Question

Since the performance has not been stellar and declining, why is that and what would you say they are doing wrong?

What can they do to improve?

Is it a management/leadership issue or an overall product issue?

Answer 1

Every organisation depend on the expertise of the management and performance of all of the employees. If the work performance is declining, it may be one of the crucial reason that why a country or an organisation go down within a few years of their establishment. Staff performance management is an important skill in running a company, but dealing with the poor performance goes beyond rolling of the perceptions and some endless list of work . Performance may go low ,because of following reasons:

* Low efforts: Peers notice effort. Everyone in the organisation knows when an employee spends too much time in personal conversation and fails to show a real dedication to the job . If  someone wishes you have higher performance reviews, then need to behave putting the serious effort into the work.

* Failure to anticipate problems: Organisations hire individual to think and look around the corner. If the Managing authorities are able to anticipate the problems before they happen they are able to get better performance but if the fail then it may lead to low performance.

* Lack of courage: Organisation wants people with opinions, perspectives and point of view that they will Express. It will take a courage to make a change and suggest a new way to do a work. If the employees do not have the courage to disagree with the superior and express their opinion which may lead to low performance.

* Lack of technical depth: Organisations are full of complexities ,new technologies and changing requirements . If the performers do not understand the key Technologies, dig in and  get smart ,it may be the reason of poor performance.

* Failure to deliver objectives: Delivering on objectives is what the people employed in the organisation. If they all come up with variety of excuses about why they cannot deliver, but they are meaningless unless they have made the full effort to achieve those objectives which may lead to declining performance of an organisation.

* Poor people skills: People differ in their abilities but they don't give themselves the excuse . If the people in the organisation are not considerate, kind and sensitive to the other people it may lead to declination .

* Low energy: High performers do not need to be a cheer leader but the colleagues expect that energy level should be at least to that level that should keep everyone engaged ,support and built on the momentum of others. It requires practice. It will make a difference for yourself and others at work.

* Resistance to feedback: Resistance to feedback keeps away the poor performance from understanding that what can they can do to improve and be more successful . Asking others for feedback is an important skill for high performance.

* Not strategic employees: Employees, regardless of their position, who understand the strategic direction and connect a work with the mission of the organisation are the high performers but the employees who are not strategic can get out of the way because they don't see the picture of how the organisation can be successful.

WHAT IS THAT ORGANISATION IS DOING WRONG

Low or declining performance is a challenging issue for every manager. Diagnosing the root causes of the low performance can help to find the best ways to deal with the problem. Various researches from reputed individuals and organisations indicate that performance is a function of motivation, ability and opportunity.

Performance =f( Ability, Motivation, Opportunity)

The organisation may be wrong at:

* Providing Motivation: Praises, awards and recognition programs should always be in coordination with corporates core values for the best employee engagement towards the common goals. Strict punishments may low down the employee performance, so be careful. Employees can underperform because of work overload and stress. Recruitment Team should take responsibility in such cases.

* Determining individual incapabilities: If  someone is not able to work as expected, it is possible that something is wrong with the skills needed or some resources are required to complete the tasks. The skill gap can easily be bridged by proper counselling, external or internal training ,if the individual has just been hired got promoted or job rotation . As a manager ,one should talk to workers about low performance, about their work including the common objectives, goals and what is expected once they accomplish their tasks well.

* Poor management: One of the biggest mistakes that the manager make is one-size-fits-all approach. If the leader is not able to realise the employees needs and abilities and Expectations, the team will suffer. A bad leader can turn a high performers into a low one  where as an effective leader can raise the performance of the whole team to a higher level.

* Personal crisis: Dealing with employees who are in personal crisis not an easy task. Employee assistance program will help employees in such cases but not all companies have this kind of program As a manager ,there is a need to empathize with employee and give them the necessary support for sure. Problems in the personal life of employees affect their work performance and an it can also affect the morale of the whole team.

WAYS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

To prevent the situation from getting of hand ,Organisation must find out the ways to improve their performance. Future strategies which are followed by organisations to improve their performance are as follows:

* Dont delay: If  the poor performance noticed then the managers should not wait too long to raise the performance concerns with an employee or put off delivering tough feedback. Incidental or casual counselling sessions should be done from time to time.

* Have tough conversations: if an organisation want employees to have a genuine opportunity to improve,there  is a need to know that where the performances lacking by giving the specific examples, what  standard is required and their needs to be to have a conversation about how they can improve. Knowing how to have these tough conversations is a skill that can be learnt and improved, but it requires practice.

* Follow through process: After the tough conversations and planning about how to improve, it is important that there should be clear follow through process which establishes that what the goal is ?what is the time frame for the achievement of goal ? measuring the goal and how regularly the managers and employees will meet during the time for progress discussions?. Failures to follow up with an employee can lead to old habits resuming .If the individual involved fails to improve you need to consider the next step for example : terminating the employment that will be more straightforward, if you can demonstrate that you gave an individual the opportunity to improve through a fair and documented process.

* Document each step: The history of the management of performance should be supported by a clear document trail.. Clear diary notes that document meetings and emails confirming the content of conversations can sort out the purpose.

* Set milestones

* Organising ,prioritising and planning the daily schedule is essential for improving work performance.

* Interruptions come in various sizes and and learning how to avoid them depicts the efficiency and effectiveness of the managers and is also vital in improving the work performance .

* Identifying and removing the internal roadblocks like Do people need to work around policies and work procedures ? Do the policies enable the people to get the right thing done quickly? How are the relationship between various functional departments ?

* Using training and development strategically.

* Focus on your business strategy. It is not possible to please every market.

IS IT A MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP ISSUE OR AN OVERALL PRODUCT ISSUE?The reason behind the poor performance could be any, it may be the management and leadership issue or an overall product issue. But there is a need to leverage high impact leadership practices in order to improve the performance. Communication is king in today's organisations .It is one of the biggest challenges leaders have and is probably a weakness for many of the company's . Communicate clearly in simple language, creatively ,interactively and daily about core business subjects such as :

-departmental and organisational performance targets , progress ,obstacles and solutions .

- stories about competitors and customer success that is from sales and customer service.

- current organisational initiatives.

Leaders need to develop high emotional intelligence to challenge their own assumptions and be more involved with the Employees without disempowering and demotivating the employees. It enables individuals to do their best and achieve very high performance. Understanding what leadership style to use in any situation is a good way to avoid triggering the vicious circle in the first place. Finally, Regular communication with the team members provide the opportunity for clarity of expectations, priorities and performance measures.

CONCLUSION:

To wrap up, Poor performance is the result of both employee and employer actions but it can be fixed in most of the cases. To enjoy the fruits of high-performance, the company need to create and build a culture of accountability for a long-term overall success. It is always a Win-Win deal!!