Cutting Out the Cancer in Your Culture
Today on Eye Openers, we're discussing a sensitive yet vital topic: "Cutting Out the Cancer in Your Culture." We explore how to handle problematic employees, why timely intervention is essential, and the steps you can take to foster a positive work environment.
Key Takeaways:
🔑 Timely Intervention is Key
🗣️The Importance of Private Feedback
💼 Document Everything
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Let's work together to build a thriving, positive workplace culture.
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Eye Opening Insights:
[00:02:34] Addressing performance issues as soon as they arise is critical. Delaying intervention can allow the problem to spread, affecting the overall team morale and productivity. It's important to tackle these issues immediately to prevent further damage.
[00:03:49] Always provide performance feedback in private. This approach ensures a safe space for open dialogue and allows the employee to understand and respond to the feedback without the pressure of public scrutiny. It's about fostering a constructive conversation aimed at improvement.
[00:06:00] Documentation is crucial when managing performance issues. Keeping a detailed record of observations, interventions, and outcomes protects both the organization and the employee. It ensures clarity and accountability throughout the process.
Transcript:
EO 78: Cutting Out the Cancer in Your Culture
This transcript is auto-generated. Please excuse any typos!
[00:00:00] Today, we're going to talk about cutting out the cancer in your organization. And while that sounds like, uh, why is that the topic? The truth is, is that when we have a problematic employee or leader or any team member, it can feel like a cancer metastasizing inside of your business. And it is so important that we
[00:00:43] administer the appropriate treatment to shrink the size of it and eradicate it completely. And that is exactly why we use the term cancer when we think about a problematic and unwelcome visitor in your organization. So there's [00:01:00] several things. The good news here, right, is that there are several things that we can do to help.
[00:01:05] To help minimize the impact of this negative person or cancer, quote unquote, in your organization. So how does this happen to begin with, right? Let's say you did everything right. Let's say you did your absolute best to vet a new employee and this employee seem to do well. Let's say you hired them as an individual contributor.
[00:01:30] Oh, they're doing great work. Okay. That seems good. And actually then we promote them. They're doing so well that they get promoted to a manager. Now, what do we know? Oftentimes we accidentally promote people to their level of incompetence. And that is so unfortunate because a demotion is Uh, so uncomfortable.
[00:01:50] But what starts to happen is we realize, Oh my gosh, this is not the right person for the role. They're not performing well. They're not able to develop and [00:02:00] motivate team members. They're not even able to manage performance. And then maybe their own performance starts slipping, or maybe they were never doing well in this new role in, in what it asked of them.
[00:02:10] And so here you are, as the leader in this organization, That needs to manage this now problem or quote unquote cancer and stop the negative impact from spreading. One of the most important things to consider is that this needs to be a very timely intervention. What do I mean by that? We need to address this issue as soon as possible.
[00:02:34] And I lead with this intervention because you guys, This is the thing that is the hardest to do for some reason, when you are a leader, you are so busy, there are so many things pulling at you that the idea of addressing a, a performance issue, uh, it can just drag you down.You can feel underprepared to have this kind of crucial and uncomfortable [00:03:00] conversation.
[00:03:00] And oftentimes performance conversations are more uncomfortable for the leader addressing it than it is for the person to receive that feedback. So you need to be prepared. this conversation Should happen as soon as you notice the problematic behavior, because just like Children, if we intervene in the moment, they're way more likely to have a solid learning experience than if we wait and delay that messaging that communication or that intervention.
[00:03:30] So timeliness is key here. So as soon as you can, give that feedback to that team member that they're not meeting performance and help them understand the ways in which you wish it were different so that they understand the true target. This is so important. Make sure that you're having this conversation in private, right?
[00:03:49] We want to praise in public and we want to give performance feedback in private. this allows you the freedom to really be explicit [00:04:00] about the person's performance and where they're missing the mark. And being explicit here is so important so that they understand what it is you're looking to see. Now we want to make space for this individual to be able to comment on the feedback that they're getting.
[00:04:21] We need to hear their perspective. We should be asking coaching questions here and not just speaking at them. This should be a dialogue and not a monologue. In that conversation we want to support a path for improvement. So we're not just going to talk about where they're missing the mark, what we believe they're doing wrong and ask them why they're doing it.
[00:04:41] We want to offer training. We want to offer mentorship, coaching. Tools, resources, whatever they might need to get them back on track or get them performing at a rate that you're looking to see. Now, this is probably collaborative in nature. So. [00:05:00] Together, you'll want to set those performance goals.
[00:05:03] You'll want to clearly communicate, a metric or how we know we're getting there. maybe there's a lead indicator along the way. So we know we're on the right track or we're staying on the right track and not just able to assess that at certain milestones. And we want to follow up regularly to track that progress, have that communication.
