FnAQ: Our 58 year old accountant has been with us for the last 15 years. She has been working in our company before I joined my father's business and she has seen me grow up. She was also one of the team members who trained me during my induction in accounts department, when I joined the family business. She is two years away from retirement. Since the last few months, there have been significant silly mistakes that have been observed in her work. The most recent one actually got escalated because of wrong entries and resulted into a customer complaint. How do I tell her that she is making mistakes that are now becoming too frequent and causing serious level problems. I am a little worried that this might become a nasty conversation because the accounts department head confronted her regarding this incident which resulted into customer complaint and this confrontation has already caused a meltdown in the office. Is there any way I can handle this situation without causing another melt down as well as communicating her mistakes properly?
Short Answer: Absolutely there is a way and congratulations for thinking of a possibility where you can communicate without causing another meltdown. The essence of your communication with her should be this - connection before correction!
Long Answer: You need to start your conversation with her with the intention of connecting with her life - work and beyond work, without even mentioning about her mistakes. Lets say, you can start with something like, "I have been meaning to ask you about your health and if everything at home is going good! I have been observing that you are pre-occupied with something and I couldn't find time to sit with you and have a little conversation"... The basic idea here is to make her share things she wouldn't share if a space like this where you ask her personal wellbeing questions isn't deliberately created. Once she starts answering these kind of questions and if she shares, you need to thank her for sharing personal things about herself. Mostly, when people who have been working in a place for a long time start making mistakes when something is going wrong in their personal lives, which is spilling over their professional life. Anything like a sick person at home, marital issues, financial crises, unforeseen expenses, legal matters, etc. can cause significant stress and affect their work. In such moments, you need to deploy empathy and not confrontation or training to counter the mistakes. If you are able to connect properly, chances are high that the person will be overwhelmed and own up to their mistakes. If not that, you will certainly have maintained the dignity and respect of the person you are speaking with and established a connection where you will be able to bring up the mistakes and possible solutions to avoid customer complaints in the future.
Hope this helps!
Lots of love!
