As a manager, one of your most crucial responsibilities is addressing conduct and performance in the workplace, both good and bad. However, it’s the latter of the two that often goes unchecked. The reality is that this leadership skill is often not properly learned. Many bosses are never trained in how to do it at all, let alone effectively.
This leaves supervisors feeling insecure about their management. They know they need to do better but may feel stuck on how to improve. And employees feel it too. When managers are ill-equipped to address performance, the entire workplace can be negatively impacted.
The good news is that poor conduct and performance is often preventable.
Corrective action is not a foregone conclusion. There are clear, proactive steps and strategies that will safeguard most managers and employees from going down this path. Not to mention, these techniques will foster a productive, challenging, accountable, and rewarding workplace for all. Here’s how.
Proactive Performance Management
Prevention is always better than cure. Here are some strategies to build productive management habits and minimize the occurrence of poor conduct and performance.
Reserve Time for Performance Management
Most managers are also “doers”, meaning they have their own deliverables and work to accomplish in addition to leading and supporting a team. Personal workload, meetings, and email will fill a manger’s plate beyond 40 hours per week. It’s not an ideal situation but it’s reality in many organizations. To understand more about the leader/doer role, read this: Maximize the Leader/Doer Role
Leaders who navigate this situation well block time every week to reflect on individual and team performance. They do this regardless of whether there are performance problems or not. It’s a performance pulse check, a time to gauge team health and individual progress. They take stock of both strengths and opportunities to advance. They update documentation during this time, schedule follow-up conversations, or plan performance conversations (e.g. both recognition for success and opportunities to reset expectations).
Here are some sample questions to ask yourself when you conduct a “performance pulse check”:
Who had a great week? Where was collaboration at the center of performance? Where did individuals and/or the team make a meaningful impact? When or how will I highlight this in team meetings or one-on-ones?
What subtle changes in behavior or output might indicate emerging performance issues for each team member? Are there any patterns emerging? Do I need to address it now or let it go?
Where might individuals on the team need to speed up or slow down? What deadlines have been met or missed? Who has too much on their plate, who has not enough? How should I address it or what expectations do I need to reset?
How effectively am I communicating expectations, and are there any misalignments that could lead to future performance issues? What early intervention strategies can I implement to support team members who may be struggling silently?
How can I foster positive and productive interactions on the team? Where can we celebrate and recognize each other’s contributions? Who might need more encouragement and validation of their work?
Reserving time to reflect on the team is an important and worthwhile investment for all managers. It not only helps prevent issues, but it also reminds leaders to recall successes, achievements, and individual strengths.
Hire Well and Maximize the Probationary Period
Productive and consistent performance at work begins with a great hire. Dedicate the time needed to effectively evaluate candidates for the job. Use different interviewing techniques during the hiring process to assess candidates' current ability to perform the work.
Such as, if you need the person to deliver great customer service, do a role-play in the interview. If you need them to know how to do a VLOOKUP and use pivot tables in Excel, give them that task in the interview. Put them in a scenario where they’ve made a mistake and have them articulate how to come back from it. Do they take ownership and apologize? Do they gloss over the mistake?
A candidate’s reactions to real-life workplace situations are far more informative than having them recall something they did in the past. Such as, “tell me of a time when you had to handle multiple projects at a time” or “tell me about a time when you had to handle conflict at work.” These answers can easily be fabricated and/or exaggerated.
Then, once hired, closely monitor new employees' performance, conduct, and overall fit during their probationary period. Meet weekly and evaluate both their behavior and ability to work effectively with others as well as their deliverables. If necessary, terminate their employment if they’re not meeting expectations. The time invested in meeting with and evaluating performance during the probationary period is time well spent.
Set Clear Expectations
Clearly communicate your expectations regarding productivity, behavior, and job responsibilities. When employees understand what's expected of them, they're more likely to meet those standards. Here are some expectations that always need to be set:
Meeting execution: Meetings begin and end on time, there is an agenda sent ahead of time with a clear purpose or goal for the meeting.
Meeting attendance: Be a helpful and productive participant, arrive on time, speak up and share your perspective, and no multi-tasking.
Collaboration: Share information, respond to email from colleagues within 48 hours, respond to email from external clients within 24 hours, follow-through on deliverables, and support others.
Work quality: Work is thoroughly proofread and free from errors prior to submission. Avoid preventable mistakes.
Deadlines: Meet your deadlines and if a colleague (or boss) didn’t set one, ask for it. If it looks like you’ll miss a deadline, communicate that to colleagues as soon as possible.
Behavior (how people are expected to act and react): Critique ideas without shooting them down, disagree in ways that focus on the work (and don’t blame the person), no gossip, and couple complaints with ideas. When a mistake is made, everyone is empathetic to others. No blame. Instead, we focus on moving forward and preventing errors in the future.
If you have a poor performer now. Take honest stock of how clearly, you’ve described to them what you expect. If you haven’t, start there.
Here’s more information: The Power of Clear Expectations
Conduct Meaningful 1-on-1 Check-ins
Regular one-on-one meetings with your team members are invaluable. In fact, Gallup finds them to be the most important activity a manager can engage in with their staff. “Employees who have regular one-on-one meetings with their managers are three times more likely to be engaged.”
These personalized check-ins are the best way for a boss to show that they care about their employee. This matters because when employees feel cared for by their employer they are less likely to look for another job and burnout, as well as more likely to trust leadership and thrive in their overall lives.
Use the acronym “CARE” to guide your approach to one-on-ones. Make sure they are:
Consistent: Follow a structured format. This means every employee arrives to their check-in prepared to talk about the same things. Some ideas include:
Accomplishments, challenges, and questions
Current work, upcoming work, and wellbeing
About them: Let the employee speak for 50-75% of the time. The manager is their to listen and learn from the employee. Once the employee has done that, then the manager can use the remaining time to address their items.
Routine: There is a set cadence. For example, weekly for new employees and bi-weekly for others. For these meetings to have a positive impact, they should occur more than quarterly but finding the right cadence within that depends on the needs of the employee and the work.
Expected: Scheduled on calendar, not ad hoc. Check-ins can be rescheduled, but never cancelled. Once a manager starts cancelling check-ins, they send a message to the employee that they don’t care about their work.
For more information, read this: Be a Great Leader, Master the One-on-One
Hiring well, maximizing the probationary period, setting clear expectations, and conducting meaningful check-ins are the best ways a boss can not only prevent conduct and performance issues but also create a productive and satisfying work environment.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to the blog at the bottom of this page to be notified when each post is published.
Until next time!
Amy Drader is a management consultant and credentialed coach with over 20 years’ experience in HR and operations. She knows first-hand the joys and challenges of leading people and is dedicated to helping managers and teams advance their performance. She is the owner of Growth Partners Consulting, a boutique leadership and team development consulting firm that provides customized training and coaching.
Comments