Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

In any business situation conflicts can be approached in many ways. Given the present situation, the employee being with the company for two years should earn some sort of lead way. Furthermore, the company is only a mid-sized company so you don’t want to make a scene in the business environment. The best way to handle the employee would be to send him an email on the business network requesting a meeting after his shift was over. The meeting would involve just involve the employee and I to ensure that things remain calm. I would give the employee the floor and allow him or her opportunity to share their side of the story or explain what has been going on that has attributed to the decrease in performance. After the employee offers their explanation I would show him the complaints we received about his customer service. I would let him know that the company’s main selling point is our excellent customer service and that I know he has the expertise technically as well as the ability to provide quality customer service. He also needs to understand that the company is more than happy to help with any problems in his life that are hindering him from succeeding because as he succeeds so will the company and vice versa. However, I would have to put him on probation to let the other employee’s know that providing substandard customer service and disturbing the work environment will not be tolerated.

I anticipate that the employee will walk away from the meeting feeling like the company is in his corner and that we will work with him as long as his performance is at high level. The employee won’t feel like I scolded him or belittled him and will in turn likely show me more respect. When employees all the sudden experience slumps in performance it is due to something going on in their life outside the work environment. The employee may tell me something that I can actually help with. The happier the employee is the better his performance will be at work. 

In most business situations collaboration is the best negotiation style not just when managing a conflict. Also referred to as the “power over style,” collaboration moves to invite suggestion, ideas, and perspective from both parties to reach one goal for mutual benefit. In this business situation collaboration was vital because training another employee to reach the level of technical expertise required to work for the company may be expensive. Hiring another employee with the same expertise could also be expensive and could also have lasting effects on the work environment. I would want things to be loose at my work environment so that the employees are comfortable. When talking to the employee I would make sure to stay calm and avoid accusing him or her of anything.

In conclusion taking sides would only agitate the employee. Even though the conversation would have to stay calm it is important that the problem is dealt with. I would hope that we could both work to a point where we are mutually getting what we want out of the business relationship.