Dealing with Marginal Performers: The Therapeutic Approach

--PREPARATION: The purpose of the therapeutic approach is to spark an employee toward improved performance through counseling. The manager's goal is to help the employee recognize the existence of a problem, accept the need for change, and formulate his or her own program for improvement. The manager should critically assess his or her own attitudes and opinions. It is important to try to eliminate all personal bias and prejudice or at least be aware of any such emotions no matter how little effect they seem to be having. For the most positive results, the manager should be noncritical or at least noncommittal toward the marginal performer. In addition, the interview should be conducted in private, without interruptions, and with adequate time.

--SETTING A COMFORTABLE ATMOSPHERE: The employee should be made to feel relaxed and at ease. It is particularly important that no mental anguish is spent in guessing the interview's purpose. It is not necessary for the manager to "build the employee up" with praise about favorable performance but it is desirable that the atmosphere is friendly and constructive.

-- STIMULATING SELF-APPRAISAL: The simplest, most forthright tactic is to explain to the employee that there are problem areas. Elicit self-analysis from employees about their jobs, particularly focusing on those areas where they feel that their performance could be improved. Once employees begin discussing unsatisfactory performance - or at least elaborating on problems they are encountering on the job - the manager can pursue the problem areas. Asking, rather than telling the employee, becomes the key to an effective discussion. Through these questions, the manager keeps the employees on the subject and gets them to suggest ideas on improving performance.

-- STIMULATING SELF-SUGGESTION: Once the employee has begun to make positive suggestions, the manager should encourage exploration of these ideas in detail to determine which ones will be most useful for self-improvement. The manager should interfere as little as possible in the employee's self-evaluation. Offering suggestions to the employee will likely negate the whole process. The employee's defense mechanisms are always lingering in the background, and they may surface the minute the manager begins to press the employee into following a course of action, thereby defeating the purpose of the therapeutic counseling interview.

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Latest News


Single Source Introduces New Advanced Quote Management (AQM)(TM ...
MarketWatch - 11 hours ago
All functions seamlessly integrate to the inherent back-office financials, inventory, purchasing and management reporting functionality of SM-Plus-meeting ...
KANA Recognized by Leading Industry Publications for Innovation ... Business Wire (press release)
all 22 news articles

RTE.ie

ECONOMIC REPORT Global manufacturing gauges collapse in November
MarketWatch - 8 hours ago
... of price pressures hit an all-time low, according to a survey of corporate purchasing managers released Monday by the Institute for Supply Management. ...
Manufacturing index drops to 26-year low Washington Post
Manufacturing index at 26-year low CNNMoney.com
Manufacturing hits 26-year low Bizjournals.com
CNN - Los Angeles Times
all 616 news articles

HispanicBusiness.com

Construction Spending Reflects Economic Slowdown
New York Times, United States - 3 hours ago
The Institute for Supply Management’s monthly index of manufacturing activity fell to 36.2, from October’s 38.9. The reading is worse than Wall Street ...
October construction spending drops 1.2 percent International Herald Tribune
US manufacturing weakest since 1982 The Australian
Construction spending fell again in October Bizjournals.com
guardian.co.uk - International Herald Tribune
all 270 news articles

Daily Mail

Price Tags on Partridges and Pear Trees: A Different CPI
New York Times, United States - 4 hours ago
By Catherine Rampell For the last 24 years, PNC Wealth Management (or its predecessor, Provident Bank) has released this whimsical index, a measure of the ...
Video: 12 Days of Christmas' Items Would Cost $86,609 AssociatedPress
'12 Days of Christmas' items would cost $86609 The Associated Press
Twelve Days of Christmas would cost $21000 Telegraph.co.uk
Reuters - guardian.co.uk
all 351 news articles

AGC and LCM Declare Dividends
MarketWatch - 4 hours ago
a diversified closed-end management investment company, has declared its December monthly dividend of $0.0664 per share, reflecting a reduction of $0.0286 ...
AGC and LCM Declare Dividends Trading Markets (press release)
Madison Strategic Sector Premium Fund (MSP) Declares Quarterly ... MarketWatch
PPR - $.0340 November Dividend MarketWatch
MarketWatch
all 58 news articles

Reuters

AIG sells wealth management unit to Abu Dhabi group
International Herald Tribune, France - 12 hours ago
NEW YORK: American International Group, the troubled insurance giant, said Monday that it had agreed to sell its wealth management provider AIG Private Bank ...
AIG Sheds A Private Bank Forbes
UPDATE 1-AIG to sell AIG Private Bank to UAE's Aabar Reuters
AIG to Sell Private Bank to Aabar Wall Street Journal
Trade Arabia - InvestmentNews
all 163 news articles

Updated Information Regarding Auction Preferred Securities Market ...
MarketWatch - 4 hours ago
BOSTON, Dec 01, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MFS Investment Management(R) (MFS) today announced the availability of information on the results of the weekly ...

Lincoln Financial Group Announces New Senior Management Committee ...
International Business Times, NY - 5 hours ago
She will also serve as amember of the firm's Senior Management Committee. Bettinger-Buckingham joins Lincoln Financial with more than 20 years ofexperience ...

Gideon Technologies CEO To Give Unified Compliance Management ...
MarketWatch - 7 hours ago
Unified Compliance Management simplifies this complex problem. "The combination of a holistic centralized view of the network, unified and continuous ...

Research and Markets: Training Management Maturity Model: A ...
MarketWatch - 8 hours ago
How effective is your current training management system? What do you need to do to improve it? Find out with this best practice model and set of assessment ...
Research and Markets: Fundamentals of Quality Control and ... MarketWatch
all 12 news articles

Resources