Managers have 2 primary functions in any organisation. Competency and performance.

Effective managers develop the necessary competencies and skills in their team members so that they can efficiently produce the products and services that the business offers. And this post is focused on the words “efficiently produce”- or to go back to my opening statement, performance.

Performance has nothing to do with what you preach, and everything to do with what you tolerate. And one of the hardest things any manager needs to deal with in this area, is mediocrity. So, it’s not really that the team member is not producing anything, it’s more that what they are producing is below the acceptable standard in either (or both!) quality and quantity. Which means you have defined what is required in both those areas AND you are constantly, or regularly, measuring them. More on that in another post.

Back to dealing with mediocrity -  and you do need to deal with it! Quickly and obviously. If you ignore it in the hope it will somehow miraculously improve on its own, you are simultaneously appearing to put your stamp of approval on the unacceptable level of performance, and allowing the poison from that decision to permeate, and disillusion, the rest of your team.

So, how do we deal with mediocrity?

1.     Start your intervention by clearly demonstrating how mediocrity negatively affects the organization and its customers. Try letting under-performing employees review customer complaint calls, or let them man the complaints desk if you have one, to help them to understand the negative implications of not doing their jobs well.

2.     Use the team dynamic to your advantage by making sure everybody clearly understands what acceptable performance is. Encourage the team to immediately, and respectfully, confront each other when problems arise.

3.     Grow a pair and speak up when you see mediocrity in other parts of the organization. If everyone knows that a corporate initiative isn’t working but no one is addressing it, your team will be watching to see who has the integrity to point out “the emperor’s lack of clothes”.

Acceptable performance is a non-negotiable that needs to be defended regularly and observed vigilantly. It cannot wait for the next round of annual performance reviews, in order to be resolved. It requires immediate and direct action, that may also include a measure of retraining, or even up-skilling, in order to meet your responsibility of creating the best environment in which your employees can flourish, and your customers experience the highest level of service possible.

If you believe that your team could be doing more, and / or better, it might be time for you to let me run my revolutionary engagement tool with them. I can facilitate a simple ½ day session that will clearly identify where the sticking points are, and allow me to help you develop customized solutions to address them. Leave a comment below, and I’ll be happy to give you a call to see if I can help.