Managing Employee Workplans

Use of the Guide

This guide is intended for use by supervisors as an online reference to supplement Performance Management for Supervisors classroom training.

• If you have not yet attended a classroom training session, be sure to schedule a class as soon as possible. You may use this guide as a reference, but the classroom training is required and will give you more information and practice in managing workplans. (Click on the course link above to go to the course description, dates, and registration information.)
• If you have attended a classroom session, this guide should be a good reference tool to use on an as-needed basis. You may want to bookmark this page or add it to your favorites so that you can access the guide online as a quick reference or refresher. To find what you need, click on the contents list below or the menu that you'll find at the bottom of all of the other pages.

Important Notes:

• This guide in not intended to replace the formal policy, but rather to supplement the policy by clarifying and providing examples. Be sure to refer to the Reference Section for specific policy requirements.
• As you review the instructions for writing performance expectations in the guide, note that you must write expectations at the "Good" level. See Writing Result Expectations and Writing Behavioral Expectations for more information.

Introduction

The workplan outlines an employee's "key responsibilities and results" and "behaviors" along with related expectations for the year. As a supervisor, you have the major responsibility for making sure that each employee's workplan is accurate and a genuine, measurable reflection of the work expected. You should also make sure that all of your work unit's goals and outcomes are reflected in the sum of all of your employees' workplans.

This guide contains instructions, examples, forms, and policy references related to:

• Writing an individual workplan,
• Conducting an Interim or Special Review during the work cycle,
• Developing an Improvement Plan if an employee falls below the "Good" rating level,
• Creating a Development Plan when an employee needs to master new skills, and
• Conducting a Performance Appraisal using the established workplan.

Contents

General Description:

The workplan is an agreement between an employee and management outlining the employee's work contribution to the unit. It may be a standard workplan that matches other employees' workplans in the unit or it may be unique to a particular employee.

The workplan generally covers expectations for a full year. In some cases, a work cycle may cover less than one year. (You will find more information on situations where a reduced work cycle applies in the next section of the guide: Writing the Original Workplan.)

As a supervisor, you will probably be working with and revising existing workplans more often than writing new ones.

Usage:

Typically, this is how you will use workplans:

• Your current employees have existing workplans, so you will only need to review and update the plans once a year for most employees.
• If one of your employees takes on some new duties, you will need to revise the workplan to cover the remainder of the plan year.
• If an employee starts having trouble meeting established expectations, develop an "Improvement Plan" to supplement the existing workplan.
• If you get a new position that will have unique duties in relation to what your other employees do, you may have to create a workplan "from scratch."

Making It Work:

Workplans contain "Performance Expectations" that you and the employee discuss. The expectations spell out what employees should accomplish and what behaviors, skills, or competencies they need to accomplish those expectations in a work cycle. (These are listed as "Results Expectations" and "Behavioral Expectations" on the form. You'll find specific instructions on these components later in this guide.)

As you go through the specifics of creating or reviewing workplans, you'll learn that it is not possible or desirable to list every task an employee may do during the cycle. Often, the specific tasks are covered in operations manuals or other documents. You may also find that it is impossible to include all elements of the job description in the workplan. To make the workplan a useful planning and evaluation tool, strive to make it short enough to be manageable. Long workplans are difficult to track and hard to document.

In the rest of this guide, you will see how to create thorough but manageable workplans for all of your employees.

The following is an abbreviated sample workplan that should give you a good overview of a complete workplan. It does not include all of the Key Responsibilities/Results or Dimensions that would make up a full workplan, but it should give you a good sample of the types of information you would find on a workplan. You will find detailed instructions on completing each of these sections in the rest of this guide.

Workplan Example:

Magda is a Budget Analyst who juggles requests from a number of customers. Her supervisor has completed the workplan through the ratings and comments sections at one of her yearly appraisals.

Writing the Original Workplan

General Information:

Workplans may already be established for your employees. However, if you have a new employee who will have unique duties or an employee whose work duties have changed significantly, you may want to start with a blank form to begin creating the workplan. You may access a blank workplan form at http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/Workplan.dot (Word version) or at http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/workplan.pdf (PDF version) to complete as a Word document or printed form.

