Progressive discipline can be an effective way of handling employees who have behavioral or performance issues. Problems such as arriving late or falling behind in tasks can usually be remedied without the need for formal discipline or termination. The concept is to bring the error to the employee’s attention with the explanation that as long as the issue is remedied, there will be no further outcome. If, however, the issue continues to arise, then additional disciplinary measures may need to be implemented.

The biggest problem with progressive discipline is that you, and your office managers, are human. If you do not actively train yourself not to let some traits shine through, then you could be derailing your attempts to train a strong workforce. One way in which this can happen is if you treat progressive discipline like a punishment, which is a common misconception (and an extremely “human” way to react). The purpose of the progressive discipline approach is to bring the error(s) to the attention of your workers so that they can learn from their experiences. This means that once the problem has been mentioned, you truly need to treat your employee as if the error never occurred. You cannot treat your employee differently by changing project assignments or making assumptions that the mistake will happen again. Instead, you need to treat this approach as a way for the employee to learn what is and is not expected from him or her.

By treating progressive discipline as a punishment, your employee will begin to feel as if they are being punished for an error that they didn’t even know that they were making. Learning experiences need to be just that: a chance to learn. Your position will change, of course, if the mistakes continue to happen. But if you do not allow a new or otherwise learning employee to wipe the slate clean after an error, then they will always feel as if they are being punished for their mistake. This is how you lose employees. You should strive to have your workers see you as a source of information, not punishment and/or embarrassment. By allowing your employees to move on from their mistakes in the early stages of a progressive discipline process, you are showing them that you have faith in their abilities and that you consider them to be your partners in creating a strong practice.