Deputy General Director for Operations Development, BDO Unicon Outsourcing
There can be many reasons for a situation where an employee does not cope with his/her tasks. In this case, it is important for the manager to find out whether it is possible to save the situation by arranging the work differently.
1. START WITH YOURSELF
The manager who gives the task bears great responsibility for the quality of work performed by the employee. The manager should set the task so that the employee can cope with it.
Analyze how understandable the tasks that the employee failed to fulfil were for him/her. Tasks need to be set differently for persons with different backgrounds. Someone understands better when he/she is explained with examples, for others, general information is enough, and there are people who need step-by-step instructions. After you have set the task, ask the employee what he/she has understood and how he/she will act.
For example:
You can ask the employee to prepare a report on the planned revenue from new customers, but fail to explain the criteria by which they should be distinguished and fail to specify the period and the services for which the revenue should be taken into account.
If you fail to specify all points in advance, the chances that the task is solved well and correctly are negligible.
2. FIND OUT THE CAUSE OF ERRORS
However, if the task was set correctly, discuss with the employee why he/she failed to cope with it. Perhaps he/she did not have enough time or the deadlines for its fulfilment were too tight initially. If the employee had to do another thing at the same time, it is not surprising that there were not enough working hours for the first task. Sometimes the reason may also be prioritization problems.
To prevent failures, the manager should help the employee prioritize, and check whether everything is all right and whether help is needed at the stage of fulfilling the task. The main thing is not to remind too often, although if we are talking about a beginner, we certainly need to control the process more often.
3. TRY TO BRIDGE THE GAPS
Another reason why the employee cannot cope with the set tasks is the lack of required knowledge. Each case is individual. Perhaps the employee exaggerated his/her experience and knowledge in the course of the job interview. Or he/she was honest with you, but in his/her work there were no certain specific features that are typical of work at your company: for example, he/she knows how to work in Excel, but does not know the basics of summary tables and specific formulas.
The level of competencies and the actual experience are quite easy to check in the working environment. Lies would quickly come into the open. If the employee lacks specific knowledge, do not be upset. Check whether you can quickly bridge the gaps by, for example, preparing a training plan or conducting a short training.
For example:
To test the competencies of the new employee, it is worth giving him/her a lot of small tasks. This enables you to look at the person in various situations and to see as quickly as possible how the new employee thinks, reacts, acts, interacts with the customers and workfellows.
One large task may fail to show the entire range of shortcomings: after a month and a half, only one gap may be identified, and after a while, the second. And there may be ten or thirty gaps. The more diverse are the tasks, the faster the result is visible, and the more detailed is the picture.
From time to time, everyone makes mistakes and gets lost, this is normal. But the employee should be able and not be afraid to recognize his/her faults, be ready to correct them and learn, if necessary.
However, do not forget that a person would not be able to do more than he/she can. If the employee cannot actually fulfil all of his/her tasks, the head should decide whether to transfer the employee to another division, to set simpler tasks for him/her taking into account his/her capabilities or to dismiss him/her.
4. HELP TO DEVELOP SOFT SKILLS
It is important to pay attention not only to professional competencies, but also to soft skills. For example, when interacting with the customers, the employee needs to maintain contact, sometimes more friendly and sometimes more formal. Customer relations imply that the person should regularly adapt to what is expected of him/her. The emotional intelligence, the level of perception and the understanding of what the other party is communicating are important here.
It is possible to ideally solve the tasks of the customers, but if the employee does not know how to speak with them correctly, to understand the needs and to calm tension in the communication, the customer would still be unhappy.
Various tools can help develop such skills of the employee, i.e. personal contact, conversations, discussions, trainings, master classes. But you also need to understand whether the person is ready and can develop. If the employee avoids contact with the customers because he/she is uncomfortable, does not like to talk and prefers written communications, no training would help. And trying to force him/her to do this is waste of time and effort.
5. SEE WHETHER YOU ARE READY TO DISMISS THE EMPLOYEE
The decision whether to part with the employee may be taken in two steps.
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First, you can record what you like and don’t like about the employee’s work. For example, you can comment on his/her tasks on a real-time basis and see whether the comments are taken into account in the following similar tasks. If not, draw the employee’s attention to this fact and keep “evidence” of the same repeated mistakes and shortcomings, write down your comments by results of meetings or calls at the same time.
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If it became clear at the previous stage that difficulties and problems are inevitable, it is worth setting all further tasks in writing only and then record the results. This is preparatory work for a potential dismissal. You cannot just go to the employee and say: you are dismissed! This is a violation of the labour laws. Therefore, it makes sense to start preparing in advance and to prepare a set of documents confirming that the employee did not cope with his/her duties.
Remember that the head should make informed decisions, focusing on particular facts. Therefore, be sure to collect the maximum available information on the work of the employee in whose competence you are not sure and to assess all pros and cons.
If the employee accepts criticism, is ready to learn and develop, you should give him/her a second chance, clearly specifying the deadlines and the evaluation criteria. But if you understand that the person does not want to learn, does not take into account your comments, but continues to do as he/she likes without achieving the desired result, then your resources would never pay off and it is better not to waste your time or the time of the employee.
