THERE ARE many reasons why employees don’t work out over time, but there are two basic reasons for which there is no cure.
Reason number one is that the person is not motivated, for whatever reason. You may hire an absolutely excellent person, but over time, or as the result of some life change, the individual loses interest in the job. These employees are now just going through the motions and collecting their paychecks, but they don’t really care.
According to the research, fully 64 percent of employees are “disengaged.” They have low levels of commitment or loyalty to their companies. They are constantly on the lookout for other jobs.
Jack Welch, when he was president of General Electric, wrote an article that is now taught in business schools all over the country. In it, he described his philosophy regarding the kind of people who worked at GE and what to do with them at different stages of their careers.
He divided people into four categories, using the descriptors of Competent, Not Competent, Buy In, and Don’t Buy In.
QUADRANT 1
These are the people who are both competent and motivated. They “buy in” to the values and beliefs of General Electric. They are real contributors and excellent players in the business. The company is built around them.
QUADRANT 2
These are the people who are competent, but they don’t buy in to the values of General Electric. They do a good job, but they feel that the company values are something separate and apart from their own ideas and behaviors.
QUADRANT 3
These are people who are not competent but who buy into General Electric values. They are positive, motivated, and require more training and experience. The company worked hard to move them into Quadrant 1.
QUADRANT 4
The fourth group of people that Jack Welch identified are those who are neither competent at their work, nor believe in General Electric values. These people are let go by the company as quickly as possible.
What made this article so impactful was his final conclusion. Welch said that “the people who are competent but don’t buy in to the company’s values were the main source of problems, misunderstandings, politics, and negativity in the company.”
If people are not prepared to put their whole hearts into doing the very best jobs they possibly can, the best thing for you to do is to encourage them to go somewhere else where they can be more committed.
It is not uncommon to hire a person who does an excellent job for an extended period of time and then “goes bad” on you. Sometimes when people get married or romantically involved, this happens. They become so distracted that they no longer care about the job. People may become demotivated because of drugs or alcohol or other changes in their lives. Whatever the reason, it is time for them to move on.
When I set up a company for a previous employer, I recruited widely and found some great people. A woman I hired to work as my general manager and secretary was excellent. She had a great attitude. She was a hard worker. She was creative and innovative. She made herself indispensable for almost two years.
Then, something went wrong in her romantic life and she “lost it.” She became negative, uncooperative, unproductive, and undependable. No matter how many times I tried to talk to her and bring her back to her previous status, nothing improved. With regret, I finally had to let her go and find someone else. I learned later that this situation, an employee going from good to bad, is not an unusual occurrence.
The second main reason that people do not work out is that they are incompetent. They just can’t do the job. If you have hired a person who is not competent at the job, no matter how hard he tries, you need to ask yourself who’s really incompetent.
Peter Drucker said that “a manager who hires an incompetent person, and who keeps that person in place, is himself incompetent and unfit for leadership.”
Who is incompetent? Is it the person without the skills, talents, or abilities and who cannot do the job, or the person who hired the incompetent person?
Unfortunately, it is the person who makes the hiring decision who is the incompetent person.
The longer you keep an incompetent person in a position where it is obvious to all that he cannot do the job, the more you demoralize the people around you.
In addition, you look increasingly incompetent to your superiors and to your peers. They see you as being incapable of doing your job.
If the job has changed and the person in the job is unable to change or refuses to learn and grow to get the job done, it is your responsibility to move quickly to replace the employee.
The rule is that “everybody knows everything.” Everyone knows who is competent and who is not competent. When you keep an incompetent person in place, you are in effect rewarding incompetence. By extension, you are punishing the competent people who are working hard to do their jobs by paying incompetent people on either side of them.
How can you tell which it is, whether a person lacks motivation or competence? There is a simple test: Ask the question, “If his life depended on it, could he do this job well?”
If the employee could not do the job well, even if his life depended on it, then it means that he is incompetent. If the employee could do the job well, if his life depended on it, then it simply means that he is not motivated. You must decide for yourself.
One poor player on a team can demoralize the entire team. The members of your team look to you to protect them, to make sure that they have other competent people to work with. This is one of your main responsibilities as a manager.
1. Look at the members of your staff. Is there anyone who is doing poorly? Is it because she is incompetent or unmotivated?
2. Does everyone on your team “buy in” to your company, and are they all completely committed to your success? If not, what are you going to do about it?