What to Do When Your Employee Fails to Perform
Dear Yogesh,
I have a team member who constantly complains about her workload and is more engrossed in whining about it rather than working on it. I have put all my efforts into helping her so far. Hiring additional staff, cutting down on her projects, and helping her in other possible ways. But it seems like it is never enough. For work that requires 80% effort, I see her giving 120%, which leads to long hours of overtime.
If I talk to her, she blames me, her colleagues, and the deadlines. She just doesn’t seem to change her outlook or work style and denies any responsibility shared with her. I have a feeling she is quite comfortable believing that she is overwhelmed and playing the victim card every time something comes up. Forget about Ad-hoc, she is not able to keep up with her regular tasks even.
She talks about changing things but doesn’t work on it. Please suggest something. Any recommendations are welcome.
Signed,
Kamal
Dear Kamal,
I feel sorry for the situation you’re in, but I praise you for raising this concern early rather than letting it build up as anger. It can help you make better decisions quickly and easily. So to address these performance gaps, there are a few tips that you can follow:
Try Using More than One Source of Influence
What I think can work well for you is to diagnose the problem in a much better way. It looks like you have tried a lot of ways to tackle the problem, but are you addressing the RIGHT reason this person continues to struggle with? You can perform a diagnosing exercise to find out all the pain points and work on them.
According to our research, human behavior is affected by SIX sources of influence; try to focus on the following:
- Personal desires and wants, along with values
- Skills and knowledge
- Peer pressure from those around
- Help received or hindrances from others
- Incentives, rewards, recognition, punishments
- Tools provided, space, system, and processes
Recognize the One Left Behind
One of the ways in which you can influence someone’s behavior is to point out undesirable natural consequences. For instance, if you want to make someone realize the consequences of their actions, you can point out how it will affect them in the long run.
If you want to tell someone to stop lying, you can point out how their lie can break the trust others have put in them. It is best if you make a connection between her suffering and her performance. If someone else is also getting affected by her delays, you might as well want to point out how the other people are lagging because of her.
Have the Necessary Conversation
I am pretty sure you might have had a lot of conversations with your employee regarding her performance. But, as you proceed with a dialogue regarding her performance, it shifts to her whining about all the problems involved. The issue now is not taking responsibility rather than poor performance. It is time you change the conversation and address it to resolve by talking about responsibility.
Persuade Her to Take Responsibility and Ownership
People usually don’t consider RESPONSIBILITY as a part of their skill set. But, on the contrary, it is one of the most important soft skills that a person should possess. One of the easiest yet effective ways to persuade someone to take responsibility is by asking key questions.
“So, what’s the next move?” Or “I would like to know your next move.”
The next time someone complains about responsibilities, these questions or putting your thoughts in question can help the other person think about the solution rather than thinking about the obstacle. Ask this question to your employee and ask her to reflect on it before thinking about anything else.
Don’t Lower the Standards for No-Good
As you’ve mentioned earlier, you have reduced your employee’s projects and have provided enough resources to help. But if she still struggles to take responsibility, then either the work is too much, or she is not the right fit for the role. It is important to hear genuine feedback to improve, but it won’t help either of you if things remain the same. I won’t ever recommend “one mistake and you’re out,” but no organization should be giving endless chances if the person fails to perform up to the mark.
I hope this helps you have more clarity on your next move.
Regards,
Yogesh Sood
The above is an adaptation of a blog written by Justin Hale on September 22, 2021-