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Do you have individuals on your team who are performing less than what you’d hoped? Are you performing less than how you imagined you would? In order to do something about it, first you have to figure the core dynamic of why, so you can get to the cause.
Each person on a team affects the overall organizational performance. There are no quick fixes however once you figure out the whys you can get to the how. Is training needed? Is the individual not suited for that role and would succeed if reassigned? Or can it be the chemistry of the team as a whole. Often individuals are amazing in their own right. Put them in a team environment and the personalities that come together can either be amazingly powerful…. or toxic.
Performance is a combination of ability and motivation. Individuals can have the ability but not care to do much of anything. On the other hand an individual can have a ton of motivation but because the ability isn’t there struggle to keep afloat. How committed is the person? How talented in the area within which he/she is working? Performance brings both together.
You can help motivate a staffer but if they’re in an arena where they have no aptitude, then unless they can be trained and brought up to speed in expertise, you’re setting that staffer up for failure. You’re setting yourself up for failure as well.
So what do you do?
Supply them with resources. What do they need that they don’t currently have to help them in their work?
Train them in areas they lack experience, knowledge and expertise. Match them with a mentor or someone they can job shadow so they get hands on training and can integrate that training in real time. What do they (you) need to know that they (you) don’t know to do their (your) job better? (You get my drift). Who do they need to know that they don’t know in order to get the information and experience they need to move forward?
Redefine their job. Are there parts of their work they do amazingly well and parts where they really struggle? Can you redefine their job, reassign some of the work to someone else, and visa versa so both individuals can really succeed? Can you partner with someone else so you both move from doing mediocre jobs to great jobs?
Reassign the individual to another role. Switch two people who might be better suited to each other’s jobs. If you’re not sure if it’ll work, then reassign on a temporary basis.
If worse comes to worse you might have to let that person go and support them in the transition out of your organization. People want to succeed. If they can’t in your organization then help them find a job more suitable to their skills somewhere else. It’s the biggest favour you will ever give them.
Consequences if you do and consequences if you don’t:
There are always consequences, positive and negative to keeping a poor performer in their status quo. If you help them succeed, you all succeed. If you retain that person even after trying everything that’s within your power to try,
As that person’s manager you’ll end up being responsible for their work and doing their job as well as yours. (Did you want to be doing 2 jobs?)
You will have to work harder than you already are to carry that poor performer
It will impact others’ perceptions about your leadership capabilities (the operative words are ‘negatively impact’)
You will waste time, effort and resources that could be better put to use elsewhere
You will keep that position from being filled by someone better suited to do that job
Others will start leaving as the team energy and credibility diminishes.
Motivation Issue?
Is that individual a poor performer because they’re not motivated? Recognized for great work? If that’s the case, what has to change in their environment to increase their engagement, energy and desire and commitment to great work?
Have you set achievable performance goals with that individual? This might be a great time to have that conversation. It’s more than what they want to achieve, it’s having “I want to achieve this for the sake of….” conversation. Why might they become more engaged? What is the meaning to them, not you?
Once you’ve had that conversation, set predetermined performance feedback meetings to you can talk about how they’re doing in relation to the goals they’ve set. If they’re meeting them, how will you recognize them and if they’re not, how can you make sure you help them turn things around? If they’re not turning around, what choices do you have to make?
The second piece of that conversation is “By when”? If you don’t have timelines for change, then they can’t be measured. Often that’s a piece of the puzzle that’s forgotten….a BIG piece.
Key Points
You have to understand what’s going on in order to implement necessary changes. Skills and motivation create a partnership when it comes to impact on performance. They come together and need to be worked on in tandem.
If you help someone evolve and turn a poor performer around you will be looked at as an amazing manager, have the respect of those all around you and be creating an environment in which people know they’re valued. That goes a long way towards staff retention, energy and engagement. Definitely a win-win.
Best!
Donna Karlin, CEC
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective, Leadership Coaching, Training and Consulting
http://www.abetterperspective.com
When you type something and share it, it’s going to be critiqued even before people read the contents.
Words are important. What they look like on the page is just as important. It’s your visual presence to the outside world or, the ‘clothes of your words’. For presentations the font is as important as the content. For Powerpoints or a Deck as it’s called in government, the 10, 20, 30 rule applies i.e. no more than 10 minutes, 20 slides and no LESS than 30 pt. font (at least). If we can’t read it you might as well not create it.
If what you write is filled with a acronyms I or others have to figure out, I won’t bother nor will most others. We don’t have time, the desire or energy.
