After giving a presentation on “Mentoring new and young workers” to industry professionals I was asked the question “What do you do with a youth that constantly shows up late”. I answered with my standard line of “ask them questions” and “try to build rapport before addressing the situation”. What I missed telling my questioner with my quick answer was to look first at the subtle nuances of the relationship on all sides.

We want to look for the reasons behind the behavior so any blanket statement will most likely fall short of an ideal solution. My reply of “ask questions”, although true, is vague and not directed towards the outcome. There will be many underlying factors that will most likely contribute to a youth showing up late on a consistent basis, and so it will help to consider questions that build understanding. Once we feel that we have fully grasped the situation, we can then move forward with confidence. The young worker will also feel that you have given them fair council- important when building consensus.

Questions are important if we are looking for knowledge. Ideally we look for the value in the other’s points of view, sometimes a seemingly impossible task. We are paying someone to perform a job and being late or not working to speed may be an issue that we may not understand.

Several key points need to be remembered:

• What are we trying to achieve?
• What would be the ideal outcome?
• How do we retain our workforce, keep them engaged and safe on the worksite?
• Is there another way to approach our management style to change the outcomes?
• Are there underlying issues with the young worker that we have not considered?
• What is our history of work and what is the new worker’s history? Is there a conflict in values?
• What am I missing?

We need to look at our goal of profit, production and safety. All these goals are inter-related. One supports the other. Without production and the procedures to make it happen, we will not realize profit, and without safety of our workers to achieve production and profit, both suffer.

It is in our best interest to take the time to figure out the “why”. We have invested time and money into the youth’s training, and by dismissing the worker we can be left with the same situation, or one like it, in the future. We may need to first look at ourselves and the “how” behind what we do before we quickly try and problem solve.  This two-tiered approach will address the root causes and keep our young workers safe and our companies profitable.

Several years ago, I was called to mentor a young man in a wood-manufacturing firm. This young man was showing up late and was at risk of being let go. The employer phoned me expressing concern and informed me that although they liked the young worker, his lateness was impacting production and setting a poor example for the other staff. They had tried various disciplinary techniques, spoken with him about the impact of his tardiness and tried appealing to his obvious like of the workplace - all to no avail.

Over the course of a week I had several meetings with the young worker and we explored his history of lateness. We spoke in length about the contributing factors in his life and discovered some underlying issues that would not normally be discussed in a workplace discussion- especially in a production setting where our focus is output. I was looking for the “why”.

The young man lived with his parents and siblings who often had parties early into the morning. The noise and lack of sleep were certainly contributing to his issues. He often bought groceries into the house, however the parties would frequently consume his food, leaving him with no breakfast or lunch.

I knew what I would do to keep this young man working. I would have him move to his own place, remove the negative influences, sleep a regular 8 hours, eat breakfast and pack a lunch. Problem solved.

The real solution was more complicated. This young man was attached to his family and really did not feel he had the option to leave his parents. He felt that he was helping his parents both emotionally and financially. Moving out at the time was not a choice he could make. What we eventually came up with was thought out by the youth and although I “asked him questions”, he really was the driver behind the solution.

He put a small fridge in his room with a lock-so he would always have some food for work. He used soft earplugs that were easy to have in when sleeping and he spoke with the employer and changed shifts from days to afternoons. He could not change his parents or his living conditions at the time, so he modified his circumstances to fit the environment. He is still employed today. The solution was generated by the employer’s commitment to his workers and the youth’s desire to be independent.

A positive spin off is realized: the employer retains a trained worker, staff morale improves when they see the employer’s commitment to success, and the community wins by having a working, contributing member of society paying their way.

Asking strong questions, questions that lead us closer to the truth, will help us better realize collaborative solutions. We need to be careful that our questions are not just used to support our own beliefs (confirmation bias), but rather used to deepen our understanding of the issues. I use the ignorance model (lack of knowledge) and ask questions that will encourage the person to teach me what they know. The more they share, the stronger my position. I try to be the dis-interested observer- one without judgment.

Here are some questions that will help build rapport and support learning:

1. I’m curious; may I ask you some questions?
2. How could I support you to change this situation?
3. What would you need to succeed?
4. What’s getting in the way of your success?
5. What will make the biggest difference in this situation?
6. Have you faced a similar issue like this before?
7. How do you see yourself in 5 years- How would you measure success?
8. Do you have a strategy or a plan?
9. How are things working for you so far? (Work, life, relationships)
10. What would be an ideal outcome?

Asking the questions that matter will help any situation move forward. You have to listen very carefully for the truth and have to really “hear” the answers. We may have to put aside our desire to be right and look to our goal as mentors and coaches in developing the next generation of leaders.

You can be confident knowing that you have asked a strong question when the listener responds with “Now that’s a good question!”

David is a mentor, coach, facilitator and management trainer specializing in youth engagement and retention strategies.