As a manager and a leader have you ever had that moment where you say what happened to the person I hired? They look the same, sound the same, but behaviors have changed to the point where you do not recognize them anymore. How did you get here? When did things change? Most importantly… How do you fix it? How do you stop it from happening in the future?
Now that you have identified something needs to change where to start. You must first address how it happened. These things never happen overnight, it may feel that way but truth is they erode over time and as managers we own the responsibility of not letting that happen. I know what you are thinking… my responsibility? Really? Yes really… It is easier to blame the employee, but we need to grow and enable our employees all the time not just when we need something from them. As leaders, we must always keep our employees top of mind and their development our focus. What about the business needs and driving goals and revenues?? Yep… You need to do that as well. Managers get caught in this trap a lot of which is more important. And how do I find the time to fix it.
Where do we find more time? Delegating to these same employees we are concerned about is one way to create more time for what is needed for both parties. So the first place I always look is there. Are you doing things others should be doing so that you can focus on what is most important (business goals and team development)? Empower your team and elevate yourself. Accountability is another area that is often missed. Has there been consistency in this area to keep the employee sharp and delivering results? If leaders do not have consistency in expectations it has a negative effect on yourself and your employee(s). Education and development are critical to keeping employees growing and increasing contributions to the business. If we fall short here we will see the employee stall and not keep up with what we have set in our minds as their performance level we are expecting, but not playing our part in developing. As leaders/managers sometimes we miss the obvious that we do not have enough time to do it all ourselves either and can benefit from third party development assistance. Use the sources that you have access to if you have that luxury.
Next time that employee(s) seems to have changed and fallen below standard. Take these steps to help regain momentum and to make sure they don’t happen again: Delegate to enable growth, Accountability to avoid getting off track, and education and development to help show them the path for future responsibility.
Wishing you great growth!!
Tim
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