Disciplining employees is often tricky and misunderstood. Recently I had a coaching meeting with a client who was frustrated with his employees, and “chopping away” at them like a lumberjack.
In this three minute video, I show you the three “gardening tools” I shared with my Invaluable CEO client. Please watch and share your perspective.
Action Steps:
- Watch this video and assess yourself in each of the “gardener’s tools” of disciplining employees.
- The next time you are about to discipline an employee, ask yourself, “Am I a lumberjack… or a gardener?”
- Share your perspective or ask questions on this page.
Principles to Learn:
- A “lumberjack” approach to disciplining employees cuts down. It makes broad, sweeping strokes and ends up destroying morale.
- A “gardener” approach, on the other hand, makes corrections but does it with an attitude of pruning, molding, and helping employees grow.
- The way you correct employee errors should be congruent with your personal values.
- The Three “Gardening Tools” are:
- Avoid responding to first instances
- Correct quickly with clarity
- Then, be supportive and caring
- You empower your employees when you give them a little space to make mistakes and correct themselves.
- By correcting quickly (on a second instance), you avoid allowing your personal frustration to build up until you explode.
- By using precise and clear language, you depersonalize discipline and make your correction not appear like a personal attack.
- By sincerely expressing to an employee how important they are to you and to the company, after correction, you become a mentor rather than an enemy.
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