WHY – Your employee problems snowball

The good news is you aren’t the only one this happens to. The fact is, it’s human nature to want the problem to go away by itself. We generally avoid confrontation, though there are a few people who actually create confrontation. You might find one or two of them hoping to be a part of a bar fight or arguing with you just for the sake of an argument. For the rest of us, avoidance is the natural preferred course. We hope our employee problems will resolve on their own without our having to intervene even though deep down we know that the chances of that happening are slim to none. The worst part is that we can look back at a problem that started off rather small, that then got worse, and finally was a huge problem which when it had to be addressed, taking a significant amount of time and energy. You would think this would get our attention and the next time we would jump on the problem at the earliest warning sign of a potential issue. Unfortunately the definition of “insanity” comes into play. We keep doing the same thing expecting a different outcome.

Here are two common examples:

• Your employee comes in a bit late once a week and leaves a bit early. Soon it’s a regular occurrence and you wonder if the employee is really committed to this job.
• You’re the business owner and one of your supervisors starts losing employees quite frequently. In fact you have even started to interview the employees yourself before an offer is made to any candidate. Soon one of the supervisor’s employee’s is coming to you with complaints about his/her behavior. Before you know it you receive a letter from a government agency about an investigation for harassment. It is also worth mentioning that in many states in the US and in several other countries, as a Manager if you knew about the harassment problem and didn’t address the behavior, not just your company, but you personally, could be liable.

To stop the snowball effect you need to address the problem early and you can do so using these three simple steps:

1. Get all the facts written down in a clear and concise way. If possible try to observe the issues first hand. It’s always better to be able to discuss the issue from a first person point of view vs. addressing an issue with other people’s stories.

2. Have a face to face conversation with the employee. This is not the time to sugar coat the problem. In a calm even tone state the reason for the meeting and describe the behaviors and facts. Then, most important part……..Shut Up! There might even be a long uncomfortable silence. Keep waiting until the person responds with their point of view. This is extremely important and our natural tendency is to fill in the gap because silence is uncomfortable, usually giving them a way out.

3. Agree on a solution and document the conversation. Lastly the piece most leaders typically miss, follow up. It’s as simple as this…..if you want the problem to come back, don’t follow up. If you want the problem to go away permanently and not snowball into a larger issue simply reinforce the positive behavior. You can say, “I noticed you came in every day this week on time, thank you for making the adjustment. I am glad you are committed to the agreement we set." Change this to whatever is appropriate for your situation.

While the examples I used here are common of more junior leaders, employee problems happen at all levels of organizations. In my experience, I have observed Directors, VPs, CEOs, Owners, and every level in between avoid conflict, avoid the problem, and wish they had addressed the issue sooner.