Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

            Here is the scenario: “You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services.  You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.  One employee, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers.  In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior, which has created a hostile environment.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

            The first thing to consider in this situation is the best way to approach the employee.  The employee has already displayed confrontational behavior so a non-confrontational approach will ease the employee into a discussion.  A good way to open up dialogue with the employee is to ask if the employee enjoys working for the organization.  There is always a possibility that the employee is unhappy outside of work and brings those problems to the job.  By opening dialogue and asking the employee some leading questions I may find out the root cause of the performance issues and negative behavior.

            The employee is not performing to the expected standard and is interfering with coworker morale due to the exhibited behavior.  Even if the employee has problems at home or any other reason, the negative behavior cannot continue and must be improved.  The goal of the exchange is a win-win situation where the employee feels understood and appreciated, but will agree to stop engaging in confrontational behavior and will improve performance.  The key is using a strategy that will achieve this result.

            I like to sandwich the negative between two positives.  There must be something the employee is doing right.  I find something positive to say about the employee, what the person is doing right.  Discussing the motivation behind the positive side of the employee’s performance provides a better understanding of what the employee wants or needs in order to improve.  After we have discussed the positive element I bring up the areas where improvement is needed.  In this case, the employee needs to improve their job performance and stop getting confrontational with coworkers.  After addressing what needs improvement I end the conversation on a positive note, praise for the professional way the employee handled taking criticism or hopeful anticipation of what the employee can accomplish. 

            An employee is not always going to react well when faced with constructive criticism.  For an effective conversation I must anticipate the employee’s response.  The employee has already displayed confrontational behavior so I need to be ready for the possibility of a negative reaction.  In business writing bad news should never be at the beginning or the end of a paragraph, but should still be clearly stated so the recipient of the news truly understands the message (Roebuck, 2010).  Verbal exchanges are no different; the bad news should neither open nor close the discussion, but it must be clear that improvement is necessary.

            I do not want to use the competitive style because it tends to be a confrontational approach and the last thing we want with a confrontational person is a confrontational approach (Shockley-Zalabak, 2009).  The distributive style is a style that promotes mutually agreeable results, a win-win (Shockley-Zalabak, 2009).  There is an entire group of employees to consider, not just the employee in question.  With the distributive style of conflict resolution the good of the entire group is important (Shockley-Zalabak, 2009).  The problem employee may not be aware of the impact negative behavior and underperformance has on everyone else.  In order to get the employee to recognize the importance of other people in the group the approach I use with my toddler is effective even with adults.  The approach?  Ask the employee, “How do you feel when (insert name of coworker) does not do their share of the work?”  Or, “Do you like it when (insert name) yells at you or calls you names?”  It seems simplistic, but sometimes people really do forget that the people around them have feelings too.             

            An important question to consider is whether or not the employee actually has the necessary skills for the position (Ivancevich, 2010).  If the employee is lacking the necessary skills, is it a training issue or should the employee be moved to another position.  Assuming the employee in this scenario does indeed have the necessary skills to perform all job functions, I must focus on the lack of motivation and the personality conflict causing confrontational behavior.  In order to find out what will motivate the employee to improve I will ask what he or she wants out of the job.  Is this a step in a career path or is this just somewhere to go every day?  What are the employee’s short term and long-term goals?  Does the employee even know what his or her goals are?  I will ask the employee directly, what motivates him or her? 

            The employee is now aware that I recognize the positive contributions, but that improvement is needed.  We have established that the behavior needs improvement and affects everyone else they work with.  I have taken an interest in the employee’s goals and motivations in order to incorporate his or her individual needs.  At this point I would have the employee help me create an action plan for improvement with measurable goals.  If the employee meets the organizational expectations then a reward system that fits the individual’s motivations will be put into effect.  If the employee does not improve, further disciplinary action and possibly termination will result.  We will agree on follow up times in order to measure performance against the specific goals. 

           

References

Ivancevich, J. (2010). Human resource management (11^th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Roebuck, D. (2010). Improving Business Communication Skills for Ashford University (4^th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Shockley-Zalabak, P.S. (2009). Fundamentals of Organizational Communication: Knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values (7^th ed.). Macintosh HD: Pearson Learning Solutions.