When dealing with a "poor performer" or an employee performing below standards, it can be helpful to look at the most common reasons (but often the most overlooked reasons) that employees do not meet our expectations.
THEY DON'T KNOW HOW
Often the employee either does not know what to do, or how to do it. They do not have this knowledge because it was never communicated to them, or it was poorly communicated to them.
How often do you:
- Assume your employees have been trained properly?
- Expect employees to know what to do, instead of telling them what you would like them to do?
- Retrain employees?
Solutions:
Have clear job descriptions that spell-out exactly what their job duties are. Develop training procedures for all employees and continually check their success. Keep communications open by asking and listening to feedback. Use performance evaluations to continually monitor how the employee is performing their job.
THEY CAN'T
Some people can't do certain things; not because they don't want to, but because they do not have the physical or mental aptitude needed for success in that specific job. People will often try to cover-up their areas of weakness.
Solutions:
Acknowledge we all learn differently. If different methods of teaching don't work, transferring the employee to a different position, or ending the employment relationship might be your only alternatives. Make sure that you are realistic during the interview process – again, a well-written job description can be useful in screening applicants and ensuring a good match.
THEY DON'T
Many times employees don't do what is expected of them, because of barriers (either imagined or real) that they have a lack of control over.
Examples of barriers:
- An inherent problem in the work process.
- Poor management and/or communication skills of supervisors.
- Resources that do not meet the individual's needs, or that are inadequate.
- Excessive interferences that are distracting.
- They are rewarded for not doing well.
Solutions:
Make sure you are not part of the problem--often poor performance results from poor management. Prioritize projects and reduce outside distractions. Hold all employees accountable to set standards.
THEY WON'T
Okay, we're to the employee that chooses to have a bad attitude. Believe it or not only about 10% of poor performers are attributed to this category. Most often a bad attitude is a result of one or more of the first three.
Solutions:
If you have looked beyond the less obvious reasons for poor performance and you still come-up with, "She just has a bad attitude!" – you might be right. Now it is up to you to establish goals for this employee and controls if the employee does not meet the set goals. Counseling or disciplinary actions might be required. Buckle-up and hang-on, you could be in for a wild ride!
TPO is an award-winning firm established in 1991 made up of a group of highly experienced, nationally certified HR experts and trainers. TPO is licensed by the State of California (PI-25638) to provide investigative services. For more information, please contact us at 800-277-8448 or visit our web site www.tpohr.com.
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2011 TPO Human Resource Management. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted or redistributed in any form without express written permission from TPO Human Resource Management.
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