Whenever addressing bad or difficult news, I was always
taught to treat it like a sandwich. First you give good or positive new. This
keeps things soft and light and not too critical. After that foundation is laid
then you give the bad news or the critic. It comes after a value statement to
ensure that the person you are speaking to does not feel attacked; however the
important information is given. The last piece of the sandwich is to reaffirm.
That means to give another compliment and to reassure the person of their worth
to you and even to the company.
Scenario: “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.”
In the instance of the scenario with the employee who is
underperforming, it is important to highlight their strengths before pointing
out their weaknesses. There is enough
information to successfully do this with the employee. For sake of example,
let’s call the employee John. This is an example of what I would say:
“John, thank you for sitting down with me today. I want to
thank you for working here with us for the past two years. You are a valued
part of our team and we certainly appreciate you. It has come to our attention
that there are some areas of improvement that are vital to the success of our
company and to your continued employment. In the past two weeks we have
received several complaints from customers and your fellow coworkers regarding
the customer service that you have provided to them. It is has also come to our
attention that there have been instances of confrontational behavior which has
created a hostile working environment. Here at our company, we strive to
provide top notch customer service for our customers as well as to make it a
safe and easy going working environment for our employees. The behaviors that
you are exhibiting must immediately change or else we have to do what is best
for our customers and the other workers. Aside from these issues, we have not
had any other issues with your performance and we would love to have you
continue to work with us. Whatever we can do to help we are willing. We do
appreciate the time you have invested in us to make us a successful company. “
I would anticipate that this approach would cause minimal
conflict, however it is important to be prepared for it. This is where using
the steps to deal with conflict resolution are important. The first step to use
is to remain calm. The employee, John, might feel attacked and want to defend
himself. This could cause him to flare up and become hostile again. It is
important to remain calm so not to escalate the situation.
The next step to use in this situation is to deal with one
issue at a time. Instead of compiling all of the issues together, try to
address each one so that way they are all tackled. Dealing with them one at a
time also takes some of the pressure off of the situation.
The next two steps go together. You want to make sure that
you don’t use accusations with the employee and don’t generalize. Being sure
that you have solid facts helps the employee reference exactly the problem
issues so that way they can be corrected.
The sandwich method is important and effective. It works
well whenever dealing with bad news. Give a compliment, deliver the bad news,
and then reaffirm.
References
Vindicate. (June 23,
2010). Conflict resolution guidelines & tips. Retrieved from:
http://vindicate.forum-nation.com/t74-conflict-resolution-guidelines-tips
