Managing Difficult Conversations with Employees

Though not pleasant, managers need to have difficult conversations with employees now and then, noted Elizabeth Holloway, Laurie Brown, and Jolynn Cook, senior consultants with BSM Consulting in Incline Village, NV, during the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery’s 2018 annual meeting in Washington, DC. 

Tough topics include: 

• Employee conducting personal business on employer’s time.
• Mood or behavior problems. 
• Poor attendance. 
• Dress code violations, including body odor/poor personal hygiene. 
• Profanity in the workplace.
• Workplace romance.
• Grieving employees. 

When discussing these issues with employees, be sure to include:

• Improvement milestones.
• An explanation of how the leader is going to help the employee improve.
• A rundown of how the employee is going to correct the behavior.
• Consequences of non-improvement.

Also, be sure to give the employee an opportunity to comment. 

Holloway E, Brown L, Cook J. Successfully managing a difficult conversation by using effective feedback. Talk presented at: 2018 ASCRS-ASOA Annual Meeting; April 13-17, 2018; Washington, DC.