Managers can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work and skills required under their umbrella.   Sometimes, rather than coach an employee, a manager will elect to just hope their performance gets better.  Other times, the thought of having to hire a replacement and train them, it seems better to keep the known one and accept mediocre performance.  Or maybe just uncomfortable confronting an employee and wait until the performance or behavior becomes a major problem?

You have a big deliverable and are dependent on several people to do their part and on time.  Yet, you have one team member that is late with their portion of the work.   If it’s a one time performance issue, then you can check in to understand what caused the delay.  If it’s a chronic issue, you need to handle this issue with the employee immediately.

I worked for a tech company that employed a database expert who was always behind on his deliverable dates.  He was really good so the project manager included the anticipated delay into the project plan.   When he delivered his portion of the project, the quality and consistency was excellent.   Managers work hard to keep high quality performance employees.

Many years ago a CEO of a company I worked at received the following advice from Harvard training:  “Your job is to create the structure that keeps an employee honest.”  He came back and insured all financials functions had several people touching the data with him opening the bank statements.   You can be the CEO of your department.

What this implies if given the chance, a percentage of your employees may either steal money, products or time if the setting is right for this behavior.   Your role in the company is to insure that employees are honest with their performance and all of the company’s assets.  You set the structure and culture of your team.

Managing employees is not an easy task.    Yet, when a manager is clear around their expectations and also respects each individual and their contributions, individual and team performance is elevated to a higher level.

Balancing performance expectations with listening and supporting your employees is the challenge for a manager.    Performance is the overall goal and employees need to be aware of what is expected of them.  Yet employees are people and each of them have different learning styles, ways they process their work, as well as personal issues that impact their performance.  Knowing your employees is the support aspect of your role.

Challenging or difficult…whatever word you use, it takes up a lot of your time to manage this type of employee.   They bring out those frustrating feelings, yet you still have to manage their performance.    Frustration is a telltale sign that you don’t know what to do or haven’t moved forward in dealing head on with this employee.

You have a business to run and you also want to create a workplace where employees want to come to work.  Difficult employees need to be dealt with as soon as possible.   They impact you, the rest of your team and your business.   You set the standards for everyone when you step up and manage this type of person.