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LET
GO OF CONTROL — EMPOWER YOUR WORKERS!
 For
most of the 20th century, "scientific
management" drove a command-and-control theory of
workplace management. Management told employees exactly
what to do and punished them when they failed to do it. In
essence, they treated people like machines.
The control paradigm made a significant impact on
management. For example, we define workers as employees
or independent contractors (and employees as exempt or
non-exempt), depending largely on how much control we
exert over them or they exert over others.
But this paradigm is rapidly becoming passé. For
instance, try using control to motivate a software
programmer! The explosive growth of the knowledge
economy during the past two decades is rapidly
converting even rank-and-file blue-collar employees into
knowledge workers — and knowledge can't be controlled.
It can only be enhanced, unleashed, and managed to
empower employees.
Today's workers aren't loyal to their employers, but
to their teams, careers, and families. Many companies
realize that the best they can do is to keep talented
people for three or four years before they naturally
move on. These businesses have created a system that
acknowledges today's new reality — not one that fights
against it. They do whatever they can to help their
employees do the best job they can to benefit themselves
— and the company in the process.
The shift from "command and control" to
"employee empowerment" will be the management
issue of the 21 st century. Companies that ask
themselves, "How can we give up control to empower
our workers and remain sustainable?" are the ones
that will succeed.
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MANAGING
POOR PERFORMERS
 Nothing
can be more frustrating than trying to manage the employee
who performs poorly. Try this approach:
Focus on the conduct, rather
than the person. For example, if an
employee is consistently late, say "It's 9:20 a.m.,
which means client calls since 8:00 a.m. have gone
unanswered," rather than, "You're late again, so
you obviously don't care about our customers." Hurling
a "you" at someone triggers an emotional flight or
fight response that only heightens the drama.
Review your hiring and training system.
Many businesses do such a poor job of hiring that they
literally hire people to fail, leading to poor performance
and high turnover. Management should not be responsible for
the success of employees — but responsible to them
for allowing their success.
Responsible management empowers workers to do what they
can do and enjoy doing well, which makes them work more
effectively. This isn't rocket science — it's common
sense.
Make sure that the employee has the skills
needed to improve their conduct. If
they seem willing to perform, but their skill set has
lapsed, the conversation should go something like this:
"I know you're a good person. As your job
responsibilities have grown and changed over the years,
you've tried to perform, but, unfortunately not to our
expectations. I'm sure you share this frustration. Would you
like us to train you to improve your performance so that we
can both feel good about it? If you don't think that will
work, what would you propose? Because we're stumped trying
to come up with a better idea."
Find out why a skilled employee isn't doing
the job. Assuming that they still have their
skill set, what's going on? If they have a disability, they
might be protected under the ADA, FMLA, or state law. In
this case, the question becomes whether you can accommodate
the disability so they can keep performing. Remember,
despite the legal obligations of the employer, a worker must
still be able to perform their essential job functions with
or without an accommodation.
If their poor performance has nothing to do with a
disability, they might simply be worn out, having a problem
in their personal life, or looking for another job. If
that's the case, the conversation might go something like
this:
"You have a great skill set. But, as you've
probably sensed, you haven't had the drive to perform as
well as in the past. We've had to discipline you about this.
We care about you, but we also need to have the job done.
What can we do to turn this around? Please take a look at
this Employee Correction Form (see the Form of the Month)
and fill it out so we can have your written input. If your
suggestions make sense, we'll try one last time. If what you
suggest doesn't feel right, then we'll have to end our
relationship. Does anything make more sense than that?"
If the employee adopts a victim mentality and blames
other people for their circumstances, suspend them for two
or three days so they can go home and re-think matters.
There's no rush; chances are that this has been going on for
some time. Take the time to make sure that you "get it
right," that your systems aren't at fault, and that
there are no disability or discrimination issues involved.
Give the employee every opportunity to take responsibility
for their performance.
If the situation still doesn't change, it's time to
"liberate" the employee. In fact, a continued
relationship will harm both parties. There's a simple test
of when it's time to "liberate" someone: If
they quit, would you be relieved or upset?
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OVERCOMING
'TERMINATION ANXIETY'
 An
article in your February Newsletter focused on reasons for
managerial reluctance to fire employees for poor
performance. Let's take a closer look at three of those
reasons, together with guidelines on dealing with
"termination anxiety.
- They're afraid that a key employee will
walk out the door. Avoid this trap by
having standard operating procedures (SOPs) for every
job. Follow the "Mack Truck Rule" — if a
Mack Truck ran over any of your employees, make sure
that someone else could step in and do their job.
For example, we manage five Web sites, a
responsibility that requires significant technical
expertise. If a Mack Truck hit our IT person or she
decided to leave, we would be in dire straits; so we
reduced everything that she knows and does to writing.
We then had a third party review this job description
and asked if they could take over her
responsibilities, if needed. Until they said,
"yes" we continued to refine the SOP.
- They fear being sued,
either because they've done a poor job of documenting
the employee's poor performance or because they
overlooked their shortcomings for years before
terminating them.
To allay this fear, maintain comprehensive
documentation on employee performance and take quick
action to correct any problems.
- They fear being "villainized."
As soon as you terminate someone, you'll be cast as
the "bad guy." The victim mentality is
widespread. Totally irresponsible employees can, and
do, blame managers (you) for their shortcomings.
Don't let yourself fall into this
trap! Act responsibly, maintain the emotional ability
to let go, and you'll be far less likely to get sucked
into an employee drama.
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“You two, up to the suite. You, out to the
street”
Donald
Trump,
The
Apprentice
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This issue discusses:
We’ve also provided hyperlinks to a free Form
of the Month.
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TERMINATION:
EASING THE TRANSITION
Terminating an employee is far easier said than done. To
help make the process as painless as possible, follow these
guidelines:
Have more than one person present during the
termination interview. If a personal animosity
might be involved, it's easier for an employee to receive
the bad news from someone other than their supervisor.
Make the interview short, but sweet.
Although you should be prepared to answer any questions the
employee might raise, don't get into a long conversation
about why the decision was made; this is no time to
start an argument. It's okay to empathize with the employee,
but do so without guilt.
Help the employee through the transition.
Chances are that the terminated worker will be feeling
uncertainly, fear, anger, resentment, and a host of other
emotions. Anything that you can do to ease their emotional
tensions will reduce your liability exposure — and show
your other employees that you really care about them.
Put them in touch with an outplacement agency that
can help them update their resume, provide support
counseling, and search for jobs.
If you're terminating the employee for a reason other
than poor performance, help them contact a temporary
employment firm. These businesses are always looking
for good people and can help with writing resumes and
finding both interim and permanent jobs.
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CASES
OF THE MONTH
Our legal staff offers this review of top
cases that might affect your business.
(PDF)
(WORD)
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FORM
OF THE MONTH:
Employee Correction Form
(PDF)
(WORD)
As mentioned in the lead article, it's vital to have a
problem employee acknowledge unsatisfactory performance and
to help define both the cause and solution. Use this form to
help keep the "monkey off your back" and on the
back of the employee by letting them "own" their
problems. As counseled, focus on the conduct, not the
person.
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For
more information on the contents of this newsletter,
please e-mail or give us a call.
The material presented here is general in nature.
Due to local and state laws and ordinances, an individual
article might not apply in every jurisdiction.
Copyright Employer
Advisors Network, Inc. 2004
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