Negotiation
How to Counsel Problem Behaviorby Dr. Jeff Magee
"The termination of an employee is the ultimate result of personal failure. In business, it's the result of failure of management in one fashion or another … the failure to interview and hire effectively … the failure to train and develop effectively … the failure to reward and motivate effectively … or, the failure to counsel and discipline effectively."
Thomas Wratten, President, The Principal Group (Yield Management, CRC Press/St. Lucie Press, Jeffrey L. Magee, 1999)
For managers, surveys universally reflect that management avoids "counseling problem players" as the single greatest avoided act.
A simple formula (couched within your specific organizations regulations/protocols) will instill a greater level of management self-confidence when the need for a "counseling session" arises. Consider:
BEFORE THE SESSION – Develop your agenda so that you can remain laser focused on only what you are going to talk about; establish documentation to support your views/position/demands; explore the best location for this meeting; determine when would be the best time of the day and week for such a meeting; evaluate the agenda to determine exactly how much time is necessary for such a meeting; determine if you need an observer in the session due to the sensitivity of the issue to be addressed or if the other party would have representation; evaluate the level of leverage you have in addressing the problem behavior and motivating a lasting change (consider this your "pain factor" – what pain can you deploy to change behavior); determine what worse case scenarios could be if you proceed with the session and if you can exist if the person in question were to threaten resignation; develop a powerful "opening statement" to be used when you begin your session and which sets the immediate tone of what you are there to talk about (establish the issue, reference your willingness to work and your seriousness to bring the issue to closure positively or negatively); develop a script (mentally or physically) of what you will want to say "during the session"; develop a "closing statement" as to how you will close the session and exit that meeting on a solid note!
DURING THE SESSION – Hand a copy of the agenda to the other party and strictly follow it; take notes of everything they say; ask questions to establish an agreement that there is even a problem; work to get mini agreements from the agenda; work to get many agreements to the agenda; use your rehearse statement; establish a solution plan; establish a follow-up time to get back together to ensure that the plan designed and agreed to is being implemented; make sure they understand the pain factor/penalties associated with not changing; ensure that any third parties in your session remain silent – they are there as observers not active participants to cause your agenda to be violated; transition the dialogue consistent with your pre designed closing statement!
AFTER THE SESSION – Immediately review the agenda to make sure you did accomplish your target; review your notes and add additional comments to anything that you wrote down that will make it understandable if read six months from now; along with any other internal documentation, hand write a follow-up note and attach that to a copy of the initial agenda and send back to the participant and make a copy of all documentation, staple it together and place in their personnel file.
Avoiding the fallacy of, "out of sight, out of mind, if I ignore a problem player long enough they will go away" will lead you toward a path of career success. Adhering to it, will stimulate stress and conflict among everyone ultimately!
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Dr. Jeff Magee, Ph.D., CMC, CSP, PDM, has published over 200 articles and presents over 100 training seminars a year. For more information, visit www.jeffreymagee.com, or Contact Robert Hannesson @1.877.90.MAGEE
