1. Mentoring / Coaching Employee Discipline

2. All employers need to know how to discipline their employees fairly. Mishandling disciplinary issues gives rise to a huge number of employment tribunal claims every year including for breach of contract, unfair dismissal and discrimination. The keys to successful employee discipline are: Notifying employees of company policies Treating every employee in the same manner Good communication Putting the employee on notice of the inappropriate conduct through a verbal or written counseling statement

3. Five Sins of Discipline 1.Discipline as punishment Perhaps one of the most prevalent errors is based on the idea that discipline is punishment. The manager that perceives discipline as a punishment process tends to apply negative sanctions, expecting that those negative sanctions will have some sort of positive effect. The alternative perspective is to consider discipline in it’s original sense, as a opportunity for the employee to learn. Discipline, in this approach focuses on what the employee must learn in order to bring his/her behavior in line with the needs and expectation of the organization

4. 2.Discipline As An I-You Confrontation Consider discipline as requiring you and the staff member to work together to solve a problem. The fundamental task, when possible, is to create a situation which encourages the staff member to work with you to identify causes of problematic behavior, and to take action to correct those problems. 3.Too Late, Too Late It’s probably sage to say that managers do not go hunting for disciplinary problems. Sometimes, though managers are too slow to respond to an emerging issue or problem. There are a number of reasons for this.

5. Something not worth addressing Desire to have harmony Perception that discipline is a cause of disharmony Simple dread The reason why delay is problematic is that it sends a message that undesirable behavior will be accepted or even not noticed. Delay can have an adverse effect on the manager later, if the problem increases in frequency and intensity so it cannot be ignored.

6. 4. A Non-Progressive Approach Is the issue of progressive, or lack of it. Progressive discipline starts with the least possible use of power and disciplinary action, and over time, will involve stronger actions, if the situation continues. 5. Missing Root Causes In some situation an offer of positive rewards may have little effect on behavior, simply because they do not address the root causes of the problem, and leave the employee “on their own” to figure out a solution. Without knowing the root causes underlying a performance problem it will be difficult to work with an employee to improve that performance.

7. When can you discipline an employee? An employer should follow a proper disciplinary process if it believes that an employee may be guilty of misconduct. As far as possible, the objective of the disciplinary procedure should be to improve conduct, rather than simply to punish wrongdoing. Sometimes it will be clear that an allegation of misconduct is being made. For example, if an employer believes an employee has been emailing trade secrets to a competitor, this is an allegation of misconduct and any action taken should be in line with proper disciplinary procedures.

8. If an employee is underperforming at work however, this should normally be treated as a capability issue and disciplinary action will rarely be appropriate. Instead, the employee should be taken through a capability process designed to improve performance. Similarly, absence because of ill health is not a disciplinary offence, unless the employer has some evidence that the employee is malingering, and the employer should follow an absence management process, rather than disciplining an employee who has been absent from work. It is therefore essential to distinguish between capability issues which should be dealt with under a capability process and true disciplinary matters. Only allegations of misconduct should be dealt with by a disciplinary process.

9. What should you do before disciplining an employee? Before any disciplinary hearing is convened, the employer should appoint an Investigator to investigate the allegations on the employer's behalf. The employer's disciplinary procedure may specify who this person should be, but wherever possible it should be someone relatively senior who will have an understanding of the issues. Basically, there are three forms of disciplinary action: You can give a written warning. You can suspend an employee without pay for a designated span of time. You can dismiss the employee.

10. COACHING Great managers will tell you that their best management skills were learned by coaching and mentoring by other great leaders. A coach is someone who will challenge and support your effort to reach your leadership potential. Characteristic of Coaching: It consists of one-on-one development discussion. It provides people with feedback on both their strength and weaknesses. It focuses on improving performance and developing / enhancing individuals skills.

11. Coaching activities have both organizational and individual goals. It is time bounded. Individual and management development can take place in many forms, some delivered by managers and some by internal or external coaches, or mentors. Robert Dilts defines the different activities as follows: 1.Guiding The process of directing an individual or a group along the path leading from present state to a desired state.

12. 2.Coaching Helping another person to improve awareness, to set and achieve goals in order to improve a particular behavioral performance. 3.Teaching Helping an individual or group develop cognitive skills and capabilities. 4.Mentoring Helping to shape an individual’s belief and values in a positive way; often a longer term career relationship from someone who has done it before. 5.Counseling Helping an individual to improve performance by resolving situations from the past.

13. Mentoring Ongoing relationships that can last for a long period of time. Can be more informal and meeting can take place as and when the mentee needs some advice, guidance and support. More long-term and takes a broader view of the person. Mentors is usually more experienced and qualified than the mentee. Often a señor person in the organization who can pass on knowledge, experience and open doors to otherwise out-of-reach opportunities. Focus is on career and personal development. Agenda is set by the mentee, with the mentor providing support and guidance to prepare then for future roles. Mentoring resolves more around developing the mentee professional Coaching Relationship generally has a set duration Generally more structured in nature and meetings are scheduled on a regular basis. Short-term ( sometimes time-bounded) and focuses on specific development areas. Coaching is generally not performed on the basis that the coach needs to have direct experience of their clients formal occupational role, useless the coaching is specific and skills-focused. Focus is generally on development issues at work. The agenda is focused on achieving specific, immediate goals. Coaching revolves more around specific development areas / issues.

14. Counseling is a highly skilled intervention focused on helping individual address underlying psychological problems. Counseling Broader focus and greater depth Goal is to help people understand the root causes of long-standing performance problems / issues at work. A short-term intervention, but can last for longer time periods due to the breadth of issues to be addressed. Counseling can be used to address psycho-social as well as performance issues. The agenda is generally agreed by the individuals and the counselor. Other stakeholders are rarely involved. Coaching Narrower focus The goal is to improve an individual’s performance at work Tends for be a short-term intervention. Coaching does not seek to resolve any underlying psychological problems. It assumes a person does not require a psycho-social intervention. The agenda is typically set by the individual, but in agreement / consultation with the organization. Other stakeholders are involved.

15. Coaching is part of the new performance-led culture of employment rather than the traditional employment model of job security. It is a process and a solution that suits our times. It is an effective mechanism for enable an organization to meet competitive pressures, plan for succession and bring about change.

16. Benefit of Coaching in the Organization Improve productivity, quality, customer service and shareholder value Can gain increased employee commitment and satisfaction which can lead to improve retention. Demonstrate to employees that an organization is committed to developing its staff and helping them improve their skills. Support employees who’ve been promoted to cope with new responsibilities. Help employees to sort out personal issues that might otherwise affect performance at work. Gain a satisfactory process for self-development

17. Benefit of Coaching for the Individuals Learn to solve own problems Improve managerial and interpersonal skills Have better relationship with colleagues Learn how to identify and act on development needs Have greater confidence Become more effective, assertive in dealing with people Have a positive impact on performance Have greater self-awareness and gain of new perspective Acquire new skills and abilities Develop grater adaptability to change Improve work-life balance Reduce stress levels

18. Types of Coaching: 1.Executive Coaching 2.Performance Coaching 3.Skills Coaching 4.Career Coaching 5.Personal or life Coaching 6.Business Coaching 7.Team Facilitation