Working in the cracks in the system
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Let's say John works for you and you notice that he's starting to come in late. You could do what some people in my classes suggest when I present the case and "document it" or "write him up." That may be what you think the manual says, but if you jump right to documentation you very likely could be perceived as unfair.
For most team members, "getting written up" is serious, emotional, and negative. Technically you may be in the right, but emotionally, your team members will perceive you as playing "gotcha." That's not a good feeling for them to have if you want to increase morale and productivity.
Try this instead. Use the situation as an opportunity for conversation. Talk to John in private. Tell him you've noticed that he's been coming in late and tell him why that matters to you and to the team. After you say that, wait for John to speak next.
John may dispute your facts. He may describe an issue that's causing the lateness. He may 'fess up and promise to do better. Whatever happens, you now have the opportunity for a conversation and a bit of coaching. That conversation may end in several ways.
You may decide you need to warn John that you will be watching his performance for at least the next few days and if he continues to come late, you will need to document the issue. If you must document John's behavior, you won't be playing "gotcha" anymore, but the odds are that you won't have to document, because John will take your point and mend his ways.
You may learn that there's something that's caused John to be late the last few days. It may be temporary or permanent. It may be something you can make allowances or adjustments for, or not.
You may discover that John wasn't coming late at all. Yes, it happens, and more frequently than most supervisors want to admit.
Whatever happens, you can use noticing John's behavior as an opportunity for conversation and coaching. You can probably find some good you can make of it.
This is an example of what an experienced supervisor on one of my expert panels called working "in the cracks in the system." It's the part of you work as a boss that's informal and not written down. It's also the part where you do a lot of your best work.
Boss's Bottom Line
The best bosses I've seen do most of their work informally, "in the cracks in
the system." It's an art to be mastered.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: Supervision, Performance Management
Tags: Supervision Performance Management
I have learned that Progressive Discipline only works if it will get you the desired results. Sometimes you just need a one on one simple conversation to get the same outcome. Less is more
-L
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Thanks, Lynne. "Progressive Discipline," to me is the official system. I've found, and hundreds of people who've gone through my programs or purchased the Working Supervisor's Support Kit have confirmed that the big decision is when to start the official process. Most of the time, if you make lots of small adjustments, you only have to resort to formal discipline when it merits the time and energy you will put into it.
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Great suggestion, Wally.
All too frequently, I find myself in a "Ready - Fire - Aim situation and it never works out good. It's tough being impulsive and it is tougher changing. Thanks for the boost.
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Ah, Ray, from one impulsive to another, I wish you good fortune, fair winds and following seas.
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Good advice, as a supervisor you need to deal with people and get the facts. Don't just guess at the facts. Asking questions is helpful. And providing advice is helpful. Talking the step of documenting a problem sometimes is necessary (and sometimes helpful in making someone realize it is a serious problem) but it is better to improve the results rather than resort to writing it up.
Plus the John's I know are by and large very reliable
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I agree John, that documenting a problem can send a message, and I think that should be reserved for those who don't mend their ways without it. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
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Hey Wally,
I'd be questioning why being late matters. Is it just the disrespect you feel as the boss about the employee or is there a real performance penalty for his tardiness?
If the person is performing well and the team doesn't feel burdened by the lateness (like, maybe someone else can go home a little earlier because John is staying later), then why is it a disciplinary issue? Why do you care? Don't you have bigger problems to fry? Are you *that* insecure?
If it's an ongoing issue from a guy who really cares and whom you care about keeping, maybe you need to restructure the work so that he can start later?
If this is symptomatic of an attitudinal problem (ie// he just doesn't care about his work in any way and is doing the least possible to get paid), why not fire him ASAP instead of coddling him through it so he fake his way through the hoops to keep his job? You can't make people care IMHO and we don't have the time or resources to waste on "bodies" to do a "job".
If that is the case, don't waste his life by making him do stuff that doesn't matter to him and don't waste your time or leadership capital making an issue out of a minor transgression.
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Thanks for adding your comments. I agree that we should be asking whether things like coming at a specific time are really necessary, but I intended this as a simple example to illustrate some supervision techniques. Let's assume that coming on time is important, as it is in many work situations.
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Hey Wally,
Thanks for the reply!
