What’s the matter here? Are we a bunch of Leadership Sissies?
Why can’t we face the truth sometimes and just tell people like it is? If someone has their wheel stuck in a perfromance ditch, what’s the big problem with telling people that they are not doing a good job? Why are we SO careful about protecting their feelings and not so careful about being honest? Why don’t we just help them get back on the road to performance success? Are we scared? Are we a bunch of sissies?
My Perspective
I was raised to be kind, polite and tactful. Therefore, I choose my words wisely and work very hard to make sure that I am understood. But does that preclude honesty? Does that mean coddling people at work is acceptable?
No, no it does not. Not only does coddling undermine the individual’s ability, it reduces the productivity of a team and perpetuates mediocrity.
Leadership is about telling the truth
The truth is not mean or callous. It is simply the truth. When told in a polite, respectful and tactful manner it can be life changing for a follower or team. When held back from followers out of fear, ignorance, or malpractice, you are being a Leadership Sissy. (Oh… and for the record… don’t be one of those…)
As a consultant, I have seen unworthy people get promotions, rewards and kudos. It always makes me wonder – What does that teach people? Does that really benefit them? Again, I would have to say no. Telling the truth sets people, teams and organizations free to succeed. I owe this lesson to Tiffany.
Tiffany was a member of a team that I had the privilege of managing early in my career. I inherited an established team. My role was to help the team go from perpetual underperformer to award winning. It did not take me long to see that, among many other process oriented issues, the team was dragged down by re-doing Tiffany’s work. Tiffany was well-liked and was a genuinely nice person. But, she did not do her job well. Other team members had to cover for her mistakes and had to re-do work she spent too long completing.
Tiffany was one of those employees that perpetually underperformed. But instead of being reprimanded, coached or terminated, she was moved to a new team. She had been with the company for eight years. I was her latest manager. Speaking to her previous managers I heard a common theme.
“Tiffany is a wonderful person, but not very effective.”
Hmmm, I thought. Why on earth didn’t any of them try coaching her? Or why didn’t they get her training, etc? The short answer was that they had actually tried everything. But when things got tough, instead of having difficult performance conversations with her to help her learn and grow, they just moved her off their team and on to someone else’s at the first opportunity.
I began to wonder if there was anything I could do. Like any good manager, I searched for the answer on Google. To my shock, I found that it takes an average of four to twelve years to fire an underperforming employee. According to experts, most of that was due to managers being nice instead of honest about performance. I was determined not to be one of the statistics.
It was a shock to Tiffany’s system when I started holding her to account for her objectives, standards and work completed. Tiffany was not meeting any of her objectives or goals. After 3 months of coaching conversations, write-ups and trips to HR, I fired Tiffany. She left with a nice severance package and money for job re-training.
Time for a Turnaround
Almost immediately, the team’s performance improved. Within the first year of my leading this team, they were nominated for an award from a previously dissatisfied vendor. There was a lot of work that went into this turnaround. But the catalyst was firing Tiffany. It set the team free to solve other performance issues. That team charted the course for the work I do today.
What makes that so hard? Why shouldn’t we be more honest?
It’s not always easy to be honest. Not mean or uncaring, but simply saying what is so about performance. In my experience I have seen that many leaders are not good at telling the truth about job good or bad performance.
It is actually easy to set up structures to recognize people that do a good job. It takes actively concentrating on making an example of those people that do a great job and providing them with the opportunities and rewards.
The alternative to that is mediocrity.
There is only one sure fire way to lose weight. Eat better and exercise more. It is the same thing with enhancing performance. Being honest about performance problems shines a light on how to improve them.
That means:
- When someone isn’t pulling their weight, tell them.
- When someone does an outstanding job, make an example of them.
- When someone isn’t right for the job, help them find a new one.
- When someone excels at their job, they should be recognized or promoted, or both
- When someone doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do, hold them accountable.
- When someone is accountable, that should be noted.
- When someone breaks a rule, consequences must be paid.
- When someone mistreats a fellow employee, they have to be dealt with accordingly (regardless of position within the organization.)
- When someone goes out of their way to help a fellow employee, they should be rewarded.
Although there has to be a process, it must be okay to move people out of the organization that aren’t working out. Otherwise employees will see that it’s acceptable to just get by. Great companies don’t just get by.
Based on my experience with Tiffany, I often tell clients that employees need to be clear about:
- What is expected of them
- What success looks like
- How performance will be rated
- What will happen if they don’t follow the rules
- That it’s okay to take risks
- That they will be rewarded for doing a great job
Then, managers must be trained on how to provide that clarity. Managers also be a part of the system and held accountable for their behaviors and actions.
Whatever happened to Tiffany?
I received a letter from Tiffany six months after she left the company. In it, she thanked me for what I did. She was now a very successful sales person at a retail store making three times her salary while working for me. With this news, I was truly happy for her.
Every time I see an under-performing person or group that I am afraid of hurting by being honest, I remember Tiffany. She taught me that being honest benefits everyone.
Are you telling the truth about performance? When all else fails, do you look to move people out of the organization that are under-performing? Or do you just pass them along down the dirt road of dysfunction where they’ll slip into the ditch again? If you have one, I’d love to hear your “Tiffany” story!
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Anil Saxena is President of cube214 Consulting.
He can be reached at [email protected]
Image Source: moretexastruth.blogspot.com
