Every moment you don’t deal with a problem employee, you are squandering credibility.
Your team and your boss all notice –your high performers in particular notice.
You just can’t hide it if you are tolerating poor performance or damaging behaviors, without imposing consequences.
There are managers who are known for dealing decisively and professionally with tough problems including people problems. Be one of them.
I’m talking about the “LOOK Better” side of this here – about credibility. I’ll save the Business Impact/”DO Better” aspect for a future post.
Credibility is based on Results, Trust, and Confidence.
Tolerating poor performance shows you as someone who doesn’t “get it”, is indecisive, unfair (to the top performers for treating the low performers the same), and is not working enough to improve the business.
What can you do?
- Be honest with yourself – if a person is not performing don’t shy away from the situation or just hope it will improve. Face it head on.
- Get your data together – start making notes as soon as it starts bugging you.
- After a couple of weeks you will have suffering + data vs. just suffering.
And you’ll know if it is problem for real or not — and if it is, you will have data to support your actions. - Get support from HR and let your manager know what you are considering, early in the process.
- Reinforce your standards and the level of performance you expect with the rest of your team, before, during and after dealing with a problem employee.
When you deal with performance problems head on and proactively communicate your performance expectations, you build your credibility with your top performers, your boss, and your peers – not to mention providing a positive energy boost for your team and the business.
Check out a podcast on Building Your Credibility
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