Bobby had worked for your company for nine years. In the first eight years he had built a reputation as a stand-up employee who came to work consistently, on time and usually did a little more than he was asked. Bobby had come along nicely learning construction, how to use tools properly, and had even acquired his CDL and now was driving some of the trucks when needed as well as operating the backhoe and Bobcat when needed.
However, over the past year Bobby’s performance had slipped up. It started slowly but he soon was showing up late to work, five minutes one day, fifteen minutes another. He started calling in sick on a few Fridays and Mondays. On two occasions he was operating equipment when it suddenly broke down. Your maintenance man informed you that on both occasions it looked as if the equipment had been handled poorly (i.e. operator error).
You had visited with Bobby on each of the items mentioned before. While you’ve not done any formal documentation you are realizing that this downward spiraling behavior and performance doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of improvement.
For the HR professional or for the construction leader in a large organization, the story of Bobby is familiar. However, contractors of any size should know how to address situations like Bobby’s. The proactive efforts by the contractor in this story have not produced any measurable improvement, so moving to a more formal counseling effort is needed. Consider the following steps to conduct safe and effective counseling when you have employees who have “De-Railed” in their performance.
1. Schedule a formal & confidential meeting
Coaching can be done just about anywhere. On the jobsite, in the yard or in the tool room you can coach and have exchanges about improvement ideas or suggestions. But when coaching isn’t moving a problem worker ahead positively then it is time you schedule a sit down meeting.
My suggestion is that you schedule counseling meetings at the end of the workday. Conducting a counseling meeting in the morning might lead to the employee carrying a big chip on his shoulder for the rest of the day, possibly making his day and others’ even worse than normal.
When you do schedule this session be sure to let the employee know what the nature of the meeting is about. While you do not want to go into details, it is probably best to let the employee know what the theme is for the meeting. As an example, you might consider something like:
“Joe, I’d like you to come in after we finish up here today and meet me in my office. We need to discuss the issue of your yelling and cussing at other workers. The meeting shouldn’t take more than an hour at the most.”
Keep it short yet provide enough info that the employee realizes that this isn’t going to be a “How is the family?” discussion. If the employee quickly and nervously asks, “Am I getting fired?” clearly state that this is not the reason for the meeting but to discuss the issues just shared and how we can correct this effort.
2. Prepare to have a “witness” present at the session
When you move to counseling an employee you need to have a witness, from your organization, sit in on the session. The role of the witness is primarily to confirm that what was presented and discussed actually happened. The presence of a witness might also demonstrate to the employee your company’s seriousness about the problem at hand.
A witness might also prevent the problem worker from taking any explosive or negative action. Also, the presence of a witness also reminds the leader to keep the discussion to the “script” of the offense and to not go off on tangents, such as sharing personal feelings or opinions about the problem worker or situation.
The witness should have some knowledge of the direction that the leader will take in the counseling session. Knowing this, the witness could then offer redirection either verbally or with eye contact with the leader should the discussion stray from the purpose.
3. State the problem
By the time counseling is needed the employee should not be surprised at your effort. Again, “pre-counseling” efforts should include discussing needed improvements with the full support of regular coaching by the employee’s supervisor. When such coaching efforts (and this may take weeks or months) are not resulting on improvement by the employee then it’s time to administer a bit more formal, verbal and written counseling effort.
To state the problem is to record what the specific situation is that is causing a specific negative result. For example, for the employee who yells at or cusses at other workers you could write:
“In the course of daily work this employee has verbally yelled at or cussed at three other employees. This conduct is not acceptable and creates a threatening work environment that is not compliant with this company’s values and commitment to providing a safe and cohesive work environment. These episodes happened on the morning of January 25 and then again on February 3 of this year.”
Please notice that only the specific problem is stated, including the dates of the events. Also, the reasons why such actions are unacceptable are also captured (This will be addressed later).
As tempting as it might be, always refrain from including your own personal opinions — verbally during the counseling session or in your documentation — about the situation or any feelings you may have about the employee at fault. In this first effort you are clearly trying to be honest and accurate about what took place and its negative impact on the work environment. In this example, this includes the safety and well being of the other employees.
4. Make the charge a supervisory problem
It is important that you state the offense in “first person.” In other words, be clear that the leader in charge is specifically stating what they observed. It is not wise to incorporate hearsay into the counseling and will hardly make it through any level of arbitration (if it goes that far). For instance, consider the following statement that should not be written or spoken:
“In the course of daily work I have been informed that this employee has yelled at and cussed at other employees. Such behavior is not acceptable and will not be allowed.”
Now, even if the yelling and cussing took place just as reported by other employees, it is imperative that the leader witnesses the action personally. It’s not impossible to counsel a problem worker based on hearsay but is not recommended. These discussions quickly dissolve into a “He said this,” “Well he said it first” type of argument. There are no winners nor is there any clarity, and there is no chance of any real change.
Even if the hearsay comes from your most trusted workers, making the charge come from the supervisor’s direct observation and experience is necessary for a positive correction.
5. State the impact of the problem
Problem resolution often makes use of what is called, “cause and effect analysis” which leads us to recognize that every effect, positive or negative, has first a cause. Therefore, when stating the problem you need to include the “effect” that such negative action is having on the job, work safety, quality of work, etc.
Consider the portion of the documented statement in our third step that states the impact of the problem.
“This conduct is not acceptable and creates a threatening work environment that is not compliant with this company’s values and commitment to providing a safe and cohesive work environment.”
Work hard to keep both the written and spoken word with the employee clear of any bias or opinion-like overtones. For example, you do not want to use such phrases as, “Well, you’ve always had a bad attitude,” or “I know you don’t like the other guys you work with.” Such comments are hard to support and easy for the employee to pick apart (much less an arbitrator!)
