Situation: A CEO has a key manager who frequently uses inappropriate language and demonstrates lack of care towards co-workers. This individual is smart, has great drive, and does the work formerly handled by two employees. How do you correct inappropriate behavior of a productive employee?

Advice from the CEOs:

• Create a firm company policy on swearing and the use of inappropriate or abusive language.
  • Each time any individual swears or uses inappropriate language, they must put $1 into a pot. Anybody can call anyone else for swearing and the one who’s caught has to pay. The money in the pot goes to buy pizza on Fridays.
  • This is a creative and even entertaining solution and should resolve the problem in a short time.
• Sit down with this individual and go over their positives and value. Besides these, emphasize which behaviors are unacceptable.
  • Explain the legal implications and consequences for the individual and company. Provide goals and set objectives.
• Send this individual alone or with a team to a Pryor Customer Relationship seminar, for example the seminar “How to Communicate with Tact and Professionalism”.
  • Let the instructor know in advance that you want to be sure that certain behaviors are covered during the seminar.
  • This may provide the individual the incentive to behave like an owner of the business.
• Make it clear who’s in charge, and at whose discretion the individual remains with the company.

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