How to influence people positively

July 24, 2009 11:00 AM

How to stay cool with a fellow coworker and encourage them to do a god job at same time?

I'm not a manager, but the senior developer on a small team. One of our guys has been doing a poor job at work, enough that it got the attention of higher ups. It's been an ongoing issue for a long time but he does have other redeeming characteristics.

Where I come in is that this morning he's been told by our boss to pull up his socks, and there's no doubt that my assessment of his work ethic was a factor.

I don't feel bad since both the assessment and call to shape up are legitimate and necessary, but how do I make him realize this isn't a rift or a downward spiral but an opportunity for improvement and for us to remain a close team?

posted by furtive to society & culture (12 comments total)

It depends whether he's doing poorly from inexperience or from lack of motivation or laziness. Either way though, I defer to Dale Carnegie in saying that you'll more likely than not get a better result from encouraging than criticizing. Give very specific praise when he does something well, and also praise him in front of others.
posted by chalbe at 11:05 AM on July 24

Can't speak for your coworker but I know when I've been performing poorly one of the only things that really gets me to rally is hearing about things I do right. Now, part of that depends on me actually doing something well enough to deserve mention because fakey "Wow, you sure are the very best ever at rinsing out the coffee pot!" stuff will just make me feel worse. But you said he has redeeming characteristics so he's gotta be doing something well. When he does, give him a positive callout (especially, if it's relevant, to the same boss who told him to "pull up his socks.")

Otherwise, I'd just keep treating him decently like you are now. Treat him like a part of the team, not The Poorly-Performing Member of the Team, you know?
posted by Neofelis at 11:19 AM on July 24

Focus on delegating him to tasks that take advantage of his "redeeming characteristics". You can't expect a rocket scientist to do brain surgery...he would suck at it. Its the manager's job to figure out what an employee does well and delegate him to that task.

That's the path of least resistance...but often overlooked.

Good luck.
posted by hal_c_on at 11:30 AM on July 24

Also, you can make foundation stuff, concepts that he may not be accounting for or helpful techniques he may not be aware of, into conversation topics. "Man, lambdas are so cool!" and stuff like that.
posted by rhizome at 11:32 AM on July 24

If he respects your ability to keep personal confidences, you could try to find out if he is having health or personal issues that are impacting his work, that he may be concealing from management. However, since you offer that "there's no doubt that my assessment of his work ethic was a factor.", it's possible that he sees you now, or will see you, if he finds this out, as another person narcing him out to management. If that latter situation is the main dynamic between you, nothing short of a direct "clear the air" and a genuine invitation to re-join the team under more productive circumstances is likely to play with him.

Sometimes, you've got to be a dick, before you can be Henry V. That's just what it takes to pay the bills, now and again. But if he might have significant personal issues, you might need to suggest a confidential meeting for him with HR, to find a means of getting him help, or putting him on leave until he can get his life sorted.
posted by paulsc at 12:04 PM on July 24

Tell him this:

"No one wants to fire you. You're not getting fired." (I'm assuming this is true.)

The worst thing about getting bad work evaluations is that they tend to be the first step in a paper trail to fire someone. People who get them tend to do even worse afterward because they realize they are on the way out and nothing they can do will change that, and they give up.

It sounds like you genuinely want to help him do better, so tell him that straight out. Maybe take him out to lunch to talk about it? I think any kind of concrete plan to fix his shortcomings would be helpful. Just knowing you plan on him being there long enough to fix them will be a big boost for him.

(This is assuming he genuinely wants to improve in the problem areas. Most people do, once you get beyond the fear and bruised egos. if he doesn't, then I'm not sure what to tell you.)
posted by drjimmy11 at 12:05 PM on July 24 [1 favorite has favorites]

how do I make him realize this isn't a rift or a downward spiral but an opportunity for improvement and for us to remain a close team?

Given your position, are you able to speak with him privately about this? Because what you've written here is an excellent start. I would follow that by asking, how are you feeling about the conversation you had with senior developer?

