Lords Of Discipline
Laying Down The Law
How do you get started on the right track to disciplining? First
identify the mistakes you may already be making: - Don't get emotional. "Most discipline is
delivered in an emotional outburst. The manager is angry, and he
yells and criticizes the employee. That almost never works.
It's demeaning to the employee, and the positive message gets
lost," says Michael Markovitz, CEO of Argosy Education Group
Inc., a professional-education corporation in Chicago. "You
feel mad because an employee isn't doing his or her job? Go to
the gym or walk around the block--exercise is a great cure for
anger. Your anger is understandable, but you still must not abuse
your employees."
- Don't delay discipline. Sound like a contradiction
of the first point? It's not. First, calm yourself down to
avoid an outburst, then tell the employee there's a problem.
"A manager must respond as soon as possible after an incident
of poor performance. Don't bury your head. Too many managers
are gutless," says Ray Hilgert, a management and industrial
relations professor at Washington University's Olin School of
Business in St. Louis.
"When employees are told nothing, they assume everything is
OK," Hilgert adds. Then, when discipline comes at them,
they're shocked. - Don't use generalities. "Too much discipline is
delivered in a blanket judgment: `You screwed up.' That
doesn't help at all. The employee needs specific
criticism," says Mary Hessler Key, a Tampa, Florida, business
consultant and author of The Entrepreneurial Cat: 13 Ways to
Transform Your Work Life (Berrett-Koehler Publishers).
In that same vein, Jean Hollands, CEO of the Growth &
Leadership Center Inc., a Mountain View, California, management
coaching firm, urges: "Don't give vague feedback. Saying
`You're not a team player' isn't useful to an
employee." - Don't do it on the fly, no matter how busy your schedule
is. "Schedule a time to have a focused, one-on-one
discussion in private," says Key. "It's worth your
time investment because it's an opportunity to shift an
employee's behavior."
- Don't dump on employees. "Nobody can handle 10
areas where they need to improve," says Turknett. "Narrow
a discipline session down to focus on two or three areas where the
employee needs to do better, and don't schedule a session to
last more than a half-hour."
- Don't play favorites. "Employees want to
believe that disciplinary procedures are fair. You need to be
consistent in your treatment of all employees and you don't
want an atmosphere of capriciousness and favoritism," says
James Walsh, a former risk management consultant, and the author of
Rightful Termination: Defensive Strategies for Hiring and Firing
in a Lawsuit-Happy Age (Silver Lake Publishing).
- Don't discriminate. It seems obvious, but it's
worth repeating: "An employee should be disciplined because of
what he did, not who he is and never because of race, color, gender
or anything else," says Hilgert.
- Don't act as if you've never made a mistake.
"Don't become godlike. You need some humility even when
criticizing others," urges Turknett. Act the know-it-all
who's never made a goof, and that's a sure way to turn off
a worker because the employee knows you've flubbed, too. Be
human in your approach to this delicate situation, and the employee
will be that much more ready to listen to you.
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