Dealing with ‘suspicious’ commendation letters

Two of our valuable customers sent separate letters to our chief executive officer commending the work of our sales representative. The person being commended is a headache for us, having failed to achieve his monthly quota for the past three months. In fact, we’ve just started placing him on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). We suspect that the letter may have been solicited from the sales agent’s friendly customers. How do we manage the situation? — Boiling Point.

​It’s not easy. Your challenge is reconciling the worker’s performance with the commendation letters. If they can’t be reconciled, tackle them separately with the following questions: How truthful are these commendation letters? Unfortunately, only the letter sender can affirm that.

On the other hand, how does the commendation translate to actual sales performance? The evidence must be weighed against the sales agent’s failure to achieve his quota. Also a consideration is maintaining your company’s relationship with customers.

​Indeed, it’s difficult to verify the authenticity and validity of the commendation letters. They’re valid because they depend solely on the “testimony” of the letter-writers, who may have experienced a positive experience with the worker being commended. Take the letters at face value.

​One thing to consider is whether the letter-senders hold a low-ranking position. This is not to belittle their job or anything, but only to assign a value to their letters. Look into whether the letters were written by a team leader, supervisor, or even a manager from those companies, who may not have the authority to represent their organization.

If the letters were indeed worth writing, the best thing that they could have done was to have those letters co-signed by their department heads. This gives credibility to the process, especially if the letters contain detailed accomplishments of the sales agent. In addition, the letters must contain specific statements on how the worker’s actions greatly benefited their respective organizations.

If their commendation letters are bereft of details other than plain recognition or words of appreciation, then you may be right to suspect that they were solicited by your sales agent to protect him from the adverse effects of his poor work performance.

APPROACHESAct like a professional manager in managing this issue. Be objective. Make it appear that everything is in order when dealing with the customers who sent the commendation letters. Do your best to get by with their bare facts. It should help you make a better decision. Besides, mere suspicion is worthless.

Now, here are approaches that you can explore to manage the situation.

One, acknowledge the letter-senders. Do it right away. Make your reply short and simple. There’s no need to challenge the customers’ intent by bringing up the worker’s actual poor performance. Use objective language. Express your sincere gratitude for their kind words.

Two, acknowledge the letters right away. Any delay may telegraph your suspicions, especially if they know that their “commendation” was solicited by your sales agent. If the commendation letter was done the old-fashioned way, meaning through a formal letter, then follow the same route.

Three, give your sales agent the benefit of the doubt. Inform him that you’ve received the customers’ letters. Don’t talk to him about your doubts. Treat it as a separate issue from his actual poor performance. Stick to the facts. Proceed with the PIP. Closely monitor the salesperson’s progress and give advice as soon as cracks become evident.

Four, correlate the commendation with actual performance. It will be tempting to find a connection between the commendation letters and the sales agent’s performance. Whatever the result of your investigation, don’t bother raising the issue with the sales agent to avoid unnecessary conflict.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENTOrganizations seeking to maintain and improve their competitive advantage must be able to manage the behavior of their employees. At times, you must consider other extraneous factors such as customer behavior when the sales agent performs the requirements of their job.

​You may be distracted by external factors that may have or may not have anything to do with the workers’ performance. That’s why organizations, regardless of their size and nature of business, must link their mission, vision, and value statements to work performance standards.

​Your sales agent is a key ingredient in the success and growth of the company. Therefore, managing his performance should be the central focus of your control. It’s the systematic process by which an organization requires the active involvement of its employees, as individuals and as members of a group.

Bring Rey Elbo’s 15-hour (three half-days) leadership program called “Superior Subordinate Supervision” to your management team. Learn from an effective training methodology designed to keep the lessons stuck to its core. E-mail elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.com.