The following instructions and examples will give you all of the information you will need to complete a new workplan. You may also want to refer to these instructions when you are updating work plan sections for current or new employees.

By using these complete instructions, you can make sure that your employees' workplans are thorough and manageable.

Making It Work:

Workplans contain "Performance Expectations" that you and the employee discuss. The expectations spell out what employees should accomplish and what behaviors, skills, or competencies they need to accomplish those expectations in a work cycle. (These are listed as "Results Expectations" and "Behavioral Expectations" on the form. You'll find specific instructions on these components later in this guide.)

Workplans should focus on the results rather than individual tasks. As you go through the specifics of creating or reviewing workplans, you'll learn that it is not possible or desirable to list every task an employee may do during the cycle. Often, the specific tasks are covered in operations manuals or other documents. You may also find that it is impossible to include all elements of the job description in the workplan. To make the workplan a useful planning and evaluation tool, strive to make it short enough to be manageable. Long workplans are difficult to track and hard to document.

Workplan Cycle:

The workplan generally covers a work cycle of one year from July 1st to June 30th. (This July 1st to June 30th cycle may be officially modified within your division or agency, so check on this if you need to by contacting your Performance Management Coordinator. Your employees' work cycles must match the cycle used in your division or agency.)

There are 3 factors that affect how and when you review your employees' performance. Because of these related policies, you may have to complete more frequent reviews for some employees. The following paragraphs summarize the 3 factors that affect the work cycle and reviews, and the examples that follow may help you "put it all together."

Eligibility for Certain Pay Raises

The Office of State Personnel Policy requires that an employee must be on the payroll in a permanent position for 8 months of the work cycle to qualify for "Career Growth" or "Performance Bonus" pay increases that may be granted by the legislature. This policy exception affects:

• New employees,
• Employees returning to work after extended absences due to illness, worker’s compensation, or leave without pay, etc.

Probationary Periods

Most employees will have a 9-month probationary period. Check with your division or institution HR office if you are unsure what probationary period applies to your employees.

8 to 12 Month Workplan Cycles

DHHS requires at least an 8-month work cycle for all employees (including our new employees). Your goal is to eventually get your new employees on the same 12-month cycle as the rest of your staff.

Examples

Below are three examples of how you could adjust the cycles of employees to accommodate the 8-month requirement and eventually get them on the same 12-month cycle as the rest of your employees.

If you have a group of 5 or more employees who do the same work, you should use a "Standard Workplan" for all of them. This Standard Workplan must be developed following specific guidelines and approved by your manager and the Department Performance Management Program Coordinator. The information in this section applies to the Standard Workplans, also, so it is best to read through this general information first if you need to create a Standard Workplan. Read Step 1 (Identify KRRs) through Step 6 (Workplan Review) in the sections that follow to learn how to develop all of the components of a valid workplan. Then go to Standard Workplan Development in the Reference Section for a full explanation of how to set up a Standard Workplan that applies to a group of employees.

New Employees:

If you have a new employee whose duties will be the same as other employees in your work unit, use the all of the same KRRs, Result Expectations, Dimensions and Behavioral Expectations for the new employee. (This may be part of a Standard Workplan that applies to a group of your employees.)

Even though a new employee may take some time to reach an acceptable performance level on the expectations that are reasonable for your permanent employees, do not write a "lower" set of expectations for the new employee. Instead, at the time of the probationary employee's performance evaluation, if you feel that the employee is on the right track, you can make notes concerning any reasonable or expected "learning curve" that may keep the new employee from working "up to speed" or "with greater accuracy" in meeting all expectations.

You will find more information on evaluating new employees' performance and some examples in the Performance Appraisal section of this guide.

Conducting the Interim Review

General Information:

Plan to conduct Interim Reviews at the middle of the work cycle, usually during December or January. During the review, provide feedback on the employee's performance so far in the work cycle. While it is not necessary to document specific ratings at this time, document and discuss performance to date, allowing the two of you to discuss how the employee is doing in meeting expectations.

