One of the amazing things to me, whether in Texas or on Guam (where we now live a big part of the year) is how hard it is to reach someone when you call them on the phone.  The number one reason I can't reach people is because, "they are in a meeting."  I'm wondering how many of these meetings are truly effective and how many are costing companies money?

Meetings are a multi-billion drain on the global economy every year.  It's the very real cost of BAD meetings.  Poorly run meeting are a silent killer inside a company.  They frustrate people, diminish productivity, reduce the bottom-line and negatively affect the corporate culture.

Surveys have indicated that senior managers and supervisors spend at least 50 percent of their time in meetings.    They also have found that 50 per cent of the time in meetings is a waste.

That means if a manager spends 20 hours per week in meetings, 10 hours a week are ineffective and unproductive.  If 50% of their time is spent in meetings, and 50% of that time is considered wasteful, then 25% of their time at work is spent in bad meetings.  Consider then, the waste of time and money in  companies where most of their managers and supervisors are attending meetings most of the time!

Where else in an organization would such excessive waste be accepted?  Nowhere!    In most manufacturing organizations for example, less than 5% of waste from scrap is unacceptable. 

So why do BAD meetings continue to happen? It's not because the people in the meetings are ineffective or incompetent.   It's because smart businesspeople lack the tools and training to effectively run meetings, and manage the multiple personalities attending the meetings. Isn't it about time to turn this situation around so that your meetings are run effectively?    Effective meetings will save, rather than cost, your organization money.

If you want to calculate how much it cost every time a meeting is held, try the Meeting Ticker.  It's a tool to measure how much money is spent attending meetings. You enter the number of attendees, average hourly salary, and meeting start time, and watch the dollars add up in real time. To try it out, click here.

Our company has helped numerous companies save a ton of money over the years by teaching those who conduct meetings to do so more effectively.  Don't let meetings drain your bottom-line. 

In this final article on dealing with difficult employees, we will discuss what you can do to resolve the problem of poor performance.  When taking corrective action with a difficult employee, conduct a "corrective interview" with the employee in private.  During your discussion, follow the steps below as you work through the problem:

• Identify and clearly define the performance problem.  Make sure the employee understands what you are talking about - give sufficient examples as you define the performance problem. 
• Explain the impact of the problem.   Often employees do not understand who or what is affected by their poor performance and they must.  
• Analyze the reasons for the problem.  Ask questions and listen to the employee's reasons for the poor performance.  Do not confuse reasons with excuses.  
• Define the expected performance standard.  Be sure the employee understands what is expected of him or her and is aware of job standards.
• Explore ideas for a solution.  The employee should be encouraged to come up with solutions to his or her performance problem.  There is greater "buy-in" whenever the employee solves the problem or at least has some input.   
• Develop an improvement plan.  At the end of the discussion, make sure you and the employee have written an improvement plan to include action plans and target dates. 
• Follow-up.  Be sure to set a follow-up date as part of the improvement plan.  The employee needs to know you will be monitoring improvements. 

Employees are more likely to be open and receptive during a corrective interview if they work in a supportive, non-threatening environment.  Once again, your goal is to work to take the problem out of the employee, not to take out the employee.  When you do, you will have mastered one aspect of leadership - handling the difficult employee.

The New Employee - This employee starts his or her job not knowing what is expected and usually takes a while to reach job standards.  It is important that you provide guidance and support for this person so he or she will become competent in the new  position.  Without your support, a minor problem can become a major one.

The Inconsistent Employee - The inconsistent employee performs sporadically, over time.  He or she performs well some times and poorly at other times.  This person is usually very competent in performing the job but cannot be counted on to produce results on a regular basis. You can expect this employee to perform well before  performance appraisals and then slip back after a good rating.

The Unbalanced Employee - This type of employee is strong in one aspect of the job, usually the technical, but quite weak in other areas, such as interpersonal behavior.  The employee may be a good worker, but has a hard time getting along with co-workers or the boss.  The unbalanced employee may be categorized in three ways:   those antagonistic towards others; those preferring to do their own thing-not  following company rules; and those who are cynical of anything management does.

The Mediocre Employee - This person only performs the basics of his or her job and usually doesn't produce high quality work.  This employee seems to lack initiative in terms of exceeding performance expectations.

The Marginal Employee - This employee fails to meet the minimum expectations of the job.  This person often slides by, especially in larger departments where his or her individual performance is not as noticeable.  He or she commits "time theft" by not working productively.

The Intolerable Employee - Work is usually unsatisfactory or not done on time; the worker is frequently absent or tardy; he or she engages in behavior disruptive to co-workers.  In many cases, the manager allows this problem to grow into an intolerable and severe problem before dealing with it.  These are the situations which often lead to employee termination.

It is important to address performance problems as soon as they arise.  The longer you wait to deal with them, the worse they become.  Most employees do not start out being marginal or intolerable.  They get that way because corrective action was not taken when it was appropriate to do so. To be continued in Part 3.

In this first of a three part article, we will take a look at "difficult" employees-who they are.  We will then focus on the types of difficult employees, followed by how best to handle them.  What you read may surprise you.

All organizations have difficult employees.  And like it or not, all managers and supervisors will experience difficult employees sooner or later.  As a manager, it is important to remember that if your employees are not doing their jobs according to prescribed standards, you have to share in the responsibility for their below-par performance.  Until this is recognized, you cannot begin to handle the difficult employee.

What is a difficult employee?

Someone who does not fully meet the performance standards of the job as defined by his or her job description.  A difficult employee is not necessarily a bad person, but an employee whose level of  performance fails to meet expectations.  If expectations are not met, a performance problem exists and you have a difficult employee.  Almost all employees, including managers, have had times when they did not perform according to their company's expectations.  When expectations are not met, we must see it as a performance problem and not a bad employee.  Therefore, your goal as a manager is to take the problem out of the employee, not to take out the employee.

Obviously, termination is the quickest way to solve an immediate performance problem.  However, if it is used as the main strategy every time an employee makes a mistake, or does not do something well, it will be very difficult to find employees to work for you.  Not to mention the wrongful termination lawsuits you may have to deal with.

Turnover is costly

Whenever you prematurely or inappropriately terminate a problem employee, you are costing your company money.  Some of the major costs of turnover include time and money to recruit and hire new employees, training new employees, unemployment compensation and damage to company morale.  It has been estimated that it costs $8,500 to select, hire and train an entry level secretary.  Obviously, higher level positions cost more to replace.

The best and least expensive way to deal with a problem employee is to work on improving the performance problem.  Improvement usually occurs whenever effort is made to improve performance.

To be continued in Part 2.