From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

How can you motivate a team member whose appraisal has not been good?

Response:

In the past, I have talked about the four elements for success. They are:

• Capability
• Skill
• Commitment
• Absence of a negative Temperament

So, which is it? And how did you get here?

If the person received a poor effectiveness review, is it a matter of capability? As the manager, you should have made an accurate (within a reasonable range) assessment of capability during the interview and testing process. If the person received a poor review based on capability, you have only two choices, reassign the person or redefine the role.

If the poor review is from a lack of skill, then training is indicated. Skill is two things, technical knowledge and practiced performance.

If the poor review is from a lack of commitment, you, as the manager have two routes. One is to create artificial commitment. Artificial commitment comes in the form of pizza, promises or other incentives. Artificial commitment is okay, but is usually shortlived and requires the presence of the manager. Real commitment requires the discovery of the interests (passion) of the person and the alignment of that interest with the work. If that connection has not been made, poor performance is a likely result.

If the poor review is from the presence of a negative temperament, you, as the manager can talk until you are blue in the face, or perhaps bash your head into the wall for a while, but in the long run, negative temperament is rooted inside the individual. It takes a very special manager (and a blue face and some head bashing) to change a negative temperament. This is usually outside the skill base of most managers. In this case, I would seek to reassign or terminate the team member.

So, you decide. Which is it? -TF