Discipline #4 – Deciding When To Discipline
March 8, 2012 – 8:00 am
As we have previously discussed, the purpose of discipline is not to punish – it’s to change unacceptable behavior into acceptable behavior and help get a good performer back on track.
Another critical factor to consider is when to discipline. One of the worst mistakes you can make is to discipline employees when you are angry with them. This may cause you to place the emphasis on emotions instead of the employee behavior that resulted in the discipline.
The best way to ensure that you are not emotional when you discipline an employee is to develop and follow a systematic process for investigating personnel incidents.
First, gather all the fact about the incident. Make sure you check your emotions at the door and consider only the facts.
Next, take the time to write a narrative of your findings in a concise manner. This will later serve as your documentation of the facts as determined through your investigation.
Next, pull out your policy manual and determine if there is written policy or procedure that addressed the situation. Make sure that you include a copy of the policy with your narrative.
This next step will require that you step back from the incident and evaluate whether the rule is both fair and enforceable. Oftentimes, you will find yourself in a situation where, depending upon the interpretation of the policy, a violation may have occurred. However, if you are dealing with a good employee, a fair supervisor should always give the benefit of any doubt to the employee.
However, you should review past experience with similar violations and discuss the situation with your Human Resources personnel. Absent any extenuating circumstances, make sure you are consistent and fair.
Above all remain unemotional and impartial and do not attempt to discipline an employee until you have gotten rid of your anger.
It is a good practice to approach disciplinary situations like a problem-solving process. Identify the problem, develop a list of possible solutions, implement the best solution and follow up to evaluate the effectiveness of the solution.
Keep in mind that an effective agency does not rely on punishment to intimidate employees into compliance with policies. You can get away with ruling by intimidation for a little while but it will eventually have an impact on employee retention. The bottom line is people do not want to work in an intimidating environment. Instead, try to simply hold employees accountable for meeting standards and use discipline to correct unacceptable behavior.
Here is the deal, employees are motivated by personal responsibility and loyalty, rather than fear. As a result, morale will usually be much higher because employees will know what is expected. They can concentrate on doing their jobs and you will not have to spend all you time handing out reprimands and suspensions so you may actually have time to do more productive activities.
This is the final article in this four part series. If you would like to read the other articles in this four part series, just type “discipline” in the search box or click on the “Supervision” category in the right column.
My Essentials of Effective Supervision course includes an extensive discussion of employee discipline and a variety of other topics that will improve your supervisory skills. This four day course is pre-approved for DCJS in-service credit in Virginia so it can be conducted at any location. For more information, send me an e-mail at rich@rlsei.com or give me a call at 540.797.3853.