When someone in the group is not “pulling their weight,” the desire to avoid conflict leads many group leaders to waste a lot of time and personal energy trying to rationalize, rather than correct, the problem. The result is to let the individual off the hook.
Another common mistake in dealing with underperformance is rushing to talk to the underperformer without pausing to consider why the person is underperforming. At a meeting of group leaders we asked the people there to list the common reasons why their colleagues underperform. Here’s their list:
•trouble at home or other personal problems (divorce, alcoholism, depression, etc.);
•burnout: no longer finding the work interesting or challenging;
•lack of competency;
•fear of failure in trying something new and reaching for career progress;
•quality of life choice — lack of desire to contribute more energy or time to the business;
•externally driven reasons such as the loss of a recent client or downturn in their sector;
•failure to keep up in their field; being less in demand;
•struggling because of poor time management or other inefficiencies;
•lack of knowledge about what they should be doing to succeed;
•being poorly managed; and
•insecurity due to things like firm merger discussions, and being withdrawn into their shell, pending resolution of firm issues.
As you review this list, add any other possible causes that you think are missing, and then ask yourself: which of these reasons are the most common in your real world?
When we asked that of our group of leaders, they selected burnout, loss of enthusiasm, quality of life choices, personal or family issues, and externally driven market changes as the major reasons for underperformance in their groups. One of our participants said: “It all ties together. The work is so demanding, and it is so hard on you, the result is you ultimately say, ‘I just don’t like to do this anymore.’ That can also spill over into personal and family issues, and it can also make you say you really want a different quality of life.”
The reason people are not performing is rarely because they don’t know what to do. Nor is it that they don’t want to do it. The incentives to do it are probably there. If they aren’t doing what they should, it is probably due to something deeply personal in their lives. The only way to find out what it is, and to deal with it, is to talk about it.
We don’t know if our unscientific survey is applicable universally. But what we found fascinating was that this group stressed reasons for lack of performance that were very rarely to do with competence, and everything to do with confidence.
If you’re going to make a difference, your task of turning an unproductive person around is often to help the individual find some meaning in what they (and your group) do. If the issues are loss of enthusiasm for the firm’s work, or personal issues, then you will need to help the individual rediscover the energy, excitement, passion in the group’s work.
Clearly, we don’t want you to generalize from our tiny sample. Your task is to figure out for each person, as an individual, which reasons for underperformance exist. You must accomplish that before you can formulate any appropriate counselling response. There is no point in talking about the meaningfulness of your group’s work if the problem is family trouble.
Ask first. Start responding later. Very often we just rush into assumptions about why people are unproductive. The reason is usually not hard to figure out if you have a track record of ongoing informal conversations with your people.
You’ve got to have a discussion, trying to find out what’s going on. Say something like: “I don’t want to get things wrong here, but I get the sense you’re not fully engaged with everything here. You don’t seem to be showing the normal levels of passion you have shown in the past. Something is going on. I would love to help you if I can. Is there anything I can do?”
It is important to remember the goal is to convey a genuine concern: “How can I help you?” while leaving the responsibility for improvement with the individual concerned. No group leader would tell you that this is the easy part of the job. It isn’t.
Patrick J. McKenna and David H. Maister are authors of the newly released book First Among Equals (The Free Press, 2002), which examines managing groups of professionals. For more information visit www.firstamongequals.com.
Another common mistake in dealing with underperformance is rushing to talk to the underperformer without pausing to consider why the person is underperforming. At a meeting of group leaders we asked the people there to list the common reasons why their colleagues underperform. Here’s their list:
•trouble at home or other personal problems (divorce, alcoholism, depression, etc.);
•burnout: no longer finding the work interesting or challenging;
•lack of competency;
•fear of failure in trying something new and reaching for career progress;
•quality of life choice — lack of desire to contribute more energy or time to the business;
•externally driven reasons such as the loss of a recent client or downturn in their sector;
•failure to keep up in their field; being less in demand;
•struggling because of poor time management or other inefficiencies;
•lack of knowledge about what they should be doing to succeed;
•being poorly managed; and
•insecurity due to things like firm merger discussions, and being withdrawn into their shell, pending resolution of firm issues.
As you review this list, add any other possible causes that you think are missing, and then ask yourself: which of these reasons are the most common in your real world?
When we asked that of our group of leaders, they selected burnout, loss of enthusiasm, quality of life choices, personal or family issues, and externally driven market changes as the major reasons for underperformance in their groups. One of our participants said: “It all ties together. The work is so demanding, and it is so hard on you, the result is you ultimately say, ‘I just don’t like to do this anymore.’ That can also spill over into personal and family issues, and it can also make you say you really want a different quality of life.”
The reason people are not performing is rarely because they don’t know what to do. Nor is it that they don’t want to do it. The incentives to do it are probably there. If they aren’t doing what they should, it is probably due to something deeply personal in their lives. The only way to find out what it is, and to deal with it, is to talk about it.
We don’t know if our unscientific survey is applicable universally. But what we found fascinating was that this group stressed reasons for lack of performance that were very rarely to do with competence, and everything to do with confidence.
If you’re going to make a difference, your task of turning an unproductive person around is often to help the individual find some meaning in what they (and your group) do. If the issues are loss of enthusiasm for the firm’s work, or personal issues, then you will need to help the individual rediscover the energy, excitement, passion in the group’s work.
Clearly, we don’t want you to generalize from our tiny sample. Your task is to figure out for each person, as an individual, which reasons for underperformance exist. You must accomplish that before you can formulate any appropriate counselling response. There is no point in talking about the meaningfulness of your group’s work if the problem is family trouble.
Ask first. Start responding later. Very often we just rush into assumptions about why people are unproductive. The reason is usually not hard to figure out if you have a track record of ongoing informal conversations with your people.
You’ve got to have a discussion, trying to find out what’s going on. Say something like: “I don’t want to get things wrong here, but I get the sense you’re not fully engaged with everything here. You don’t seem to be showing the normal levels of passion you have shown in the past. Something is going on. I would love to help you if I can. Is there anything I can do?”
It is important to remember the goal is to convey a genuine concern: “How can I help you?” while leaving the responsibility for improvement with the individual concerned. No group leader would tell you that this is the easy part of the job. It isn’t.
Patrick J. McKenna and David H. Maister are authors of the newly released book First Among Equals (The Free Press, 2002), which examines managing groups of professionals. For more information visit www.firstamongequals.com.