You must also use this Interim Review process as a "Special Review" any time an employee's performance in a Results or Behavioral Expectation falls below the "Good" level. In this case, you would develop an "Improvement Plan" with the employee. (See the following Improvement Plan section for more information.)

Remember to use the "Key Principles" and "Interaction Guidelines" to communicate effectively with employees as you discuss the Improvement Plan. Go to Effective Communication for a summary.

Conducting the Interim Review Meeting:

Follow the steps below to conduct a successful Interim Review.

Schedule a meeting with the employee. Encourage the employee to bring his or her documentation of how well the expectations are being met to the meeting, also.

Review the employee's performance data collected to date for each Results or Behavioral Expectation listed on the workplan for both the KRRs and the Dimensions.

Review the data carefully to determine if performance for any of the employee's Results or Behavioral Expectations within each KRR or Dimension is below the "Good" level of performance.

If performance is at the "Below Good" or "Unsatisfactory" level for any Expectation, review the data with your manager and your HR manager or Employee Relations Specialist to determine if disciplinary action is also needed. In this case, you would also develop an "Improvement Plan" with the employee. (See the following Improvement Plan section for more information.)

Writing an Improvement Plan

General Information:

If an employee has performance in any Key Responsibilities / Results (KRR) or Dimension that falls below the "Good" level at any time during the work cycle, you will need to develop an improvement plan that identifies necessary steps for the employee to bring performance up to the "Good" level.

Preparing the Improvement Plan:

Follow the steps below to prepare a workable Improvement Plan.

Before meeting with the employee, review the documentation with your manager to determine if your manager will support an Improvement Plan. Also, talk to your HR manager or Employee Relations Specialist to discuss whether disciplinary action is also needed. This discussion will reduce any potential documentation or process problems if the employee's performance does not improve in the future and you are faced with dismissal or disciplinary issues.

Let the employee know that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss his or her performance problem. Explain that you are willing to work with the employee and have confidence in his or her ability to improve.

During the discussion, try to balance seeking the employee's input with being clear on what the employee needs to do to improve. Review your documentation (including any STARs) that identifies the employee's performance problem. Ask for the employee's ideas on how he or she can improve.

Remember to use the "Key Principles" and "Interaction Guidelines" to communicate effectively with the employee as you discuss the Improvement Plan. Go to Effective Communication for a summary of these principles and steps.

Discuss and record what actions the employee needs to take to correct the deficiency and how you will support the employee. Sometimes, the employee has all of the skills necessary to complete the improvement steps alone. In other situations, you may need to provide or arrange some additional skill training or resources to help the employee meet the improvement goals.

Make a realistic plan with the employee, allowing sufficient time for the employee to reach the improvement goals.

Record the improvement goals on the Workplan, documenting the actions required by the employee, the timeframes, and any actions you will take to support the employee's improvement efforts.

Following your discussion with the employee and making any necessary changes to the Improvement Plan, give a copy of the finalized Improvement Plan to the employee and your manager.

Plan to meet again within 30 days to review improvement. If necessary, continue to meet monthly until performance is improved or you find it necessary to take other action if the employee is unable to improve to the level required.

The following is an example of an Improvement Plan:

The KRR section of John's workplan might look like the following:

His workplan also includes the dimensions of Attention to Detail and Equipment Operation. His supervisor has noted on recent building inspections that on several occasions, John has left noticeable dust and dirt in the corner and along baseboards. His supervisor has also noticed damage to walls from the floor machine.

The Dimensions section of John's workplan might look like the following:

John's supervisor met with him to review both his Results Expectations and the Dimensions of Attention to Detail and Equipment Operation. He provided STARs to John that documented his observations on the visible dirt and wall damage. John has indicated a problem with the floor buffer. His supervisor will initiate a ticket for the repair person to look at the machine. He is also asking John to work with another housekeeper who has strong floor care skills to review procedures and use of the machine. His supervisor reinforced that having clean floors reduces the risk of an employee being hurt and provides visitors and employee with an attractive public image. In coaching John, his supervisor has reinforced the importance of meeting both the results and behavior expectations at the "Good" level.

