LESSON 1: Employee Performance Issues and the Implications for Organizations and Leaders.

Lesson Overview: This lesson will introduce the rationale for why organizations and leaders
need to be concerned with managing performance issues; to include legal and financial risks; as
well as damage to organizational culture. Additionally, resultant responsibilities for leaders will
be reviewed.
Materials:

Awkward Performance Review video by Vital Smarts Video

New Legal Battlegrounds for Performance Evaluations article by Dan Van Bogaert
Legal Expert Gives Performance Appraisal Advice article by Rebecca Hastings
Patterson vs. Indiana activity handout, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Physical Resources

Training Room
Projector
Laptop and guest network access for corporate network
Whiteboard and accessories (markers, erasers, etc.)

Lesson Standards: N/A, corporate learning environment

Lesson Objectives:
1) Given a selected article, job aid, and classroom instruction, learners will identify (list) 5 ways
that effective performance management of employees mitigates risk for an organization with
80% accuracy (as compared to list of possible responses).
Time: 1 hour
Pre-instructional activities: Learners will view a short video which illustrates common pitfalls
of communicating performance issues to employees. After watching the video, learners will be
asked to describe their biggest obstacles to effective performance management.
Creating Meaningful Dialogue:

Ask learners their top 1-2 barriers to effectively managing employee performance.
Record their responses on the whiteboard.
Ask learners to evaluate the list of responses to determine if they are primarily within
their control or outside of their control.

Content presentation: Learners will be provided an article and a job aid (listed in materials
section for this lesson plan) and instructor will review key points of each. Examples of court
cases wherein the plaintiff was awarded, will be used to connect key points to practical
application of content.
Key Points to Discuss:

Protected Class: Discuss the EEOC and protected classes, including:

o age, disability, national origin, race/color, pregnancy, sex/gender, religion
Prima Facie: why is it important regarding who bears the burden of proof, the employer
or the claimant.
Four-Fifth Rule: Discuss disparate impact and effective risk management strategies
regarding performance management, including:
o Accurate, non-emotional documentation, which captures the facts and not
opinions
o Applying management discretion consistently---yes, it may seem like an
oxymoron, but consistency is the key. If you apply it for one, you must apply for
all like/similar situations, unless there is a sound justification for not doing so.
Retaliation: Focus discussion on how a prima facie case can be established for
retaliation.

Learner Participation: Content presentation will be interspersed with facilitated discussion on

key points. This will allow learners to reflect upon their own experience with employee
performance issues and assimilate new content in order to create more effective solutions. An
intentional effort will be made to ensure learners are engaged in meaningful dialogue related to
the examples and key points. Instructor will intervene as prudent to correct or redirect learner's
focus.
Assessment: At conclusion of instruction, learners will be asked to use the article and job aid for
reference in order to identify (list) ) 5 ways that effective performance management of
employees mitigates risk for an organization with 80% accuracy (as compared to list of possible
responses).
Questbase for Assessment Completion: Direct learners to log in to their Questbase accounts
and complete assessment, per included instructions.
Follow-through activities: Learners will apply knowledge from this lesson in subsequent
lessons. Understanding the implications of performance management issues for the organization
will help learners to understand when and why mitigating steps must be taken. Learners must
recognize resultant responsibilities in order to begin applying key concepts of upcoming lessons
including leveraging feedback and coaching and the execution of critical conversations.