Which Employees Get Your Attention?

I was recently asked by a department leader about how he spends his time with his employees. He was frustrated with the amount of time he was spending with disengaged employees. He said, “disengaged employees have taken way too much of my time just trying to get them to perform”.

The Answer Is, Yes

This is a common struggle for managers who have disengaged employees. Of course, this manager wants to spend more time with his high performing employees. High performers need and deserve the support they need. The quick answer is, Yes, dealing with disengaged employees takes more time from managers. It is the manager’s job to help them to become high performers.

Stop The Firing

There is an executive I recently worked with who was struggling with an employee he wanted to fire. I asked him to postpone firing his employee until we confirmed that he has done all that he can do.

6 factors to create high performers

1. Support:
   Provide resources necessary for success including setting clear priorities and sufficient time to accomplish goals
2. Expectations:
   Provide clear performance expectations
3. Assess (or Evaluate):
   Determine individual capability to physically, mentally, and emotionally perform necessary tasks
4. Feedback:
   Provide prompt and appropriate feedback matching job performance
5. Outcomes (or Results):
   Set clear consequences and celebrate success with appropriate rewards
6. Develop:
   Provide experience, training, and information resources to develop necessary skills and knowledge to produce results

Ask Yourself The Question

If you have a disengaged employee, ask yourself if you have addressed all 6 of these factors.

• How have you addressed poor performance on your team?
• Do you have a poor performer on your team right now?
• Which of these 6 factors do you need to address?