This document outlines an 8-step process for dealing with problem behaviors at work. The steps include establishing that a problem exists, meeting with the employee, listening to understand their perspective, empathizing and looking for alternative behaviors, focusing on new behaviors, agreeing on a change plan, supporting the desired behaviors, and documenting progress. The overall approach emphasizes understanding the root causes of issues, gaining cooperation from the employee, and helping them adopt new behaviors through communication, support and accountability.

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Problem Behaviour
EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
1. Establish that There is a Problem
The first stage in dealing with problem behaviour at work is
the same as it is in any people management process. And
this is to establish that there is a problem.
In any workplace situation, there is one and only one
definition of a workplace problem. It is not your definition,
not your opinion, and not your judgment. It is the
following: is the behaviour of this person resulting in us
failing to achieve the team results we want?
In most workplaces, this behaviour is determined by the
purpose, aims, and culture of the organisation and known
by the rules, procedures, and systems in force. Taking this
approach means you, as the manager, should be following
a consistent and fair procedure, rather than following your
own opinions and prejudices.
This means that your starting point to tackling problem
behaviour is always to collect, verify, and record facts and
evidence of what you believe might be “problem
behaviour”.

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
2. If There is a Problem,You Must Meet
The second stage of dealing with problem behaviour, -
after establishing that a person is displaying it, - is to
meet the person one-to-one.
This may seem obvious, but in many cases, managers
shy away from dealing with "people problems" for
fear of how the person will react. The danger, it is
assumed, is that people will get angry, burst into
tears, become self-defensive, make it your fault, say
that you're discriminating against them.
Don't give in to these fears and do nothing. As the
manager, it is your responsibility and you must meet.
The first meeting should be informal, even casual.
Don't make it a big deal. Start by asking, "How's
things going?" or "What's going well, what's not?".
Don't mention the D-for-Discipline word.
See the meeting more as a coaching exercise where
your aim is to ensure that the person is behaving in
line with what the organisation needs.

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
3. Take It S-L-O-W
Start every meeting with your staff member by letting
them talk things through.
If you make the effort to simply listen, without
interrupting, agreeing or disagreeing, all kinds of good
things can happen.
First, you’ll find out what the other person thinks,
which gives you valuable information about how to
respond. Sometimes, the other person will actually
say pretty much what you were going to say and then
it can become a coaching conversation. Quite often,
the other person will see part of the problem, and
then you can pick up on and clarify what he or she
has said.
Even if the other person is oblivious to the situation,
just listening first will make the conversation less
adversarial, and will generally make him or her much
better able to listen to you when you respond.

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
4. Understand Where They're Coming From
Often, when an employee displays problem behaviour,
managers jump to conclusions about who is to blame and it
is nearly always the employee. The issue then becomes one
of what the employee needs to do to stop behaving badly.
When it is implied that they are performing badly, most
people will go into either a self-defensive mode of fight or
an avoidance mode of flight. The result is conflict and a
souring of relationships all round.
The best managers don't make quick judgments about good
or bad behaviour but try to understand how and why the
person behaves in the way that they do.
At root may be good intentions, - such as a supervisor's
frustrated desire for someone to do a better job, - or bad
intentions, such as an employee's desire to do as little work
as possible.
Only by getting a better understanding of where the
employee is coming from can you accept the present
situation, define the performance gap and then move on.

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
5. Be an Ethnographer
In trying to understand what is at the root of an individual's
problem behaviour, it helps to take a wider view of the
individual's point of view, as the causes of problem
behaviour almost always lie somewhere in that individual's
life story.
This could be their innate personality (eg are they a "be
perfect" type or a "please others" type?). It could be
something in their previous home or work experience that
led them to believe how they should act. It is almost certain
to be related to their deepest beliefs, assumptions, and
values.
You don't need to be a psychologist to find this out, only to
use a perspective-taking mindset to see their "map of the
world" rather than interpret their behaviour through your
"map of the world".
Blogger, Heledd Wyn, calls this being "an ethnographer“, or
mapping out people’s stories. Cultivating a wider
perspective helps you see the big picture and accept why
people behave the way they do.

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Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
6. Empathise, Commend, and Look forAlternatives
Once you get a better understanding of where people are coming from,
you can now do something that many traditional managers might find
hard to understand. You should let them know that you fully see what they
are trying to do. You can even commend them for trying to do what they
think is right.
This moves you from being an adversary to being an ally. Instead of
standing opposite them, you stand with them. You can then move things
on jointly by exploring different behaviours which would be better suited
to the situation.
In this, you should let them take the lead by asking them for suggestions.
Not, "What should you have done?" which implies that what they were
doing was wrong but, "What else could you have done?" which implies
that they always have choices in behaviour.
Getting on their side and moving them into a new direction is often
compared to the Japanese martial art of aikido which does the same thing
physically and is known as "aikido communication" or "agile
communication".

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
7. Focus On New Behaviours
One of the obstacles in resolving problem behaviour is
that, often, people believe they cannot change. This is
likely when people have behaved in the same difficult
ways for many years and had little or no insight into the
effect they have on others.
Your job in effecting a successful change is to show the
person that the way we all behave is down to the choices
we make, not "the way we are".
True, in some cases, it will take repeated conscious
attempts not to resort to the old behaviours, but
persistence, like learning a new habit, will always pay off.
One technique that can be helpful is called "the camera
check". In this, you ask the person to describe in detail
and possibly, word for word, how they will handle
situations in future as if filming the scene for a movie.
So, the last thing you should do in helping people to
change from problem behaviour to desired behaviour is
to clearly define the new behaviour, agree a plan of
trying out these behaviours, and offering ongoing
support during the transition.

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
Eight Steps to Dealing with Problem Behaviour:
8. Support Desired Behaviour
After agreeing a plan of change, you should keep an eye on how
well the person with problem behaviour progresses. Think of it
as a project with clear goals, clear timescales, and clear
outcomes that you have both agreed.
You should be prepared to accept that different people have
different rates of change. Some will see things straightaway,
others will fall back into old ways before they "get" the new
ways.
As well as being around to advise and help, your role as
manager is to stick unwaveringly to your need for desired
performance behaviours.
You need to document things at every step of the way. This will
be vital if the employee reverts back to the old ways or simply
decides not to change. In such cases, you will have to move
things on down an informal and then formal disciplinary route.
Hopefully, though, your interventions will work and any
documentation can quickly be filed and forgotten about in the
back drawer.

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Problem Behaviour
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn