Precision Management

Chapter Eleven

Positive Discipline Managers in The Winning Organization take a fundamentally different approach to unacceptable employee behavior than managers in traditional organizations. The difference is founded on two principles we have covered already: managers must help employees meet their needs for growth and managers must help employees develop strong self-concepts.

Traditional reprimands, in which the employee is berated and threatened in an emotionally charged environment, never occur in The Winning Organization. One reason is that such an encounter belittles the employee, and effective managers recognize that their role is to empower their people; it is harder to get results from belittled people than from those who are empowered.

As we saw in the last chapter, the employee’s image of himself tends to control the level of his performance.. This image resides in the subconscious mind and is constantly evolving, though very slowly for most adults. It evolves in response to many situations, one of which is a circumstance in which an authority figure communicates with us in an emotionally charged environment. Traditional reprimands take place in such circumstances and therefore have a negative impact on an employee’s self-concept. They are self-defeating because they lead to a negative self-image and hence to worse performance.

For example, imagine that a manager becomes exasperated with an employee’s performance and shouts "Doggone it, James, can’t you use your head for something besides a hat rack? You are the most dimwitted person I’ve ever seen. If you cant cut the mustard, you won’t be around here very long." This tirade arouses emotions in James. It communicates directly with his subconscious mind, the seat of his emotions and his self-image, where the logical faculties of the conscious mind have little sway. What pictures of himself does this statement arouse? It asks him to imagine himself as a dimwitted, unthinking person, and it conjures up the picture of being fired. .

Reactions to Traditional Reprimands

How James responds to this depends on many complex factors, but the most important is his selfimage when this reprimand occurs. Let’s consider three possibilities.

First, if James has a strong sense that he is smart and capable, he may respond to this with "Oh no I’m not. I’ll show you!" This is presumably the reaction the supervisor wants, and it can lead to improved performance. It does so, however, at the cost of James’s anxiety and stress, which may interfere with his job performance, lead to burnout, or lead him to try to escape the discomfort by finding another job in a different, better managed organization. It also breeds disloyalty and hatred for the boss.

The reprimand may also cause James to consider the possibility that he is not the smart, capable person he has always been sure he was. Although James may reject such a possibility, it does no good to dangle that in front of him.

On the other hand, if James’s self-concept is that he isn’t very capable, he will respond to such a reprimand by taking it to heart. Depressed, he walks off, his self-talk continuing the process the supervisor began. He tells himself that he is dumb, that he is a failure. He has been afraid that he wasn’t cut out for success and this just proves that his worst fears are true. He imagines how awful it will be to be fired. He dwells on the unpleasant feelings of failure. He replays the reprimand over and over in his head. He pictures himself unemployed, desperate, helpless.

Because we get what we picture, not what we want, because we behave like us and because James now has an even more negative image of what is like him, his performance does not improve and may deteriorate. After more reprimands, more supervisory reinforcement that James is a loser, the picture James fearfully carries of his future becomes real. Rather than achieving results through James, the supervisor has achieved failure through James.

A third possibility is that James’s self-concept is not either of these two. He doesn’t see himself as particularly smart and capable, but neither does he see himself as particularly stupid and incapable either. From time to time in his life, he has swung back and forth around a center point. James thinks he is "average." In such a case, the supervisor’s reprimand may tip the balance and push James toward the negative side of neutral. It may serve to modify his selfconcept and help him develop a picture of himself as a failure rather than as average. In this case, James’s conception of what is like him changes, and as his performance deteriorates in response to this, new reprimands accelerate the change.

In all three cases, then, the supervisor’s reprimand, born though it may be out of honest, human frustration and a wish that James would act differently, produces negative results. Let us look, then, at how the Precision Management approach differs from standard practice. This approach, which is called Positive Discipline, contains ten steps, the first four of which are usually all that is needed. .

Performance and Self-image

The general idea is to improve work performance while simultaneously building the worker’s sense of self-worth. In order to do this, we need to help the worker divorce his behavior from his sense of what is like him. We need to focus our discussion on correcting the behavior, while bolstering the idea that he is a capable person. In this approach, we do not criticize the person at all. We leave the criticism to the employee, and we confine our criticism to his behavior, while making affirmations about his self-worth.

