Problem Behaviour
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This document outlines an 8-step process for dealing with problem behaviors at work. The steps include establishing that a problem exists, meeting with the employee, listening to understand their perspective, empathizing and looking for alternative behaviors, focusing on new behaviors, agreeing on a change plan, supporting the desired behaviors, and documenting progress. The overall approach emphasizes understanding the root causes of issues, gaining cooperation from the employee, and helping them adopt new behaviors through communication, support and accountability.
Problem Behaviour
- 1. 1 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Problem Behaviour EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE
- 2. 2 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans. COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL The written content in this Slide Topic belongs exclusively to Manage Train Learn and may only be reprinted either by attribution to Manage Train Learn or with the express written permission of Manage Train Learn. They are designed as a series of numbered slides. As with all programmes on Slide Topics, these slides are fully editable and can be used in your own programmes, royalty-free. Your only limitation is that you may not re-publish or sell these slides as your own. Copyright Manage Train Learn 2020 onwards. Attribution: All images are from sources which do not require attribution and may be used for commercial uses. Sources include pixabay, unsplash, and freepik. These images may also be those which are in the public domain, out of copyright, for fair use, or allowed under a Creative Commons license.
- 3. 3 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics ARE YOU READY? OK, LET’S START!
- 4. 4 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 1. Establish that There is a Problem The first stage in dealing with problem behaviour at work is the same as it is in any people management process. And this is to establish that there is a problem. In any workplace situation, there is one and only one definition of a workplace problem. It is not your definition, not your opinion, and not your judgment. It is the following: is the behaviour of this person resulting in us failing to achieve the team results we want? In most workplaces, this behaviour is determined by the purpose, aims, and culture of the organisation and known by the rules, procedures, and systems in force. Taking this approach means you, as the manager, should be following a consistent and fair procedure, rather than following your own opinions and prejudices. This means that your starting point to tackling problem behaviour is always to collect, verify, and record facts and evidence of what you believe might be “problem behaviour”.
- 5. 5 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 2. If There is a Problem,You Must Meet The second stage of dealing with problem behaviour, - after establishing that a person is displaying it, - is to meet the person one-to-one. This may seem obvious, but in many cases, managers shy away from dealing with "people problems" for fear of how the person will react. The danger, it is assumed, is that people will get angry, burst into tears, become self-defensive, make it your fault, say that you're discriminating against them. Don't give in to these fears and do nothing. As the manager, it is your responsibility and you must meet. The first meeting should be informal, even casual. Don't make it a big deal. Start by asking, "How's things going?" or "What's going well, what's not?". Don't mention the D-for-Discipline word. See the meeting more as a coaching exercise where your aim is to ensure that the person is behaving in line with what the organisation needs.
- 6. 6 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 3. Take It S-L-O-W Start every meeting with your staff member by letting them talk things through. If you make the effort to simply listen, without interrupting, agreeing or disagreeing, all kinds of good things can happen. First, you’ll find out what the other person thinks, which gives you valuable information about how to respond. Sometimes, the other person will actually say pretty much what you were going to say and then it can become a coaching conversation. Quite often, the other person will see part of the problem, and then you can pick up on and clarify what he or she has said. Even if the other person is oblivious to the situation, just listening first will make the conversation less adversarial, and will generally make him or her much better able to listen to you when you respond.
- 7. 7 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 4. Understand Where They're Coming From Often, when an employee displays problem behaviour, managers jump to conclusions about who is to blame and it is nearly always the employee. The issue then becomes one of what the employee needs to do to stop behaving badly. When it is implied that they are performing badly, most people will go into either a self-defensive mode of fight or an avoidance mode of flight. The result is conflict and a souring of relationships all round. The best managers don't make quick judgments about good or bad behaviour but try to understand how and why the person behaves in the way that they do. At root may be good intentions, - such as a supervisor's frustrated desire for someone to do a better job, - or bad intentions, such as an employee's desire to do as little work as possible. Only by getting a better understanding of where the employee is coming from can you accept the present situation, define the performance gap and then move on.
- 8. 8 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 5. Be an Ethnographer In trying to understand what is at the root of an individual's problem behaviour, it helps to take a wider view of the individual's point of view, as the causes of problem behaviour almost always lie somewhere in that individual's life story. This could be their innate personality (eg are they a "be perfect" type or a "please others" type?). It could be something in their previous home or work experience that led them to believe how they should act. It is almost certain to be related to their deepest beliefs, assumptions, and values. You don't need to be a psychologist to find this out, only to use a perspective-taking mindset to see their "map of the world" rather than interpret their behaviour through your "map of the world". Blogger, Heledd Wyn, calls this being "an ethnographer“, or mapping out people’s stories. Cultivating a wider perspective helps you see the big picture and accept why people behave the way they do.
- 9. 9 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 6. Empathise, Commend, and Look forAlternatives Once you get a better understanding of where people are coming from, you can now do something that many traditional managers might find hard to understand. You should let them know that you fully see what they are trying to do. You can even commend them for trying to do what they think is right. This moves you from being an adversary to being an ally. Instead of standing opposite them, you stand with them. You can then move things on jointly by exploring different behaviours which would be better suited to the situation. In this, you should let them take the lead by asking them for suggestions. Not, "What should you have done?" which implies that what they were doing was wrong but, "What else could you have done?" which implies that they always have choices in behaviour. Getting on their side and moving them into a new direction is often compared to the Japanese martial art of aikido which does the same thing physically and is known as "aikido communication" or "agile communication".
- 10. 10 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 7. Focus On New Behaviours One of the obstacles in resolving problem behaviour is that, often, people believe they cannot change. This is likely when people have behaved in the same difficult ways for many years and had little or no insight into the effect they have on others. Your job in effecting a successful change is to show the person that the way we all behave is down to the choices we make, not "the way we are". True, in some cases, it will take repeated conscious attempts not to resort to the old behaviours, but persistence, like learning a new habit, will always pay off. One technique that can be helpful is called "the camera check". In this, you ask the person to describe in detail and possibly, word for word, how they will handle situations in future as if filming the scene for a movie. So, the last thing you should do in helping people to change from problem behaviour to desired behaviour is to clearly define the new behaviour, agree a plan of trying out these behaviours, and offering ongoing support during the transition.
- 11. 11 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour: 8. Support Desired Behaviour After agreeing a plan of change, you should keep an eye on how well the person with problem behaviour progresses. Think of it as a project with clear goals, clear timescales, and clear outcomes that you have both agreed. You should be prepared to accept that different people have different rates of change. Some will see things straightaway, others will fall back into old ways before they "get" the new ways. As well as being around to advise and help, your role as manager is to stick unwaveringly to your need for desired performance behaviours. You need to document things at every step of the way. This will be vital if the employee reverts back to the old ways or simply decides not to change. In such cases, you will have to move things on down an informal and then formal disciplinary route. Hopefully, though, your interventions will work and any documentation can quickly be filed and forgotten about in the back drawer.
- 12. 12 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics THAT’S IT! WELL DONE!
- 13. 13 | Problem Behaviour Effective Discipline MTL Course Topics THANK YOU This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn