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Here is a simple example:

A receptionist/phone operator in a busy bank was told she had to improve the quality of her customer service. Knowing that she often let the phone ring too long before answering it, she decided to impress her boss by answering all calls by the second ring. She ran to the phone whenever it rang and she even interrupted customers to pick up the phone. When she was called in by her boss a few weeks later she was certain that praise for her improved service was forthcoming. Instead she received a final warning for poor customer service because she failed to greet the customers in front of her with a smile and her full attention to their questions.

In performance issues, words like improve or increase productivity can be dangerous because we leave to the person's imagination and personal frame of reference what that actually means. In other words, we create an assumed expectation while believing we have been clear. At work, only explicit, defined, and stated expectations will give us any chance at getting the results we want. Even when we are confident we have been thorough in our explanation, I recommend that you ask the other person to summarize their understanding of the expectations. If you restate them it will not assure the clarity needed by those directly responsible for fulfilling the expectations.

With this background on the role expectations play in the effectiveness of communications and relationships, I think you and the assistant supervisor should revisit all the performance-related expectations you have for the few employees who are not meeting your standards and work directly with them on those areas that are lacking.

If, after that effort, termination of one or more of these underperforming employees becomes necessary, the termination process will be much smoother because expectations have been put on the table and openly discussed by all parties.

Firm better off without employee manual for now
Q. My husband and I own a small store at a Boston-area mall. Four employees work in our store with us, two of whom are part time. Our employees have recently asked for an employee policy manual but we do not have one. A new employee previously worked for a large high-tech company and she has suggested that we use the one from her last employer. Are we required to have an employee policy manual? Is it a good idea to make use of this one from another company as the model for ours? Are we required to have all policies in writing?

A. It would be a mistake to copy an employee policy manual from another company, especially a large one, for two reasons. The first is that many state and federal laws simply do not apply to an employer as small as you. Large companies on the other hand must be in compliance with many labor and employment related laws. These companies have policies written to comply with these laws, some of which are required of employers with a minimum of 50 or 100 employees.

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