Do You Procrastinate With Performance or Behavior Issues?
You have mounds of projects that fall under your responsibility with fewer people to help you move forward and do the work. It seems that each day your desk grows with additional never-ending paperwork. Your job is not only the projects and paperwork…how about the increasing demands and issues of the people you manage. Where should you focus your energies?
Managing employees requires tenacity if you want to be effective in your role. You are required to manage the daily operations of the department as well as manage the people who handle the work. The balance between the two and sometimes opposing functions of your role is a constant battle. Here are some questions to ask:
- Are you more comfortable handling the paperwork and prefer to let your employees do their best?
- Do you only deal with an employee’s performance or behavior issue when it reaches a significant concern for you or your department?
- Do you immediately handle employee issues, no matter how small?
- Are you clear around your expectations for performance and behavior?
- After you discuss an issue with your employee, do you follow up to ensure that their performance or behavior has changed to meet expectations?
Many managers struggle with their reluctance to deal with an employee regarding performance or behavior. When do you intervene and when do you give room for individuals to express themselves in the role?
Some concerns by managers:
- Don’t want to rock the boat, especially when the employee is performing the function even if not up to expectations.
- Fearful that correcting an employee’s performance or behavior would spark a decision for the employee to leave. Then where will you be…no one to do the job?
- You are not sure how to discuss issues with employees and are concerned the employee will become defensive.
What can happen if you don’t deal with employee issues:
- Employees are not clear about expectations so their performance level may not increase.
- Each person’s performance and behavior influences the rest of the team members. If you increase the performance levels of one person, you will increase the levels in others.
- Employees’ notice how you deal with issues and their performance will follow your lead. If you are sloppy with your guidance, they may incorrectly believe that it doesn’t matter how they perform. Non-performance on your part reinforces lower performance.
Note: When you handle the small issues you can potentially influence the overall efficiency and performance of your team.
…are you a procrastinator with performance or behavior issues?
If so, then start today to create clear expectations for yourself and your employees.
Observe your reactions to employees…you already know what is not working.
- Monitor the performance and behaviors of each person on your team. Decide the specific areas that need improvement.
- When you have already identified an issue, create a plan to discuss the issue with the employee.
- Follow up with employees to keep them aligned with expectations around performance or behavior.
Allow yourself time to learn how to deal quickly with small issues with your employees. Start small, look for one or two each day, and you will eventually create more awareness and efficiency in communicating with the people on your team.
Be well,
Pat
