I had a call from a client who I worked with years ago. We had successfully hired an employee for a very key position in his company. He has called me regularly to share how great of an employee she had become over years. She has been great with his clients, great with her budget, great with the other folks on the team…He could not have been happier.
Then, one day recently, he called to tell me that his “amazing employee” was suddenly dropping the ball. “Beth, I don’t understand it!” he exclaimed. “She is making mistakes on things where in the past she has performed flawlessly! I am actually thinking about firing her because it is so bad.”
Okay. I always advise my clients to first take a big, deep breath when becoming frustrated. Then, I advise them to take another big, deep breath and look at performance issues from various perspectives before firing once high performing employees.
I continued the conversation by asking, “Have you asked her what is going on?”
“Well, no. I haven’t,” he replied.
I encouraged my client to talk to his beloved employee with empathy and compassion to uncover what may be behind her sudden shift in behavior. I suggested he state something like this, “You know, I have noticed that you haven’t been yourself lately. Are you okay?”
As it turns out, she did have some personal trauma happening in her life, discovering someone close to her had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She confessed to feeling like a total wreck. She also expressed that having a conversation with her boss, my client, was really helpful. And while she continued to have a tough go of it for the next several months, but she was able to get help when she needed and turn her performance around.
So, when you see job performance decline in a great employee, before you discipline in any way, check in with their emotional well-being. As a great leader, you will really be glad that you did.