“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”
I would begin by suggesting a feedback session where we could both discuss the employee’s (we’ll call him Jack) performance as well as his attitude at work. Once we had arranged a meeting, I would get everything together that would be necessary for our feedback session. I would get notes from previous sessions, complaints from co-workers, performance reports, etc.
When it comes time for the meeting, I will begin with a positive attitude and ask Jack why he thinks we are having this meeting. Giving him the time to respond, I will be direct with him about the problems I have seen with his work performance, and tell him I have had complaints from other employees about his confrontational behavior. At this point, I imagine Jack will become withdrawn, even have a bit of an attitude toward me. He will defend himself, saying that it’s just his personality and he doesn’t see what the big deal is. He’ll say everyone is just picking on him because they don’t like him and they just want to see him fail. He will put up a wall, and make it difficult to proceed.
This is where it gets tricky. In all honesty, I don’t really know that I want Jack to stay around. He has no redeeming qualities and creates more work for everyone in the department. He is rude, pushy and kind of a jerk to customers and other employees. It’s hard to try to teach someone who behaves like this. However, this is the point where I would try to come to some sort of collaboration with Jack. Ask him why he feels that way, and if there is something I can do to help with his productivity. Maybe he has too much responsibility? Maybe he’s really unhappy in his current position? He’ll push back. He’ll tell me that he’s too smart for this lame work and that he’d serve the company much better if he was promoted and had more responsibility. Maybe he could get his own office, and several people to work for him.
Well...that’s not going to happen any time soon. This is the point where I would tell him, point blank, there is no way he will have a future in this company if he continues with the path he is on. This may not be his favorite thing to hear, but it’s the truth. I will let him know that I have to see immediate improvement, and when I say immediate, I mean as soon as he walks out of my office. I will document the conversation, and tell him that if he does not improve, he will be terminated.
I don’t know that it will be the most pleasant conversation, but sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade...especially in my line of work.
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