Bud to Boss:
Critical Tips for Turning Around Poor Performers

John had been with his company for eight years before he became a supervisor. In his first supervisory role and leading a team of his former co-workers, he was growing frustrated with poor performers on his team.

Sam had been with the company for ten years, and he was angry that John was promoted to supervisor. As a result, he began to complain about John and to ignore his direction. While he had never been a stellar performer, his performance was beginning to decline even more.

Sara had been with the company for three years, and she had been a poor performer almost from the start. She was consistently late. She took 30 minute breaks when she was supposed to take 15, and she almost always left 10-15 minutes early.

The supervisor before John had tolerated Sara’s time challenges and had ignored Sam’s bare minimum performance. Now these performance problems were John’s and he wasn’t sure what to do.

He knew that he needed to do something. He knew that he needed to confront the poor performance. He wanted to do the right thing. He just wasn’t sure exactly what to do.

In this 90-minute, information-packed audio conference, workplace conflict resolution and leadership development expert Guy Harris will share tips, techniques and insights you can use to effectively address employee performance issues.

Learning Objectives:

• Review communication strategies you can use to safely address sticky performance issues.
• Identify the four behavior levers to change poor performance.
• Examine the three sources of feedback.
• Discuss the four types of feedback.
• Clarify when to use coaching and when to escalate the conversation to a disciplinary conversation.

Presented By:

Guy Harris’ career includes service as a nuclear engineering officer in the US Navy Submarine fleet, various supervisory/managerial roles in the chemical industry, and personal business ownership. In the early 1990’s, he began to actively pursue the practical application of leadership, communication, team building, and conflict resolution principles.

He is a Certified Human Behavior Specialist, a Master trainer in the DISC Model of Human Behavior, and a Conflict Resolution Subject Matter Expert.

As a trainer, consultant and coach, Guy has worked with businesses, non-profit organizations, leadership academies, and schools including: Sun Chemical Company, Ivy Tech Community College, The Good Samaritan Society, Redbox, Purdue University, Delta Career Education, The American Farm Bureau Association, and Butler University.

Guy is the co-author of Sell Naked on the Phone (Personality Insights Press, 2007); Sell Naked in Person (Personality Insights Press, scheduled for late 2009) and The Behavior Bucks System (iUniverse, 2005). He has been a contributing author, content developer, and editor on other books and training materials including: Presenting With Style (Robert Rohm and Tony Jeary); Leadership @ Work, Leadership Brief and To The Point, and Leadership: It’s an Inside Job (Personality Insights).

Guy publishes a bi-weekly electronic newsletter, Positive Principles,, and he writes a blog, Resolving Conflict in Teams (www.principledriven.com/blog) to provide tips, techniques, insights, and resources that help organizations and individuals build stronger, more effective teams. In addition, Guy is the co-developer of and frequent contributor to the collaborative blog Ugluu (www.ugluu.com).

Because he has worked in supervisory and management roles in highly technical organizations, he understands the struggles and frustrations of technical people in roles requiring the use of "soft" skills. He has spent many years helping other technical people grow in their understanding and application of the principles governing human behavior.

Guy and his family live in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He holds both a B.S. with honors from North Carolina State University and a M.S. with honors from Rutgers University.

Who Would Benefit From This Program:

• Managers
• Directors
• Executives
• Supervisors

Product Options:

• Audio Conference CD Only: $229.00 (includes S&H)

• Audio Conference CD Only with Communication Briefings: $299.00 (includes S&H)

Communication Briefings is a monthly newsletter that provides subscribers with down-to-earth communication ideas and techniques they can put into action to persuade clients, influence peers and motivate employees. The advice offered in each issue will help readers earn approval, command respect, spur productivity, gain recognition and win public support.

Length: 1 hour 30 minutes