The ability to inspire

The ability to inspire someone comes naturally to some people because of the character they possess. A person who is always positive only sees the glass as "half-full" and never"half-empty". It is that person who is often the one who holds the position of coach, teacher, mentor or sometimes best friend. Being a person who is inspiring and uplifting always manages to see the good in the midst of turmoil and is much stronger after it as a result. It is something about watching that type of person in action. The person who inspires can be of any age.  I watched my 4 year old grandson inspire his friends while they were taking turns speaking in front of their class last Sunday. He would clap as they were going up to the podium and then clap loudly after they gave a few words. The smiles on the kids faces was enough to know that they approved of their classmates efforts. It made me think to myself how we can begin being inspirational at a very early age and if we continue with the habit of encouraging and inspiring others it will grow for years to come. The ability to inspire will be transferred for many generations.

How to deliver Bad News-Tactfully

No one would want the task of explaining to an employee that he or she is on the verge of being fired.  It is a situation that would need to be approached with great skill. Some of the major steps that would help in this situation involve conflict resolution techniques that were detailed in the text, “Managing Conflict through Communications” by Cahn and Abigail.  If the situation is handled in an appropriate manner it may be necessary to dismiss the individual who is causing the problems, however, it could be in that person’s favor as well.

In reassessing the scenario, of the ten employees in my department that are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service there is one who has been with the company for two years who is performing at a substandard level and has received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. The part of the situation that needs to be covered is to gather information from customers’ complaints and other employees as well. Establish what type of complaints they are and document all of the evidence. The next step would be to gather information about the employees work over the past 2 years and see if there have been inconsistencies at certain intervals. Next talk to the employee about his or her performance and get their assessment of the entire production issue.  The text says that there are 6 steps to successful conflict resolution: (Managing Conflict, Cahn, Abigail 2007),

1.       Preparation

2.      Tell the Person “We need to talk”

3.      Interpersonal confrontation

4.      Consider your partners point of view

5.      Resolve the problem

6.      Follow up on the solution

Preparation would be covering the “what, when, where and how” of the problem. What has caused this conflict to take place? Could this have been avoided and at this point how to proceed, what to say and how to do so in a careful manner.  It would be very important to identify the problem at hand and sometimes it is good to write out the procedures to keep everything in perspective. “Preparation is the most extensive and in many ways, the most important stage of the confrontation process” (Managing Conflict, Cahn & Abigail 2007)

The next step would be to set up an appointment with the employee, after all I would need to be able to hear him out and understand why he is performing the way that he is. It is much easier to talk with an individual if I have established a relationship with him. People are much more at ease to open up about their personal feelings when they trust the person they are talking too. Thirdly, considering their point of view would be important because if I show that I have good listening skills it will continue to build that trusting relationship.  Listening to the employee and being careful to take notes about what the problem may be would be very helpful. The problem the employee is having with his quality and production could easily be a medical situation. Being a woman who is in a premenopausal era in my life, I can understand how a hormone imbalance can cause a mountain of problems that could easily be the cause of a low production rate on anyone’s job. There could also be emotional problems such as stress or depression that could cause irritability and lead to conflicting situations at work.

In resolving the problem it would be important next to compose a plan on how to work on correcting the problem.  Something that may work well would be to set up one of one appointment twice a week to go over the employee’s daily production and as it changes document what things are working and what is not working for them. Perhaps elimination some of the stages of the employees work will prove to be effective in helping him to meet the standards,  People don’t learn alike and it could be that the processing procedures that is being used for a “one size fits all” type of training may not work for this employee.  Finally in order to continue on an upward path to success, it would be very helpful to make sure there is a follow up on the procedures. 

As for what happened in the past with the customers and employees, it may be best to let the history in the past.  Letting the employee that he is being monitored for period of time is probably necessary because of prior allegations.  If the employee is not place on a performance improvement plan for a 60 day period, it would be mandatory to have a lesson plan that will continue to monitor the process.  If at the end of the 60 day period there has been no improvement than there would be no other recourse than to let the employee go.  If the problem were related to medical ailments that could be handled differently, the person could be dismissed but on a disability status for a portion of time until the medical is resolved or time is exhausted, whichever comes first.

References:

Cahn, D.D & Abigail, R A 2007 “Managing Conflict Through” Understanding and Responding to Conflict p.96-108, third edition Pearson, Allyn and Bacon