Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

Before scheduling a meeting with an employee that has performance and behavioral issues, I would create a detailed log of complaints and incidents that occurred leading up to the meeting. I would answer the following questions, that according to Dick Grote, Chairman and CEO of Grote Consulting Corp and author of “Discipline without Punishment” and “The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book”, would allow me to understand the “so what” of why this behavior is causing a problem:

• What is the impact of the individual's inappropriate behavior?
• What are the business reasons for why the organization expects employees to act in ways other than the way this employee is acting right now?
• How is the person's behavior at odds with the standards expressed in the company's statement of vision and values?
• What effect does the negative attitude have on customers and co-workers?
• What are all the adverse effects of this individual's choice of behavior?

With the written log of complaints (including dates and times of the mistakes and behavior issues) along with the summary of business reasons that the employee’s behavior is not acceptable, the initial conversation should be fairly straightforward. Having this list would boost my confidence about the situation before confronting the employee.

 

I would start the conversation by explaining to the employee that I have a problem, and I need his help. This would put the control back on him and, hopefully, not make him feel defensive from the very beginning. I would outline all of the issues that have come to my attention and ask him to explain if there was something going on in his life that I should be aware.

 

I believe that using the conflict resolution technique of listening first and talking second is beneficial in any conflict. In order to solve a problem, you have to fully understand where the employee is coming from, so I would allow him to tell me what is going on first. Most likely, he would deny the accusations, so I would ask him to take time to think about what I have told him and plan another meeting for a week later.

 

Hopefully, by the next week his work and behavior would have improved, but if not, I would schedule a third meeting. I would keep detailed notes from each of the meetings. If things had not improved greatly by the third meeting, I would recommend that he take unpaid leave to address his problems. At this stage, I would involve Human Resources and ask that they handle the situation going forward.

 

References:

 

Dick Grote (2005, July). Attitude adjustments: to deal with an employee's bad attitude, focus on his or her specific behaviors. BNET. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_7_50/ai_n14814551/?tag=mantle_skin;content