6. Clearly state what change must be made
Stating the problem is important and so is to clarify exactly what change must be made. Referring back to our example of an employee who yells and cusses, the statement recorded and spoken could look like:
“To support a work culture that respects all employees, this employee must refrain from any yelling or the use of any profanities that could be received as intimidating, threatening or unwanted. Such behavior is not acceptable and the employee must immediately refrain from any such use.”
There can be no misunderstanding for the problem employee about what is being required. While they may not agree with the statement, this is not the point. Clarity and understanding is what is of prime importance here for the employee to grasp.
7. Ask the employee for reasons why the problem exists
Now that the problem and the needed change have been addressed it is time to engage the employee to giving “my side of the story.” Don’t overlook the importance of this step. While the negative action taken by the employee may be as clear as day it is still critical for the employee to have “their day in court.” Here’s a way to ask the employee for their reasons.
“Bobby, can you share with me why you felt moved to yell and cuss at some of your co-workers?”
Prepare to take notes on comments made by the employee. Taking notes sends the signal to the employee that you are serious about hearing him out and this effort just might also persuade the employee to be more honest in their reasons.
There are a couple of things the supervisor needs to do when listening to their problem employee. First, don’t interrupt the employee, no matter what they say or however crazy their response might be.
Second, limit answering questions that the employee asks, especially about the same or similar efforts made by other workers. Remember, the counseling is for and about “this” employee, not the others.
Third, listen for facts or conditions that perhaps were not known.
Fourth, STAY to the script. Resist wanting to challenge the employee’s arguments or allowing the discussion to get off course.
Later in this session you can confirm the notes taken with the employee. The hope that must be maintained is that the employee can still be salvaged so be sure that what he says is clearly captured for later reference.
8. Ask the employee to help in resolving the problem
Ask the employee,
“Bobby, do you want to see this problem turn around?
If so, will you help to correct this problem?
Don’t bypass the obvious. If the employee sincerely wants to correct a problem that they have then they will want to participate in the correction process. Should the employee respond negatively to the questions above then there is a very good chance that his time working at your construction company is fast drawing to a close. Employees must be fully engaged with correcting their own problems, especially behavior-based problems.
9. Prepare an action plan
The action plan might be two or three steps or it might be five or more steps, but a written plan needs to be created. This plan should fully incorporate any suggestions for improvement that the employee might have offered and certainly any efforts that his supervisor and the company might need to take. Again, the goal here is save the employee…if he is salvageable.
Let’s look at a possible brief plan for our problem employee, Bobby.
Action Plan
Goal — To control my behavior when working with my co-workers so that I do not yell at them or use profanity in any negative way.
Steps
- Make use of company’s EAP to determine whether I need anger management counseling.
- Check in with my supervisor each morning, at mid-day, and before leaving jobsite to discuss any challenges or needs. This is to be done for the next two weeks.
- When I begin to feel agitated with my own performance or become upset with other workers I will, in a safe and timely manner, take a 60-second “cool-off walk” to re-collect my thoughts and refocus on what I need to do.
- I will meet with my supervisor in two weeks to discuss any improvements or lack of that has been observed over the same time.
(ALWAYS SCHEDULE A FOLLOW-UP MEETING TO REVIEW PROGRESS!)
Obviously if the first step determines that Bobby needs anger management counseling then a schedule to allow him to do this must be adjusted into the Action Plan.
Have the employee sign the Action Plan document — the supervisors and witness should sign, too. Provide the employee with a copy of the Action Plan and be sure to place a copy in the employee’s file along with the notes that were taken during the counseling session.
10. Conclude the meeting & offer positive expectations
It’s important to bring the counseling session to a positive and hopeful end. Thank the employee for his time, his ideas and his willingness to work through this situation. If he has provided just the opposite during the meeting then you might need to clarify for him again what the expectations are and what consequences might exist down the road.
Consider the following comments when closing out the counseling session.
“Bobby, I do want to thank you for agreeing to meet me about this problem. I’m encouraged that you want to improve in this area of your work life, and I can assure you that we will do what we can to support you. Remember, only you can really make this change. I am hopeful that if you will improve that we are going to see some very good days ahead for you, your crew and this company. We’ll meet again in two weeks, but you know that you can contact me any time you need. Please go home tonight and have a good rest and let’s get started on this road to improvement tomorrow!”
Shake his hand and let him leave before you. Confirm that he has left your office or site before you leave. Don’t get suckered into a post-meeting discussion with the employee outside the meeting time.
If you are an HR professional or a leader in a company large enough to have a Human Resource Department, the 10 steps outlined here were a good review. Aside from the specific wording of a statement or the order of steps put forth, your firm’s efforts in counseling are probably close to the efforts suggested here.
However, if you are NOT an HR professional and you are the only one that handles counseling issues, try to adhere to these 10 steps. Tailor the instructions to your company and certainly confirm any question you might have with someone you know who might have more counseling experience than you.
A final thought, and it is a reminder of a point already made: Just because your coaching effort might need to dive into a more serious counseling effort does not mean that you are heading to termination with a problem employee. It seems that more and more workers are bringing problems to our work places and we have to learn how to deal with many of these. We can’t fire everyone who has a problem or there won’t be any workers left to build, construct or repair!
Counseling is another leadership tool that you can use to salvage workers. It’s expensive to have high turnover and giving up on workers in whom you have invested for years don’t make a lot of business sense either. Here’s the good news: Most of the workers whom you spend time with in counseling WILL CHANGE…. FOR THE BETTER!
Good luck in your counseling.
