If you are not talking about the right problem when you carry out a performance appraisal discussion, no amount of talking will solve the problem! Performance problems can be complex and it is important to know how to get down to the real issue.
Performance problems occur at three different levels. The simplest is when you have a one-off problem that can be solved in one simple conversation. Think of a monthly production report that is required by the same deadline each month. This month it is late. You might say to the employee: Your report was due in yesterday, but it is not yet on my desk. What happened? If the employee explains the report was delayed because of a production crisis that you know is a rare occurrence, and says he can get the report to you today, you can treat the situation as a one-off problem that has now been resolved. One simple question was all it took.
Some problems do not go away so easily! Let us say that for the next few months the report is also late. Before you talk to the employee again, you need to be clear about the pattern you see emerging. How often has the report been late? How late has it been? Has anything changed that would influence the delivery of this report?
You have to open the next conversation on the topic differently. You are no longer concerned with one report that was late, but with a pattern of behaviour. You might say: I have noticed you have missed two of the last three deadlines for your monthly report. I am concerned there might be an underlying problem here. Can we talk it through?
This opening to the conversation signals to the employee exactly what you want to talk about and helps prevent the conversation being sidelined into discussion of the reason the most recent report was late. You have moved on from the one-off problem to the pattern of performance.
Let us assume you discover the employee has another deadline that conflicts with this report. You agree to move it, and you both agree that this solution will work. It does; for a while. Then the report starts coming in late again.
You now have two problems: the original one of late reports, and a new one of an employee not keeping to a commitment. You would open the next conversation with facts that cover both issues: the number of times the report was late; his commitment to the change in the deadline; and the fact that the report is still late. Then you might say: I am concerned that you have not kept to the commitment you made. I thought we had solved this problem, but it does not seem that we have. Can we go through it again? We have to get to the bottom of this.
This example has shown a performance problem at a once-off level, as a pattern of behaviour, and as an underlying, perhaps broader, problem. You need to identify and deal with performance problems at the correct level, or you will find yourself using discipline as a last, and ineffective, resort in trying to improve performance.
Maureen Collins trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people in her consulting practice, Straight Talk. She has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. Go to http://www.straight-talk.co.za for free downloads and Straight Talk Tips.
