And here is the signal for when to do just that -- when you are failing at changing behavior.
When you can honestly say, "Wow, things are not changing, and my supervisory skills are not making a large enough dent!" -- Say that, and it's time to look outside the supervisory toolbox realm.
So, what's the next path?
The answer: some sort of professional or counseling help with your company's employee assistance program. (Do you have one? No worries. I will discuss another suitable path.)
If you have an EAP, do not see this program as a nice self-referral benefit for employees. This is absolutely the wrong paradigm. What EAPs are, are management tools--pro-employee and pro-management, neutral source management tools to salvage workers.
Sure EAPs take self-referrals you never hear about, but they were never initially designed for that purpose. They were created to salvage troubled workers with awesome skills.
You do not lose valuable workers just because they are sick or temporarily nuts.
Listen and email publisher@workexcel.com to receive the second half of this audio instruction guide
TURN SPEAKERS UP!
PART 1
http://workexcel.com/content/Interveen/01%20-%20Track%201.mp3
PART 2
http://workexcel.com/content/Interveen/02%20-%20Track%202.mp3
Diseases, psychological problems, and other stimuli that adverse affect performance are treatable. Repeating -- don't lose employees because of personal problems that are adversely affecting performance.
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If you do not have an employee assistance program, you can still leverage job security to motivate your employee to accept help and go to a helpful resource. It's all in the wrist. By this I mean the formulation of an appropriate disciplinary action that you will promise without any doubt, to deliver and dispense in response to an incident that just occurred which represents the type of performance problems you have been discussing with your employee.
Okay -- at this point, there is the disciplinary action sitting on the table in front of you and the employee -- what's next? What's next is up to the employee.
Either he or she accepts a referral to a professional counselor who can determine the nature of any existing problem with a release signed by the employee to inform you about whether there is a problem or not, but not what it is. ...... or WHAM! A legitimate disciplinary action is given for the latest unacceptable infraction. Simple.
By the way, when the employee makes the wrong impulsive choice, have small discussion and let them understand the ramifications. See below.
Also that release should remain active so you can get phone calls reporting that the cooperation recommendations continuing.
Remember this is all up to the employee voluntarily in order to avoid the immediate dispensing of the disciplinary action.
Part of your conversation as a supervisor will also be to promise that participation in counseling if it is recommended or any treatment program if that should be the case, and that this will not affect or in any way impede or hamper or negatively affect the employee's job security, promotional opportunities, pay, or status with the organization, and that the entire matter will remain out of the personnel file.
Sound like a good deal? It is!
Let this message sink in while you are sitting there with the employee. Then ask, "what do you want to do?" If the employee says, I have no personal problems, repeat what you are offering. This is a statement the employee will use as a side door to escape this "no win" scenario (actually it is a win-win for the organization in that the problem is being resolved today.)
95% of employees in my experience will accept the professional help, assessment, referral, and signed release of information and agreement to cooperate with a therapist over the disciplinary action. You are not diagnosing your employee. You are saying "Do you want to be accommodated in case a personal problem is contributed to these performance issues?"
If not, dispense the action including termination if necessary.
So, with the above you are saving the company, not the employee. You are putting the company first.
The disciplinary action must be appropriate, but the entire process above must be repeated up to and through termination if necessary. Eventually the employee will accept the help if a personal problem exists. Bet on it. Remember, he who care least wins, and this process is designed to protect the company with job security as powerful leverage for change.
The process described in this post works. If you have any doubt, feel free to download the following document
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