Performance Management: Avoiding Fight or Flight
on May 10, 2012
Performance discussion is about the most dreaded conversation that ever takes place at work, for both the employee and the manager. When you need to discuss unsatisfactory performance with an employee, there is an excellent chance they will instantly become fearful. This leads to their adrenaline being activated and the workplace version of “fight or flight”. That is, they will become incredibly defensive. Some people will be quite aggressive (fight), and others will stop communication by clamming up and even taking leave (flight). As supervisors and managers it is absolutely critical that we make our employee feel safe from the moment we mention the words, “We need to have a meeting about…..” to the time that the performance issue has been fully worked through to its conclusion. If they don’t feel safe you’ll be dealing with an adrenaline pumped staff member whose regular, rational brain […]