Invest In Training

In an era of declining budgets and increased pressure to accomplish the mission, why invest in training on the federal discipline and performance process? This is an investment that will give back time and again.

Too many employees are placed in acting supervisory positions or promoted without having a fundamental understanding of the federal discipline system. After all, it is the best employees that are advancing — they likely have had no discipline or performance problems in their careers and thus no first hand exposure to how the system works. A supervisor who understands the system is more likely to use the system.

And, even the most experienced managers need a foundation from which to engage the discipline system. Too often they learn by trial and error when they already have a difficult employee challenging their every move. The most common feedback we get from our class participants is, “I wish I had taken this class many years ago,” and “Every supervisor in my Agency should take it.” A supervisor who understands the context within which they act will be more proactive and successful disciplining a subordinate employee.

In an OPM survey conducted a couple of years ago, the number one complaint by federal employees about their supervisors was that they did not hold their bad-attitude, poor performing co-workers accountable. Why do they care? For every federal employee that doesn’t carry his or her share of the ever increasing workload, there is a co-worker bearing far more than they should.

This training improves the efficiency of your Agency. How?

First

If you confront troubled employees — by setting standards and holding them accountable — you can improve their behavior and performance. For those that don’t improve, you have begun the process to ultimately fire them if necessary. Once the troubled employee is gone, you can replace them with a high performing employee. Either way you win.

Second

Holding employee accountable through discipline creates a high performing culture for your unit. Sometimes a single difficult employee can drag the whole group down and it’s better for everyone when they are gone.

Third

We all know that we’ve become a litigious society and that federal employees are no exception. They have many avenues in which to challenge management. If personnel actions are taken correctly from the outset, the Agency can avoid many of the costs associated with litigation. An understanding of the system helps Agencies avoid procedural errors, be confident in management’s position, and resist the pressure to settle cases because it’s more expedient. With foundational knowledge from our courses, managers can confidently take correct actions from the outset.

Finally

We believe that the old adage, “you get what you pay for” is true. If you hire us, you get training from professional trainers. We hear from many agencies that they can provide the same training for free using their own staff members. While agency staff, as subject matter experts, can provide short briefings, few are professional trainers. They have many responsibilities, deadlines, and assignments other than training. By contrast, as expert professional trainers, we do this full time. We dedicate all of our efforts to providing the best training possible, keeping up with the legal trends, and continually updating and fine tuning our presentation methods and materials. We are confident that an investment in our training courses is an investment that will give back over and over again.