Structured achievements

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HUMAN RESOURCES
I
n his classic book The Twelve Principles of Efficiency,
highly regarded management consultant Harrington
Emerson described discipline in positive terms: “Disci-
pline is not so much top-down discipline as it is internal
discipline and self-discipline, with workers conforming
willingly and readily to the systems in place.”
Traditional discipline has typically been more nega-
tive and viewed as a process of oral and written warnings
from manager to subordinate with increasingly dire con-
sequences if behavior or performance issues are not im-
proved. Although the end result might be the termination
of employment, at a minimum, the individual receiving the
warning should know why he or she is being warned and
what he or she has to do to remain employed.
The spirit of progressive discipline is to make the day-to-
day work environment a positive or constructive one. The
word “warning” is rarely used. The purpose is to manage
through a process to improve performance or behavior
issues rather than as a way to fire someone. The use of
progressive discipline also has the practical advantage of
reducing litigation risk. Though potentially fruitful, pro-
gressive discipline is not simple to implement. The process
should involve accurate measurement and fair and just
evaluation, planning, patience, and careful observation.
Sadly, we are all familiar with stories of how managers
and supervisors delay in addressing performance or be-
havior issues among employees. I was listening to a man-
ager describe an employee’s performance shortcomings.
The description clearly indicated that the performance
was subpar. “How long has this been going on with your
employee?” I asked. The response was, “Ever since we hired
him 10 years ago!” It was obvious to me that appropriate
steps should have been taken long before.
Managers overlook performance
or behavior discrepancies
without saying anything until
their patience runs out!
Employees deserve to know how well they’re perform-
ing by receiving regular and periodic feedback. Often,
however, managers overlook performance or behavior
discrepancies without saying anything to the employee
until their patience runs out. Somewhere along the way,
the manager assumes that things will work out on their
own. Before they know it, one little unaddressed issue leads
to another. Then, like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Won-
derland, the manager wants to take dramatic, instant steps
to remedy the situation immediately. Immediately is too
late, however, if progressive discipline has not preceded
the urge to fire.
Many managers don’t understand that things won’t
get better on their own without involvement on their
part. These timid, uninformed, or inexperienced manag-
ers shy away from discussing minor issues with their staff
because they are indeed minor, and the mangers fear not
knowing how an individual will respond to the feedback.
Or they assume the employee knows or should know
It’s Time to Rebrand Progressive Discipline
to Structured Achievements
Larry Miller*
The concept of progressive discipline has traditionally been communicated as a
common way to address performance issues in the U. S. workforce. In practice,
progressive discipline is all too often implemented as a negative, demoralizing
process that leads—or is threatened to lead—to the termination of employment.
This article challenges a change in the way progressive discipline can be most
effective when it is structured and communicated as a series of steps or achieve-
ments that will help the employee meet or exceed the requirements of the job.
KEY WORDS: Performance; progressive discipline; human resources; feedback.
*Senior Vice President, Human
Resources, Starkey Hearing Technolo-
gies; e-mail: larry_miller@starkey.com.
Copyright © 2014 by
Greenbranch Publishing LLC.
AQ1