We then need to help the employee make a plan for improvement. Since we get what we picture ourselves being capable of attaining, not what we wish for, this plan must be very concrete and detailed—the employee must be able to see himself carrying out the plan.

This approach depends for its effectiveness on the manager having implemented the other aspects of Precision Management described in previous chapters, especially that of holding employees accountable for results. When someone is accountable and makes repeated mistakes, he will feel bad and be motivated to improve. What follows is a discussion of each of the steps of the process. A summary of the steps is on the last page of this chapter.

Step 1: Get them to describe the unacceptable behavior.

In implementing this approach, the manager must avoid getting into a stance of blaming the employee or of being his enemy. We want to act as a helper and an empowerer, not a belittler or an enforcer. If your stance is to help employees learn, they go on and improve. If you tell them they made a mistake, you are not telling them anything new, and all that will happen is that they will start to justify themselves and make excuses. In doing so, they may convince themselves of

the rightness of their position and start to care less about improving. Our role in this process is therefore to help them succeed, to help them come up with their own plan for improvement.

As discussed in chapter six, we empower the employee to improve his own behavior through the use of questions. We want to say things like: "What have you done?" or "How would you describe your performance on this task?"

When you ask these questions, you are likely to get excuses as responses. Cut the employee off in such a circumstance. Tell him "I’m not asking why it happened. I just want you to tell me what happened. Just tell me what you did." .de . . . . . .

For example, let’s imagine an employee who is often late to work. And let’s imagine further that in this employee’s work, lateness matters. (Managers in The Winning Organization care about results, not about numbers of hours put in, so punctuality in many jobs is of no concern so long as the results are achieved.) Let’s assume, for example, that the person works as a team member and that his lateness means that others waste time waiting for him to arrive. Or that he is the receptionist and his failure to be there to answer the phone when the office opens has a negative effect on our professional image. We start out by asking him to describe the behavior.

• "John, I want to talk to you. How would you describe your contribution to the team here so far today?"
• John says "Well, see, my alarm clock didn’t go off and then my daughter asked me about using drugs and . .
• "John . . . "
• "And then my car wouldn’t start, and the bus was late and . . . "
• "John, I don’t care about that. Just describe your performance so far today."
• "Okay. So I’m late."

Before we go on to the next steps in the process, let’s take another example. In the last chapter we discussed a character who was bright, pleasant, energetic, but sloppy. We have been using affirmative statements to try to get her to see herself differently, but today, again, she produces a report that is sloppy. We begin with "Shirley, how would you describe the quality of this report?"

• She says "Well it’s pretty good, I think. I was pleased with the way the analysis came out."
• "Is this the very best work you can do?"
• "Well, I don’t know . . . "
• "If you were to improve this, how would you go about it?"
• "Well, maybe it could be longer, more detailed maybe."
• "How would you describe the looks of the document."
• "Oh, well, see, I spilled my coffee on my desk and I had to clean it up right away and the report was . . . "
• "Shirley, I don’t want to know why it looks this way. Just tell me your evaluation of it."
• "Well, I guess it could be a little neater."

Sometimes, it is very difficult to get an employee to describe the behavior, and you will finally give up and do it for him. But if you can get him to do it instead, you will be in a better stance for the rest of the process, as we will see.

 Step 2: Divorce the employee’s behavior from his sense of self-worth.

Once the employee has described his own behavior, our job is to correct the behavior while simultaneously bolstering his self-concept. We do this by confining our discussion to the behavior itself and by letting his sense of personal worth "off the hook."

If the behavior is a rare occurrence we can say things like "That’s not like you," or "I’m surprised." If John, for example, is only occasionally late, we can use this approach. This lets John freely discuss the behavior and how he will keep it from happening again without the need to be defensive about his sense of self-worth. John knows we aren’t accusing him of being an irresponsible person; he knows we only want this behavior corrected.

On the other hand, if the behavior is a chronic problem, such a statement may be hard to make honestly. In such an instance we can still divorce the discussion of the behavior from the person’s self-concept by saying something like "I’m confused by this behavior of yours. You’re better than that."

 Step 3: Affirm the positive qualities you desire.

Before we go on to dealing with how the employee will correct the behavior, we affirm the positive qualities we want the person to believe about himself. This plants us firmly on his side in the ensuing discussion and not only bolsters the person’s self-concept but makes it easier for him to propose ways of correcting the behavior.