[00:05:24] Wow, I see so much progress. What's working for you? What change did you make that is really effective? Or if for instance, we're not seeing that progress, I noticed we're not able to hit these milestones. What have you tried? What haven't you tried? What do you feel is working? What do you feel is currently ineffective?
[00:05:43] And how can we make those changes? We need to also approach this from an HR lens. So put your HR hat on when you're doing some of this. Make sure that you are documenting what's happening. Every step of the way, when you notice the performance issue, how [00:06:00] you addressed it, what you said, what plan you put together, maybe even have them sign off on the plan and the timeline for the plan.
[00:06:06] That's super important. And. And if there are any additional company policies or issues that you need to address, let's say there's sexual harassment or let's say there's discrimination or something, you definitely want to involve legal or HR and issues like that. And even honestly, even for PIPSC performance improvement plans, it is a really great idea to get HR on board.
[00:06:31] They usually have a process that they like to adhere to along the way. So make sure you're documenting it. And each one of these touch points and, and following up with your, colleagues that you need to involve as an absolute last resort will terminate. But the truth is that, well, I just said as the last resort, meaning we want to exercise all of these opportunities,
[00:06:59] it [00:07:00] doesn't have to be after months and months and months. I want to come back to this timeliness. You can create a performance improvement plan that is two weeks, and if you're not seeing progress, if you're not seeing them on board with that performance improvement plan, then you can terminate. Then I do believe in swift action, but we must make sure we are clear and we've been supportive and we have, got agreement from the individual of the path for improvement
[00:07:27] along the way. If you're able to check those boxes, Hey, I have done those things and I have, supplied the resources or the coaching to help this individual. And we are not seeing improvement and that's documented. Feel free to terminate. Again. I want you to collaborate with your HR partners,and legal if necessary in this process, because there's certainly a pathway they want you to take.
[00:07:50] But again, this does not need to be a 90 day process. In fact. Timeliness here is what is so important when we talk about cutting out the cancer, because the longer we [00:08:00] wait. The more it stands a chance of spreading, you see, negativity in an organization is so contagious. And it's so unfortunate when somebody is disengaged, people can sense it.
[00:08:13] It's in their body language. It's in their lack of engagement and productivity and. We need to address that because the longer it goes unaddressed, the more people who see that level of performance believe that it's being tolerated. And here's the hard part about performance management.
[00:08:29] It often happens in private and therefore individuals are not made aware that this plan is in place. We're tracking the progress and that's why we have to be swift and concise and very objective in our decision making when we do move forward with a performance improvement plan because employees are looking to your response.
[00:08:52] The message that you send when we're noticing negative performance sends a message to the whole [00:09:00] organization, not just to that individual. So by sending the message, Hey, I need to see some sort of improvement in this in the next week or 2. Or else that's grounds for termination that lets the other team members know that are performing well, that this will not be tolerated.
[00:09:17] That's the exact message you need to send for your organization. Because if you don't, you are at risk of losing, or at least disengaging those top performers. That is going to cost you potentially millions of dollars. So that's why performance management is such an important topic. And that's why people bring me in to their companies to help manage this.
[00:09:38] It's very valuable. And honestly, besides the dollar signs that it represents for the company, this is the employees work experience. This is where they spend so much of their, waking hours and their energy and their investment. And we need this to be a positive experience for them. So managing this, believe it or not, when you manage a negative employee, it sends [00:10:00] ripples through the whole organization.
[00:10:01] And that's why getting this right is so valuable. So let's reiterate. Timely intervention. The second you start to see things are off track with an individual address it immediately. Make sure you do so in private so that there can be full latitude in having this conversation that the individual feels safe and expressing what they think is involved here and how we can, improve it.
[00:10:22] Be part of the plan to, and in shaping that pathway for improvement. What do they need? Training, mentoring, coaching, other resources and tools. And let's create that plan to track progress, making sure we're identifying metrics along the way, To make this more objective that you both can look at that and agree.
[00:10:40] Oh yes, this is getting better. This is getting worse document, document, document, and compliance. So bring your HR friends and colleagues and legal into this, this performance improvement plan as needed. Terminate. When the mark has been missed, try to make this swift, because like I said, [00:11:00] people are taking notice here.
[00:11:01] how you handle this. This will definitely leave a mark in your culture. You have control in making sure it's a positive mark that is left. These are the steps you could take to make this happen. To do so, I hope this episode has been beneficial to you as always. We love to hear feedback from you guys.
[00:11:19] Did you use this process? How did it go for you? What's something you've done differently? that has worked. We love to share with the audience because we are all here to learn and grow together and ultimately find success. On a side note. So if what we have recommended here really speaks to you and you'd love help in building this out in your organization, we have one coaching spot left right now.
[00:11:42] We are so excited to offer to an organization that is looking to get their team on track with building a positive culture, either after a leadership transition or looking to build something new for the company altogether. Please reach out to us if that is exciting to you, either here where you're listening [00:12:00] on this platform or via our website at brittanydrozd.Com. Thank you so much for listening.