Help Employees Bounce Back After Disciplinary Actions to Reduce Risk, Lower Turnover, and Increase Productivity

No matter how well employees do their jobs, chances are they will have a corrective

interview someday with their supervisor at least once--if you're an above average worker, your chances increase that a mistake will come someday because you aren't playing it safe all the time.

As an HR manager, use your employee health, wellness, and productivity tips newsletter (I hope you are distributing your own. It's easy.) to help disciplined employees bounce back from that awful interview with the boss.

Use these tips or re-write them to fit your situation and help workers stay positive, make the needed corrections, value the feedback that came from their boss, admit their mistakes, communicate better with a supervisor in the future, head problems off early next time, and bounce back with resilience from the ego-slapped feeling of being verbally corrected -- OUCH!!!.

Consider these five tips on managing corrective interviews like a champ.

Trust your ability to succeed. Being corrected isn’t pleasant, but if you have a successful track record, a corrective interview can’t take that away. Use this knowledge to detach from feelings of dread so you can focus on what management has to say.

Remain calm. Listen and keep notes. You don’t have to refute everything you disagree with now. Consider a second appointment to raise concerns, or compose a memo to tactfully refute points raised in the meeting. Don’t try to take control of the interview away from your supervisor in a fit of emotion.

Accept reality. Corrective interviews are management tools, not disciplinary actions. They happen, and mostly for good reasons. Try to understand management’s perspective, even if you disagree. Don’t attack a supervisor for correcting your performance. Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification on what you don’t understand.

Supervisors don’t enjoy corrective interviews. Understanding that your supervisor does not take pleasure in correcting your performance can help you avoid feeling “picked on.”

If they’re right, they’re right. It is possible to leave a corrective interview thanking your supervisor for feedback. Affirm your intent to perform satisfactorily. Add your own suggestions. Cooperation demonstrates professionalism, and it will be remembered. It might also be reflected in your annual performance evaluation.

Resilience is about getting the right perspective, finding a way to step back from very uncomfortable event, and quickly doing what it takes to feel good again while retaining all the necessary lessons. There are several ways to do this.

Make up your own schedule to meet periodically with the boss. Take a list of essential functions with you on a sheet of paper and discuss how you are performing on each one. Repeat this process every three months--we are talking about a 10 minute meeting, and get feedback. Make it conversational. Don't drill your supervisor with a checklist!

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