Keys of Managing Under-performing Employees
Every project manager dreams of having a staff loaded with top talent, but few are ever given strong employees. In most cases, leaders will be assigned a combination of strong workers, average contributors and then others that leave a great deal to be desired.
Indeed, the reality is that you’ll likely have some mediocre people on your staff. Whether they’re lazy or untrained, all that really matters is that these employees are failing to live up to expectations and constantly require additional attention.
Managing under-performing workers is a necessary evil when you’re a project manager, but the following five tips will help you with this task.
Identify the problem
The first step you should take is to determine why your employees are under-performing. To figure out what the issue is ask yourself:
Have I trained these workers enough?
Are they putting forth the necessary effort?
Are my expectations too high?
The answers to these questions are the roots of the problem. If your responses to the first and third are “yes,” you’re actually the cause of the issue. You either have to develop a new training program so your employees can develop the requisite skills to handle their responsibilities or reset your expectations to manageable levels.
If you responded positively to the second question, you have to find ways to motivate your staff members. Consider offering incentives so that workers will put forth stronger efforts.
