When Your Employee Needs A Comeback
As leaders we should all want our team members to perform at the highest level. If you’ve been a manager for a while you know that low performers can quickly take up your energy and consume your oxygen. Today, I’m going to give you 5 principles to help you get the most out of your team and free up time to have an impact on the business.
Understand: Moving an employee through a performance situation is a coaching effort. If you haven’t done so already you need to understand the employee’s strengths. At 3Seven we believe tools like StrengthsFinder will help you understand why your employee takes a specific action and how they are achieving results. It will also give you a chance to reflect as a manager on the behavior that you’re seeing. Employees respond to coaches that they believe want them to succeed. In some cases, simply investing the time to understand them will increase their performance.
Clarity: The foundation for coaching low performers is 100% centered around clarity. If your employee is going to turn things around, they need clarity on what the expected behavior is and clarity on how to achieve it. Put motivation aside for a minute; a motivated employee that’s headed in the wrong direction is still a problem. At 3Seven we see a lot of managers fail their employees here. If you know how to make your employee better and you withhold that from them, what does that say about your integrity? Be specific about the outcomes that you want to see with precise milestones and the gap they currently face.
Motivation: There are thousands of tools and millions of books written on motivation and we’re going to focus on the most powerful one. Research has shown that employees who focus on their strengths and maintain a growth mindset will deliver the greatest performance. Take 30 minutes and obsess about your employee’s strengths. Think through their strengths and how you can make them better. Schedule time with the employee and share with them your ideas. Helpful hint: try marking your calendar with the word generous - this will help you bring the right energy and keep you away from negative messages.
Documentation: Giving verbal feedback is not always going to be enough. Some employees are going to need to see your feedback in writing to have clarity. Written communication is also more formal. Having a meeting and following it up with a mail will help to send the message that you’re serious. Most importantly, communicating your feedback in writing creates a written archive that you can reference. In the most difficult situations using this technique weekly will quickly ensure that you have clarity.
Trust Your Gut: Making the decision to let someone go can be difficult. There are likely emotions involved and you should always seek wise legal counsel. If your employee is still not performing despite clear expectations, clear instructions and being motivated you need to deal with the situation. Remind yourself that being clear is a part of having integrity. Dealing with the conflict reveals your commitment to excellence. The short term challenges will pass and your business will be better when you have the right hire in place.