When an employee does not perform well and a manager needs to put something in writing, whether for a performance review or between evaluations, attorney Marie Burke Kenny recommends keeping two acronyms in mind: CONTACT and SMART.
Kenny, appearing again in today’s Advisor courtesy of California Employer Resources®, is an experienced employment law attorney in San Diego. (Go here for Kenny’s take on problem employees.)
CONTACT Is Key
C #1 stands for “comprehensive.” Make sure the memo is comprehensive in describing the history of the issue and why now is the appropriate time to write up the employee for poor performance.
O stands for “objective.” A supervisor should get HR’s input on an evaluation. A second set of eyes helps the supervisor be more objective. Supervisors should also hold onto whatever they write for at least 24 hours because that break in time can change their perspective.
N is for “no charity.” No charity means not being dishonest for the sake of complimenting the employee. It’s always a good idea to identify something the employee is doing well, but you should not tell an employee that he or she is doing something well if it’s not true. Kenny says she sees too many performance reviews and memos that are filled with charity, which employees use against the company down the line in lawsuits.
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T stands for “timely.” The feedback has to be timely. It’s wrong to write up an employee for something that happened 6 months ago.
A stands for “accurate.” Make sure the facts in an evaluation are absolutely correct and independently verifiable through calendars, appointments, and other sources.
C #2 stands for “candid.” Be straightforward and honest about an employee’s performance.
T stands for “training.” Any time an employee is promoted from a subordinate to a supervisor position, there should be training on how to manage employees. It can save the company a lot of heartache and money in legal bills.
SMART Keeps You in Line
S stands for “specific.” You should specify what the performance issue is. If your sales employee is not meeting his or her sales quota, says Kenny, you could say, “You’ve only hit 40 percent of your sales quota for the last 2 months. At the end of the next 2 months, we expect you to hit 65 percent.”
M is for “measurable.” Whatever you’re asking of the employee must be measurable. For example:
- Generate $50,000 in sales per month.
- Meet all weekly report deadlines.
A stands for “achievable.” Managers may be frustrated that a sales employee is not hitting his or her sales goals, but they let it slide for a few months. Then, all of a sudden, they tell the employee, “That’s it! I let you slide for a few months; you’ve been at 50 percent of sales quota, I want to see you at 100 percent by the end of this month”—and it’s halfway through the month. Is that really achievable? Not likely.
R is for “realistic,” which ties in with achievable. A goal is not realistic if it’s not achievable within the stated time frame.
T is for “turnaround.” When do you expect to see the desired performance?
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What’s the most important letter? That’s easy—T for “training.”
It’s how you make all the others happen. Your managers and supervisors need training on performance management. Come to think of it, they also need training on hiring and firing—and everything in between.
Training is especially critical for supervisors who are new to the job. They don’t know how to handle hiring, they don’t know how to handle other basic tasks like appraising and firing, and that’s to say nothing of handling intermittent leave or accommodating a disability.
It’s not their fault—you didn’t hire them for their HR knowledge—and you can’t expect them to act appropriately right out of the box. But you can train them to do it.
To train effectively, you need a program that’s easy for you to deliver and that requires little time from busy schedules. Also, if you’re like most companies in these tight budget days, you need a program that’s reasonable in cost.
We asked our editors what they recommend for training supervisors in a minimum amount of time with maximum effect. They came back with BLR’s unique 10-Minute HR Trainer.
With this training resource, we’ve provided an easy-to-manage program that lets you train in discrete, 10-minute chunks. It’s a program that’s easy for you to deliver and that requires little time from busy schedules. (Also, if you’re like most companies in these tight budget days, you will like that it is reasonable in cost.)
When we asked our editors for a system that trains in a minimum amount of time with maximum effect, they came back with BLR’s unique 10-Minute HR Trainer.
As its name implies, this product trains managers and supervisors in critical HR skills in as little as 10 minutes for each topic. 10-Minute HR Trainer offers these features:
Trains in 50 key HR topics under all major employment laws, including manager and supervisor responsibilities, and how to legally carry out managerial actions from hiring to termination. (See a complete list of topics below.)
Uses the same teaching sequence master teachers use. Every training unit includes an overview, bullet points on key lessons, a quiz, and a handout to reinforce the lesson later.
Completely prewritten and self-contained. Each unit comes as a set of reproducible documents. Just make copies or turn them into overheads, and you’re done. (Take a look at a sample lesson below.)
Updated continually. As laws change, your training needs do so as well. 10-Minute HR Trainer provides new lessons and updated information every 90 days, along with a monthly Training Forum newsletter, for as long as you are in the program.
Works fast. Each session is so focused that there’s not a second’s waste of time. Your managers are in and out almost before they can look at the clock, yet they remember small details even months later.
Evaluate It at No Cost for 30 Days.
We’ve arranged to make 10-Minute HR Trainer available to our readers for a 30-day, in-office, no-cost trial. Review it at your own pace and try some lessons with your colleagues. If it’s not for you, return it at our expense. Click here and we’ll set you up with our 10-Minute HR Trainer.
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