When I hear leaders talk about the poor performance of people on their team I like to listen closely. What I generally hear is a lot of blame because “they don’t care,” “they have no work ethic,” “they haven’t learned the system,” and on and on and on. The manager talks about how things don’t get done because of his people. The key is that they are “his” people. As such, he is responsible for getting the performance, encouraging them to learn, instilling the work ethic etc.
You can’t motivate someone…but you can figure out what motivates him and push the right buttons to get them motivated. If someone doesn’t “care” you can sit them down, explain what your expectations are and expect them to perform. It may take more than once to get the message across but it WILL get across if you are sending it properly. If “they haven’t learned the system” my question is why have you as the manager not made sure they learned it. Provide the time and opportunity to learn the system. Work with them to get the skills they need instead of just complaining about it and lamenting the poor performance.
Having supervised people for years and seen others supervisors in action…or inaction, I am convinced that performance is a function of leadership. I have seen teams with mediocre people perform in a world class manner with the right leader. I have supervised mediocre people and have had them perform very well myself. Given the right training, tools and motivation any team will perform well even if you have only “B” players. Your job as a leader is to take those “B” players and turn them into “B+” and “A” players. If you can’t do that…or won’t do that…the ultimate responsibility rests with you as the leader. If that is the case perhaps you are a “C” player!n the right training, tools and motivation any team will perform well even if you have only ‚ÄúB‚Äù players.¬† Your job as a leader is to take those ‚ÄúB‚Äù players and turn them into ‚ÄúB+‚Äù and ‚ÄúA‚Äù players.¬† If you can‚Äôt do that‚Ķor won‚Äôt do that‚Ķthe ultimate responsibility rests with you as the leader.¬† If that is the case perhaps you are a ‚ÄúC‚Äù player!
