Disciplinary meetings often involve counseling employees to achieve better performance. No one set procedure addresses counseling employees, but we offer the following nine guidelines that you should consider following when faced with the need to counsel an employee. 

Document all problem performance behaviors. Document specific job behaviors such as absenteeism, lateness, and poor quality in terms of dates, times, and what happened. This provides you with objective data. Deal with the employee objectively, fairly, and equitably. Treat each employee similarly. Issues discussed should focus on performance behaviors. 

 

3. Confront job performance issues only. Your main focus is on what affects performance. Even though it may be a personal problem, you should not try to psychoanalyze the individual. Leave that to the trained specialists! You can, however, address how these behaviors are affecting the employees job performance. 

 

4. Offer assistance to help the employee. Just pointing the finger at an employee serves little useful purpose. If the employee could fix the problem alone, he or she probably would have. Help might be needed yours and the organizations. Offer this assistance where possible. 

 

5. Expect the employee to resist the feedback and become defensive. It is human nature to dislike constructive or negative feedback. Expect that the individual will be uncomfortable with the discussion. Make every effort, however, to keep the meeting calm so that the message can get across. Documentation, fairness, focusing on job behaviors, and offering assistance help reduce this defensiveness. 

 

6. Make sure the employee owns up to the problem. All things considered, the problem is not yours; its the employees. The employee needs to take responsibility for his or her behavior and begin to look for ways to correct the problem. 

 

7. Develop an action plan to correct performance. Once the employee has taken responsibility for the problem, develop a plan of action designed to correct the problem. Be specific as to what the employee must do (for example, what is expected and when it is expected), and what resources you are willing to commit to assist. 

 

8. Identify outcomes for failing to correct problems. Youre there to help, not carry a poor performer forever. Inform the employee what the consequences will be if he or she does not follow the action plan. 

 

9. Monitor and control progress. Evaluate the employees progress. Provide frequent feedback on what youre observing. Reinforce good efforts.