When is the best time to prepare for disciplinary cases?

1 min read , November 26, 2020

There’s an ancient Chinese Proverb which says “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”

I love this quote because in one line, it says everything you need about preparation. The best time to prepare is when the emergency or the incident hasn’t occurred yet. That’s when you have access to the resources, the manpower and the documents you need to prepare. This is the time when you have the luxury to observe.

In the same way with your business, the best time to prepare for disciplinary cases is when there are no disciplinary cases.

Could you imagine how stressful it would be to try and decide how to handle a case where you found that an employee stole Php 150,000.00 worth of your inventory? Or how effective you would be if an insubordinate employee suddenly shouts at you? Challenging times induce panic, and a panicked mind is not ideal for thinking up the next strategic step.

Therefore, you need to predetermine contingency plans for disciplinary cases before they happen.

Good contingency plans cover the following areas:

  1. Safety – how to ensure that all personnel and equipment are safe and stabilized.
  2. Evidence – how to ensure that you get the right kind of evidence you need for the incident or violation.
  3. Immediate Next Step – after ensuring safety and the evidence is intact, what’s the very next step you want your employees to take? Do they write down incident reports? Do they preserve the CCTV? Do they escort he erring employee away from the premises?

These are things you need to think about beforehand and they should be written down so that you have something to refer to in case they actually happen. This will allow you to stay in control.

So, does this give you any ideas of things to plan out with your team? Remember, sweat now or bleed later.

Discipline Leadership