2 Last-Chance Solutions to Coaching a Problem Employee

Finance leaders face many challenges — from navigating siloed data to adopting AI, from the overwhelming number of administrative tasks to dodging fraud risks.

But the one thing that often takes more time and energy than you’d like is coaching problem employees. People problems are almost always worse than process problems.

It’s a problem you can seldom escape, especially when you want to keep a team together — and avoid more disruption and turnover.

Last Chance with a Problem Employee

So when you feel you’ve tried every coaching trick, your patience is growing thin, and you fear there’s nothing left to try, stop and consider this: You can boost your chance of success by taking the burden for change off yourself. Then put it where it should be, on the employee.

This is the best way: Put accountability and responsibility in the forefront. Here are two strategies for when you’ve tried everything else.

Establish Accountability

Accountability is crucial to turning problem employees around, and it’s a two-way street. Employees have to be accountable for what they do and how they behave. Naturally, you’re already accountable in different ways. 

Here are some ideas for establishing accountability.

1. Create a No-Surprise Environment

Make it clear that surprises are negative for your finance team.

People have to know that you expect to be kept informed of what they’re doing and why. Similarly, you have to commit to avoiding surprises with all employees, and most especially with problem employees. That takes a conscious effort to communicate, which is likely already second nature.

The point is to consistently communicate this no-surprise expectation. Your problem employee should never be surprised by a poor performance evaluation. The employee should know what’s coming. And when that employee makes strides to improve, it should be front-page news, too.

2. Eliminate Excuses

This is another two-way street. Let employees know you won’t accept excuses for failing to meet standards and that you won’t offer excuses either.

If employees hear excuses from you, they accept that as the norm for themselves. Turn “I’ll try” into “I will” when you know you can. Getting a commitment to try is a good first step. After that, push for results. “I need to be able to count on you for this, OK?”

3. Be Consistent

What you require of one employee, you should require of all employees. Everyone is punctual. Everyone turns in reports on time. Everyone pitches in when someone needs a hand.

What you’re looking for from the problem employee is performance on the same level as your good employees.

Shift Responsibility to the Employee

If you want people to change, then you have to shift that responsibility onto them. It’s the difficult employee who has to change.

1. Clarify Expectations

Tell people exactly what you want, in the way of performance or behavior, or both. And make sure the standards can be observed and measured.

That’s why you want to avoid saying things like, “Fix your attitude.” It’s too vague. There’s no standard of measurement.

But you could say, “I want you to show a greater willingness to get the job done.” While that speaks to attitude, it can actually be measured by how the person does the job, as well as whether the employee expresses a genuine desire to do the job well.

2. Provide Training

If you push someone out to sea alone in a boat, you probably can’t expect good results.

Instead, decide what training is appropriate and reasonable for the employee and offer it. Give them the time and space to do the training.

3. Specify Consequences

Let the employee know the consequences – the bad ones for failing to change and the good ones for implementing change.

That gives them a goal to shoot for.

4. Provide Feedback

The road to change is not just a start-and-finish path. There’s an area in between where people need to know about their progress, or lack of it. The more often you let them know, the better your chances of success and getting through to them.

5. Remove Obstacles

Ask the employee what’s preventing change. If you can control and remove the obstacle, do so. 

If it’s up to the employee to remove the obstacle, make that clear, too.