Coaching the Marginal Employee

Coaching the Marginal Employee

Dealing with a marginal employee can be a difficult task for a supervisor. Therefore, it is very important that the supervisor identifies the issues, make contact with the employee and then implement an action plans to assist the employee with resolving the issues.

According to the author of this article, it is very important for the supervisor to put themselves in the shoes of the employee and evaluate how they would feel if the were performing below standards. The author believes that no one wants to perform below standards.

The two primary reasons associated with poor performance are that the employee doesn't realize that he is responsible for specific tasks or what is involved in accurately completing the task. The second listed reason is that the employee doesn't know how to do the task. Therefore he avoids it all together.

In order to evaluate an employees understanding of his job duties, it is recommended that the employee compile a list of what he thinks his duties are. The supervisor also must compile a list of the employees' duties. Once this has been completed, the supervisor and employee can compare lists. The list should be discussed in detail. This will include a thorough description of what each task entails. During this coaching session it is important that an action plan and realistic time lines be set and agreed upon by both the supervisor and employee. The action plan should discuss in detail what steps the employee needs to take to improve his performance, any needed training to be provided by the employer to assist employee with meeting set goals and scheduled meetings to evaluate the employees progress. It is also important that documentation be maintained throughout this process charting the employees' progress. Throughout this coaching process it is important for the employee to be praised for his progress and corrected in areas that may still need addressing. If correction is needed it should be done in a none threatening manner so as not to derail any of the progress that has been made to this point.

It is important for management to understand and recognize that this process will not work for all employees but it can boost the morale of other employees by allowing them to see that the organization has a vested interest in their success.

Reference:

MoneyInstructor.com, Coaching the Marginal Employee