Tag: performance
Do You Need to Work with a Hard-Driving Leader Who Overreacts?
Over the last few years I’ve worked with a number of senior executives who are hardworking and wonderfully competent in their areas of expertise, but are so highly reactive that they create extra burdens for... Continue reading
How to Cope with Permanently Unsuccessful Employees
We’ve all passed those storefronts where a succession of stores or restaurants open and close quickly and thought, “That’s a doomed location.” Some employees seem to take on this kind of role in an organization.... Continue reading
Reframing a Tattler’s Tale
Have you ever had to work with a tattletale? The parallels between childhood tattling and workplace tale-bearing came to mind while I was visiting a friend whose child kept appealing for adult intervention in her... Continue reading
How a Lack of Feedback Can Undermine Job Security
A seasoned executive was venting to me about her dissatisfaction with the work of a longtime employee. Over time, the employee seems to have succumbed to a combination of habitual carelessness and general lack of... Continue reading
Avoid the Pitfall of Indirect Authority
Isn’t it annoying when management bobbles the ball, and then can’t understand why the rest of the team is stumbling around in disarray instead of flawlessly executing plays? Performance can be compromised when a senior... Continue reading
3 Stories: “Just Get It Done” Damages Performance
It’s not enough to announce to your staff, “Just get it done!” Because either they will or they won’t. If a manager communicates performance feedback without a real understanding of how the job gets done... Continue reading
Do You Struggle with an Employee Who Can, But Won’t?
What if you’ve got a functionally competent employee whose performance is just not up to snuff? Perhaps most areas of her work are fine, and a few are outstanding, one or two crucial aspects are... Continue reading
Are You Coaching? Or Just Waving Your Arms?
A lot of what passes for coaching -- in workplaces, in homes, even on kids’ sports teams -- is really just a lot of exhortations and fervent repetitions of normative statements. It doesn’t help the... Continue reading