A best practice perspective on managing poor performers.

When faced with managing the poor performer in the workplace, the EA professional has several strategies, tools, and resources available that provide a defined and proven methodology for meeting the challenge and doing so in a consistent, defensible, and outcomes-focused manner. As is evident in EAPA's recent revision to the definition of an EAP as "the work organization's resource that utilizes specific functions and skills (EAP Core Technology) to enhance employee and workplace effectiveness through prevention, identification and resolution of personal and productivity issues," this collection of strategies and tools serves as a unique body of knowledge for the EA profession.

While the tools and strategies may be defined, the critical unknown is the extent to which each EA professional applies them in the work environment with his or her oval skills, knowledge, and abilities, ultimately achieving a "best practice" for each particular EAP in response to the unique needs of the workplace and the demands of the work organization. Finding the right blend of EA methodologies and balancing them with the unique organizational and environmental influences of a particular workplace is the true challenge at the core of achieving a "best practice" approach to managing the poor performer.

So, where does one begin in finding or establishing a best practice for managing the poor performer? We suggest that a combination of the EAP Core Technology and the "Balanced Scorecard" perspective used in business offers a unique and responsive paradigm for blending EA practice with a framework that considers the organization's multiple levels of interests and their collective stake in resolving the difficulties presented by the poor performer.

FOUNDATION OF THE CORE TECHNOLOGY

Although our program standards and professional codes of conduct offer specific guidance for the assessment and referral of the poor performer and the follow-up process, the EAP Core Technology provides the specific dimensions that are critical to any best practice. In short, without these elements, it is difficult to make a case that what is happening is truly an employee assistance strategy, let alone a "best practice." Each of the following seven elements of the EAP Core Technology is designed specifically to work in combination with the others to address the complexity and breadth of the poor performer's "reach," if you will, in the organization.

* Consultation with, training of, and assistance to work organization leadership seeking to manage the troubled employee, enhance the work environment, and improve job performance.

* Confidential and timely problem identification/assessment services for employee clients.

* Use of constructive confrontation, motivation and short-term intervention with employee clients.

* Referral of employee clients for diagnosis, treatment and assistance, plus case monitoring and follow-up services.

* Consultation to work organizations in establishing and maintaining effective relations with treatment and other service providers.

* Consultation to work organizations to encourage availability of, and employee access to health benefits.

* Identification of the effects of EAP services on the work organization and individual job performance.

THE "BALANCED SCORECARD"

From their work in the early 1990s through the publication of their books, professors Robert Kaplan and David Norton of the Harvard Business School have developed and advanced the "Balanced Scorecard" as a performance management framework and system for organizations to use in developing, nurturing, and mobilizing their intangible assets. The Balanced Scorecard recognizes that financial measurements alone do not capture the value-creating activities of the enterprise.

The goal of the Balanced Scorecard is not only to look at the measurement of outcomes or the consequences of past actions within the organization, but also to focus on the "drivers" of the organization's financial performance. In the words of Kaplan and Norton, these "intangible assets" are critical to the outcomes that are often viewed as the financial indicators of the organization.

The Balanced Scorecard basically offers organizations a new and multidimensional perspective for measuring the value of operations and maximizing the alignment of operations and the performance of employees with the organization's mission, vision, and strategy. It achieves this by balancing the traditional financial perspective with the perspectives of customers and stakeholders (for an EAP, these can be many), the organization's internal business processes (for an EAP, the value of following the standards of our profession to guide the delivery of our Core Technology), and the learning and growth of employees (for an EAP, its impact on employee development and performance).

While this column is not designed to serve as a treatise on the Balanced Scorecard and its utility to organizations, it is clear that this emerging organizational performance management framework offers EAPs a unique set of perspectives for demonstrating their value in serving as a "best practice" for managing the poor performer. It moves EAPs from a limited view of the financial advantages of a well-utilized and managed program to the broader "value-added" dimensions that an EAP offers the work organization in managing the poor performer.

As we discussed in our previous column, we in the EA profession frequently talk about the multiple "clients" we serve in the workplace--employees, supervisors, managers, shop stewards, human resources personnel, labor relations specialists, safety advocates, etc.--whose interests often conflict, particularly when the EAP is dealing with a poor performer. As is evident in the EAP Core Technology, EAPs have developed and honed a specific set of strategies and a defined methodology for addressing and balancing these multiple interests. The Balanced Scorecard offers the EAP and the savvy EA professional an additional and exciting playing field on which to demonstrate that EAPs are a "best practice" in managing the poor performer.

Additional reading:

Kaplan, Robert S., and David P. Norton. 1996. The Balanced Scorecard (Boston: Harvard Business School Press).

--. 2000. The Strategy-Focused Organization (Boston: Harvard Business School Press).

Bern Beidel and Kris Brennan are co-chairs of the Standards Subcommittee of the EAPA Professional Practices Committee.