John and his supervisor will meet again in three weeks to review his improvement. In the meantime, his supervisor will document his observations of John's work using the STAR method to capture John's actions and results.

The supervisor's comments on the Improvement Plan section might be as follows:

Writing a Development Plan

General Information:

The work of our organization is not static. Your employees will experience the need to continue to develop new skills and competencies to retain competitiveness and to continue to grow within their jobs and the department. While individual employees may not change jobs, their work within those jobs will continue to evolve to keep pace with their specific areas of expertise regardless of their classification levels.

To help your employees keep pace and grow in their chosen field, you can help them by creating a Development Plan that may:

• Be self-paced,
• Include traditional classroom or online training,
• Incorporate working with peers for cross-training, or
• Include supervisory or other staff mentoring,
• Take advantage of educational assistance programs to attend classes at the community colleges or colleges and universities.

Creating the Development Plan:

Follow the steps below to create a thorough Development Plan.

Identify what knowledge, skills or competencies will keep or enhance the employee's skills.

Work with the employee to determine what are reasonable steps for the employee to take in developing the identified skills or competencies.

The employee provides documentation of the completed training or other activities that demonstrate the new skill or knowledge for your review. Typically, this occurs during the interim review or final performance appraisal.

The following is an example of a Development Plan with several types of issues. The format is from page 4 of the Workplan.

Zakea has worked for the Controller's Office for over a year. She will assume responsibility for being the accounts payable officer for three DHHS divisions. Zakea is technically a very good accountant but has little experience working with customers. Her new job will involve working with staff from the three divisions to ensure that bills are paid to outside vendors on time and accurately. The Dimensions "Service Orientation" and "Collaboration" will be very important in her new job.

A. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Zakea will need to increase listening skills to be sure she is clear on the customer's needs as well as working through customer complaints.

She will also need to be sure she is knowledgeable on Accounts Payable policies and that she can clarify these to customers in plain language.

B. Training and Education:

Zakea will take the DHHS Customer Service Excellence class in the next few weeks. She will also take an upcoming class in Conflict Management. This class includes skill building in negotiation and consensus building. She will also review an on-line class on building customer relationships.

Conducting a Performance Appraisal

General Information:

You are responsible for making sure that your employees' performance appraisals are completed on time according to the following:

• The State Personnel Act requires that every employee have a performance appraisal at least once a year. The completed workplan must be submitted to your Human Resource (HR) office by early June. (Check the exact due date by contacting your local HR office.)
• For probationary employees, you should set up a workplan cycle to cover the employee's probationary period. Typically, the new employee probationary period is 9 months but can be as little as 3 months. Check with your division or institution HR Manager about the acceptable length of the probationary period for new employees in your work unit. This reduced work cycle may end before or go beyond the typical June 30th ending date of your permanent employees' work cycles. At the end of the initial probationary work cycle, evaluate the employee's performance based on the workplan. Then if it's reasonable, you may shorten or lengthen the ending date of the next work cycle of the probationary employee to coincide with your other employees' work cycle ending dates of June 30th. (See the exceptions to the 12-month cycle section in "Writing the Original Workplan" for an expanded explanation and some examples.)
• If you have employees who are not at work because of various types of extended leave, you should do a special review before they leave to document their performance level. When they return from extended sick leave, worker's compensation leave, or leave without pay, you will need to do a performance appraisal when they have completed a minimum 8-month work cycle. You can then shorten or lengthen the ending date of the next work cycle of the returning employee to coincide with your other employees' work cycle ending dates of June 30th.
• Employees who leave a position need a final performance evaluation before their last day. This evaluation is required and becomes important if the employee decides to reapply for a position on the future. A copy of this completed workplan is sent to your local HR office.
• If you leave your supervisory position, you'll need to complete appraisals on all of your employees before you leave.
• An employee who transfers into your work unit will have a final appraisal done by his or her last supervisor. You will set up a workplan for the employee and track the employee's performance until the regular appraisal time. When you complete this employee's performance appraisal, remember that the evaluation is for the entire work cycle, so be sure to consider the last supervisor's overall summary rating in determining the employee's current overall summary rating.
• If you become the supervisor of a group of employees after a previous supervisor leaves, consider the previous supervisor's ratings in determining the final rating at the regular end of the work cycle for the employees.

