As leaders, we all have encountered employees who are under-performing. It is our job to manage under-performers. This is a critical skill every organizational leader needs to have in their toolbox. The ability to help these employees overcome this setback is key in building high-performance teams. As leaders, we’re rated according to the performance of the individuals and the teams that we oversee. Simply waiting for poor performance to improve is wrong. The situation tends to get worse if it’s left alone, and under-performers almost never improve on their own.
Unfortunately, many leaders simply “hope” that things will get better. They’re hoping that, in time, these under-performers will start improving. Many leaders are blinded by their relationship with the employee. Sadly, many leaders are just lazy to appropriately coach these employees, or they don’t have the courage to place them accountable by delivering necessary consequences. If this is you, don’t worry, you’re not alone. I’ve struggled many times on this dilemma. Looking past our relationship with our employees to properly coach their short-comings can be difficult. You’re not helping your employee and yourself. You’re not moving your employee forward to achieve optimal performance. You’re also removing the possibility of identifying a much better fit for their skills and capabilities. You’re not helping yourself because harboring under-performers in your teams reflects badly on your reputation and credibility. As a consequence to you, your inaction can affect your future in the organization.
Here’s a framework on how to approach under-performers. Getting the answers to these questions could help identify the root-cause of the problem, what can we do now, and what can we do next.
· Does the employee understand the expectations of their job?
Ensuring that the expectations are clarion to the employee is a critical component for this exercise. Without this component, anything that happens after this could potentially be misleading and pointless. Defining the expectations and revisiting it throughout the process allows us to measure our progress and to assess the validity of the direction we’re taking.
· Is this an undertaking the employee has the capacity to do?
Is the employee equipped to do the job? Is there a skill gap? Can you afford the time and the effort to close that gap? Answering these questions is important to know what the current benchmark is, in relation to the current skills your employee has, and the amount of skill necessary to be successful in reaching the expectations bestowed on them. Many companies do “skill gap analysis” to determining what type of training is needed for their employees. This analysis is also used to help HR in searching for potential candidates to fill vacancies within the organization.
· Are the employees passionate about the job?
I have my opinions on this topic which I discussed in a previous blog post, “Leadership IMHO #10: Don’t Find Your Passion, Make It!” For our current discussion, you might want to ask your employee if they appreciate the value their job provides to the company, other employees, or its customers. Working at an office processing loans, taking tech-support calls, or sorting grocery aisles may not be their “dream job” or anything that they’re passionate about, but they can learn to be passionate about the purpose of the job. In my current role, one way we have our technicians appreciate the job they do on a daily basis is to provide them the perspective of our customers. We’ll have them shadow different roles within the organization—the very people who would call for technical support. Once they’ve appreciated the point-of-view of the people they serve, they’ll find passion for the role they play in the organization.
· Are they a fit to their current environment?
On the manager’s point-of-view, this can mean that you (and your organization) is not equipped to close the skill gap, or provide adequate resources to drive passion. At this point, you may have already determined that this under-performer will not flourish in your organization. On the employee’s vantage point, this can mean that they realize that they’re made for something else—his is not the right organization for them!
I know someone who is now a musical director for a university choral group. She’s highly talented in her field, and her group travels around the world to compete and perform. I always assumed that she took advanced education in music and the arts. When I asked her which program she took in school, she said that she went to medical school and finished a degree to become a physical therapist. This was a path her parents paved for her, with the expectation of becoming a therapist. She was not happy in this role and did not do well in that practice. Long story short, she quit being a physical therapist, then went back to school to earn a music major. It took extra effort, but it paid-off big time! She was naturally talented for this path and she had the fire to progress in it.
This framework is a helpful guide to take steps forward to develop under-performers. Unfortunately, you may need to part ways with your under-performer to actually make progress. The finality of this outcome can benefit your organization and the employee. It gives you an opportunity to find the right person for the job, and on the other hand, that employee will get an opportunity to find the job right for them.
Please share some more ideas on how to develop under-performers.