When we see poor performance, we judge the capabilities of the person who was supposed to do the work. We then tell them about it and try to get them to do the work correctly. But focusing on others’ incompetence has a frustrating way of bringing only defensiveness and more incompetence. Have you noticed how hard it is to get people to change?
The real issue is that other peoples’ abilities or limitations are only a tiny part of the performance equation. The root causes of poor performance are always mostly broken processes, win-lose leadership, poor vision, and misplaced beliefs.
Let’s leverage the fact that most people want to contribute, do a good job, and succeed. To do this, we: 1) establish the vision of the compelling, desired results and where the others fit in that vision, 2) build systems to support people achieving the results, 3) believe in them more than they believe in themselves, and 4) foster a culture (mostly by modelling it) based on win-win.
We can waste a vast amount of time, effort, energy, and money trying to fix people. Let’s not.
In your corner,
Mike
PS: This applies to our work with the newest, greenest hire and to the seasoned pro.
Today’s photo credit: Steve A Johnson via photopin cc