Discipline and Punishment
As I have previously discussed in another blog post, I used to work as a lifeguard for a park district back in my home town. One Saturday, I was watching my little brother play basketball for a league that was run through the same park district. About thirty minutes into the game, one of my managers found me and gave me a piece of paper with a number to call immediately. Upon calling, I heard my boss on the other side. I was informed that I was scheduled to work at that time and that I should get there as soon as possible if I wanted to keep my job. I got there as fast as I could and worked the remainder of the shift. At the next in-service, I was pulled aside and talked to by my boss. She spoke to me in a calm demeanor and told me that this was unacceptable since if they did not have enough lifeguards, they can not open the pool. She also told me that if there was not someone who could stay past the previous shift, she would have fired me; however, since this was my first offense, she would give me another chance. There was only one real consequence. At the time, I was in the process of being evaluated for a manager position. After this incident, I was told that I would be dropped from the decision process.
I think that my boss handled this situation very well for a couple of reasons. Her first priority was to get me to my shift as fast as possible since it was unknown how long my replacement could stay. Rather than lecture me on the phone, which would have probably taken a considerable amount of time, or fire me on the spot, she gave me a chance to reprimand the situation. Had she lectured me instead, I would have been delayed and possibly distracted once I finally arrived. Another thing that she did well was the way she criticized me. She was very professional about the situation, pulling me aside rather than disciplining me in front of others. It allowed me to save face and kept the situation more private. I believe this is very important when trying to maintain a relationship and I appreciated this very much. There is a saying, "praise in public, criticize in private" and I believe those words ring very true. In addition, she was very calm. She told me that I messed up and that moving on, I would be on thin ice. This also helped in maintaining the relationship. If she had yelled, I would have viewed her in a more negative light. This ended up paying off as in later years, I became a valuable and experienced guard.
I do believe in more moderate punishment instead of harsher punishments. I believe that it helps salvage relationship and allows the one who is scolded to perform better. They can learn from their mistakes and improve for the future. This should especially be the case for first-time offenses. Only once the issue persists, should the degree of punishment be escalated. Had I been scolded in front of an audience, my morale would have dropped, I would work worse in a team due to less trust, and the chance of me quitting increases. Instead, I became more responsible and attentive towards my work schedule as well as worked harder to make up for my mistake. Most of these situations can serve as a positive learning experience for the person being disciplined and as a result, they can grow from the experience.
I think that my boss handled this situation very well for a couple of reasons. Her first priority was to get me to my shift as fast as possible since it was unknown how long my replacement could stay. Rather than lecture me on the phone, which would have probably taken a considerable amount of time, or fire me on the spot, she gave me a chance to reprimand the situation. Had she lectured me instead, I would have been delayed and possibly distracted once I finally arrived. Another thing that she did well was the way she criticized me. She was very professional about the situation, pulling me aside rather than disciplining me in front of others. It allowed me to save face and kept the situation more private. I believe this is very important when trying to maintain a relationship and I appreciated this very much. There is a saying, "praise in public, criticize in private" and I believe those words ring very true. In addition, she was very calm. She told me that I messed up and that moving on, I would be on thin ice. This also helped in maintaining the relationship. If she had yelled, I would have viewed her in a more negative light. This ended up paying off as in later years, I became a valuable and experienced guard.
I do believe in more moderate punishment instead of harsher punishments. I believe that it helps salvage relationship and allows the one who is scolded to perform better. They can learn from their mistakes and improve for the future. This should especially be the case for first-time offenses. Only once the issue persists, should the degree of punishment be escalated. Had I been scolded in front of an audience, my morale would have dropped, I would work worse in a team due to less trust, and the chance of me quitting increases. Instead, I became more responsible and attentive towards my work schedule as well as worked harder to make up for my mistake. Most of these situations can serve as a positive learning experience for the person being disciplined and as a result, they can grow from the experience.
I think this story needs a little more setup so I can understand your thinking at the time. Did you not realize you had a shift to cover when you were watching your brother? That seems very odd to me. So how this event happened I'm having a hard time to fathom.
ReplyDeleteGiven that it did occur, the rest of your story is okay. If I understand the story correctly, she had to manage the immediate situation, which was to get you on your shift as soon as possible. Recognizing that as the goal, the rest followed. It would be good in the telling to mention the lag between the immediate situation and the next in-service, where you were pulled aside. If it was the same day that really would be interesting. If it was a week later, then she had time to be upset about the immediate situation but then calm down after that before she talked with you.
People do respond out of anger in situations like this. Being yelled at may be not be pleasant, but if you felt you were responsible for the problem, it would be taking your medicine. Why would you have viewed her in a more negative light in that case? You said that with a first offense people should be able to learn the consequences and improve their performance rather than be punished severely. Doesn't that depend on the nature of the offense?
So I will conclude with a question - was missing this shift a big deal or not?
At the time when I was watching my brother, I was not aware of the shift. The schedules are usually released two weeks in advance but this shift had been added a couple of days before it took place. I had failed to notice and as a result, was unaware of the shift.
DeleteThe in-service was the following day, so while there was time for her to cool down, It was still pretty fresh in her memory.
I understand the confusion and to answer the question, yes it is a big deal to miss a shift. As I mentioned in my post, if there are not enough lifeguards at the pool, then the pool is unable to operate. The fact that someone was able to stay an extra 30 minutes to an hour was the reason for me not being fired so in a way I was lucky. It helped to lessen the severity of my offense so I was given another chance. Perhaps, I could phrase what I said earlier in another way so I can clarify. While I was definitely at fault and being scolded would be understandable, it still hurts the relationship between me and my boss. The negative feelings would exist due to me being a high school student and not very mature at the time. By being calm and professional, my boss was able to minimize the damage to that relationship and in return I see her in a higher light because of it. To conclude, punishment should be scaled to the severity of the punishment and had there been no one to cover the shift, I probably would have been fired. Since, I was lucky, the offense was less severe and so the relationship was still salvageable. By remaining calm and professional, the relationship was able to mended and my employment at the park district continued.