[MUSIC] Hi there, in this first common coaching scenario video. We're going to talk about some strategies for coaching someone who is consistently late for work. This is a classic example of Tactical Accountability. We will apply coaching algebra to determine the best solution for coaching and managing the employee. As well as discuss, how to avoid the temptation to over coach such an employee. If you've been a manager for any length of time, you no doubt have encountered this problem with some of your employees. So in this video, you will walk away with some practical strategies for dealing with this issue. Let's begin. This is an example of tactical accountability and we will discuss what traps to avoid here as the temptation will be to try and over coach someone here. We'll apply coaching algebra to walk through the best solution for coaching and managing this employee. So let's talk about being late to work. The first thing we have to decide, is this a skill set? Or a mind set? Now I suppose we could make a strong argument for skill set, but I think that's debatable. I think most people who are late to work, we are dealing with somebody who has some sort of thinking that is interfering with their ability to get to work. Let's talk about what are some of those things that might interfere with someone's ability to get to work on time. It could be that they don't plan well. It could be that they don't like their job. It could be that they miscalculate how well or how good they are at negotiating traffic. It could be that they don't even care that they're late. It doesn't matter to them, right? But not planning well, not calibrating how long it might take with traffic, these are all thought processes that happen. They don't think well through what traffic is on a regular basis, then eventually, it becomes just a habit. That, that I'm sort of thinking I can outmaneuver traffic, right? So being late, and here's the thing. People who are constantly late to work, are likely constantly late to other parts of their lives. That's certainly been my experience. So this is a habit. This is a behavior, that starts in the mind. We think about the thought model. Being late to work, is your action. So what drives your action is how you feel. What drives how you feel is what you think about. So this is primarily a mindset issue. So when we're coaching someone this way, we have a couple of options. The first time someone's late, and maybe even the first few times, we might want to talk to them about, why are you late? What will you do to address being late? What plan will you put in place, so that you will no longer be late? And then you hold them accountable to being on work on time. It's very easy to measure whether or not somebody's at work on time, right? It's a tactical accountability conversation, once we've talked to them once or twice about it. At that point it's just directive, you need to be to work on time, this is the time I expect you to be here, if you're not? Here's what will happen and then there has to be consequence. Their shift might change, they might get documented performance memos, there's plenty of options available to us. We don't coach people to get to work on time. [LAUGH] That's the trap you fall into as a manager of over coaching, which I mentioned before. Sometimes what happens in these cases as managers get to involved, they start talking to people about, what could you do to get to work on time, have you fought about? And the managers start throwing ideas out, like have you thought about setting your alarm back a little more time? If you thought about leaving your house a little bit more early. Have you thought about finding someone else to help you with childcare? Have you thought about a new childcare facility? Have you tried a new bus route? I mean there's all sorts of things that managers will start to throw out as ways to help this employee solve their problem. But what I want you to recognize, if we apply that to our thought model, what we're doing when we do that with a very simple issue. Like getting to work on time. We are trying to insert a new circumstance into this persons life. So we're trying to change the circumstance, so that they come to work on time. And it's not the circumstance that's causing the problem. It's the way that they think about it, okay? Until they've decided to think differently, they will continue to be late to work. The worst thing that actually happens, is you do all this brainstorming with someone. They still come to work late and now what they say is, well, you know, manager, I tried your ideas of setting my alarm back and trying a new direction through traffic and getting a new daycare. And it still doesn't work, I'm still late. So now all of sudden it's your fault, that they're still late to work [LAUGH] which is always so fascinating. So tactical accountability is essential here. Here is the time I expect you to be here, you need to be here. If you're not, here's the consequence. We don't do a lot of coaching, related to people being late to work. I hope that helps you, because I think a lot of times we think that somehow, we can miraculously change them and make them become timely employees. They may or may not be able to choose that, that's up to them. You hold the expectation that they come to work on time., that's your job. [LAUGH] Their job is to get to work on time. Your job is to hold them accountable to being to work on time, okay? So in summary let's just remember a few things. When someones late to work, that's not really a coaching issue. It's a tactical accountability issue. When people are late to work, there's something going on that's driving that behavior. Generally speaking, it's a thought, and until they choose to think something different about their ability to get to work, or their circumstance, they're not going to get to work on time. And you trying to dive in there and dissect that with them, is typically not very helpful. You can have the conversation, set the expectation that they need to get on time. You might talk to them about what do they think they could do to make that happen, and help them think new thoughts about getting to work on time. But ultimately your responsibility is to hold people accountable to show up. If they don't get to work on time, there will be a consequence, and you address it that way. So, we don't want to over coach when somebody is late to work, because typically speaking, this is really for them to manage. And you just hold with clarity, the expectation of performance.
