We have some employees who aren”™t doing what we want them to do. One has been here a while, one has recently taken on new responsibilities. Ours is a busy service office, so people are expected to pitch in and still get their own work done. Right now that”™s not happening for these two. Any suggestions?
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The success of any business rests on its ability to acquire and grow talent. From what I know about your business, there is nothing in what you have these employees doing that requires specialized education. When you hired them you were pretty confident they could do the job. That means it”™s a training and development issue. Let”™s focus there.
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Make an assessment
There are four stages to training and development. Correctly assessing which stage an individual is at and knowing what to do to help the person in each stage are critical skills for any manager. Figuring out which stage an individual is in at any given moment requires that you correctly assess both skill and motivation.
Once you”™ve figured out the stage, you need to modify your behavior as a manager in order to best help the person you”™re working with make progress. In stage one, you want to educate, stage two is about training, three is about coaching and four is about delegating. Finally, remember that all of this is situational, meaning an employee can be at stage four for one task, stage one for another and so on.
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Educate, train
This is the stage called “don”™t know, don”™t care.” Your employee has no idea why the task is important and has little or no ability to perform the task.
The key to success in this stage is to talk with the employee about why this task matters in her life. It could be anything from “it will be fun,” to “you”™ll get to build valuable career skills” to “you get to keep your job.” In stage one, focus on helping the employee find the right motivation to engage. Don”™t worry about building skill, yet.
In stage two the employee now is engaged and needs to build skill. This is called the “Let me at them!” stage, where the employee is eager to engage, almost to the point of danger. The employee may say things like, “How hard can this be? It looks simple to me!” The key is to focus on building basic skill. Practice routines. Do not allow deviation. Work on doing it the correct way, over and over again. This stage is all about building muscle memory.
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Coach, delegate
Now comes stage three, perhaps the most challenging stage. This is where the employee may have all the skills needed but won”™t engage. You see, as the employee builds skill and takes on more and bigger challenges, he also runs into bigger and bigger breakdowns. At some point he gets challenged to the point of saying, “I could get in real trouble by pursuing this. I can”™t do this. This will never work.” Focus on coaching, since the employee actually has all the skills but needs to build trust that using the skills more will result in better and better results over time. This is the coaching stage. Don”™t step in and do for the employee. Watch as he approaches the task, and then discuss how it”™s going. Ask the employee to find his own solutions and support him when he struggles.
Finally comes stage four ”“ independence. In stage four, the employee is able to show up and do the task correctly over and over again without any prompting or reminders. Step out of the employee”™s way, delegate and ask for a report on results.
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Final reminders
All of these stages are situational. And breakdowns can force an employee to slide backwards. Always start by assessing which stage the employee is in before taking action. Remember that if the employee is struggling to build skill, stage two, you need to assess whether she can build skill, or whether this task is just not a good fit.
There is also something called the Peter Principle, which supposes that employees are promoted to their level of incompetence. Just because someone was good at A, does not mean she”™ll master B. Be careful not to promote someone just because he is asking for more money or responsibility. And, once you”™ve promoted, don”™t be afraid to change things around if you think he”™s not making enough progress. It may be that another employee in the organization is better suited to do what you”™ve assigned.
Looking for a good book? Try “The Peter Principle,” by Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull. It”™s a classic.
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Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., a business consulting firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurial firms grow. Do you have a question for Andi? You may email it to AskAndi@StrategyLeaders.com or mail to Andi Gray, Strategy Leaders Inc., 5 Crossways, Chappaqua, NY 10514. She can also be reached by phone at (877) 238-3535.
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