Employees behaving badly: 5 steps to steer them straight
One of the most difficult roles a front-line manager must fill is that of a counselor.
Yet, it has to be done every single time employees are behaving badly – which likely happens more often than anyone would like.
Proof: More than 75% of employees think their co-workers could behave better at work, according to research from Kelton Global. What’s worse, bad behavior affects productivity and morale.
But HR can’t be there at every moment an employee acts out of line. So your managers, who are supposedly within easy reach, need tools to manage employees throughout the moment.
From behaving badly to a good place
“We need a balance between consequences not being enforced for unacceptable behavior and consequences that are too severe,” said leadership expert Keith Sanders when he spoke at a Premier Learning Solutions webinar. “Both can create resentment.”
How managers deal with employees behaving badly can make the difference between elevating otherwise good employees and termination.
So these tips from Sanders can help front-line managers deal with bad behaviors on the spot.
One caveat: It’s critical that you also train managers on identifying, reporting and stopping behaviors that put others at risk and are violations under local and federal guidelines — such as harassment, discrimination and intimidation.
1. Know when to step in
The first key is knowing when to step in.
Unacceptable behavior that might go under the radar is when an employee acts:
- unreasonably
- unethically, or
- in spite of a policy, knowing that the act is inappropriate for the workplace.
When managers recognize behavior problems — or those kinds of behaviors are reported to them — they’ll want to meet with the employee immediately. And if the front-line manager has any concerns, encourage them to invite HR to the meeting.
From there, the conversation they want to have would go like this …
2. Get on the same page
Many employees who behave inappropriately don’t know or have forgotten what is expected of them. Just a few do it with blatant disregard of the formal and informal rules.
So conversations should start by clarifying expectations, said Sanders.
For instance, say, “Here’s what I see … And this is what I expect …”
Then follow up with one of these questions to show concern and allow employees to reply:
- “Going forward, what do you think you need to do differently?”
- “Is there something going on that I should know about?” or
- “What concerns do you have about this?”
After employees explain themselves, managers can reiterate and confirm the expectation. Say, “OK, my expectation is … Is that reasonable?”
If they don’t agree, managers will want to stay on this step, probing until they reach agreement, with questions such as, “Why do you feel this is unreasonable?”
If they agree, move onto the next step.
3. Get buy-in
Once employees agree that they failed to meet the expectations, and behaved inappropriately, managers can gain buy-in for improvement.
Say, “Now that we agree on a reasonable expectation, let’s pull together a plan to help you improve. Can we work together on it?”
Naturally, they’ll want to get agreement to this before moving.
4. Brainstorm solutions
Managers can get more cooperation on improvement if employees have say in what will change. So they can ask for suggestions on what to do now.
Say, “What do you think can change immediately and in the long run?” “How can you make that happen?”
If employees’ ideas are still off-base, managers will want to present a few possible solutions and ask them to pick one they’ll try. Because they choose the solution, they’ll be more likely follow through on it.
5. Refer resources
Managers will want to direct employees to resources such as training videos, your internal Learning Management Software system and/or HR-issued training on soft skills — anything they can use to help themselves improve and be good employees again.
This shows manages want to help, not hurt, their performance and the relationship going forward.
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