Almost everyone has a hard time absorbing constructive criticism, so perhaps you can focus on that piece? I've also found, as a manager, that a) the compliment sandwich is invaluable, and b) that sharing truncated stories about my own similar struggles can be helpful. But the very best way to start is with an open ended question, and then just listen for a while to what he has to say.
posted by ohyouknow at 12:09 PM on July 24

Understand what the problem is. Lazyness, insomnia, lack of appetite, withdrawal from cigs or booze, booze itself, indifference, newborn baby, noisy neighbours, etc. Maybe all of the above. Maybe he's just bored and needs more challenge or more interesting things. The only way to know is to talk to him on a one-on-one basis, find out what the problem is, taking him to a local bar after work might help loosen his tongue, then figure-out a strategy from there.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 12:50 PM on July 24

We had lunch together. I missed out on the open ended question opportunity, but keep things constructive, determining what we can do together to make things easier to avoid the pitfalls of the past. Those who suggested external/personal causes make a good point, fortunately we're close enough that I'm aware of all the stresses he is willing to share and can infer some of the ones he isn't.
posted by furtive at 1:15 PM on July 24

While I agree with the general advice about encouragement being a more successful way to motivate people than criticism, I think it's vital that this employee is extremely clear about the expectations of what he is required to do in order to sustain his employment. Ideally, this should be quantifiable and involve a time-line. He needs to know by how much his performance needs to improve, by when, and in what ways. Far too often employers neglect this step, the status quo continues, and the employee feels that their termination has come out of left field. Ultimately, it's up to the employee whether or not he meets those benchmarks, but he at least needs to know what the goalposts are and the consequences of not meeting them.
posted by Lolie at 2:15 PM on July 24 [2 favorites has favorites]

I've heard of doing evaluations or interactions with employees as START, STOP, CONTINUE.

It's a compliment sandwich.

Well, employee, I'd like for you to...

START - gives employee a new task/challenge, and shows that there is trust/faith in employee's skills to tackle this task/challenge

In the meantime, you've got to...

STOP - this is usually what the talk is about. This is where you mention the thing you want them to stop doing.

But please,

CONTINUE - this is where you praise the employee for the good things that the employee has done and maybe stress why it's important that the employee keep doing this.

It's been really effective (for me, at least). For one, it removes any anxiety I have about confronting someone about their underperformance. Also, somehow, someway, each aspect of the talk is absorbed. Employee feels good about getting new work (perhaps, another chance to prove themselves), knows exactly what they should stop doing, and still continues with all their positive attributes (as opposed to getting miffed that they were confronted and shutting down).

Hope this helps.
posted by alice ayres at 4:09 PM on July 24 [8 favorites has favorites]

My questions -- how old is this developer, how many years out of college, how long has he worked there, and what sort personality does he have, in three words or less? (ex: Outgoing Social Networker, WoW Slob, Captain Pedantic, Foreign-Born Engineer, or ...?) You'll manage or adjust differently based on each way. MeFi Mail me if you don't want to post that info publicly.

There are a few things that work with an under-performing developer. I have been one, managed them as a business owner, and am now a sysadmin that supports and works closely with them. All of these things work in general, but the details of how you present and execute them matters.

- Team or Pair coding will help keep an ADD, web-surfing developer or a low-code-quality developer on task. Start out slow and only do it for a few hours a day, and ratchet up the workload. Don't pair two under-performing guys together, but task your more socially gracious programmers with bringing the poor ones up and award success appropriately for both.
- Change up his workload. If he's focusing on one area, give him small tasks in a variety of areas that he can be a rockstar at. It's not so much telling him that he can be successful that you need to focus on as it is setting him up to be successful... the distinction is important.
- Help him design his current project and then help him regulate his workload. Many developers have problems breaking problems or projects down into appropriately sized chunks, and are immobilized by the scope of things they need to take into consideration.

With those points in mind, if he's struggling with areas that are chores that all developers are expected to accomplish in modern programming shops (i.e. writing unit tests), suggest he make a lateral career move to a position where that is not as large a part of the job... such as system administration. ;)

With all those things in mind, you're going to have to keep a close but not oppressive eye on him. Managing programmers is often like herding cats. You can't do it directly.

Also: Dangling carrots directly in front of developers rarely works, but that depends on personality type. Again, mefi-mail me if you'd like to get more detailed... I'm sort of interested in this kind of problem in case I (horror of horrors) ever get back into management.
posted by SpecialK at 7:26 PM on July 24