DEAR HR LADY: We are back in our office, and I have an exempt/salaried manager I hired during Covid who is chronically late, takes way too long on personal appointments, talks—not texts—on their cell phone in meetings, does not use spellcheck, and is just plain oblivious to appropriate office behavior. What can I do? Did I hire the wrong person? Did I check the wrong references? Did I ask the wrong interview questions? Have I set the right example for this person? Do I fire them?
I get queasy every time I look at them. What should I do?
—Queasy Manager
DEAR QUEASY MANAGER
Michele Harmon
Have you ever heard of Emetrol? It will settle your stomach but will not solve the problem.
Be decisive and make well-informed decisions. Then, take action and do not drag this situation out, and keep the process simple. Remember the KISS principle?
Tell everyone to leave their cell phone alone during meetings, plain and simple. It is not old school; this demonstrates respect for the meeting leader and peers and, most importantly, the tasks at hand.
Address the poor performer and remind them that they signed the employee handbook, which explained the work hours for everyone, and now that the Covid panic is over, they need to get back to work. Be somewhat flexible with salaried folks but set a procedure to be followed.
I am not a fan of hybrid office hours, but if there are plans to allow it, update the employee handbook immediately and deploy it to all staff for their acknowledgment. That should be an easy task since you used some of the PPP funds to purchase an automated, cloud-based Human Resource Information System (HRIS), right?
Call Human Resources (HR). Collaboratively establish short-term goals for the poor performer with timelines for accomplishment and make it part of their Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). If the manager has never set goals and does not understand their purpose, you hired the wrong person.
Covey said, Put First Things First. List the employee’s managerial deficits, rank them using SMART goals, require them to improve on them, and give them no more than two tools to attain success. SMART goals are specific (narrow for effective planning), measurable (what evidence will prove they are making progress?), attainable (completed within a particular timeframe), relevant (they align with your long-term objectives), and time-based (there is an end date for each task). Set dates for completing each objective and set a timeline to meet with the employee to gauge their successes and failures.
If the poor performer cannot spell or write well, then direct them to use Spellcheck and Editor and consider purchasing the premier edition of Grammarly for every employee. Even Excel has a spellcheck feature.
The poor performer may need Management 101, and a college degree does not equate to being a good manager. Without the correct experiences, no one learns how to manage via osmosis. If the manager has no formal training or a long track record of success managing employees to meet organizational goals, you may consider giving them more training.
Consider whether or not the leadership team consistently models expected behaviors tied to the success of the company. Are the leadership team’s management skills excellent, and will this journey with the poor performer make the company a better place? What deliberate actions to improve the manager’s performance will make the company more successful? Begin with the End in Mind, or you’ll never get to the Sharpening the Saw phase.
Once their goals are part of the PIP, give the employee a few weeks to demonstrate improvement. Assist them in being successful. No one got to the moon without some guidance and coaching. Enlist the HR team to guide and monitor the employee’s progress.
The PIP is an excellent tool to demonstrate that the employee still has value in what they may offer the company while also establishing with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) that you did all you could to improve their poor performance before you fired them. Before firing the employee, remember to start the warning letters. Do not forget to put the statement on the final warning that they will be terminated if they do not comply immediately with the directives. Poor performance is often a lose-lose for the employer with the TWC, but it never hurts to try.
Before all this, ask yourself, is this specific person worth it? If they are fired, what will the other employees think? Do I care? If the manager is a poor performer, then employees are usually pleased. So how do you get rid of the very worst employee? Consider letting their peers get rid of them. If their peers do not support them, most poor performers will leave.
If firing is the selected option, remember who is in a protected class. There is an ever-growing group of those in a protected class. Call the lawyer and have them draw up an agreement for the soon-to-be terminated employee to sign. You know this one too. If they sign, then they get some money not to sue you. However, they will still get unemployment benefits if they apply, and they can always call the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and say you discriminated against them.
Whether the employee is fired or retained, review how you got here. Was the HR team involved in searching to fill the position, checking the references, preparing the interview questions, and participating in the interview before hiring this poor performer?
Hiring the wrong person has consequences.
I have shared the story of the geese with you before and have added it for food for thought. Check out Fact 2. “Lessons from Geese” was transcribed from a speech given by Angeles Arrien at the 1991 Organizational Development Network and is based on the work of Milton Olson. This version comes from the Power Resource Center’s “Five Powerful Leadership Lessons from the Geese,” December 3, 2020, by Tara Powers.
Fact #1: As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying together in one “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71 percent more momentum than if each bird flew alone. Lesson: There is power in unity when a group of people is working toward a shared goal. Great teams recognize and leverage the strengths of each individual, which enables them to accomplish much more than if they were working alone.
Fact #2: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly recognizes this and moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it. Lesson: When one team member is struggling and not showing up as a team player, there is a real risk of morale and productivity issues for the whole team. Quickly address your concerns by inviting your team member into a collaborative dialogue and revisiting the teams’ vision, values, and goals. Explain how they contribute and why their role matters to the rest of the team. Then, find new opportunities to re-engage them.
Fact #3: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation, and another goose flies into the leadership point position. Lesson: It builds trust and confidence when team members take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. Like geese, a team is interdependent on each other’s skills, capabilities, and unique talents. By sharing responsibility and accountability, we develop stronger, more connected teams.
Fact #4: Geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed (this is my favorite geese fact!). Lesson: When is the last time you gave a shout-out or “honk” to your team? In teams where there is consistent encouragement and recognition, productivity is much greater. The power of encouragement, i.e., giving someone support, confidence, or hope, is the quality of “honking” that creates the culture of connection every team desires.
Fact #5: When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to support, assist, and protect. They stay until the goose dies or can fly again. Then, they launch a new formation or catch up with the flock. Lesson: The very best teams mirror the instinctive behaviors of geese and stand by each other in difficult times, looking out for one another and caring deeply about each other’s well-being.
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“Your employees are the heart of your organization.” Dr. Michele Harmon is a Human Resource professional, supporting clients in Texas and New Mexico that range in size from five to more than 3,000 employees. Email: micheleharmon1@gmail.com