Finding the balance between care and support and managing performance concerns
In recent years, I have observed a growing challenge for people leaders – how and where to find the balance between care and support for employees facing personal difficulties and dealing with impacts on performance in the workplace.
In my experience, this dilemma became acute during the Covid lockdown period where work and home-life became much more integrated and leaders focused on maintaining connection with their team members who were often facing new or amplified personal wellbeing challenges.
Over my 30 year HR career, the vast majority of people leaders I have encountered have been inherently compassionate humans who genuinely care deeply about their people. And when a team member is facing family challenges, mental health fluctuations or other personal wellbeing challenges, most leader’s first thought is ‘how can we support this person’. Person first work second. Commendable, deeply human and critical to building a culture where employees are valued and feel safe.
But what about when personal issues start to impact work performance, work attendance or spill over into challenging behaviour in the workplace? This is the dilemma I have seen manager’s face time and time again – how to balance being a caring and compassionate leader with dealing with the impact on performance at work. Where is the line? When is enough support enough particularly when performance impacts are starting to be felt by the wider team?
Every one of these situations are unique in my experience. Here are some starting points:
- Start with the big picture: How has this person typically performed over their employment with the company? If they have typically been a good performer but their personal issue has caused a dip , helping them get back on track by providing support, care and time off may be the best management investment. Conversely if performance and or attendance has been variable from the start of their employment then more decisive action may be required to manage ongoing performance concerns.
- Understand the impact on the team: How are others feeling in terms of care for the person experiencing personal challenges. Be mindful of perceptions of fairness and psychological safety when drawing the line between caring and support and managing performance issues.
- Are others picking up the work? How is this impacting stress levels of other team members? What’s the general team sentiment – mucking in to support a colleague or feeling overburdened as it’s been going on for too long? Have a check in conversation with the team (conversation starters).
- Reflect on your own tendencies – am I avoiding dealing with this issue because it’s easier? How is this impacting my leadership brand?
- What are stakeholders outside the team noticing? Customers, other departments, your leader etc.
- Get professional advice before acting – there are often multifaceted legal issues to consider. Mental health and duty of care, medical incapacity processes, family violence, human rights.