"Look at them, Smithers. Goldbrickers.. Layabouts.. Slug-a-beds! Little do they realize their days of suckling at my teat are numbered."
Montgomery Burns
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
Being a cartoon character Mr. Burns can simply fire those he feels are lazy "Slug-a-beds" but what about the rest of us? How do you determine what is acceptable performance and when you have an employee that does not meet that standard what do you do? I understand the need to document behavior prior to termination presuming it comes to that but I'm more interested in what (if?) you do to remedy the situation.
In almost all of the cases that I can think of in my career where I had to "manage" an employee out of the company or downright terminate him, the one common theme was that I didn't act quickly enough.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that this isn't totally uncommon given the difficult and sensitive nature of dealing with an employee who is not meeting expectations. I think it's natural for managers to put this decision off with the hopes that the employee will magically improve. This of course, rarely happens.
Managers think that they're somehow doing the employee a favor by not hitting the problems head on. In reality though, it's actually more cruel to allow the employee to languish in a position where he's not adding value and allowed to succeed.
There's no easy solution other than having very direct and frank conversations with the employee as early as possible when expectations are not being met. Give the employee every opportunity and tool to turn things around but when improvements aren't forthcoming, quickly figure out a separation plan that treats the employee fairly and with respect.
I've found I am sometimes better assessing some other manager's employee situation than I am my own. Being too close and one of those directly involved takes away some objectivity.
ReplyDeleteSome managers don't like outside "help" deciding what to do but I now see it as a good thing when the outside opinion comes from those I respect.
The key is to provide enough honest detail so that the opinion giver can give an unbiased response. If you "blow smoke" you might as well not bother.