When you press SEND I won’t know if you’re smiling on the other side of the message or angry, sharing something important or some fluff that I don’t really have time to read. If it goes on page after page, I’ll probably lose interest after the first couple of paragraphs and if I’m really in a rush, I’ll look at the preview screen to see if there’s anything important I really need to read or it’ll tell me I shouldn’t bother. Don’t you do the same?
Don’t assume the whole message will be read. Assume it will be judged for content and look. Assume somewhere in the back of the reader’s mind, he/she will park their judgment of the importance of what you write and use it to decide whether or not to press the DELETE key next time around.
What message do you want to get across? Say it. Short…sweet…to the point….clear…open….inquisitive…generative. Speaking with (even through email) vs. speaking at.
I don’t often attach a file to my newsletters. This manifesto by Seth Godin is worth your time (in my humble opinion). Makes you think, think differently. Share this with others. Seth would like that. If you think it’ll make others think about what’s working and what isn’t? I’d like you to share this too.
Get out of your way and relax into who you are. If you try to emulate another person completely then who would be you? We all have talents and expertise, strengths and weaknesses. Celebrate your strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses….work on them both if you like, though, in my mind, working on weaknesses makes your strengths more powerful while at the same time helps you pull yourself forward.
Many spend so much time fighting feedback. Instead of truly listening to what others are saying, both directly and indirectly, usually they fight back….spending an inordinate amount of time and energy arguing about the message rather than taking an objective look at it and doing something about it. Fighting blocks effective listening, breaking down communication and growth.
Most people spend the greatest percentage of their time fighting their blind spot. We don’t like to hear we’re stubborn or never listen. We like to think we’re perfect. If we see weaknesses in others so readily, why is it so difficult to see it in ourselves? And if we took feedback and used it to get stronger, what would be the downside?
What do you have to let go of in order to listen generously?
How can you create an exciting work environment? OK…you might be reading this and thinking “You’ve GOT to be kidding!” No. I’m dead serious. If you’re in the middle of chaos and you don’t love the energy of what’s unfolding, rethink what you’re doing and where you’re doing it.
Yesterday I was interviewed by a newspaper reporter about the analogies between sports coaching and executive coaching and how I work with my clients to strengthen teams. She wanted to draw an analogy between coaching football and the risks coaches sometimes take and how similar it is in the corporate world. There are many similarities between sports coaching and executive coaching however one of the places where we draw the line is giving advice. We also draw the line at “convincing clients” to do anything. My clients don’t hire me to tell them what to think and how to do their work; they hire me to help them learn how to think differently, deeper, and more broadly.
So, how do you (as I call it) ‘dance in real time’? How do you remain pumped and energized?
Create a learning environment. If you’re always a learner and feel as if you’re evolving and growing, your energy will remain high.
Treat your team as thought partners. Create an environment within which the team you’re working with collaborates and percolates together so everyone owns a piece of the puzzle of where you’re all going. The term ‘better with’ vs. ‘better than’ comes to play where as a team or group of thought partners you all dance in real time. In this complex world it’s great to know you’re not in it alone. You don’t have to be in the role of organizational leader to have thought partners in crime. If you’re a solopreneur, figure out who are your go-to people to create and learn with and create your own R & D team. If you’re a part of an organization figure out who has the knowledge and experience in realms you don’t have and create a strong center of excellence.
Keep in mind that everyone around the table (or virtual table as in a conference call) with you knows something and has some experience you don’t have. That’s when the magic of an exciting environment starts happening.
I’ll leave you with this “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.” - Henry David Thoreau
There is a saying that goes “You get what you give”. I’m going to take it to another level and put on the table “You get what you accept. And then you get more of the same”.
{!firstname_fix}, how many times have you heard someone say they attract the same kind of person, whether in a personal relationship or at work? “I don’t know what’s wrong but I seem to attract all the whiners”, “Why am I always the one who gets the difficult staff? It doesn’t matter where I work it always seems to happen” or “I seem to attract friends or partners who are needy. What’s with that?”
We get what we accept and because we accept, we get more of the same.
So {!firstname_fix}, how do you deal with that? Stop accepting. Start challenging. Respecfully.
Don’t “pick and choose fights” eliminate the need for them. If you let things pass without handling them, acknowledging them or dealing with them in some manner you’d better believe you’ll get more of the same. As in the first saying “You get what you give” you can give respect but it doesn’t mean you’ll get it. You can give openness and acknowledgment and even show appreciation but it doesn’t mean you’ll get it back. If you give respect and get insult and leave it be “because it’s not worth the energy” just know you’ll be using up at least 10 times the energy dealing with what you’ll get next.
What will you no longer accept? What do you want to attract? Answering those two questions will get you started.