Employees in the following situations (including retirees who return to work) are not required to have a workplan or performance appraisal:

• Part-time employees who work less than 20 hours per week,
• Temporary employees,
• Contract Registered Nurses,
• Retirees who work part time, or
• Intermittent or seasonal employees.

Review performance information collected during the full work cycle against each performance expectation listed within each KRR or Dimension. Record the actual performance in the appropriate space for each performance expectation. Some supervisors prefer to do this in draft form until they have input from the employee's documentation.

1. Begin comparing the employee's actual results based on the available documentation to the expectations listed on the workplan.

   Important Note:
   If there are circumstances beyond the employee's control that affect the employee's results, the supervisor should not rate the employee based on these uncontrollable circumstances.

   Example:
   Janet is responsible for collecting information from offices across the state to complete an annual report. Janet has e-mailed, called, and written reminder notices and has kept her supervisor informed of her difficulty in collecting the data. In this case, Janet's Result Expectation related to this report has not been met. Since she has done everything within her control to collect the data, her supervisor should not rank her "Below Good" or "Unsatisfactory" for this expectation. Instead, the supervisor should document Janet's efforts at collecting the data in the "Actual Results" column and would probably rate her as "Good" in the Rating column. (If Janet had not made the extensive efforts she tried to follow up on the data collection problem, the supervisor would probably have been justified in rating her as "below good" or "unsatisfactory" on this expectation.)

2. Determine a rating for each KRR and Dimension based on the documentation. Refer to the NC Rating Scale for an explanation of the ratings:
   • O = Outstanding
   • VG = Very Good
   • G = Good
   • BG = Below Good
   • U = Unsatisfactory
3. Review the documentation and identify what rating will be given with the manager.

4. Schedule the evaluation meeting with the employee and define the purpose of the meeting. Encourage the employee to supply relevant documentation wherever possible.

• Review each expectation and the documentation with the employee.
• Provide positive reinforcement for the employee's achievements. Ask the employee to describe how he or she has achieved any significant positive results.
• Provide the employee with a rating for each KRR and Dimension.
• You may also choose to ask your employees how they would rate themselves, but this is optional.

• Combine the individual KRR ratings into a single Combined Rating and record in the space provided on the Workplan. If 50% or more of the ratings are at the same level, the combined rating is most likely to be that level. In obtaining this combined rating, however, be sure to consider the priority order of the KRRs. For example, if the top priority level KRRs are rated consistently lower than the less important KRRs, the lower rating may be more appropriate for the combined rating.

Example:
Cassandra has 3 KRRs on her workplan. Her supervisor has rated 2 KRR's as "Very Good." The 3rd KRR was rated "Good." In Cassandra's case, the KRRs that were rated "Very Good" make up 10% and 20% of her job (totaling only 30%). The KRR that was rated "Good" makes up 70% of her job. So, in this situation, Cassandra's overall rating will be "Good" rather than "Very Good."

• Combine the individual Dimension Ratings into a single rating by repeating the process and determining a combined Dimensions Rating and record in the space provided.

Record the letter of the combined KRR rating and the letter of the combined Dimensions rating. Consider these ratings to have equal weight. (An Office of State Personnel (OSP) policy allows us to consider these ratings to have equal weight.)

• Review the rating levels and select the one rating which best represents the employee's performance throughout the cycle.
• Record the letter that represents the Overall Summary Rating, and write a brief statement in the space that follows supporting the Overall Summary Rating.

