“Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one.” ~Percy Belcher
Over the course of the last 25 years I have had numerous opportunities to Coach leaders in a variety of positions. There have been quite a few times when someone from HR or a leader reaches out because they have a employee who is best described as a “problem employee.”
In a few instances, against my better judgment, I have taken on the challenge thinking that based on our pre-interview, they tell me they are coachable. The rate of success is quite slim in these situations and I have come to believe that the majority of these issues originate because their leader, manager, or supervisor fails to address the situation when it began.
This can happen for a number of reasons, but regardless of the reason, it is something that needs to be addressed right when it starts, otherwise the problem just grows and the damage can sometimes become irreversible.
If you are a leader and you struggle with this issue, answer the following questions and see if any of these hit home for you. It could be the start of getting things back on track:
10 Reasons Leaders Continue To Employ Problem Employees:
- You believe that the problem will correct itself. BTW, for the record, it never does.
- You avoid the tough conversation that needs to happen because you fear conflict. This happens more than you think and is a tough one to admit.
- You avoid the tough conversation because you don’t know how to have a conversation that includes action-based items, accountability, and consequences.
- You don’t realize the cost this person is having on the rest of your team who see their unacceptable behavior being accepted.
- You don’t realize the cost this person is having on your own time. 80% of your problems come from 20% of your people. Do the math, you will be surprised at the accuracy.
- In a tight job market in regards to finding talent, you believe ‘a body’ is better than ‘no-body.’ This is the devil you know vs. the devil you don’t know syndrome.
- The employee has done a good job of convincing your higher ups they are doing a great job and so the you feel hog-tied and your power is getting usurped.
- You are near retirement, you’ve retired mentally but physically still working there, or you’ve been around so long no one believes you will change. This is still a leadership issue but it is an issue with the leader of the leader.
- You may not have had the proper coaching conversations and so there is no paper-trail to warrant a dismissal and HR pushes back on you.
- There has been so much turmoil in the department you feel that another change will disrupt the team…again!
I’m sure there are more reasons but those are the situations I have observed.
Did any of them resonate with you? Any of them describe you and why you might be holding back from addressing the issue?
If so, keep reading…
It’s a Leadership Issue
When you fail to address the above issues as a leader, you do nothing but magnify the issue. Being a leader in this day an age is one of the most difficult things you will ever do, next to raising children or navigating a marriage over the course of many years. That said this might be a really good time to ask yourself why you wanted to become a leader in the first place. Of course you realize that over 50% of all leaders took leadership positions because of the compensations? Right?
That said, being a leader provides the greatest opportunity for you to help others become the best version of themselves. That is the core reason for becoming a leader in the first place.
It is not about power, or entitlement, or the money! It is about realizing that you have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of others.
What Will You Do?
A few weeks ago I posted a blog about whether or not you believed you were your greatest asset. In that article I asked if you were willing to invest in yourself beyond what your company does or doesn’t do.
So let me ask you again, are you willing to invest in yourself to become a leader who influences their people to become the best version of themselves.
Are you willing to push beyond your comfort zone and finally break though to be the best version of yourself?
If you answered yes, simply click on this link and take the first step!
Until next time…
