Dealing With Poor Performance in Organisation

For every hundred men hacking away at the branches of a diseased tree, only one will stoop to inspect the roots.

– Chinese proverb

If one or more members of your team are not performing as well as you hoped, then this adage has a lot of meaning for you. You must get to the bottom of the problem in order to determine what is causing the poor performance of employees.

In your role as a manager, you’ll have to manage a low-performing employee at some point. You’ll have to deal with that person who isn’t doing his or her job properly. You’ll need to speak with your teammate who can’t seem to keep up. However, taking a step back and observing the issue may be the greatest thing you can do before jumping right into the conversation.

You’ll be better able to resolve the issue if you know what’s causing the bad performance, and you might even be able to leverage that employee’s unique talent.

Let’s first understand what makes a performance poor.

What Are the Factors of Poor Performance?

To quote Whelton and Cameron from the book Developing Management Skills, performance is a function of both ability and motivation.

The formula for Performance = Ability x Motivation

The two root reasons for poor performance — a lack of ability and a lack of motivation. Both are strongly intertwined and goal planning, feedback, and a supportive work environment are required conditions for improving both.

Before one can fully fix a performance issue, one must first determine the source of the issue as poor performance can impact workplace productivity.

For every hundred men hacking away at the branches of a diseased tree, only one will stoop to inspect the roots.

– Chinese proverb

If one or more members of your team are not performing as well as you hoped, then this adage has a lot of meaning for you. You must get to the bottom of the problem in order to determine what is causing the poor performance of employees.

In your role as a manager, you’ll have to manage a low-performing employee at some point. You’ll have to deal with that person who isn’t doing his or her job properly. You’ll need to speak with your teammate who can’t seem to keep up. However, taking a step back and observing the issue may be the greatest thing you can do before jumping right into the conversation.

You’ll be better able to resolve the issue if you know what’s causing the bad performance, and you might even be able to leverage that employee’s unique talent.