Let’s go back now and pick up where we left off with John saying "Okay. So I’m late." He may be a little irritated about having to admit this, and he may also be preparing his defenses for the reprimand he feels is coming. But instead of criticizing him as a person, we say "John, that’s not like you" or "John, I’m confused about this repeated lateness. You are a responsible person."

Or for Shirley, we might say "Shirley, you are better than this (not "you can do better than this" but "you are better than this"). You are a competent professional." Or "You care about the image we present to our clients." This feeds in to the program of affirming statements we began previously, as described in the last chapter.

 Step 4: Get the employee to make a plan for improvement.

Now we have established with the employee that we consider this behavior to be an aberration, not an integral characteristic of the employee’s personality, and the employee is disposed to want to correct it. We therefore ask questions such as "What should you have done instead?" or "What will you do the next time to make sure this doesn’t happen again?" or "What can you do to fix it?"

As in step one, our primary mode is the question. The question empowers the employee to make the plan, it helps him own it and be responsible for it. If he fails to live up to it, only he is to blame, while if it is our plan he can blame his failure on the fact that the plan was unrealistic.

Make sure, at this stage, that the employee’s plan is clear, specific, and that it can be visualized.

He will not follow it unless he can picture himself doing it, so demand that he give you concrete details. John, for example, might say "I guess I could set my alarm clock earlier."

• "That sounds like a good idea. What time will you set it for?"
• "Seven o’clock."
• "Is that really enough time to get you here by eight?"
• "I think so."
• "What time do you set it for now?"
• "Ten after seven."
• "How late were you today?"
• "Twenty minutes. But see, it was cold last night, and there was frost on my windshield."

At this point, we are at a very critical point in the conversation. John is making an excuse here, subconsciously attempting to sidetrack the conversation from his not being on time to one about frost. The natural tendency at this point is to make an authoritative statement such as the following:

"John, let’s be clear about your responsibilities. You are responsible for people who call here in the morning getting the information they need and for their regarding us as being competent and professional. When you aren’t here, its hard for you to fulfill those responsibilities. If you can’t fulfill your responsibilities, it means you can’t do the job, and if you can’t do your job, you can’t work here."

Although such a statement embodies Precision Management ideas about responsibility and accountability, it is likely to make John defensive. It puts the manager in the role of the accuser and the demander. It tends to lead to more excuses, such as "Jack was even later than I was— why aren’t you getting on his case?" Or it may lead to self-justifying statements such as "Everyone is late sometimes. You can’t expect things to go smoothly every morning." In either case, we produce a "them vs. us" situation that makes it difficult to correct the behavior. Instead of starting an argument, we want to get John to be the source of his own criticism while we let him know that the problem is with this one behavior, not with his inherent qualities.

So we might try something like "John, on your way to work, knowing you were going to be late, what were you thinking?"

