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How much bad behaviour do you need to put up with? The ABC of how to deal with it.
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While we understand nobody is perfect we often see managers putting up with behaviour in the workplace that is disruptive, creates friction, damages the culture and, ultimately, costs the business money by driving good people away.
Someone once said, “people don’t leave companies, they leave managers.”
We often put up with bad behaviour because it seems like too much trouble to fix it. This can range from people just being less than polite to outright unpleasantness and bullying.
Like most behavioural issues it helps to set a standard first. If your organization has developed core competencies or values, these should be in a form that communicates what behaviour is deemed a requirement and what is not accepted.
If you promote teamwork in your business an appropriate team behaviour may be “supports other team members with assistance when required” or “obtains the views of all team members and looks for consensus or acceptance”.
To make sure these don’t become just platitudes they should be documented and visible and form part of the performance management process.
When someone crosses the line it should be brought to their notice immediately. Whilst it may be tempting to ignore it and hope it won’t be repeated, we know that this often results in a bigger problem to deal with later.
Ken Blanchard, the academic and management guru has a very handy model in “The Ultimate One Minute Manager” called the ABCs of Management.
A is for activator and relates to what a manager does in advance, such as setting standards.
B is for the behaviour the employee displays – either positive or negative.
C is for the consequences.
It is the consequences that determine if the behaviour is going to be repeated or modified. If the behaviour is something you want to encourage you should be recognising it and giving some positive feedback. If it is something that is unacceptable it should be dealt with immediately with the right response.
While every situation is different, here is a general outline of how this can be done.
Communicate your understanding of what has happened. “I noticed that you did not provide the information to Sam in time for the report”
Ask for their view of what happened in case there is a misunderstanding.
Unless there is a good reason, remind them of the standard ie “supporting other team members…” and ask for this standard to be maintained in the future.
Treat the issue as a problem rather than a personal criticism. “We have a problem. Sam needs the information to write his report each month. How can we make sure this happens?”
If the issue is bad manners or unpleasantness, use the same approach. Remind them of the standard, which in some cases may be just civil behaviour with work colleagues. Explain the problem is maintaining a positive workplace for everybody and ask for their behaviour to change accordingly. Always focus on the specific behaviour or performance and not the personality.
Deal with results quickly, positive feedback if it works, further help or reprimanding if it doesn’t. Don’t let it continue without taking some action. If it requires moving into the formal corrective actions with written warnings, then so be it. At stake here is you keeping your good people by providing an attractive, positive and productive workplace.
If you would like some assistance with developing the framework for building and maintaining a positive workplace please contact us.
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