How to Discipline When Good Employees Do Bad Things

by Jane-Michele Clark

One way or another, I find myself giving leadership advice on a daily basis, so at the urging of my students, I started a blog.

The "article" below is actually a post as taken from that blog: http://solidbusinessstrategy.blogspot.com/

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To start, let’s answer the question posed earlier today: “How should I make an employee understand the consequences of his mistake and why it must never happen again?”

Part of being a leader means making tough calls. Being a good leader means making tough decisions without being tough on people. Most managers are pretty good at delivering bad news, and can be appropriately compassion when needed.

It’s in the area of discipline that things are often handled less well. Nearly 50% of managers rank the way they handle discipline-related matters less highly than any of the other tasks they perform.

‘Less effective’ handling typically falls into one of two categories:

1) Over reacting and browbeating. When managers yell at colleagues, are overly punitive and/ or exaggerate the magnitude of the problem or repercussions, their coworkers lose respect for them. This is the antithesis of effective leadership and one of the quickest ways for a senior worker to undermine his or her own authority.

2) Sweeping things under the rug and carrying on as though nothing had happened. This is absolutely the wrong way to deal with a problem that has occurred – or ongoing ‘bad behaviour’. This method of handling things pegs you as an ineffectual leader.

Yes, you eventually have to let the matter go, but first you need to discuss what happened, explain why the behaviour is inappropriate and what consequences could or did result. The most effective way to do this is to engage the employee in a discussion where he or she has to help resolve the matter.

Remember: Even when you have to make someone accountable for his or her actions, make sure it’s the behaviour that is the focus and not the person.

Questions that can be helpful:
• What are the consequences of this oversight/ error/incident /whatever?
• What do you think should be done to rectify this situation?
• How could the matter be handled more effectively if it comes up again in the future?
• How do you think this could have been avoided? How can it be avoided in the future?
• What do you think you could do differently next time?
• Do you think there should be any personal consequences for the part you played this time?

The last question is there for three reasons:

1) To impress upon the person who made the mistake that the behaviour can never be repeated.
2) To allow the person to set the punishment – that reduces the likelihood that he or she will resent the company if there does need to be some kind of consequence for whatever it was that took place.
3) To help to re-establish confidence and trust between the two involved in the discussing by the “boss” ending the discussion indicating that everyone believes the employee learned a lesson and is confined that things will be put right.... and that “it” will never happen again.

What I’ve found over the years is that this way of handling matters is most likely to result in an employee who is more committed to doing an excellent job than was the case before things went off the rails. Handled really well, ‘bad incidents’ can lead to the creation of stellar employees.

Copyright @2010 Jane-Michèle Clark. All rights reserved.


Jane-Michèle Clark is president of The Q Group ( www.theQgroup.com ), a strategic positioning and marketing communications firm that has worked with many blue chip companies over the past 30 years. In addition to being seasoned business strategist and marketing expert, Jane-Michèle also teaches MBA level marketing at the top-ranked Schulich School of Business York University). Jane-Michèle is also a corporate trainer and speaker and 9-time nominee for the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Jane-Michèle can be reached at jmc@theQgroup. or by calling 416-424-6644.


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