Step Four: Decide What Consequences You Are Able or Willing to Use to Correct the Problem

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STEP FOUR: DECIDE WHAT CONSEQUENCES YOU ARE ABLE OR WILLING TO USE TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM

In step three, you determined that you really had a "won't do" problem. Before you proceed to a counseling session with the employee, you must decide what you are willing and able to do to correct that problem. "Won't do" problems usually exist for one or more of two reasons:

1. No feedback - the person doesn't know a problem exists. As surprising as it may sound, often people don't perform according to expectations either because they don't know the expectations or they don't know their performance isn't meeting the expectations. In the absence of frequent, data-based, objective feedback on performance, people will often develop misconceptions about their performance. They don't know the score. Since they don't, they assume all is well when it isn't. Obviously, one of the things you will do in your counseling session will be to give the employee verbal feedback on his performance - to correct any misconception he might have about how well he is performing. But what can you do to arrange feedback to that employee about this area of performance on a regular (daily or weekly) basis? In step one, you collect data on performance. Can you arrange to share this data with employees on a regular basis? How would you do that?

2. Nonperformance is rewarding and/or good performance is punishing: Sometimes a "won't do" problem exists because there are a number of positive consequences for nonperformance and few, if any, positive consequences for good performance. For example, Neal may be reinforced for coming in late. He gets to sleep later. He doesn't have to fight rush hour traffic. He gets to spend more time with his family. He can stay up late and watch the ball game the night before. There are probably many other reasons for Neal deciding that coming late to work isn't such a bad idea. On the other hand, there is probably little in it for Neal to arrive on time. No one is going to thank him for getting to work on time. He isn't going to make any more money for arriving early. In fact, arriving earlier might be punishing to Neal in some ways. We once had a client who had a problem with employees being tardy. As we studied the positive and negative consequences for arriving on time from the employees' point of view, we discovered something very interesting. At this particular company, work assignments were distributed at the beginning of each shift. The first jobs to be assigned were the priority jobs. They also tended to be the most difficult and unpleasant jobs to perform. Employees quickly learned that arriving early meant you got the "dog" assignments. It was much better to come in a little late after the hard work had already been assigned. Then you got the easier, more routine work to do.

In our previous chapter on motivation, we discussed the impact of consequences on employee behavior. We said that consequences - the good and bad things that happen to employees as a result of their behavior - have a powerful and perhaps controlling influence on the behavior. One way to analyze why a behavior is occurring is to examine the "balance of consequences" from the employee's point of view. Here is how you do that:

1. Take a piece of paper and list the problem behavior at the top.

2. Divide the rest of the paper into two columns. Label one column "Positive Consequences" (the good things that happen to the employee when this behavior is performed). Label the other column "Negative Consequences" (the bad things that happen to the employee when this behavior is performed).

3. From the employee's point of view, make a list of all the "Positive Consequences" and "Negative Consequences."

When you complete this exercise, you will often find that, from the employee's point of view, there are many more positive consequences for exhibiting the problem behavior than there are negative consequences. From the employee's viewpoint, coming in late, not maintaining the machine, calling in sick - all of these "problem" behaviors just make sense.

Once you have some understanding of how positive and negative consequences affect employee behavior, your next task is to decide how you can change the "balance of consequences." For example, if Neal is coming in late because there are too many positive consequences for being late, can you add some negative consequences to change the balance? Just how far are you willing to go to change Neal's behavior? After counseling, would you be prepared to fire Neal if his tardiness did not improve? Would you be prepared to dock his pay? On the other hand, are there any positive consequences you can provide Neal for being on time? For example, if his punctuality improves, are you prepared to thank him for correcting the problem? Before you go into a counseling session with Neal (or any one), you need to decide what action you are prepared to take.

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