“YEAH, BUT…
WHAT DO YOU DO when you don’t actually see the problem? Coworkers complain endlessly, saying things like ‘He’s impossible to work with,’ ‘He can’t be trusted,’ and ‘He never listens to feedback.’ How do you handle hearsay?”
When people consistently complain to you about a specific employee, you face an interesting challenge. How do you share hearsay? If others are not willing to talk to the person themselves or own up to the negative feedback, you have no right to talk with that person on the basis of secondhand information. That would be both unfair and unhelpful. You’re not close enough to the problem to share detailed feedback, and so you end up making general complaints that leave the person upset and confused.
Naturally, if employees complain about something that is dangerous or illegal, you need to consult with human resources immediately.
Master your own story. Refuse to accept other people’s gossip as fact until you gather firsthand information. When you adopt other people’s stories about someone as your own, you surrender control. Observe the bad behavior on your own. Then you can describe it in detail. More important, you can own the story as well. Rather than coming off as a messenger or having to apologize for what others think, you can address the problem head on. People deserve to face their accusers. They also deserve specific, detailed feedback. Anything short of this is unhelpful and unfair. And who knows? As you gather your own data, you may end up with a story different from the one that others attempted to induce you to believe.
The family version of this problem revolves around the ever-present “tattletale.” The same principles apply. Unless safety is at risk, gather data on your own. Carry your own message.
“YEAH, BUT…
WHAT IF THE FEEDBACK you want to give could crush the other person? I’ve got an employee who thinks she’s the world’s best writer. She’s always begging to compose letters. The truth is that her writing stinks. I don’t have the heart to say anything.”
Most people would rather take a blow to the head than say something that could devastate another person. Telling people that they are incompetent at something they take pride in certainly falls into this category. Bosses often go for years letting people think they’re doing a good job when they’re not. Then they either make up for the poor job themselves (doing a work-around) or learn to live with substandard work. Both alternatives are unacceptable.
If you’ve allowed a person to operate under the illusion of competency for quite some time, you really aren’t in a position to judge whether that person is truly incompetent. You’ve never held him or her accountable. Begin having accountability discussions about single areas that could use some improvement. Express your appreciation for the person’s willingness. This is something you can praise. Then explain that there is one thing you’d like to see improve. You want to see him or her take the quality in the area you’ve selected to the next level. Provide clear, direct, and detailed feedback about that area alone. Don’t talk about problems per se; talk about setting new standards.
Once the person has improved in that area, pick another problem and work on it. Over time, if the person hasn’t been able to improve, and since you’ve consistently and respectfully held the content conversations and worked to test your assumption about whether he or she is truly incapable of mastering the skill, you will have earned the right to have the larger relationship conversation.
“YEAH, BUT…
WHAT IF A PERSON is totally out of line most of the time but threatens to file a grievance if you confront him? And the worst of it is that because of his special circumstances, he’d probably win. Then what?”
It’s shocking to learn how many companies are stuck with one or more really unproductive employees who hold leaders hostage. Those employees have no interest in doing their jobs, fight legitimate work at every turn, make life miserable for everyone, and have cowed the supervisor. They rattle the saber of litigation, or they imply that they’ll take it all the way to the top or that they have dirt on someone. Outsiders routinely ask, “Why is that person still working here?”
Resolve to hold the employee accountable. Meet with human resources and jointly develop a plan. Select a behavior that is out of line and indefensible. If necessary, clarify your standards regarding insubordination, resistance, and poor performance. Inform the employee that the action you’ve selected isn’t acceptable and will no longer be tolerated. Simultaneously assure the employee that your goal is for him or her to succeed.
Describe some of the more poignant and relevant natural consequences of the employee’s current behavior, such as being stuck in boring assignments and being rebuffed by colleagues. Take care to tell the person what will happen if he or she steps over the line. Once again, make sure that the employee knows that this is not what you want to have happen but is a step you will have to take to protect the interests of colleagues and the organization. Document the discussion. Watch the employee closely. Confront the first infraction immediately but respectfully and then start down the path of discipline. Don’t be held hostage.
“YEAH, BUT…
WE’RE MAKING A BREAK with the past. It used to be that people looked the other way when you violated policy, but now we’re supposed to hold people accountable. How do you change the rules in the middle of the game?”
Many organizations are just beginning to ask their employees to step up to a new level of initiative, teamwork, customer service, and so on. Unfortunately, despite leaders’ efforts to bring about change, slogans, buttons, and banners aren’t enough to transform a culture. Calling a group a team doesn’t make it a team.
Telling your children they can no longer walk all over you may not reverse the results of a decade of weak parenting.
You can’t solve longstanding problems if you haven’t let others know exactly what you want. With unclear expectations, you don’t have the right to hold others accountable to violations they may not even be aware of. Confront the past. Without singling anyone out, outline for people the natural consequences of how things have been. For example, you may describe how saying yes to every urgent demand has caused you to have chronically poor quality and terribly costly operations. As you help people connect consequences with past behavior, you build moral authority for resetting expectations.
Illuminate your general vision of how things are going to be in the future with specific, identifiable, and replicable actions. Clarify dos and don’ts. Study best practices. Contrast what people used to do with what they need to do now. Then teach and focus on those specific actions. If you don’t know precisely what you’re looking for, you have no right to expect it. Only after you’ve clarified your new expectation do you have the right to begin having accountability discussions with those who violate the new standards. More than a right, it will then be a responsibility.