Getting Top Performance From Your Team

With hundreds of qualified applicants for every job, you would think it’s easy to find the right person with just the right combination of skills, experience and education, personal habits and personality to fill the job. But recruiting is one of a manager’s most difficult tasks.

The skills, experience and education part is a lot easier than discerning who is going to be the kind of productive, creative team member you need to do the job. The person you meet in one or two interviews can turn out to be very different from the person that shows up for the first day of work. It can be frustrating and puzzling, wondering how you could have been so wrong.

Underperforming employees may not be the result of poor recruiting, says an Inc.com article, “3 Reasons Why Your Team Is Underperforming.”  If those highly qualified team members aren’t performing to standards, it probably isn’t their fault. Companies and managers often create environments that discourage employees from living up to their potential. According to the article, these environments teach employees how to be helpless instead of taking charge. 

You don’t need to change the employees, but that’s where managers usually start. They hold counseling sessions, suggesting ways to change work habits or attitudes, or suggesting training to shore up gaps in performance. The real fix is to change the environment so employees have an opportunity to use those top skills and experience you hired them for.

Want them to start performing? Let them do the job. Start delegating. This is probably the most difficult thing for a manager to do. It’s fraught with all kinds of fear and trembling. Many managers rose to the top because they were confident, competent hard chargers who solve problems and take on the tough tasks. They know how to get things done. What they aren’t good at is allowing others to take charge. Team members rarely get a chance to do something extraordinary because the boss is in the way. Delegate to team members and then get out of the way. Micro-managing is the best way to undermine a team member’s confidence. Remember that you made mistakes and learned valuable lessons along the way. Give your team members the same learning experience and offer support, not criticism.

If there haven’t been any monumental breakthroughs or ground-breaking new ideas, it’s probably because your management style is more in the ‘’maintain and prevent’ mode. Take a look at your planner and see where you spend your time. Multiple meetings to solve problems or go over projects. Lots of progress reports. How much time is spent on creativity, generating ideas and brainstorming? You plan projects, meetings and conference calls so why not plan for brilliance? Create opportunities for your talented, innovative staff to share ideas and problem solve. Move your meetings to an energizing environment instead of the same old conference room. 

Is it tough to change your habits? The last tip is being accountable to someone. Find a mentor or peer and check in periodically to give an update on your progress. Is your team still stuck in the mundane? A mentor can help you see if you’re standing in the way of your team’s performance. 

The classic definition of management is getting things done through others. You’re the conductor and your team is the musicians making the music, playing the instruments. With baton in hand, you set the pace and rhythm. Without the orchestra, the conductor is just standing and waving his arms, without any music. Be the leader, and let them play the music.

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