• "What do you mean?"
• "What was going through your mind about being late?"
• "I knew I was going to be late."
• "How were you feeling about that?"
• "I don’t know. I guess I was a little mad at myself."
• "I thought so. That’s the kind of reaction I’d expect from a responsible person like you. What were you thinking about how you could have prevented this from happening?"
• "I was thinking it was just my luck to have frost on the windshield. I was wishing I had checked it out before I had read the sports page."
• "Given that, what can you do tomorrow to make sure you can fulfill your responsibilities here?"
• "I guess I should check."
• "Okay. Now let’s be clear about why I’m interested in talking about this. I want you to succeed here. I want you to achieve the results you are responsible for. You are a capable, bright, intelligent person. I want you to be part of this organization. In order to be part of the team, however, you have to be able to do your job, and doing the job, in your case, seems to require that you be here at eight o’clock. Now, it seems to me that your idea about checking on the frost on the windshield is a good idea. But what if something else goes wrong?"
• "Like what?"
• "You said it was ‘just your luck’ to have frost on your windshield. That seems to imply that other things like that sometimes happen that keep you from getting here on time."
• "Yeah. Well, like yesterday, I couldn’t find a parking place."
• "You seem to have a plan for dealing with frost on the windshield. Is there something else you could do for the other things that happen?"
• "I guess so."
• "What would that be?"
• "I don’t know. I mean if there’s no parking, there’s no parking."
• "And if there’s frost there’s frost. You have a plan to deal with frost. What about dealing with no parking?"
• "I guess I could leave earlier so if I didn’t get a space I’d still have time to get here."
• "That might mean you’d be here early some days. How would you feel about that?"
• "I don’t know. I guess it would be better than being late."
• "It would also give you time to have some coffee and get organized for the day. And you wouldn’t have to waste all that energy getting on your own case all the way to work. Now that’s two contingencies planned for. Are there any other things that you should take into account?"
• "I don’t know. I guess."
• "Or are there any general rules you think might help you avoid this problem in the future."
• "You want me to get up earlier?"
• "It’s up to you to decide that. The reason I’m talking to you about this is that I want you to succeed. I want to make sure your plan will work, that you’ve considered all the impediments to doing the job so you can fulfill your responsibilities. I want to make sure that you make the right decision because it hurts the organization when you aren’t here at eight. You’re too good to let us down that way."
• "Okay. I guess I should maybe get up at a quarter to seven. That way I’d be able to deal with whatever happened. Boy, I hate getting up early."
• "So do I, John. But I suspect you hate not being here on time even more."
• "I guess."
• "Now, let me also say that, although you are a capable person, I don’t expect you to be perfect.
• Everybody makes mistakes now and then, and everyone has unexpected problems, even if they have allowed for contingencies. I haven’t spoken to you about this before because you are a responsible person, and I expect you to behave responsibly. That’s why I have been puzzled by your coming in late, and that’s why I wanted you to tell me what you’re going to do about it.
• When you are here, you do the great job you are capable of, and I hate to see that good work negated by this one problem. I’d like you to consider this a bit more, however. I’d like you to consider any other contingencies that you face from time to time that keep you from getting here on time. If there are some, I’d like you to see if there is something you could do, besides getting up at a quarter to seven, that would take care of these the same way as you have for frost on the windshield. I’d like to see your plan for all such things before you leave today. If you want my help figuring this out I’d be happy to go over it with you."
• "You mean like with my car being hard to start?"
• "Yes. How will you handle that and still do your job?"
• "Well, I guess, since my car is hard to start in cold weather, maybe I ought to go try to start it before I read the sports page."
• "Sounds like a smart idea to me."

As the employee describes his plan, you can, of course, disapprove any aspects of it you find unacceptable. If John’s plan is that you will call him to make sure he is awake, for example, or that you should pick him up, you might well ask for a different idea. At the end, however, the plan must be the employee’s own, not yours.

 Step 5: Give praise for any improvement in performance.

If John is only five minutes late the next morning instead of his customary fifteen, or if Shirley’s work is more careful than before, even though it is still sloppy, give them some encouragement.

They are getting better. If all our people are constantly getting better, then our problems will constantly be fewer. Saying, "Darn it, John, you’re late again," throws the improvement away.

So you say "John that is more like it. Now, tell me what you’re going to do differently tomorrow so you will do even better."

This takes us back to step four. As performance continues to improve, say things like "You get better every day." Additional praise comes only for additional improvement, however.

 Step 6: As performance improves, repeat step three. (See summary of steps, page 211)

Affirmations are particularly critical to build the employee’s sense of being responsible, careful, or whatever other qualities we seek. Use the behavioral successes to underscore the fact that this behavior is "like him."

 Step 7: If behavior continues to be unacceptable, repeat steps one to five.

With most employees, this step, and those that follow, won’t be necessary. Their sense of pride should be such that they are able to carry out their plans. There is always the possibility, however, that an employee’s self-image is such that to straighten him out would be a lifetime reclamation project. In such circumstances, we need to begin laying the groundwork for possible dismissal, even as we continue to try to get better performance from them. Our posture in these remaining steps should still be that we are in their corner. We want them to succeed. However, the fact of the matter is that we are not running a welfare or make-work project for their benefit.

We want them to be able to succeed in doing the job, but if they can’t do the job, they should go find a job they can do. The principle should be "If you can’t do the job, you can’t work here."

As before, don’t get involved in discussing excuses in this step. Concentrate on helping the employee develop a concrete plan for improvement. At this point, however, let the employee know you are going to document your concern. Ask for a written copy of his plan for improvement and submit it to your own supervisor. This lets the employee know you are very serious about this matter and that you insist on improvement.

If this succeeds in improving the employee’s behavior, go to step five and six. If it does not, go to step eight.

 Step 8: If unacceptable behavior persists, give concentrated, one-to-one supervision.

