Effective managers know how to deal with their best team members - and their worst, reports Steve Hart
KEY POINTS:
You've just landed a job as team manager. There's bitching going on and jobs are not getting done. What's a new manager to do?
The situation is something that makes Kevin Chappell, owner of recruitment firm TalentNow, see red. He is constantly astounded by the tolerance that many companies have to poor-performing people.
"Our labour law is geared towards allowing this behaviour to exist much more often than it should and, having had to pay out for poor performers, I speak with some experience," he says.
Poor performance is not something Chappell will accept lightly.
"I was astounded to hear TVNZ reporter Toni Street congratulate kayaker Stephen Ferguson for coming eighth in an Olympic event.
"Sure, it's an achievement getting there of sorts. But he is there to do a job and win, no different to a CEO or sales manager in a company."
While identifying a poor performer in sport is easy, what about when it comes to the office? Chappell says even a new manager walking into a rotten department will have some awareness of what is going on pretty quickly.
"Poor performers usually give excuses as to why they can't perform," he says.
"They blame others, will talk about others behind their backs and the new manager will `feel' what is going on.
"When a sale is made a poor performer will let everyone know - but remain quiet when sales are lost or they don't achieve targets. Beware the false figures and the lack of back-up to what is real."
He says sales are easier to measure when it comes to good or poor performance. But in other areas - where the results may be longer coming - performance is harder to gauge in the short term.
Kevin McMahon is a director at Blue Chip Coaching. He says a poor-performing team can be identified by a lack of co-operation between team members along with evidence of people opting to work in a vacuum.
"One of the most telling signs would be a lack of trust and a lack of willingness to challenge," he says.
"And conversations the manager observed at team meetings would not mirror the heart-to-heart conversations they have with those same people."
Bringing about change to fix issues of mistrust and low morale should be done quickly, says McMahon.
"Ideally, the manager should act once they are confident they understand the background, dynamics, challenges and performance expectations of the individuals in the department.
"Sometimes commercial imperatives will dictate the timeframe allowed. But even where these are tight, the manager should elicit the key information they need to make key decisions and enable change within their team and department.
"Once the manager has this information, they should table any issues that have been uncovered with the team, outline clearly what their expectations are and ensure key team behaviours/agreements are defined by the team for them moving forward."
Chappell says finding a team's key influencer is among the first steps to resolving poor performance at work.
"Identifying a key influencer and gaining their trust is a key to this, because if a key influencer is working against the new manager, then it makes it much harder [to bring about change].
"To be able to effect change, the manager would have to win people's trust and staff would need to feel that the manager has the ability to make that change. Change should be made as fast as possible without affecting the day-to-day operations and to minimise the business activities.
"It depends how serious the team deficiencies are and how much `trouble' the company may be in. If it is becoming terminal, then speed is of the essence."
Chappell says just one person can negatively influence a team and when they are brought around or sidelined, the culture can dramatically shift.
"We are often called on to replace a `bad egg' and, so often, the company has tolerated this person far longer than they need to.
"Research has shown that the bulk of situations where this occurs is due to the fact that the fit is wrong and this is a major factor in poor-performing teams."
Career coach Clive Littin says some poor performers can be helped with coaching - but only if they are open to it.
"The first questions to ask is: do they show an open desire to learn?" he says.
"No sign of goodwill from an employee usually means they're not interested and are disengaged. They become misfits and may even become `actively disengaged' - disturbing others and promoting a negative environment."
McMahon says that if people are underperforming - but they want to develop and perform to the expected level - then the manager should provide them with the required support to achieve the results they want.
"However, when the correct attitude is not there, where the person is clearly not happy and not performing - and there has been little or no change - then this is often a red flag for the individual and their manager that they are in the wrong role, department or organisation."
McMahon warns that too many organisations spend a lot of their leadership and HR resource on those with the worst attitude and performance.
This, he says, does not make any sense and often leads to the retention of poor-performers and loss of their most valuable people.
Chappell says a clean way to fix bad teams is to bring in help.
"Often, external help brings about change more quickly and effectively as someone from the outside has no agendas other than to boost morale.
"Whatever the manager does, the direction should be to achieve the end game of developing a positive high-performing team. In today's economic times, time is of the essence."
Littin agrees, saying that as soon as management identifies low morale, it should bring people in to address it.
"Because current management has allowed a situation to develop, this shows that some things need to change and be done differently. An objective perspective gives just that."
One thing that can lead to a poor-performing team is conflicting agendas within the group. This, says Chappell, can lead to the manager being nothing more than a referee - but he says the direct approach is key to getting everyone on the same page.
"People in high-performing teams will always have conflicting and personal agendas, especially in sales and areas where performance is constantly measured.
"Strong face-to-face communication works - not by being an `email manager' which is prevalent in many companies today. Regular contact, appropriate socialisation, reward recognition all work."
Littin says that just as personal recognition is the glue of engagement, demonstrating appreciation dissolves discontent.
"There will always be conflicting agendas. Building a company culture where this is understood and acknowledged can turn conflict into camaraderie."
And while a bad team may be able to be fixed, is there any value in looking back to find out how or why it all got so bad? Chappell says "yes".
"Information is king because it helps eliminate future habits and behaviours. If the new manager has identified that their predecessor was the problem, then while it should be easy to resolve and move forward, it usually is not that simple.
"Genuine people who want to perform usually step up to the mark when change occurs. But sometimes they may need a nudge.
"You can't ignore the past, because that has set the agenda for how it is today."
Contact Steve Hart at www.stevehart.co.nz