2 Medical Practice Management | March/April 2014
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better. Things indeed may get better or dip below the
radar; but if they do not, little issues have a tendency to
become big issues, thereby increasing the risk of litigation
for wrongful discharge.
Progressive discipline is, therefore, a great way to
remedy these common situations. However, the formal-
ity of providing an oral warning, followed by a written
warning that includes the statement “additional infrac-
tions will lead to additional discipline up to and includ-
ing discharge” only adds more negativity to a situation
that was originally intended to improve performance or
behavior. The key is to find a way to implement the spirit
of progressive discipline while tempering the approach to
fit the situation.
A SIMPLE EXAMPLE OF PROGRESSIVE
DISCIPLINE
Suppose you have a receptionist working for you who
misses calls, doesn’t take messages consistently, and can’t
remember someone’s voice. Despite the fact that these
issues may never have been identified or communicated
by the manager as required standards of performance and
behavior when the receptionist was hired, they still need
to be addressed. If not, and the individual is fired because
of them, the receptionist can only presume the worst-case
scenario as the reason for termination. Before long, the
terminated receptionist’s family, friends, and neighbors
will conclude the termination of employment must have
been for discriminatory reasons!
What if, however, you met with the receptionist privately
and reviewed his or her job duties as to what has to get
done, how it has to get done, and how these activities will
be measured? For example, answering the phone in three
rings is the what, with a smile in your voice is the how, and
that patient or customer feedback is the way performance
will be measured. Despite the fact that this may seem like
an over simplification of job duties, they are job duties
none the less that are required of most receptionists.
The key is that these criteria must be discussed when
they’re not being met even if it’s done in a very casual but
direct manner. The best next step after the discussion is
for the manager to send an e-mail “to file” and/or to the
receptionist directly that documents the key points of the
discussion that took place with the expressed hope that the
receptionist’s performance will improve.
Substandard performance always
deserves corrective action.
In this simple example, an oral warning just took place.
Performance or behavior discrepancies were identified,
addressed, communicated, and documented. The manager
can revisit the conversation in the coming days to make
sure the receptionist knows he or she must perform at this
new level and that there is a specific but a realistic time
period to master the new standard of performance.
Sticking with this example, let’s now say the reception-
ist achieves the standard of answering the phone in three
rings but is unable or unwilling to get a smile in his or her
voice. As soon as this particular performance discrepancy
is noticed, it should be addressed again. The manager may
have reservations about doing so because a whole host of
incorrect assumptions might cloud the reason for action.
Substandard performance always deserves corrective
action. Businesses can’t afford to pay people for doing
substandard work, and people deserve feedback so they
can improve their performance. The receptionist may not
know how to put a smile in his or her voice or might require
additional training to meet the standard required of the
job. The details of this conversation, too, can be sent in an
e-mail to the receptionist. And, once again, a warning has
been created and documented.
What if the required achievements continue to be
missed? The same process should be initiated with one ad-
ditional point: if the requirement(s) of the job continue to
be unmet, it may lead to additional discipline such as a cut
in pay for a lessor job, a transfer to a different job, suspen-
sion, or termination of employment.
Communicating this type of message is one reason why
progressive discipline is such a simple concept in principle
but not so easy in practice. It’s not fun. It’s not easy. It
sounds like a threat! It doesn’t change things immediately.
A positive outcome is uncertain. Or managers think their
specific situation is unique and can’t be addressed by a
simple 1, 2, 3 process. Yet identifying good performance
standards is part of running a business and maintaining a
job. A collaborative approach that acknowledges employee
achievements while addressing objective job requirements
and how they are met lifts the veil of false assumptions and
presumptions that tend to dominate the workplace.
A tough-to-fill position doesn’t
give the incumbent the freedom
to underperform or misbehave.
Let’s say you owned a manufacturing company, and
to make ends meet, each of your employees was required
to build 10 units per day. You may have Bill on the pro-
duction floor who has worked for you for 10 years, and
everybody likes him. For most of his tenure, he built 10
units per day. For some reason, however, his output has
been reduced consistently to a steady eight units per day.
Perhaps Bill might be helped with some type of training
and mentoring, or perhaps he could be reassigned to a
position where unit productivity is less essential. If Bill’s

