Talk to Your People
Oprah knows lots of things for sure while I only know one, and it has to do with managing people:
Address difficult performance issues directly and address them promptly.
If your employee is struggling and you avoid difficult conversations, the situation rarely improves by itself. Instead, things tend to get more complicated and difficult. Time after time, I’ve seen ignored performance issues morph into something else when complicated by subsequent FMLA requests, workers’ comp or disability claims, harassment charges (or, when it really gets good, two or more of those variables plus several others I didn’t think to mention). After the introduction of the complicating medical or legal factor, addressing the performance issue only gets murkier, uglier and more expensive. That’s when you pick up the phone and call your attorney.
So when employees struggle, talk to them. Although it may seem hard to believe, it will never be an easier than it is right now.
P.S. what do you know for sure?
Photo by NailaJ