Are you spending a lot of time on an employee that doesn’t deliver when you need them to? It happens all too often. A research study surveyed 1,400 CFOs about how much time their managers spend on underperforming employees. The final figure reported that companies spend around 17% of their time on people who do not carry their weight. If you look at this in another way, that is about a full day in a workweek.
The good thing is that your company doesn’t have to be one more notch on an awful statistic. There are strategies out there that will help you to effectively deal with poor performing employees and hopefully not only teach them but free up time for your managers to be productive as well.
Here are some tips to get things under control, provided by Blair Stover:
1. Plan face-to-face meetings. Never discuss an employee’s performance in front of other people and definitely don’t do it over the phone. You should always do it in person in your office behind closed doors.
2. Spend some time preparing. You should always have everything lined up. Never “wing” managing your people. They look to you to lead them.
3. State you facts clearly. Make sure you are upfront about everything.
4. Listen. Just because you are the boss doesn’t mean you cannot listen. Maybe your employee has something important you should hear.
5. Write everything down. Make sure you write every little thing down: the problems, expectations and your conversation with the employee.
6. Use your judgment. Make sure you use your best judgment when you make a decision.
7. Recognize any improvements. Remember that your job is to applaud success as well as correct issues.