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Miller | Progressive Discipline 3
performance isn’t addressed in the best way possible,
eight units per day is your new production standard, and
you’re now building mediocrity!
PROGRESSIVE DISCIPLINE IN
COMPLEX SITUATIONS
If these examples seem overly simplistic, here’s a more
complex yet realistic situation. You have an employee who
performs a job that’s hard-to-fill should the position be-
come vacant. The incumbent has behavior or performance
issues. Regardless of the concern, is there a legitimate
rationale for not addressing the issues? A tough-to-fill
position doesn’t give the incumbent the freedom to under-
perform or misbehave. Tough-to-fill positions become an
excuse that can reach mythic proportions when used as a
rationale for not addressing performance.
No performance is better
than bad performance.
In this situation, the manager has a choice: continue
with substandard or negative performance, or bite the bul-
let, address the performance issue, and/or terminate the
employee if the situation calls for it. No performance is bet-
ter than bad performance. The short-term hassle in replac-
ing a hard-to-fill position is typically cheaper than the cost
of substandard performance that may drag on for years!
There’s also the impact on coworkers who are unintention-
ally taught that substandard performance is acceptable,
which creates an even bigger, invisible, negative impact to
the company’s bottom line than just the shortcomings of
one substandard performer.
POSITIVE PROGRESSIVE DISCIPLINE
Discipline can be interpreted as criticism, feedback, or
assistance. Progressive discipline that leans toward a
positive approach can gain traction in an organization
when management is perceived as helping staff achieve
positive performance. Instead of looking at progressive
discipline as a negative process leading up to the termina-
tion of employment, it makes more business sense to use
it as a way to address critical performance or behavior
issues with your staff so that termination is not required.
Progressive discipline when communicated as a series
of structured achievements can be at the root of a qual-
ity improvement system built to manage good behavior,
strong performance, and effective teams. People want to
be part of a class act and need to understand when and
where they’re already achieving good performance—so
they can continue.
Please note that a change in focus from discipline to
feedback is not simply a matter of words. Managers address
performance or behavior issues with their staff differently.
One might tell the employee that he or she needs feedback,
is getting feedback, and had better adhere to it . . . or else.
Another manager may use a different tone by providing
feedback on how to improve performance along with why
the change needs to take place. This guidance is often re-
inforced with examples of how the employee has already
achieved good performance in other related areas of his or
her job duties. The manager then summarizes the standard
that has to be met within a specific time frame. The goal is
for the employee to be supported in a structured improve-
ment process so that a good performance review—instead
of termination—is the end result of the process.
Research shows it costs anywhere between 30% and
300% of a new employee’s annual wage for the employee
to become fully proficient in his or her role. Yet termina-
tion of employment is all too often the action of choice for
substandard performance when mentoring or training an
employee toward better achievement makes much more
financial sense.
I’m convinced the majority of U. S. workers actually
want to achieve good results in their jobs. Not all man-
agers, however, believe this. Even managers who may
privately admit that they don’t completely trust their staff
wouldn’t want to be blindsided with criticism of their own
performance. Instead, everyone deserves feedback on what
they’re doing, how their job fits into the needs of the whole
organization, and why good performance is important.
It is easy for managers to take for granted that the stan-
dards related to good performance are clear and under-
standable by all staff. In reality, staff members may know
the general requirements of what they’re supposed to do
and how they’re supposed to perform, but performance
will improve if people understand why. You can get adults
to achieve acceptable and effective standards of perfor-
mance if their manager can effectively convey why good
performance is important to the organization and impor-
tant to save everybody’s job.
This is why it’s time to rebrand our thinking and change
our view to a process of progressively structured achieve-
ment. How about looking at the elements of good and
positive performance in the work of your staff? Reinforce
the results your staff members achieve. Help them improve
where they need help. Time spent guiding your staff toward
achievement is easier and less frustrating and expensive
than shouldering the burden of a substandard performer
for years. Good quality standards that are widely com-
municated and supported in the workplace can become
progressively infectious.
If you can rebrand your approach to progressive disci-
pline to one of structured achievement, it can result in a
management practice and culture that may actually make
it fun to come to work and be productive. Y

Author QueriesAuthor Queries
AQ1: Please review and clarify the text “This article challenges a change...”in the way progressive discipline is managed
and communicated from a negative,
threatening perspective to one that involves a
series of structured achievements that are
effective in helping an employee meet or
exceed the requirements of a job.

Structured achievements

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