Stripes and Bars AMAURY MURGADO
IGNORANCE OR NONCOMPLIANCE A problem employee is most likely either unaware of policies or unwilling to follow them. THE PARETO PRINCIPLE (also known as the 80/20 rule) to you to present any infractions of policies, procedures, or states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects orders especially when they show a pattern. In all cases, the come from 20% of the causes. It's commonly explained burden of proof is on you to show you have tried to rehabiliin management training circles as 80% of the problems tate the employee and bring him or her back into the fold. being caused by 20% of people. The one recurring issue we When I was a young sergeant, I inherited an officer who have as supervisors is dealing with problem employees. made it a point to do stupid things just because he could. It's never easy but you can simplify it by remembering that Just before his arrival, we were given a directive to sign and most issues stem from either ignorance or noncompliance. print our names on our traffic citations. He was one of those When I say ignorance, I don't mean anything remotely guys who had an unreadable signature and the directive related to IQ. I mean the employees didn't get the memo. In was written to help counter citizen complaints to that effect. the 80/20 world this is a common tactic employees use to One day he failed to follow instructions and when told to shield themselves from blame. It's usually the first thing that print his name, he did so like a kindergartner. He printed comes out of their mouths: I didn't know. Your only play is to his last name about an inch tall on all three of the citations I fix it by giving them the memo. In theory this is a one-time, kicked back. I could only interpret his actions as a deliberate one-issue excuse. act of defiance. I already knew he was part PART OF YOUR By giving them the memo (actual memo, of the 20% and he loved to manipulate polpolicy updates, training, etc.) they are no icy and procedure to suit his needs. "Show JOB IS TO CLOSE longer ignorant. You need to document me in policy" was his favorite saying. ANY LOOPHOLES what you did to correct the deficiency and Tired of his games, I met with him in my EMPLOYEES COULD office. how you checked for understanding. In adI showed him where he had signed a USE AGAINST YOU training roster when we went over the didition to keeping good notes and keeping IN THE FUTURE. your supervisor up to speed, always crerective during roll call briefing. I showed ate a useful paper trail. Send an e-mail or him the date of his first infraction which memo to your subordinate stating what the caused me to verbally counsel him. I then issue was, what was done to correct it, and that any future showed him the date of his second infraction where I gave recurrences may lead to progressive discipline. him written counseling. Since this was blatantly his third For those of you who think this might be a bit much, re- violation, I told him he was getting a day off. I explained his member you are dealing with the 20%. Part of your job is suspension would be for unsatisfactory performance. to get them back into the 80% and the other part revolves All he had to say was that I didn't like him from the start around your ability to close any loopholes they could use and that I was picking on him. It's another typical response against you in the future. Once they have received what from a substandard officer. I told him if he had a grievance information or training they need, a repeat occurrence on to put it in writing and submit it up through the chain of their part is no longer ignorance, but noncompliance. command (which he never did). A few years later while servAfter you establish it's not ignorance, you're left with very ing on someone else's squad, he ended up getting fired for an few choices. If you ignore it, the negative behavior will just alcohol-related charge. keep going and you set a bad example for everyone else. You I understand that everyone makes mistakes, but the difhave to handle it immediately. I highly recommend you fol- ference is that with good employees you seldom get the same low your policy and procedures under the section that cov- mistake twice. For all those problem children under your ers unsatisfactory performance. command who became cops for all the wrong reasons, try Unsatisfactory performance may be demonstrated in the ignorance and noncompliance approach. I have found it a number of ways, including but not limited to a lack of to be a most effective tool. knowledge in the application of laws, an unwillingness to perform assigned tasks, and the failure to conform to work Amaury Murgado is a special operations lieutenant with the standards. This is where your documentation kicks in. It's up Osceola County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office.
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POLICE APRIL 2015