I, Me, & Myself through the lens of Performance Management

Principles of performance management standards serve as an objective for communicating performance and enable the employee to differentiate between unacceptable and acceptable results within the organization. Performance expectations lay a foundation for appraising employee performance, and supervisors can provide specific feedback relating to the gap between expected and actual performance expressed in terms of quantity, quality, time, cost, effect, and manner of execution. A verbal warning is a sign of a mismatch between expected and unexpected policy, everyday practices, and work culture.?

Employers, supervisors, or upper management issue a verbal warning to an employee to indicate that their behavior in the office is inappropriate or that their work is unsatisfactory.

Addressing the Verbal Warning

Recently, a verbal warning given by my employer was a chance to discuss my behavior based on an alarm. Luckily, it was as simple as “do not do that again,” and nothing more is said about it, but I matured consciously and sensed that it could be the first step in taking severe action. The warning was served in a friendly manner, but I am determined to take it very seriously, whatever the tone. Considering this as a possibility to upgrade my performance for the apparent reason, if I do not, a written warning is next, which can be the first step towards losing this job. Furthermore, I am sure that my supervisor is keeping a written record of this event with all the necessary details, just in case if a formal written warning needs to be served in the future.

However, a verbal warning is never considered an extreme action within this organization, primarily because of the time and expense involved in employing and training someone new. However, it becomes necessary for me to take this incident to help myself and showcase my worthy performance to benefit the company. Since I like my job and my employer, too, I do not want this verbal warning to turn into the tipping point for resignation.?

Suppose I cannot turn in my work on time (the concern of the verbal warning) because I am overworked and have mentioned that in the past and even during the so-called ‘friendly meeting.’ I do not see any reason that my supervisor should feel that my concerns were unjustified.

Personal approach

Keep Calm: I had requested my supervisor when we could get to discuss this issue. I have specified in my request for a private meeting to pass on the message that I have taken the notice seriously and want help for improvement. Due to unavoidable personal reasons, I am ready to owe my tardiness and willing to compensate by working late or during the weekend to meet the expected deadlines.?

Recording Details: Since it was a friendly verbal warning, I plan to request specific examples. However, I am not trying to act defensive but taking notes to better understand my gaps and performance dysfunctions with the current role. I will be seriously working on improving my punctuality and tardiness.?

?Action Counts: Once I discuss with my supervisor and officially take the concern into account as an action plan, I will write an email briefly outlining the goals and means to the goals that I intend to follow, along with a thank you note for feedback. Trust me; it will not take too long to write back again to express my success. I will be documenting this event too for any future reference and showing my engagement to succeed in my current role.??

Finally, I will be taking a hard look at my performance to see if everything looks aligned with my expected goals or not. Indeed, I am taking this verbal warning as feedback, and I will be trying to explain to my supervisor why this happened and what action plan I will be undertaking for improvements.?“I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are lonelier when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone; let him be where he will.” I find common ground when reading this quote from Henry David Thoreau. Stepping out of the hustle and bustle of the world to be by oneself for moments became a need of an hour, and I will be using this incident to align back to I, me, and myself.

References

Maylette, T & Wride, M. (2017).?The Employee Experience: How to Attract Talent, Retain Top Performers, and Drive Results. New York, NY.

?Morin, A. (2015, July 7). CEOs Reveal The Secrets To Motivating Employees To Perform At Their Peak. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2015/07/07/ceos-reveal-the-secrets-to-motivating-employees-to-perform-at-their-peak/

?Katzenbach, J. R. (2000). Peak performance: Aligning the hearts and minds of your employees. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Performance-Aligning-Hearts-Employees/dp/0875849369