Employees Not Performing? Who is Reponsible?

If employees are not performing, it’s up to the manager to change it. Yes employees are responsible for producing quality work, yet if they are not, then you as the manager need to find out why. The bottom line is that you are responsible for employee’s performance.

Managing employees could be the hardest part of your responsibilities as a manager. If you are not producing results with your team, start at the beginning and identify what team members are not performing to their best. Then you need to ask yourself, have you given them clear direction and follow up to insure they understood the goal and what is expected of them. Are your coaching them as they take on new responsibilities.

I’ve notice that companies promote or give projects to employees
without a clear process in place to insure they are successful.

If you have a team that is not performing, take time to review the following:

Who is not performing
What areas are they underperforming and where are they performing (strengths and weaknesses)
Who is performing and why (important to know what makes one employee successful and other struggling)
What is my part, as their manager, in the low performance of employees
Have I set clear direction and structure for all employees to succeed
Do I actively coach and follow up with employees
Do I have the support of upper management to find solutions to elevate performance in my group
Is there an active Human Resources department that I can use as a resource
Do I need to learn additional management skills to help my employees
Are there employees who are in the wrong roles and need to either be transferred or transitioned out of the company
Do I perform at a quality level so show by example performance levels expected by my team

The questions are endless and yet you need to start somewhere. Keep in mind that you are responsible for the performance of your teams. If you are unsure how to manage employees, then take the necessary steps to learn. Use your HR Department, find a mentor, read and do whatever it takes to create a strong foundation for yourself in managing employees. When you have the knowledge and ability to lead, you will find that managing employees, though still challenging, can be rewarding.

NOTE: I suggest to managers to learn how to encourage employees to be the problem solvers. The more you allow the employees to solve the problems, the more buy in you get from them, and the better their performance. Learn how to lead and not necessarily manage every aspect of the work in your department. The employee’s responsibility is to perform and it’s more fun for them when they can use their creative juices.

Be well,

Pat