The Missing Piece

I just finished reading a homework assignment focused on an employee whose lifestyle balance between home and work is skewed toward home. "It seems she is so happy to leave work to go home that she rushes through her work and takes no joy in doing her job." While the actual work effort is adequate, this employee has little actual interest in her work and has less than adequate working relationships with her co-workers.

In addressing the issues, the supervisor had a very comprehensive plan for coaching, counseling and corrective actions. It would begin with the supervisor reciting her impressions and concerns, moving from there to a statement of impact of the negative behaviors, and from there moving to specific corrective action steps. All in all, a very good job by the supervisor, but it lacked one important piece.

The supervisor needs to know how the employee sees things. What is the employee's perspective on her job? What does she like? Doesn't like? What is the employee's perception of her co-workers? Department goals, standards and requirements? What are the employee's interests? What are her concerns? What is her motivation for working? What would make her work more interesting to her? And so forth.

Without these pieces of information, the supervisor's plan may well fail to address issues that are key to the employee.

About me: Dan Pelley is an educator specializing in management training and development programs for supervisors and other first-line managers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI). The issue recited above came from a participant in one of his supervisory management development programs.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
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