake

3 What will be the goals of my conversation with my neighbor and my teenager? Correct the problem Maintain a good relationship These are the same goals you have as managers when coaching performance!

4 What is Performance Coaching? Coaching is a Serious and Planned Discussion between a Manager and Employee about the need to Correct a Problem and Improve Performance

5 Performance Coaching is NOT A casual conversation A memo or to the employee A spur of the moment, pull the employee into the office discussion A monologue A formal disciplinary transaction

6 The Coaching Process Refer to chart in text book

7 So, What s the Problem? Attendance Performance (Quality, Quantity, Cost, Time) Conduct (Violation of Rules/Policies)

8 Exercise: Deciding What the Problem Is Smokes in Lab Sleeps during graveyard shift Submits reports late Habitually tardy Discourteous to customers Speeding in company vehicle Theft of company property Takes long breaks Failure to wear personal protective equipment Forgets to monitor instrumentation readings Has a bad attitude A=Attendance P=Performance C=Conduct

9 Dealing with a Bad Attitude Focus on objective facts Focus on specific behaviors There are only three ways to make a basic, fundamental, sustained change in someone s attitude deep psychotherapy, deep religious conversion, and brain surgery. Ain t none of us qualified. Live with what the person is, change what the person does. (Harold Hook, CEO of AIG)

10 Case Scenario You have an employee who gossips and frequently stirs the pot among other employees. You sense his impact has a demoralizing affect on the workplace. Several employees have complained to you about being around this individual because of his poor attitude towards work, employees, and especially management. He is often critical of the management team and the direction the company takes. He complains to anyone who will listen. Because of the number of employees who have come to you about this chronic complainer, you feel it s time to do something about it. What will you do to prepare for your discussion with him?

11 Determine Actual vs. Expected Performance (What Do I Get vs. What Do I Want) Is expected performance snapshotspecific? The test for determining whether your performance expectation is not a generalization but rather a specific observable behavior is to consider whether you can take a snapshot of it. If you can it s specific. If you can t, it s not. You can t take a snapshot of a good or poor attitude.

12 Examples of Snapshot Specific Performance Write a couple of snapshot-specific performance behaviors for one of your employees or for your own job.

13 Determine the Good Business Reasons for Solving the Problem Case Scenario: Tardy Marty Smokin Sammy When you meet with Marty or Sam in a formal coaching session, what good business reasons will you provide to her as to why it s important she be to work on time?

14 Determine the Logical Consequences In dealing with Tardy Marty, Sammy or Arnie determine a list of appropriate consequences (action steps) you might consider if she continues to have punctuality problems: Increase supervision or co-supervision Withhold future pay increase as a result of unsatisfactory attendance Move to formal disciplinary transaction (oral or written reminder)

15 Conducting the Coaching Session Where: When: Who: Privacy of the manager's office or conference room (hold phone calls and visits) As soon as possible after the problem. Manager and the employee How Long: Brief (5-10 minutes)

16 Coaching Session Cont Confirm that the planned action is appropriate Why should a manager do this? (Contrary evidence)

17 Case Scenario Tardy Marty Cont. Prior to meeting with Marty, you ve completed the necessary steps in your pre-coaching preparation. You come prepared to lay out your expectations regarding attendance compared to what you re getting, the good business reasons why she should be on time, and the logical consequences if her late behavior continues. As you meet with her and talk about her past tardiness she says: I know I ve had trouble getting to work on time boss. It s just that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I have to take my kids to a day care center. You see, my husband and I recently separated and I just can t get here until 8:15 on those days. I m hoping it s a temporary situation. I didn t want to tell you about my recent separation for fear of embarrassment and not wanting it to get around the office. What do you do now???

18 Coaching Session Cont. Gain the employee s agreement to change behavior. Opening Statement Statement of Actual Behavior Listening Inquiry Statement of Expected Behavior Gaining Agreement Follow up

19 Post-Coaching Documentation Brief statement of the problem (what, when, where, who) Date of any previous discussion about the problem Expected performance statement (reference rule, policy, etc.) Summary of good business reasons Indication of employee s agreement to change behavior List of possible consequences

20 Documentation Exercise Think of a current or recent problem you ve had with an employee, or use the attendance scenario with Marty. Write a brief documentation for your management files (this does not go in the personnel file at this point).

21 Homework Transfer of Training Assignment Write a couple of brief paragraphs on how you handled the problem using these techniques, or how you would have handled the problem differently. If you choose, purchase the book, Discipline Without Punishment: The Proven Strategy That Turns Problem Employees into Supervisor Performers (Dick Grote) and read it between now and the end of the year. Implement three things into your employee coaching.