When team members don’t produce desired outcomes or don’t behave as expected effective leaders know that there are only three possibilities:
- The team member [seems capable but] doesn’t know how or what is required,
- The team member doesn’t care [enough] about how or what is required,
- The team member can’t do [is incapable of] what is required.
Great leaders understand the importance of coaching team members to be their best and recognize that when team members fall short it can only be for one of three reasons as noted above. When this happens, great leaders embrace the responsibility of having a difficult and uncomfortable conversation with that team member. In fact, great leaders already have a cadence of one on ones in place with their direct reports—for the purpose of coaching them to be their best—so the needed conversation can be brought up as part of a regular one on one and is therefore not as difficult nor as uncomfortable as it would be if the issue had to be brought up on its own.
I have found that ineffective leaders [and/or managers] don’t spend enough time coaching team members and usually avoid conflict by putting off these critical corrective conversations. This is neither fair to the individual nor to the organization.
In order to know which conversation to have with the team member effective leaders ask themselves and the individual whether the issue is that they…Don’t know? Don’t care? Or Can’t?
It’s the organization’s responsibility to equip and train team members if they truly Don’t Know. In the moment, and unless the leader is sure that appropriate information had been previously provided, the leader needs to give the team member the benefit of the doubt and provide the appropriate information and explanation. This conversation becomes a marker to reference if and when a future conversation on the same topic needs to be had.
Unfortunately, there are times that even great leaders make a hiring error and after short order determine that the team member is not a good fit to the role and they can’t actually do what is being asked of them. In these instances it’s best to remove the person from the role for everybody’s benefit including the person being removed. In some cases, when the individual is otherwise a great fit to the organization, another role may be available that the person can be moved into. Make the move quickly. Don’t wait for the 90 day probationary period to lapse. Delays are not beneficial to the individual, the rest of the team, nor to the organization.
Once it’s determined that the issue is neither one of knowing, or ability, the only option left is Don’t Care. This is when the conversation gets more difficult and uncomfortable the longer you put it off. People who don’t care represent some of the biggest cancers and toxins to an organization, because they not only don’t produce but can disrupt and infect others around them. Unfortunately, all too often an ineffective manager finds themselves repeating the same information over and over to a person who has little intention of changing their ways. Great leaders know that words don’t work with people who don’t care—the only thing these people understand are consequences.
Seemingly good people fall into two categories: wise and foolish. And the way you are able to discern whether somebody is foolish is that after repeating the same thing to a person a number of times they don’t change their ways. You see, a wise person is identified by the way they respond to correction. A Wise person heads correction and changes their way, while a foolish person doesn’t generally respond to words. Foolish most people need consequences before they will change their ways. If you keep talking to a foolish person you will eventually also become a fool.
A word of caution about write-ups. Write-ups seem to be a favorite way for managers to provide discipline to team members. Unfortunately, write-ups can also represent a passive aggressive form of correction, especially when they are administered after a single incident. I say passive aggressive because in many cases a good one on one conversation with an attitude of development and care is much more impactful. Write-ups are a form of consequences and should be reserved for foolish people who don’t respond to coaching.
Never write up a wise person. A wise person just needs a caring conversation to obtain the awareness they otherwise were lacking. If you write up a wise person they will feel that you don’t care and it could crush their spirit.When something happens the first time it’s an incident. When it happens a second time it may be a coincidence. But, when it happens a third time it’s a trend that needs to be addressed. To know which conversation to have ask if the issue is one of Don’t know? Don’t care? Or Can’t?
