Q.  My employee does not appear to be a good fit for the position.  I don’t want to drag things out if we decide to dismiss this person, but should I make a referral to the EAP?  I am 100% certain this is a skill and abilities issue.

A.  Make a referral for performance issues.  If problems are strictly skills related, your employee will have the benefit of meeting with the employee assistance professional and establishing a working relationship.  This could be a source of support later if an adverse action is pursued.  The EAP can assess the employee’s career fitness, interests, personal finances, and motivation for the current position.  A discussion could lead to a job or career change, a stronger feeling of control in the face of job loss, or a reduced likelihood of a legal challenge to dismissal – or even a disturbing personal reaction to dismissal.  Many supervisors are surprised to learn in similar situations that personal problems played a role in performance struggles.  Think of the EAP as a “productivity improvement program.”  You will refer and help more employees and also achieve higher levels of productivity and a better return on your organization’s investment in the EAP.

Q.  Is there an “attitude” about supervision that you recommend supervisors adopt?  By attitude, I mean a framework or model that reduces distress in supervision relationships and makes them more collaborative.

A.  Many supervisors visualize the role of supervisor as “unidirectional,” or one way.  The supervisor is “directing” and the employee is acting on that direction.  This is too simplistic.  Employees need you as much as you need them.  You have a need for job satisfaction as much as your employee does, and you have a need to achieve career goals too.  This orientation to supervision will make your relationships with employees more cooperative and productive.  Most supervisors want to guide employees, maximize their productivity, and help them develop and feel rewarded for the good work they do.  But it is important to see yourself as teaming up with your employee.  “How can we cooperate with each other?” or “What do we need to work on to achieve results together?” is a proactive orientation to supervision.  Supervisors with this orientation experience more cooperation from employee, less stress, and more joy in their work.

 Q.  A lack of communication is a bit of a problem within my work division.  I harp on people to share information more efficiently and frequently, but invariably everyone reverts back to their old habits.  These are “people issues,” so can the EAP help?

 A.  When communication is problematic and the flow of information is poor, search for barriers and intervene around them.  Frequently, barriers are physical or rooted in inefficient communication channels.  But that is only scratching the surface.  Barriers to communication in organizations can arise from attitude problems, poor supervision, personality conflicts, language differences, culture clashes, personal problems, and more.  This is where the EAP can provide an added dimension of help.  Consult with your EAP to see if you can discover potential behavioral or human-factor-related dimensions to this problem.  Man EA professionals are educated in communication dynamics and have plenty of experience in understanding the role of sender and receiver, tangible and intangible barriers, and interventions to improve communication.  This may sound unconventional, but EAPs often can address problems of this type due to the perspective they offer and the unique set of operational parameters that set them apart as effective problem solvers when looking at human behavior in the workplace.

 Q.  How can I help employees experience less stress regarding change in our organization?  “Managing change” seems to be a buzzword phrase these days.  Can you discuss a practical strategy to help us feel more in control over what feels uncontrollable?

 A.  Whether it’s an organization or an individual employee facing change, stress can be reduced by remaining proactive in the face of certain or unknown change rather than reacting after the fact.  Experiment with the following proactive model:  Meet with employees if significant change is pending.  Have a frank discussion about resistance to change – how resistance is normal (but undesirable) and how it could undermine the work group.  Discuss both what is feared about the change and what new opportunities or rewards are presented.  Next, discuss strategy.  How does your group “get ahead” of the impact and prepare to exploit the positive aspects of the change?  Finally, in the face of stress, how will your group support individual members who may experience more stress from the change than others do?  Consider how the EAP can serve as a facilitator for such a discussion.

 Q.  In addition to reading about what it takes to be a good leader (or learning from my mistakes), what other strategy is particularly effective in acquiring leadership skills?

 A.  One commonly overlooked strategy of leadership development is modeling.  Consider observing effective leaders within or outside of your organization.  Attempt to model what they do.  Nearly every manager can spot an effective leader, but being able to identify and describe what you are looking at can be a little trickier.  When modeling others, seek to identify what attitudes they bring to workers and how they support the organization’s goals.  What beliefs and values appear to support their effective leadership style?  What do they place priorities?  What do they do that attracts others, and what causes those around them to respond positively?  Perhaps most important, how do they reciprocate with others in the organization so they appear to both lead and value everyone around them?