• Obtain the three required signatures (employee, supervisor, and manager) in the spaces provided on the form.
• Point out the employee's dispute rights listed on the Overall Summary Evaluation page. Employees who want to dispute the final rating must file a dispute form with their HR office within 15 days of receiving their final written appraisal and notice of appeal rights.

All employee ratings must be submitted to your HR office usually 2 weeks prior to the end of the cycle (around June 15th) so that they can process the data into the computer system that generates the payroll. As you may know, in some years legislative pay increases are tied to employee ratings. Your HR office will provide more detailed information on any pay increase that may be granted.

The following are other facts to keep in mind when conducting the performance appraisals:

• HR offices are required to submit ratings for all employees except temporary employees and those who work less than 20 hours a week.
• Employees who resign or are terminated still need a rating.
• Transferred employees must have a final rating completed by their current supervisor. (See notes in "General Information" section above.)
• All employees must have a rating in the system to receive an increase.
• Employees on extended leave receive their Legislative Increase after they complete 8 months of a work cycle and have at least a "below good" rating.
• Probationary employees receive any Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) granted by the legislature but do not receive Career Growth or any Merit increase until they complete 8 months and become permanent employees.

The following are samples of Performance Appraisal content excerpts.

Example 1:

Sally is a new employee. She is a processing assistant who has been employed for nine months. Sally is still learning the database, the coding system, and the statewide and national contacts. Following is an excerpt of a workplan and summary that you might create for a new employee like Sally.

Example 2:

Don is a seasoned employee as a staff development coordinator. He has been in the position for three years. Following is an excerpt of a workplan and summary that you might create for an employee like Don who has been in his position for several years.

References

The following are references related to the workplan. Go to the online version of this page at http://www.dhhs.nc.state.us/humanresources/workplan/references.html to access the references that do not follow this section in the Print Guide.

Note: Some of the references below are "PDF" files. If they don't work for you by clicking on the link, you need to download the Acrobat Reader. Go to the Adobe Acrobat Reader download page to get a free Reader.

STAR
Performance Tracking Tool

General Information:

Use the STAR tool to track your employees' behaviors, skills, and competencies during the year. Completing and saving STARs on your employees as performance milestones occur will help you recall important accomplishments (or problems) when it is time to complete each employee's Performance Appraisal.

You may also complete STARs on employees outside your work unit to praise accomplishments. Be sure to give a copy to the employee's supervisor for their records.

There are two versions of the tool with the basic components illustrated below. The first one is the basic S.T.A.R outline:

S = Situation
T = Task
A = Action
R = Result

After observing an employee in a work circumstance that you would like to note and discuss with the employee, you can use the S.T.A.R. tool to record and define the:

Situation that was occurring;

Task the employee was to perform;

Action the employee took or did not take; and

Result or the impact on the work setting or others.

Positive Example:
Barbara, a Developmental Tech, is responsible for assisting residents in an MR facility with their day-to-day needs, i.e. dressing, bathing, feeding tasks (T=Task). The unit is currently understaffed due to vacancies. One of the residents became very agitated because his family had not visited in a long time (S=Situation). Barbara offered to work overtime and work with the client so that the other staff could feed the other clients on time (A=Action). Her efforts with the agitated client helped the staff keep the normal routine for the other MR clients and reduced the chance that others would become upset as well (R=Result).

Jot down documentation like the above example on a 3 x 5 card or on a STAR Form (HTML version or Word version) and file in Barbara's Performance Management file for later reference.

Use the second version of the STAR tool when you observe an employee who needs to improve in a particular task. (This is to be used for specific incidents rather than larger performance problems that might require an Improvement Plan covered elsewhere in this Guide.) The second version is outlined below:

S = Situation
T = Task
A = Action
R = Result
+
AR = Alternative Results

Jot down documentation like the above example on a 3 x 5 card or on an Improvement STAR Form (HTML version or Word version) and file in Jane's Performance Management file for later reference.

By completing STAR forms on employees over the entire workcycle, you can look for several STARs to help you determine ratings on the employees' Dimensions when completing their Performance Appraisals.

