Performance Discussions Becoming Bullying Accusations

Dealing with an ‘underperformer’ and then being accused of bullying can be confidence-shattering and very confusing. You wonder how the tables turned so suddenly. Now you find yourself defending your actions, fearful of doing or saying anything, all the while the employee’s behaviour continues or escalates.

In the context of New Zealand’s employment legislation and WorkSafe’s bullying guidelines, it is crucial to differentiate between effective management practices and bullying behaviours, especially when addressing performance issues.

Forgetfulness, occasional rudeness, having a bad day every now and again, being sometimes tactless, setting high standards, constructive feedback and giving reasonable instructions – this is not bullying. WorkSafe NZ defines workplace bullying as “repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that can lead to physical or psychological harm”. The types of behaviours include victimising, humiliating, intimidating or threatening a person, and excessive criticism.

The theory sounds reasonable enough, however we know from dozens of conversations from concerned managers, the practice is far more complex. The standard advice tells us to give regular feedback, set goals, monitor progress, provide support, document everything and so on. It is important to do all of these things however, to minimise the risk of an allegation of bullying, here are a few different tips.

Aim to genuinely understand: Start by considering why performance is below standard. Is it a lack of skills, vague expectations, the standards have changed and the person struggles with change, personal problems, stress, they don’t think what they do actually matters, they don’t like their job or they are bored? There are many reasons that affect how we perform (long or short term), and if you can identify the root cause with the employee it will help establish trust in your genuine desire to help and identify a solution that will work.

Believe people want to do well: Most people don’t wake up each morning thinking of ways to make their manager’s life a misery or go to work with the intent of doing a bad job. Remembering this can help keep things in perspective and not feel the poor performance is a personal attack.

Be hard on the problem and soft on the person: This principle requires a manager to steer clear of personal judgements and labelling language. Telling someone they are lazy, have a poor attitude or are incompetent is only ever going to result in them being offended, humiliated, upset and getting defensive. Instead, focus on the issue and problem solving together on how to resolve it.  Be prepared to allow a reasonable period of time for the problem to be resolved.  Focus on seeing signs of improvement, rather than seeing an immediate fix.

Start the discussion with the right aim: There are many reasons why we will have a performance discussion and it isn’t always to improve performance. Our motives can be to let them know whose boss, to tell them you are angry, to let out your own frustrations, or because you want to fire them and don’t want to spend the time to help them improve.  If your intent isn’t to understand the underlying issues and work on a solution, chances are the discussion will go poorly and you will inadvertently say something that may be interpreted as bullying (rightly or wrongly).

Be specific about your concerns and clear about your standard:  Your underperformer may not be aware that there are any problems with their performance, and may not appreciate that they are not meeting the mark.  To help them get a full understanding of your concerns, it will be a more productive discussion if you can tell them exactly why their performance is not reaching the mark and what is needed from them to get to your standard.  Make sure you are clear that your standard is not negotiable.

Managing people can be challenging. We advise taking the approach of viewing the employee’s behaviour and performance as fascinating (rather than difficult or just ‘too hard’). Changing your own mindset to one of curiosity and wanting to understand ‘the why’ will help how you manage a performance situation with a greater probability of success.

If you would like to enhance your leadership skills our Consultant, Claire Chambers, is a qualified and experienced coach. Give her a call to discuss how she could help in your organisation.