I think we're talking at cross purposes though. *grin*
My main point was to advise that one make a conscious judgement about whether the discipline is needed at all. Often a lot of things that we managers feel we have to enforce don't really matter to the business (but they matter a lot to us). Enforcing these rules (like Office Space's Flair) do nothing but cause employee harm and resentment. Before spending the leadership capital, we need to be sure that it's worth spending.
Further, we can deal with behaviour by creating an environment and culture where the things that we want to enforce are enforced by the system rather then the boss. For example, in sports, if a player is late for a game they simply can't play. Since most players want to play, they're keen to make sure that they're on time. If they're late, it's always for a good reason. So too in commissioned sales: if you don't make the sale, you don't make any money.
The opportunity to work/play is the key, not the boss enforcing a rule. If you find a consistent problem with enforcing a rule consider changing the system rather then confronting the employee.
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Hi Wally,
I like this post because currently I have a young manager at my workplace out to prove his dominance. He seems excited to write people up and playing "gotcha." To make it even worse, he doesn't seem to know much, when we ask him a question the answer usually is, "I don't know, let me ask ___ (his boss)." I guess he is trying to stick to what he is good at. It is so obvious to everyone that he goes out of his way (way out of his way) to catch people on details, that he seems to be blind to the good that the individual is doing. He misses the opportunity of using the event as a way to open up a conversation like you suggest.
I switched the shifts I work just to avoid working with him and because I really like the night-shift manager- she is calm, collected, experienced and listens. Most importantly, and she cares enough to talk to us when she notices something instead of being quick to whip out that pen and paper. At the least, I am very glad there are still good managers out there!
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Thanks, Sera. You describe a situation I've seen far too often. Most of the time the manager who's quick to document who hasn't gotten much training and support making the transition to boss. It's an example of how poor selection and training of supervisors can create situations of poor morale and productivity.
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Timely post. I just had to deal with a rule-infraction/teaching moment today. I believe I handled it well but I would have handled it better had I read this beforehand.
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Thanks for those kind words, David. I really appreciate your taking the time to share them.
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I had a hard time connecting with my new manager. He gave me little work, little guidance, said little to me, and wouldn't explain when I asked. Nothing I did seemed to earn his approval. Months into the job his boss sent a general mailing reminding everyone about attendance rules. I didn't know that although my new company allowed flex time, it was only outside a mandatory 8-5 with a mandatory hour lunch (working through lunch isn't considered working). I thought I was working at least 9 hours a day based on what "flex time" meant in my last job, where I was a well behaved IT professional for nearly 25 years. I was shocked to find out that I must appear in my new job like a lazy kid playing hookey. I cleaned up my act immediately. Now my manager talks to me. If only he'd just come out and said, "Don't you understand the rules?" I might have told him that my orientation had missed that detail and I would be happy to comply. We might have stayed on speaking terms the whole time and I could have been much more productive.
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Thanks, Kathy. I wish I could say I never heard a story like that before, but it's far too common. What I tell supervisors is that whenever anyone comes in to your team, one of your responsibilities as a boss is to tell them what the rules are. I'm not talking about every rule in the book, just the important ones, especially ones that may be different from another team. I wrote about that in "An Elevator Speech for Bosses." I also suggest that the supervisor take the new person around and introduce him or her to other team members then allow the new person a day to visit the other team members to chat.
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Hi Wally,
Many times managers literally follow their companies' rules in order to solve some problems. In truth, managers should be more creative for solving them. This is by taking into account not only technical context, but also other circumstances that surround a particular problem "in the cracks in the system." I think an additional "recipe" would be that the manager asks to John how he (John) could give a solution regarding his lateness. This would aid to the manager to give a solution together.
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That's a good suggestion, Julio. For me, that question would become part of the conversation after the first approach.
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Shouldn't talking to the person be the first step? Except in extreme situations, I would think you would always talk to your employee if there is a problem. Why would you consider starting with any other action? Once again this shows the importance of emotional intelligence.
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I certainly agree with that, Ben, indeed that's why I wrote the post, but I can assure you that thee are a lot of bosses out there who reach for the pen as a first option. Lack of emotional intelligence may be the underlying cause, but if it is, then selecting people who lack EI is the cause we can do something about. Two other factors at work are culture and misunderstanding of the boss's job. There are cultures where bosses write a lot to protect themselves from evil consequences. As a practical matter, there's not much you can do about that. There are also bosses who believe that a quick write-up is what their company wants. Training and supervision of new bosses, especially during the transition, is how we can go after that issue. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
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