INFORMATION SHEET 2.

4-1
LO 4: SUPERVISE TEAM PERFORMANCE

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

After reading this INFORNATION SHEET, you must able to:

1. Determine the monitoring performance criteria action taken if required

2. Determine the Monitoring team operation
3. Identify Informal/formal counseling skills
4. Determine Client needs satisfactions

Corrective action is a process of communicating with the employee to

improve behavior or performance after other methods such as coaching
and performance appraisal have not been successful.

All employees are expected to meet performance standards and behave

appropriately in the workplace. The goal is to guide the employee to correct
performance or behavior by identifying the problems, causes and solutions, not
to punish the employee.

In general, corrective action should be progressive, beginning with the lowest

severity action before employing actions of more severity. Any formal corrective
or disciplinary action must follow the principles

After establishing that corrective or disciplinary action is warranted, use

some or all of the following steps:

Verbal Warning

The supervisor should:

• Set a time and place to ensure privacy.

• Make notes about what they want to say in advance.
• Remember that the employee has a right to choose representation.
(Weingarten Rights)
• State clearly that they are issuing an oral warning.
• Be specific in describing the unacceptable performance or behavior.
• Remind the employee of the acceptable standards or rules. If they are
available in writing, they should be provided to the employee.
• State the consequences of failure to demonstrate immediate and sustained
improvement, or further disciplinary action may warrant.
• Note the oral warning on their calendar.
Written Warning

If the supervisor gave an oral warning and the problem performance or

behavior persists, a written warning may be given. This action may be used
more than once, however if the problem continues to persist repetitive letters
may not be the solution. A template letter may be requested from an Employee
Relations Consultant. A written warning should:

• State clearly at the outset of the letter that it is a written warning, and cite
the appropriate personnel policy or contract provision.
• Describe the performance problem(s) or work rule violation(s) in very
specific detail and attach documents which support the supervisor's
conclusions.
• Outline previous steps taken to acquaint the employee with the issue and
attach copies of the documents that are referred to.
• Describe the impact of the problem.
 • Note the employee's explanation or that the employee declined to offer one.
If it was unacceptable, the supervisor should explain why.
• Explain the expectations regarding behavior and/or performance.
• Clarify that if the employee doesn't demonstrate immediate and sustained
improvement, the consequence may be further disciplinary action, up to
and including dismissal.
• Note the appropriate policy or contract provision for the employee's appeal
rights.
• The warning letter should be delivered to the employee using appropriate
delivery procedures such as Proof of Service, and a copy forwarded to HR
to be placed in the employee's personnel file.
Suspension Without Pay

A suspension may be the next step in progressive corrective action after written
warning(s). Typically, suspensions will prevent an employee to work and
requires the employee to leave without pay for one to ten working days, as
specified in the letter.

The letter should:

• State that the action is a suspension without pay.

• Inform the employee of the number of days they will be suspended with
the beginning and ending dates.
• Describe the problem, the previous corrective measures, and the impact
of the continued behavior or performance.
• State the supervisor's expectations and the consequences of failure to
improve.
• Notify the employee of their appeal rights, if appropriate.
• Depending upon the contract or personnel program the employee is
covered by, a letter of intent to suspend may be required, which provides
the employee with the right to appeal the intended action to the next higher
management level before the action is implemented. Contact your
Employee Relations Consultant as well as the appropriate policy or
contract for more information. A template letter may be requested from
your Employee Relations Consultant.

Reduction of Pay within a Class

This alternative is normally used when a supervisor does not wish to remove
the employee from the work site, but serious discipline is appropriate. Contact
your Employee Relations Consultant for more information regarding this
corrective action.
Demotion to a Lower Classification

This action involves moving an employee to a lower level position, and may be
temporary or permanent. Demotion may be appropriate in cases of inadequate
performance of responsibilities at a particular level, rather than violation of
work rules. It should be based upon a reasonable expectation that the
employee will perform successfully in the lower classified position. Contact
your Employee Relations Consultant for more information regarding this
action.

Dismissal

This action may be appropriate after performance counseling and progressive

corrective action have failed to get the employee to correct the problem(s).
Contact your Employee Relations Consultant for more information regarding
this action.

How to provide effective feedback to team members

What is feedback?

Definition

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term “feedback” refers to an electrical

engineering term: “the return to the input of a part of the output of a machine,
system, or process (as for producing changes in an electronic circuit that
improve performance or in an automatic control device that provide self-
corrective action)”. A similar definition is found in Wikipedia. Now here is an
interesting fact – in the same dictionary, it also has definitions for positive
feedback, and negative feedback, both in an electrical engineering sense.

Positive feedback:

• “feedback that tends to magnify a process or increase its output”

Negative feedback:

• “feedback that tends to dampen a process by applying the output against the
initial conditions”

It is interesting to see how these electrical-based definitions are probably more

accurate than any organizationally-based definition. Positive feedback is used
to increase output, or performance, while negative feedback seeks to dampen,
or reduce, a process or behaviour. This paper discusses feedback in an
organizational and individual performance context, but it is very interesting to
note the definition of feedback in a more scientific view. In organizations, giving
feedback is relaying information back to an individual or group, for
performance, for opinion or for improvement.

What is feedback for?

Feedback has been around ever since communication was possible. Even the
Bible shows how Adam and Eve were given feedback about making the
incorrect choice. Feedback, particularly negative feedback, has always been
used as a communications tool to correct something. People use feedback
everyday when they talk with friends and family, with children, with pets. But
people begin to hesitate when it comes to the workplace, and it is this
association with negativity that is the biggest reason.

When Should You Provide Feedback?

As the above example illustrates, people usually wait a long time to deliver
feedback, and sometimes not at all. And when it comes to projects, timing is
usually even worse. In a short project that is under 6 months, the typical
mindset is to wait until after the project is over to deliver any poor performance
feedback, since doing so may disrupt team dynamics and create ill will. Positive
feedback is usually non-existent in short projects. The closest there is of any
kind of feedback is a lesson learned document, and we all know how frequently
lessons learned documents are produced.

Common Mistakes When Giving Feedback Today

Giving feedback can be a bit of an art form and it's very easily done poorly. It
takes practice and preparation to do it correctly. Most often, the delivery is
done without preparation, or not done at all. Here are the most prevalent
common mistakes when giving feedback:

Not giving feedback at all

This is the biggest mistake of all. As identified from the earlier example, the
avoidance of feedback can have an enormous impact on staff and the project
team. Not giving any feedback can lead to resentment, poor performance and
non-communication, even if the job or task is being done properly.