Practical HR

Do you have an employee who is not performing at the level you expect? Are you afraid that if you address the performance issues, you will end up losing the employee?

Normally, you won’t lose an employee if you address performance problems, but you will lose other employees if you don’t. If an employee is not carrying the load expected from the job, co-workers are forced to pick up the slack. They actually know long before you do that an employee is not meeting expectations, yours and theirs.

Often when an employee’s performance fails to meet expectations, it is because the expectations are not clear to the employee or the employee does not believe that the expectations really matter to you. The first step in resolving the performance discrepancy is to commit your expectations to writing, as clearly, specifically, and measurably as you can.

Next, you should sit down with the employee and deliver your written expectations with any examples or elaboration you may choose to give. You should also explain to the employee why the expected level of performance matters to you and the organization, what the consequences of failure to raise performance to the level of expectation will be, and the time period you are going to give the employee to correct the problem.

Finally, you should explain that accountability for solving the problem rests with the employee and that you would like to meet weekly to discuss progress at a time to be arranged by the employee. If the employee fails to follow through and establish the regular meetings with you, that fact will be added to your list of unmet expectations.

In most cases, the employee will completely understand your performance expectations and will decide to change behavior to avoid the consequences you outlined. If so, you need to follow up periodically to ensure that the performance remains at expected levels.

People like to be noticed, and they enjoy having their accomplishments and contributions noticed. Having someone, especially someone in a position of authority, notice and compliment one’s performance enhances the individual’s self-esteem and reinforces the desired behavior, ensuring that it will be repeated. Adding a reward, even a minor one, as a future reminder of the accomplishment enhances the positive feeling about the behavior and increases the likelihood that it will be repeated often.

Over a period of time, this process of acknowledging and rewarding desired behaviors is a powerful means of developing the type of performance patterns that strongly contribute to organizational success. The key to recognizing and rewarding performance is for the supervisor or manager to be observant. It is critical that the supervisor spend time wandering around and observing people in the process of performing their jobs. When the supervisor observes an individual doing something special or above the normal expectations, the accomplishment should be recognized on the spot, if appropriate.

In recognizing or acknowledging performance, the key is to be specific. For example, saying something like, “You are doing a good job” has little value. It is not specific enough for the individual to know exactly what made the supervisor happy, and it may be perceived as insincere because it is so general. It is also important to include a brief comment as to why the recognized performance is significant. A specific comment, such as “I noticed that in the past two hours you have exceeded production standards by 10%. Your above standard performance will help us exceed our cost objectives for this shift” will be much more effective in helping the individual understand exactly what the supervisor wants to have repeated and is much more likely to result in the desired pattern of behavior.

A simple “Thank you” associated with a specific comment about desired performance is most often a sufficient reward. However, periodically it may be appropriate to add a small reward to strengthen the feeling of accomplishment for the individual and reinforce the individual’s desire to repeat the performance. These rewards should be simple and relatively inexpensive. It is usually a serious mistake to make them elaborate or expensive and create an expectation of escalating value of rewards. The reward should never be a distraction from the behavior to be recognized or overshadow the message of thanks. The most effective rewards are those that will be frequent reminders of the event being recognized or those that are visible enough to require explanation to others about how they were earned.

One example of a simple reward that is a frequent reminder would be a special key chain. Every time the individual uses the key chain, it will serve as a reminder of the behavior that was recognized and will reinforce the desire to repeat it. Of course, the key chain in this example must be exclusive enough that the recipient values having it and is reminded of the specific event which prompted the reward. If the key chain is commonly available, including available to others who have not performed in special ways, it will not have the desired impact in reinforcing behavior.

An example of a reward that will require an explanation to others is a book of several of movie theater tickets. Most people do not go to movies alone, so the individual is likely to invite friends or family members to go along. The question of where the tickets came from is inevitably going to come up, and the individual will have the opportunity to explain what he accomplished and how it was recognized by a person in a position of authority.

Another example of a reward that requires explanation might be a drinking mug or glass engraved with a reminder of the accomplishment. Any time the individual uses the mug or glass in the company of family or friends, someone is likely to make a comment or ask a question about the engraved message. Again, the individual will have the opportunity to describe the accomplishment and the subsequent recognition and reward.

On occasion, supervisors feel too much pressure to observe and recognize every good deed. There is no need to feel such pressure. In fact, psychological research indicates that intermittent rewards are the most powerful in reinforcing behavior. In other words, recognizing or rewarding every case of positive behavior is counterproductive. Supervisors should look for truly special events for recognition and long patterns of achievement or exceptional accomplishments for rewards. Only when the recognition or reward is exclusive and specific does it most effectively reinforce desired behavior.