So I think my kids are going to be scarred by the fact that theiy were raised by an HR professional. When they grow up, this will be the thing that they hold the most resentment about, that they were treated like employees.
Case in point:
My 12 yr old K has been exercising some relatively poor judgment in use of her cel phone and conversations with boys and lack of disclosure with me, all of which I discovered after a thorough investigation. So I had to put the hammer down. I put usage controls in place, I had discussion with said boy's parents, and then we had a lengthy talk about "expectations" for which I had prepared talking points, and we came to some "agreements" on future conduct. I thought about writing them down and having her sign her agreement and acknowledgement of consequences for failure to comply, but I thought that might be overkill.
Then today I reviewed 9 yr old J's report card with him. Interestingly enough, his first comment was, "I know, I'm not happy with it either." So we discussed each grade and the actions he could take to improve it this quarter. I had him sit down and write out his action plan and we both signed and dated it, and I hung it on the refrigerator. I then wrote a note to his teacher about our action plan, and I had him sign the report card alongside my signature.
I'm not saying these techniques will prove effective. I'm just sayin I fall back on what I know. And, sometimes these techniques prove effective with employees. I would hate to think what I'll do if I reach a termination decision though. Hmm.
2 comments:
I don't see the problem with this...in fact, I think it is pretty great. After all, you are raising them to most likely be professionals of some sort, it's not like you are raising them to be farmers....the fact that they are growing up knowing how to communicate effectively and constructively deal with mistakes doesn't seem like scarring to me, it seems like a big benefit. You had to go to school for years to learn this shit, they are getting it all for free!
And I am sure they will quit your lousy company before you can fire them, so cheer up!
I forgot to add that at one point he said "stop judging me!" and I calmly said, "I'm not judging you. We've agreed that there is a problem here and we are problem solving. We're working together to come up with solutions to this problem."
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