“He meets the minimum standard, but he is still doing a lousy job?” I repeat.
“Yes, and the frustrating part is, I can’t explain it to him,” Ruben shook his head. “He always comes back and says he is doing the job exactly as I say. And he is, but he is still doing a lousy job.”
“Let’s look at some really obvious stuff,” I started. “I am going to describe some things that are absolutely required, let’s call them the prescribed parts of the job, some really obvious things.
- Andre has to be at his work station, ready to go at 8:00a each day.
- He has to wear the proper safety equipment.
- He has to follow safety standards around the machines and tools.
- He has to produce the number of units assigned during each week’s production run.
“Well, yes, okay, he does that stuff,” Ruben responded.
“There are some other things, but these are easy to see and you can’t argue with them. If he didn’t show up at 8:00a, and if he didn’t wear his safety equipment, follow procedures and make his production assignments, he couldn’t be on the team?”
“Okay, I’m with you so far.
I feel that this person is not motivated. We need to make our employees feel involved and valued as a person. When they feel they are valued it is easy to gear them for success.
Brenda
Brenda,
We can attribute many reasons why this person behaves in this way. The real question is how we can improve the situation. Stay tuned.
This is where periodic, documented coaching comes in. As a manager, one can’t just complain about a subordinate’s sub-par performance if the original job description (which is the most basic as they’re standard) has not been ‘enhanced’ to itemize goals that relate to employee growth and professional development. This is especially true if the employee does not have any current intention of stepping up, which is very common.
Again, my take is that although it takes ‘two to tango,’ the manager owns more of the responsibility since between the two of them, he holds the supposedly more mature (let alone higher) role.
Erwin,
This is not a matter of complaining. This is a story about the inability of a manager to know what to coach for. A clear understanding of the difference between prescribed duties and discretionary duties will lead Ruben in the right direction. For the time being, he is lost.