General Information:

The following steps outline a group process for developing a validated Standard Workplan. You can develop a Standard Workplan for a group of 5 or more employees who are in the same classification and have similar responsibilities and duties.

To develop a Standard Workplan, you will need to work with your manager, a group of employees, other supervisors (if applicable), and a Certified Performance Management Trainer (to act as facilitator of the group). Your group will complete a thorough job analysis including some validation processes to ensure that the Standard Workplan represents the work done by most of the employees in a particular classification. This detailed development process should result in a Standard Workplan that is legally sound and more likely to be accepted by the group of employees affected.

If you supervise less than 5 employees who perform the same or similar work, you cannot do a "Standard Workplan" as described here. You should consider developing some common standards that can be used on all of your employees' workplans, however, to ensure that they are being evaluated on the same criteria.

Note also that your manager is responsible for ensuring that expectations in Standard Workplans are consistent and equitable across work units for employees with similar jobs.

In addition to the review requirements described in Step 8 below, divisions and institutions are required to submit a list of those classifications using Standard Workplans by July 1 of each year to the Department's Performance Management Program Coordinator. (See Performance Management Policy (formerly Directive 34) for details.)

The following steps for developing a Standard Workplan are from the Office of State Personnel's "Process for Validating Standard Work Plans." Usually, your manager or the group facilitator will take the lead in completing the following steps:

Effective Communication

Effective Communication:

For over 20 years, supervisors in DHHS have received training in two communication tools. These are the Key Principles and the Interaction Guidelines. These are proven techniques to reduce employee turnover and decrease employee relations problems. The skills are covered in depth in Results-Based Interactions classroom sessions.

Key Principles cover an important part of your job as supervisor and include:

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• Maintain and Enhance Self-Esteem:

  ---

  Keep this principle in mind whenever you are communicating with your employees. Employees who get positive sincere feedback are generally motivated to do a good job.

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• Listen and Respond with Empathy:

  ---

  Focusing on employees’ concerns and checking for understanding shows employees that you are interested in them and their particular situation.

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• Involve the Employee in Solving the Problem:

  ---

  Whether it involves workload situations or when employees are trying to correct performance problems, letting employees provide suggestions on how to solve problems gives them ownership of both the problem and the solution. They are often closer to the problem and may have better ideas on how to correct any deficiencies.

Two additional key principles that have been added recently are:

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• Provide support without removing responsibility:

  ---

  Let employees know that you value their work and may be able to provide additional resources while also ensuring that they are accountable for their work.

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• Share thoughts, feelings and rationale:

  ---

  Focusing on employees’ concerns and checking for understanding shows employees that you are interested in them and their particular situation.

The Interaction Guidelines provide a problem-solving format that also helps you prepare for an employee conversation. In the descriptions listed below, notice the key principles that are also woven into the discussion. While the steps may vary slightly depending on the situation, basically they cover:

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• Opening the conversation:

  ---

  Let employees know why they been called into your office and reinforce the value of the work they do in the first opening comments. This sets the stage for the conversation that will follow.

  This step relates to the Key Principle: Enhance.

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• Clarifying details important to the discussion:

  ---

  Here is a good opportunity to share STARs, and review written documents such as the workplan to check performance expectations. This helps employees better understand your main areas of concern. Understanding their concerns demonstrates your commitment to help them.

  This step relates to the Key Principle: Empathy.

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• Developing ideas that will resolve the issue:

  ---

  Review the ideas that both you and the employee have discussed to capture the best solution.

  This step relates to the Key Principles: Involve, Support, and Share.

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• Coming to an agreement:

  ---

  Agree on what you and the employee will each do and define what and how the change will take place. This agreement reinforces how important the discussion is to the employee’s overall performance success. This also gives you an opportunity to check that the employee understands what needs to happen and any concerns he or she may have.

  This step relates to the Key Principles: Support and Empathy.

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• Closing the discussion:

  ---

  Set up a follow-up date and reinforce your belief that the employee will be successful. This type of closure increases the employee’s chances for success.

  This step relates to the Key Principle: Enhance.