Reframing an employee

Inadequate work, inappropriate behavior, failure to follow instructions... At one time or another, every manager is faced with à the need éto set an employee straight. It's a daunting task which often goes against the natural éflexe of avoiding conflict. Here are a few best practices for demonstrating authorityé without being overly motivating.

Don't put things off à until later

Telling an employee what's wrong à is far from êbeing a natural walk for many managers, human nature ébeing rather hostile to conflict. "Generally speaking, many people have the inner message 'If you want êto be learnedéhereé, be nice and please' and therefore reject sources of tension," explains Michel Lora, founder of Gii and trainer at Benchmark Group. "The manager will tend to à identify with à his managé, by recalling a ésimilar episode he may have experienced in the pasté", adds the consultant.

The risks of burying one's head in the sand

It's tempting to postpone à the explanation. At the risk of letting incidents pile up. The situation can only get worse, as the employee has little chance of correcting it on his or her own. The responsibility for the situation, particularly if external intervention is required, will then fall to the manager. Beware of étoo timid remarks: you may seem to be êclear, but the person you're talking to may not get the message. Everything will then à start all over again, but your patience will have étéentamée.

"The risk in this type of situation is to êbe too kind," précomes Michel Lora. You feel sorry for the employee, you make excuses for him or her, not taking the context into account, and you take the problem upon yourself. You position yourself as the rescuer, while the other person becomes the victim. So there's no incentive é à to change behavior. Little by little, as nothing changes, the manager takes the place of the victim. And when he can no longer à take responsibility, he often becomes the persécuteur. This is the dramatic triangle. It's anti-management."

Act fast or act now?

A quick réaction does not necessarily imply a à hot réaction. Ités advisable to go through an interview, more or less formal, depending on what à the employee is sensitive to and à when he or she is most receptive. However, the situation may call for immediate action, either because the team has été téless of a problem and you need to make a mark, or because you ére particularly affectedé and you need to évacate the tension as quickly as possible. "Let's take the example of a late employee à a meeting. If the manager is a stickler ès à for schedules, such behavior can be very annoying. If he doesn't say anything right away, he runs the risk of being attacked à later, in the middle of a meeting, on a point that has nothing à to do with it", analyzes Michel Lora. Bringing up the subject right away is therefore of great interestérêt. As long as you can rely on your émotions.

Conducting the reframing interview correctly

Préparer, expose, écouter

For the reframing interview to actually change the managerés behavior, it must be well prepared. The first step is to ask yourself exactly what you want from your colleague," advises Michel Lora. Rather than focusing on what's going wrong, it's better to ask what he or she should do to make things right. This préalable work obviously calls for édisregarding the open conflicts that may exist between manager and managé, even if it means àseeking outside advice.

The interview will then begin by exposingé these réflexions to the collaborator. "Instead of telling him what's wrong, tell him what you want." All this while remaining concrete and factual about expectations. If you don't, you run the risk of being misunderstood. "I recall the case of a branch manager who, one day, made a remark à to one of his hôtesses to improve her welcome, but without specifying anything more. The next day, the hostess had changedé her style of dress, but her approach to customers éremained the same. So you must never lose sight of the fact that the employee's perception of your remark is not necessarily in line with à your own."

The next step is to let them express themselves on how they see the implementation of what you're asking of them. This is a good way of forcing him à to make the remark his own. Listen to his proposals, but remain éalso attentive à to what they inspire you. If you feel that the steps he's about to take aren't sufficient, or have already proved unsuitable, tell him so straight away, and ask him to come up with new ones. All the way to à finding a point of agreement.

Knowing how to react to hostile réactions

Some employee behaviors can get in the way of a smoothly-running meeting. First of all, he may try to quibble with every fact or assertion you put forward. In this case, while écosting what he may have à to say, stand your ground and donét go off into an endless débat. If you know where you want to go, don't get into a 'yes but' discussion with the employee," warns the consultant. This kind of psychological game, where everyone wants to be right, doesn't result in more money and puts the protagonists on the defensive. In the end, you risk ending up with a crisis of authorityé."

Similarly, if the collaborator becomes withdrawn or defiant, don't fall into the easyé solution of à acting as if nothing had happened était. Anything you say won't have any effect unless the person you're talking to is receptive. On the contrary, as soon as you become aware of his attitude, break it down and ask him what's going on. And be sure to do it properly: an impatient, aggressive or annoyed tone of voice won't encourage the manager to cooperate more.

Finally, when faced with èan aggressive tone of voice won't encourage the manager to cooperate more.

Finally, when faced with à a person who agrees à with everything but doesn't seem to take the full measure of what you're telling them, it's essential to question them insistently about what they intend to do to change. If the process appears complicated for the employee, daily follow-up is essential.

And if nothing seems to have happened, you're on your way.

And if nothing changes

Some changes can êbe difficult for the employee because they are too much of a break with their habits. If the effects are slow to be felt, à day-to-day support is essential. "Reminding them of their commitments and putting a little pressure on them will give them the éenergy they need to get things done", says Michel Lora.

Doing what's right éis the key to success.

Hardening the tone

That's not always enough. When faced à with an employee who doesn't change his or her behavior, return à to the charge, intégranting a gradation in your remarks. Even if it's unnatural, you may have to remind the employee of the rules and threaten him/her with sanctions. The team's cohesion is at stake: a bad example that goes unpunished can ruin its functioning, however virtuous and solid it may be, and éerode the motivation of others.

Coaching the réticent employee in public can have its advantages. This is the case if they are particularly sensitive à to the image they may have in the eyes of others. It can also êbe the case if his behavior affects the rest of the éteam (late arrivals, mistakes that colleagues have to make up for, an attitude that interferes with group work...). Reframing is as much about à reassuring others and à setting an example as à getting the offending employee to changeé. Be careful, however, à to be well prepared and à not to act on the spur of the moment émotions. The risk of humiliating him would become too great.

Don't face the problem aloneème

The more the situation escalates, the harder it will be for the manager à to distinguish between his feelings and the necessary lucidityérequired for reframing. So donét hesitate to à talk about it à with a third party, for example another manager in the company, who may ét know the employee and is aware of the constraints. If, despite several injunctions, you don't notice any significant changes in your manager's behavior, it's advisable to turn to human resources. "These interventions will at least have given you éléments concrete à go up à the HR department who can then see what can être done," adds Michel Lora.

Jdn 04/12/2007