Focus on Employee Behaviors

Monthly E-Tips

July 2006

We all have "attitude" problems. However, focusing on the attitude of an employee while trying to influence his/her work performance is a bad idea. The following is an excerpt from Painless Performance Evaluations: A Practical Approach to Managing Day to Day Employee Performance (2006). Please share these important ideas with the managers and supervisors in your organization to help them speak more confidently with employees about performance.

Many supervisors get stuck in performance-related discussions when they focus on an employee's attitude rather than behavior. Attitudes are the thoughts or feelings that underlie what the employee does on the job. Behaviors are the observable actions an employee takes when on the job. Effective supervisors discuss employee performance in behavioral terms, rather than mentioning attitudes. Here are examples of various behaviors and attitudes:

Attitudes	Behaviors
Enthusiastic	Completing work ahead of schedule
Neglectful	Violating a company policy
Laziness	Arriving to meetings 30 minutes late
Attention to detail	Submitting expense reports without errors or omissions
Difficult to get along with	Shouting loudly at a co-worker in the office
Initiative	Completing request before the expected deadline
Service-oriented	Answering the phone within three rings every time
Messy and/or Slovenly	Has trouble locating files promptly

Often supervisors will have a conversation with an employee without preparing for the discussion. When this happens, the discussion with the employee often becomes a "blame game" or loses focus. By preparing ahead of time and focusing on behaviors, you can ensure that the conversation will stay productive.

July can be a hot month here in the Arizona desert. As such, here's a hot tip to get you through the month: Discuss only specific, observable, behavioral examples of performance with employees and avoid mentioning the "A" word - attitude.

Learn more about focusing on employee behaviors in Marnie Green's book,

Painless Performance Evaluations: A Practical Approach to Managing Day to Day Employee Performance. Now in its second printing in less than six months! Get your copy now!

Click here to order!