Constructive Confrontation
As a supervisor, you are responsible for maintaining the productivity of your employees. When productivity of an employee doesn’t meet standards, it is your job to correct the situation. Confronting an employee whose work performance is declining is not easy. The “constructive confrontation” techniques outlined in the following information and links will help you improve the quality and results of interactions you have with your employees.
Identifying the Cause
In many cases, declining work performance is directly related to an employee’s problems outside the office. By watching for the following changes in an employee’s behavior, you may notice that a personal problem exists.
- On more than one occasion the employee arrives at work or returns to work in an obviously impaired condition.
- Employee is frequently absent, returns late from lunch, leaves workstation without reason, makes many trips to the restroom.
- Personality changes (argumentative, quiet, unusually sensitive, borrows money, etc.)
- An increase in the employee’s accident rate, both on and off the job.
- Quality of work suffers (late assignments, errors, bad judgment, erratic work patterns, customer complaints).
- Change in circle of friends, or the employee suddenly seems to have no friends.
- Employee refuses to follow company policy.
In other cases, an employee’s decreased performance is due to job-related issues. Before talking with the employee, explore job-related issues that may be affecting your employee’s ability to meet your expectations. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is the employee unclear about job expectations?
- Is the assigned job too difficult for the employee?
- Did you give the employee the proper tools and environment to complete the project?
- Are you, as the manager, contributing to your employee’s inability to perform the job adequately?
Regardless of the cause, personal problems or job-related issues, you must deal with poor job performance at once. Covering for the employee, handling his or her assignments, or passing them onto others will not make the problem go away. You’ll be doing yourself, your company and the employee a favor by confronting the issues as soon as they arise.