Spend time with Shirley, for example, as she prepares her next report. Spot instances of carelessness or occasions where her behavior is leading to sloppy work and point these out to her.

Indicate that you are doing this only because you want to see her succeed, not because you enjoy

watching her every move. Indicate also that she is in jeopardy of being suspended if she cannot succeed even with your intense involvement.

At this stage, again reaffirm the qualities you want to see her display and give praise for even the smallest improvement. As you affirm these positive qualities, however, make sure the employee realizes that her behavior is still unacceptable. Saying "You are a responsible person," for example, is not the same as saying "You are behaving responsibly." Be clear that you demand improved performance if she is to continue to work for the organization. .

 Step 9: If behavior continues to be unacceptable, suspend the employee in accordance with the organization’s policy.

If the employee cannot or will not adhere to his own plan for improvement, and if the behavior is truly unacceptable, it is time to begin the termination process. The suspension is a warning that this process has started.

If you have been clear in the preceding steps, the employee will have no basis to object to this suspension. You will have documented your concerns, your performance expectations, and the employee’s own plan for improvement. The only possible objection is for the employee to refer to your affirmations, saying something like "But you said you thought I was a responsible person." Should this happen, explain that you do indeed think he is a responsible person, but bring the conversations back to his unacceptable behavior and his failure to meet his plan. You might say something like "Although you do seem like a responsible person, the evidence is that you haven’t behaved responsibly in this job." Ask the employee to think, while he is on suspension, about how he will live up to his ability when he returns. Indicate it will be his final chance.

At the end of the suspension, have a talk with the employee about his opinion of his prospects.

Ask if he really wants to work here and if he believes he can do the job. If he gives an affirmative answer to these questions, ask why he thinks he will do any better this time. If there is a satisfactory answer to this question, bring him back at step eight status. Let him know, however, that if his behavior does not improve, you will have to terminate his employment.

As you implement this, again, focus only on the employee’s behavior, and do so with reference to the results he is supposed to achieve. Refer to the minimum level of performance you will accept, and let him know that meeting that target is the definition of "being able to do the job." Again, if an employee can’t do the job, he should work in another job.

Still, however, we should do all we can to help him succeed. Using affirmations, let him know you think he is the kind of person who has what it takes to succeed. Check frequently on his progress, and if he seems to be failing to meet the target, express your puzzlement as to how such a capable person could perform in this way. As before, he should have a plan for succeeding, for meeting the target, and again it should be his plan, not yours. It should again be in writing and should be submitted to your supervisor, your personnel office, or other appropriate authority.

If the employee improves but still falls below the minimum acceptable level of performance after all this time, you have a difficult decision to make. If you think there is hope, you can move back to step five. On the other hand, if you think it would be easier, cheaper, and better to hire a new person than to continue to try to help the employee improve, you may want to move to step ten.

 Step 10: If behavior fails to improve, terminate employment in accordance with the organization’s policy.

The employee has been given every opportunity to succeed. With a lifetime to spend working with him, we might ultimately succeed, but the time has come to take the easier course. You have objective evidence that the employee cannot meet the minimum standards, that he can’t do the job. And you have documented your concerns and his own plans for improvement, which he failed to carry out. It is therefore difficult for anyone to challenge this decision.

The manager’s job is to get results through others, and one way she does this is by developing those others. Sometimes, however, it is easier and better to do it by replacing a person who can’t do the job with one who can.

The Positive Discipline Approach is so powerful, however, that you will seldom have to resort to step ten. By reinforcing an employee’s sense of self worth, concentrating only on his behavior, helping him come up with his own plan for success, and putting yourself in the role of trying to help him succeed, you create a climate in which the employee can grow toward his true potential.

1. Get the employee to describe the unacceptable behavior.
2. Divorce the employee’s behavior from his sense of self-worth.
3. Affirm the positive qualities you desire.
4. Get the employee to make a plan for improvement.
5. Give praise for any improvement in performance.
6. As performance improves, repeat step three.
7. If behavior continues to be unacceptable, repeat steps one to five.
8. If unacceptable behavior persists, give concentrated, one-to-one supervision.
9. If behavior continues to be unacceptable, suspend the employee in accordance with the organization’s policy.
10. If behavior fails to improve, terminate employment in accordance with the organization’s policy.