Improving Performance - 1 May 2007

Poor employee performance sucks, especially since it reflects badly on you, so here's what I suggest. Set clear expectations and regularly communicate them. One of the greatest causes of poor performance is that employees don't understand what's expected of them at work, which makes it difficult for each employee to reach your standards. Feedback needs to be immediate. However, many managers wait until a performance review which can be weeks or months away. By then, the issue has lost its relevance and importance. At the same time, successes must be communicated just as quickly.

And if there's no improvement after providing lots of feedback, support, and training, consider finding another role for them internally, or otherwise end the employment relationship. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, had a strict rule: every year, the bottom 10 percent of the workforce got the sack.

It's all about adopting a sporting mentality. You'd never see the coach of a sports team providing vague expectations. They're always clear. You'd never see the coach waiting for a monthly meeting to give the players some feedback. It happens immediately. You'd never see the coach keeping players on the team who weren't performing. They'd be sent off.

The management style of the future is that managers will cease to be managers. Instead, managers will become coaches. By developing a sporting mentality now, you'll be in the most advantageous position to really kick some goals.

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