PAPERmaking! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY Volume 4, Number 2, 2018
1. Poor Job Performance. An employee whose work falls below expectations, causing others to constantly have to pick up the slack, can be a tremendous drain on teams, especially when it’s habitual. 2. Can’t Work Well with Others. Employees who struggle to create positive relationships with their colleagues, clients, or customers can be a liability. 3. Doesn’t Respond to Coaching. Employees who aren’t responsive to coaching or feedback fail to make necessary changes despite repeated, explicit attempts to work with them. 4. Resistant to Change. Leaders report issues with employees who resist change, or who may even refuse a change altogether. 5. Not Responsible for Own Actions. An unwillingness to take responsibility for their actions — and instead blaming others — also ranked highly as a common negative attribute, regardless of the exact form the behaviour took. How to Address Problem Employees Based on decades of research and experience, we recommend using the Situation- Behaviour- Impact (SBI) model. By relying on facts rather than judgment, you’re more likely to change a problem employee’s behaviour. Ideally, giving consistent feedback — including praise — will result in better behaviours and performance from all employees. SBI can be used to reinforce positive behaviour, but we also recommend learning how to have better conversations every day. Difficult conversations are often necessary because better conversations didn’t happen early on.
You can get ahead of trouble instead of waiting for it to arrive. When giving feedback, try to remember these 10 best practices: 1. Be timely and deal with issues as they arise. 2. Be open to the employee’s perspective. 3. Keep it short, and let the employee respond. 4. Show empathy and genuine care. 5. Don’t sandwich negative feedback between positive reinforcement. 6. Give positive feedback when it’s deserved. 7. Aim for a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative feedback. 8. Practice what you’re going to say, and how. 9. Aim for behavioural awareness, not “fixing” someone. 10.Create a favourable environment for feedback. What if none of that works?
If you’ve repeatedly tried to provide feedback to your problem employee and it isn’t working, it’s time to consider other options. Sometimes you can help people the most by guiding them to pursue opportunities better suited to their capabilities, though it’s important to approach this with care. Seek involvement and counsel from a supervisor, the HR department, or legal counsel.
Article 10 – Conflict
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