Tim is that employee you wish everyone was like. He’s hardworking and timely. He anticipates the next steps in any project without checking in every ten minutes. He’s the one who stays on top of the details. And he’s also frustrated.
Because of his efficiency and effectiveness, he ends up cleaning up the messes created by others. This included the report that was accidentally deleted by someone else which had to be recreated. Then there were the slides that didn’t match the color scheme in the rest of the report. Tim came to the rescue. Finally, it was Tim who scrambled to organize the catered lunch for the quarterly meeting because it just didn’t occur to anyone else until two days before.
As a boss, you appreciate how you can rely on Tim to step in when stuff happens and have told him so. While he’s appreciative of your kind words, he’s pretty much fed up with other’s lack of focus. Truth is, Tim, and others like him, reach a threshold over time. When that threshold is reached, he will depart, in some cases with little notice.
So, as a leader, what are you doing to ensure that the Tims within your organization are not having to save everyone else’s butts all the time? This is not a complicated question. But addressing this issue can mean the difference between a high-performing workplace and the departure of your high performers.
In some cases, having to clean up other’s messes is because of incompetence. But more often, it is the result of a lack of detail and caring because there does not appear to be a consequence for mediocre, lazy or apathetic behavior, however you want to label it.
If we’re being honest, there is not an organization out there that does not suffer from the effects of these sub-performers. No one creates a culture of 100% top performers, partly because there are not enough of them to go around.
It is also impossible to provide a formula or “five key strategies” for resolving this issue, in spite of what you might find on the internet. The strategies may make sense. But implementing them in the midst of your busy days is pretty much impossible.
So, what can do you prevent the Tims in your firm from heading for the exit? Believe it or not, the answer is remarkably simple – Compel those around you to meet expectations and release those who do not.
“Horrors!” you might be thinking. “I know I’ve got people who are just treading water. But I’ve got enough on my hands without this.” The challenge here is that not doing anything will probably cost you your best people because they are fed up with the mediocre performance around them. If you don’t act, they will draw the conclusion that nothing will change unless they secure a better opportunity somewhere else.
This doesn’t mean, by the way a wholesale firing of people who are not pulling their weight. I’ve been through this. It is surprising what a few strategic conversations and actions can do to improve performance within the overall workplace. This is not done through threats. It is accomplished by reiterating expectations and doing more to hold people formally accountable. If I were a fly on the wall in your workplace, I’d probably be able to determine who’s carrying whom with a short period of time.
This kind of task is not the favorite of any leader, but it is necessary at times to maintain performance and your best people. What do you do to address these kinds of issues? We’d all like to know. Put your ideas in the comments.