Q.  Other than “what to say” and “how to say it”, what is the most important thing supervisors can do to improve the likelihood of employees accepting supervisor referrals to the EAP?

A.  One important thing is to avoid accidentally reinforcing common myths and misconceptions about EAPs.  No matter how well an employee assistance program is promoted or its confidentiality ensured, misunderstandings about EAPs will occur.  For example, avoid any indication that you are basing the referral on your belief in the existence of a psychological problem.  (Myth:  Going to the EAP means I have a psychological problem.)  Be hopeful and positive.  (Myth:  A supervisor referral is a preliminary step to disciplinary action.)  Keep the focus on performance and how employee assistance professionals help employees improve performance.  (Myth:  The EA professional will force me to answer personal and intrusive questions.)  Let the employee know that records of EAP attendance are not in personnel files.  (Myth:  Going to the EAP will be a promotion-killing black mark on my record.)

Q.  I know praising employees for their good work reinforces repeat performances.  I want to be positive with my employees.  Can you give me tips on how to use praise more effectively – perhaps in ways that aren’t commonly understood?

A.  A less considered yet powerful way to use praise is to shower your employees with it in front of others both before and after you delegate a task.  For example, suppose your work unit is giving a presentation to top management about last year’s activities.  You want Mary to deliver the presentation.  In front of her peers, consider praising her while you delegate the assignment.  For Example, “I would like Mary to take the lead on this executive presentation.  I know that with her organizational skills and gift of public speaking, she will do a fabulous job and make a great impression for our work unit.” Notice that you not only praise Mary for her ability to do a great job, but you reference specifics associated with her public speaking proficiency and organizational skills.  This leverages your praise to make it effective.  Employees who are praised in this manner often feel more energetic in advance of the assignments, and they sharpen their focus to go the extra mile with better products or outcomes.  You may consider meeting with the EAP for a consultation on other effective ways to praise employees.

Q.  I am trying to do a better job at delegating work.  Are there any important points about delegating assignments to employees that help ensure work will be done with superior results?

A.  When supervisors delegate, they often neglect a few key points needed to make delegation a process of growth, not just an assigned task.  Your goal in delegating is to get work accomplished and also to expand your employee’s capabilities.  Unless key steps are taken, many problems can ensue with delegation, the most significant of which is the inability to let go of control.  Instead of monitoring progress, you are compelled to meddle and thereby frustrate your worker.  To help ensure better delegation:  1) Explain the assignment and what you anticipate as a successful or satisfactory outcome. 2) Explain the importance of the assignment to the organization, its bottom line, and how your employee will grow from the experience.  3) Monitor to show an interest in the outcome, but monitor less on the details of the project.  4) Make sure your employee has everything needed to produce the expected outcome – resources, accountability, authority, etc.

Q.  How do I manage employees who are not poor performers yet take up an inordinate amount of my time?  Examples are needing a lot of attention to understand assignments, being too emotional when faced with small irritations, etc.  It’s hard to quantify these issues.

A.  Many undesirable employee behaviors or performance issues are not easily found on a performance issues checklist.  The easiest way to overcome this problem is to meet with the EAP for a management consult.  Decide together upon the right description of your employee’s behavior and – more important – how to quantify or measure it so it can be documented.  Even if these behaviors are not what you would ultimately call terminable offenses, the EAP can offer constructive confrontation and corrective interviewing techniques that will likely work.  Always assume that there are strategies to correct almost any undesirable employee behavior with the help of a referral.

Q.  Can the EAP serve as a witness in my meeting with an employee so that later, if problems return and serious disciplinary action is contemplated, the EAP’s credibility and neutrality can attest to the fair treatment given to the troubled employee?

A.  Although there are no standards of practice that would directly prohibit the EAP from participating in a meeting of this type, it would be ill-advised.  Using the EAP to support management’s interests in this way would conflict with the EAP’s true purpose.  An EAP is a “program of attraction” that uses confidentiality and neutrality to draw troubled employees to it.  Such a meeting could damage the EAP’s position of neutrality.  Employees could easily perceive the EAP as an advocate for management, decreasing its utilization.  An employee who rejected the EAP’s findings would not be a positive voice for the program.  It is more useful to have another manager or management advisor in such a meeting and to document the meeting well.