One of the regular tasks we often have in HR is working with a manager through the process of addressing employee behavior and determining if a corrective/disciplinary action is warranted as well as what level/type of action should be imposed.
Having worked in organizations with Collective Bargaining Agreements, I’ve experienced the environment where disciplinary action was a game of connect the dots (Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 ) and also ran in simultaneous-and-parallel streams in accordance with the CBA – Sally Employee could be in Step 1 for a performance issue, Step 3 for attendance, and Step 2 for uniform violations. Oy!
But when we evaluate performance management issues outside of such a highly structured environment and look in the context of, well, ‘the real world’ most of us live in, the freedom to manage through these issues also comes with the responsibility to do so correctly.
It’s often a challenge for new managers, without a step-by-step playbook, to feel comfortable in assessing how to provide corrective counseling. But I’ve found that a 3 x 3 x 3 application can help them sort through this issue.
First, determine which of these THREE behavior categories apply (and truly I’ve found that any issue can be placed in one of these buckets):
- Performance issue
- Policy/rule violation
- Attendance issue
Secondly, determine which of these THREE standards apply:
- The issue is progressively getting worse/not improving
- A repeat is one time too many
- Once is enough
Finally, determine for which of these THREE reasons the employee is exhibiting this behavior:
- The employee is unable. They’re unaware of the policy/rule or, if the company dropped the ball, have not been adequately trained and thus can’t perform the task or job.
- The employee is unwilling. Perhaps they understand the performance standard (produce XX widgets each day) but simply don’t care to exert the effort to meet the expected standard.
- The employee is unmoved. They’re quite possibly inflexible, obstinate, or stubborn. They’re aware of a work rule but, as an employee in this situation once told me, refuse to comply because they “think it’s stupid.”
Plotting these decision points out (matrix style) can assist the manager in determining what action to take. Needless to say, consistency across the work group, department and organization should also be evaluated. And company culture, style and standards all come in to play.
Granted, this places the focus on what one could consider more compliance – HR as opposed to commitment – HR. But let’s face it – as much as we strive to make sure staff members care about the organization/their job and are committed to correcting their behavior for some deep, meaningful personally motivated reason, the reality is that we often DO have employees who are unable, unwilling or unmoved.
Unable, once identified, we can easily remedy.
Unwilling or unmoved? That requires a little something extra.
