Retrain the Employee or Fix The Corporate Culture? You Decide….

A supervisor has many tools at their disposal that they can use to correct poor employee performance.  They may provide coaching, corrective discipline or role modeling. They may choose to ignore the problem.  Furthermore, they may send the employee to the training department (if they are lucky enough to have one) for “retraining”.  The retraining technique is a tempting option for busy supervisors:  “Send the employee to the trainer, bada bing, bada boom, done!  Problem fixed!”  However, if a supervisor doesn’t figure out the root cause of poor performance, most corrective actions will not be effective!  In this article, I provide you with tips that will help you correct poor work performance efficiently.

Getting to the Root of the Problem:

 One of the hallmarks of being a great leader is the ability to accurately assess the root cause of poor performance and then effectively weed it out.  The root causes of employee performance problems are generally either systemic or individual in nature.

a. Systemic Causes:  If poor work performance is systemic, something in the environment is contributing to the employee’s ability to perform.  “Re-training” an employee when the root cause of the problem is systemic is not going to improve the employee’s work performance.  The only way that the performance issue can be corrected is when the system is changed.

Examples:

• If employees incorrectly fill out a vague form, changing the form may be the most effective way to eliminate errors instead of taking the time to retrain employees constantly on filling out the form correctly.
• Medication errors in a nursing facility will continue to be high if nurses are allowed to be interrupted during medication passes because of short staffing.
• Health care professionals are more likely to forget to reposition individuals to prevent bed sores if there isn’t a system of accountability in place to reposition the patient and check skin integrity.
• A sales rep will be unable to make the sale if other departments do not give the sales rep information the customer wants in a timely fashion.

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b. Individual Causes:  When the root cause of poor work performance resides with the “individual”, addressing the employee directly should result in improved work performance.  A supervisor may provide coaching, feedback, and / or disciplinary action to address the employee.  Maybe the individual needs assistance prioritizing or being held accountable for requesting help when they need it.  Sending the employee to be “retrained” may be an effective corrective action to take.

 Why Bother?

 My experience has proven to me that if you don’t find out the underlying reasons for poor work performance, money can be wasted and problems are likely to be repeated.  Consider how much lost productivity occurs when an employee is taken from the job and put into a training program, when the problem is likely to recur because the problem is systemic and does not reside with the individual.  If the systemic reasons for poor performance aren’t addressed, then the poor employee performance is likely to recur.   Morale is likely to suffer if employees are held to standards that they cannot abide by because they don’t have the tools to perform adequately.  Sometimes, managers who are afraid to confront performance problems address individual problems systemically so that they exonerate the employee from responsibility.  Other times, they may be eager to send the employee to be “retrained” because it puts the responsibility on the trainer instead of themselves.

Doing the Root  Cause Assessment: 

To prevent these negative consequences, consider the following questions to help you determine the root cause of performance problems.

 1.  Is the root cause of poor work performance “systemic”?

• Is more than one employee having the same problem?  If yes, it’s probably systemic.
• What excuse do employees have for not performing?  Can you address their concerns?
• Would the problem be solved if the process was changed?
• Is there enough time to perform adequately? If not, is there a change that can be implemented that will fix that?
• Is there enough on the job reinforcement?  Is a supervisor consistently role-modeling and enforcing the way an individual is supposed to perform?
• Has the employee been re-trained before?
• Do you find that you have to address the same issue repeatedly over time?
• Is there a way to decrease the amount of time providing oversight, and lowering the margin of error so that employees can work on higher priority tasks?

2.  Is the root cause of poor work performance an “individual” problem?

• Is there one employee that is having the performance problem?
• What excuse does the employee have for not performing?
• Has the employee received enough on the job training and consistent feedback?
• Have you ruled out or addressed systemic causes of poor performance?

Where there is poor performance, there are opportunities!

If you want to address employee performance problems efficiently and have a positive effect on morale, doing a root cause analysis is the key!  Every problem encountered in the work place is an opportunity to bring a team together for the sake of fixing the problem.  Addressing the root cause of performance issues systemically reinforces to your employees that you have realistic expectations and the flexibility to make changes with their input that will enable them to succeed.   If you capitalize on poor performance, by seeing it as on opportunity to make the work environment better, you will reap the added benefits of an engaged and committed workforce!

Copyright Denise Scotti-Smith 2011.  All Rights Reserved.