Skippy is late today. It is about fifteen minutes after his scheduled time. Mary is only five minutes the next week and she is your best employee. Andrea is your assistant manager and she is having issues with her boyfriend. Because of that, the day after Mary, she is 30 minutes late and apologizes profusely. Todd is never, ever late. But two weeks later, he is late ten minutes and also did not close the store to standard the night before. Joey got pulled over on his way to work…13.6 minutes late.
What exactly is non-compliance? And at what point does “it” become non-compliance?
Welcome to my world when I teach and work with managers. These are all hard decisions when facing a standard. Or is it more of a suggestion? I want to introduce you to a term I find interesting, “Yeah But.” Let’s use this in a reasonably accurate statement. “Yeah, they are late, but they are having issues at home.” “Yeah I know they are late, but she is my best employee and she is only five minutes.” “Yeah they are late, but it is not the first time.”
Challenging, eh? By the way I am not Canadian, although if you met me, it was probably in Canada. Long story. This is potentially one of the biggest things managers will ever face. It will cause managers, especially newer managers, to second-guess themselves. To create a “less is more” view, I will review it in three perspectives: definition, context and action.
What is non-compliance? Ask HR, I am sure they have a definition. I’ll take a stab: It is the non-execution of a targeted or assigned task as per the defined conditions of employment. I try not to talk like that too often. It makes me gag. Skippy did not do what was asked. To further simplify the definition, I find there are two types of non-compliance; operational and performance. Operational is the stuff in the job, the store, policies, procedures, etc. Performance is in a way less non-compliance, and is more non-performance. In other words, Skippy is not or cannot meet or improve his performance targets. Someone may find this over-simplifying. Fine. Hire me to come into your organization. I will be happy to figure out the minutiae. For the sake of the post, those are the main ones I have ever had to deal with. Now the bigger challenge is that in each and every situation (regardless of type), there is a root to the non-compliance.
Context comes next. If you know me, my favorite question is why. This is where we find ourselves now. Skippy is late or did not hit his targets, why? Context is everything now. Late because he missed the bus, his child was sick or just had no excuse. Would you agree each one of these situations might cause you to react differently to what happens next? Is it also fair to ask “would your decision be different even though it is a standard everyone else must fairly and equitably meet?” Do you see the implication? If you let him “off”, who sees that? Let that sink in. What will the other four in your team say about the standard tomorrow? So stop right there. This is the danger point. I know some training organizations who say vehemently, “a standard is a standard and the minute you lower it, you jeopardize everything you have ever tried to establish within the culture of the organization.” I am beginning to gag again. Here is the thing, I absolutely believe in tagging non-compliance always and every time. I will also place a degree of realization regarding the context of the situation and know that not everything is an automatic write-up. Management is and will always be improvisational (read my first book). There is no always-fitting formula; there is always variables to challenge your concrete ideology. It is when you realize context can change your view in any action, that you say,” OK, it is non-compliance, I have to call it out and this is what I will do in this situation.” Lowering your standards?
So what to do? Which is the best thing to do? Wait for it… it depends. Let’s be real. If you have standards, you had better be ready for someone to challenge to what extent the standard matters. If I am five minutes late without excuse, am a reasonably (intentional word choice) valuable employee and have my work done, do I deserve a write up? Ready to go cross-eyed? It depends. It depends on the extent you need to establish a base line of standards. Some organizations that have no standards must start somewhere to allow for a benchmark. And maybe this is a battle to be firmly and even harshly won. Others have standards and context is their next level of reality: someone losing a loved one and is late probably garnishes just a bit more compassion. This may drive you nuts, but let your gut dictate a bit of your decision. In all things, here are always considerations:
History: How much has this happened? Is it chronic or a hiccup?
Effort: Did they try to reach out ahead of time? Were you aware?
Standard: Is this a battle needed to be won or is it really that big of a deal to you?
I feel for every manager who must decide what happens next in non-compliance. Sometimes they are forced by ownership or HR to do “x”. Sometimes this is new and they cannot decide. Sometimes the situation does not match or equal the prescribed plan of action. Sometimes someone needs to go. Have fun with this one.
Pay attention to my What If blog series, I have another view of this topic. It will put you on one side of a fence and may provoke you yet again.
Cheers