Career Conversations: Progressive Discipline the Right Way

Personnel actions are among managers’ least favorite job duties. If you talk to librarians, you will find few who enjoy the stress, tension, and confrontation engendered by corrective actions that can become as much about interpersonal conflict as the job itself. Many managers also fear failing—that the corrective action will not succeed in correcting the issue, or worse, that the employee will somehow twist the action and win, removing the supervisor’s authority and control of the situation. In some instances, when the employee requiring discipline is popular among co-workers, managers dread being labeled as cruel, tarnishing the positive relationships they have with other employees, or inciting fear among them.