“We are subject to both state and federal compliance. There are important standards that we have to observe. No getting around them. So, I don’t see what all the fuss is about from my team when I try to enforce those standards,” Daniele explained.
“What happens?” I asked.
“We have to maintain files. They have to be up-to-date and complete. Each person is responsible for the files on the clients assigned to them. Once a week, I go and pull five files, at random, give them to someone on my audit staff. They go through the file and find all the mistakes.”
“What happens, then?”
“I bring in the person responsible for the file and we have a very serious discussion. During the discussion, I seem to get my point across. Everyone always agrees with me. But then, they go back and make the same mistakes, again.” Daniele sat back.
“They make the same mistakes, again?” I prompted.
“Yes, and then they get all huffy about it. They walk around the office all day with a rain cloud over their head. I can look over the cubicle farm and see all the little rain clouds. I am just trying to do my job and keep us in compliance with the feds.”
One of the responsiilities of a supervisor if training. If you are seeing errors consistently it could be a training need, this would be the supervisors responsibility. Instead of pointing out the mistakes maybe we should use the circumstance to do a training session with all staff so that lessons are learned and maybe not repeated.
Assuming that they all have the aptitude for the work; I think individual meetings (one-on-one) are necessary to explain why it’s important, to meet the bare minimum standards. I suspect that since it’s an ongoing issue, they pretty much know that nothing bad is going to happen to them…
Get clear on the issue and brutally honest with yourself… what will you do if this continues. Then go connect with them, REALLY CONNECT, get personal ((keep HR away)) and paint a vivid, colorful picture of what will happen if they don’t do the job required – don’t be threatening… just tell the story with clarity and emotion.
I totally agree with Jan and have used that process. We also have had a second associate look over and sign off the paperwork along with the original writer. Mistakes are captured before final processing and peer pressure within the ranks has had a big impression
Have you considered asking WHY? The fact – as you call it – that you have to maintain these files should not be used as an excuse for poor management. If people dont accept the reasonableness and value of the record then you have a problem with communication. Remember that telling someone is not communication. You dont learn anything that way, and you clearly need to learn something about your colleagues who persist in doing other than what you think is right.