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Chatting to a client the
other day, the conversation moved to "the reasons for
underperformance". The topic generated huge debate, and after a while
included about 5 of the client's colleagues.
What was interesting to note, was that of all the reasons given, not
one had anything to do with the responsibility of the manager. There
was total and absolute abdication of all responsibility of the
manager.
This posed an interesting scenario, because I don't believe that
anyone intentionally underperforms. No one in his or her right mind,
wakes up in the morning, looks outside and says, "What a beautiful
day! Today I am going to fail!" No! No one fails intentionally.
Everyone has a desire to succeed. So then why do people under-perform?
There are really only 5 reasons:
1) The employee lacks the ability to do the job 2) The employee lacks
the knowledge to do the job 3) You have recruited the wrong person,
for the wrong job, for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time. 4) You
have inherited an underperformer, and have failed to either coach, or
more suitably place the individual 5) The environment (physical,
emotional, intellectual, relational) is not conducive to performance.
The bitter pill for us to swallow is that, all of these reasons point
straight back at us as managers! If people in our department are
underperforming, it is our fault! We have control and influence over
every one of the five reasons given.
The interesting thing is that of the five reasons given for
underperformance, the most significant is number 5: The environment is
not conducive to performance. This on it's own accounts for more
underperformance than the other four reasons put together. It is the
area that is totally and completely under your control. You as the
manager are 100% responsible for the environment in which a person
performs his or her duties!
So the upshot of the conversation was that, before you attempt to
correct the performance of anyone, have a look at what you are doing
to contribute negatively to the working environment. Only once you are
certain that you are doing all you can to create a working environment
conducive to high performance, can you then start to take corrective
action against the employee.
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