If you accept mediocre performance, you condone it

In order to maintain a successful and growing business, you need talented and motivated people. That means finding, hiring, training, rewarding, and motivating your team. Wow! That sounds like a lot of work. It is. But it is one of the most important management tasks in any business. But it doesn’t end there. Once the team is established, you need to monitor their performance. Who is doing well and who is struggling? And what do you do about it? Today’s column will focus on effectively and fairly dealing with the latter – the underperformers.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes things just don’t work out. When this happens, it cannot be ignored. If you tolerate poor performance or disruptive employees, you send the message to everyone else that you condone it. Keep that in mind. But this doesn’t mean that terminating someone’s employment is your first option. In fact, it should be your last resort.

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, there was a dominant business culture that resulted in pride for having the “toughness” to fire people. Terms like “slash and burn” and “scorched earth” were actually lauded. Leaders earned names like “Neutron Jack” for their ability to cut the work force aggressively. I’ll never understand why that was considered a compliment.

If you think about it, terminating an employee’s employment is often the result of a management failure. While an underperforming employee may sometimes be at fault, were other management-related reasons considered? Was it a good match of skills, experience and culture in the first place? Was there adequate on-boarding and training for the employee? Did the employee get regular, constructive feedback and guidance in order to correct any performance problems? Was the underperformance tolerated for too long without any action, so the employee assumed everything was fine? A lot of questions, all of which need answers! tions, and why. Be specific. Believe it or not, sometimes employees don’t know exactly what is expected, so they do what they think is best; it isn’t but they don’t know it. A frank, non-confrontational conversation should take place, with documentation that both parties review. Create a picture of what success looks like for the employee. Be specific. Be positive. Determine if there has been adequate support and training. If it hasn’t it, provide it. Then set up a reasonable timeline with specific goals for “recovery.” Schedule regular updates to assess progress.

Everyone wants a high performing team. It starts with the hiring process. The development of a detailed job description, identification of the key attributes required to do the job, the expected outcomes, a comprehensive assessment of the applicant’s skills and cultural fit, as well as a complete interview process and background/reference check, is the right start. Done well, it’s a big up-front investment, but it can help avoid making a hire that eventually goes wrong, which can be a much more expensive mistake.

BY GREG STEINER Guest Columnist

So, how do we identify the lower performers? You may be surprised, but everyone knows who they are. One technique you can use is to rank the team, top to bottom. No ties allowed. More importantly, get multiple inputs on the ranking, but keep it confidential. You’ll be surprised at the different perspectives, but most importantly, you should be able to determine any significant biases so you get as an accurate assessment as possible.

Take immediate, impactful action. Your goal should be to save the situation, if possible, not end it. First, the low-performing employee needs to clearly understand that performance is not up to expecta-

Using these steps, hopefully, the situation will be resolved positively for everyone. If not, unfortunately, you must go to the last resort and terminate employment. Do this in a productive, professional manner. Allow the employee to maintain his or her dignity.

But what about morale? Won’t terminating an employee destroy the team’s spirit? Nonsense. The rest of the teams sees it, and wonders why someone hasn’t done something about it. If they see genuine efforts to improve the situation, but this fails and termination results, they will have renewed confidence in the fairness of the process and confidence in management.

Dealing with poor performance is a difficult, but mandatory task. It has far reaching consequences, so deal with it quickly, fairly, and comprehensively. What about the high performers? That’s important, too, but that’s another column.

Greg Steiner is the founder of Sea Breeze Associates and co-founder of Atlantic Partners International. Contact (203) 505-2605 or glsteiner57@gmail.com.