Underperformance within a business or department isn’t usually the fault of the whole team.
Disharmony or failure stems from one or more individuals within the squad.
These are people who won’t or can’t get with the programme.
We’re talking about the cynics and the resistors to changes in responsibilities or work practices.
Colleagues with these issues take up more of their manager’s time than those who just crack on with their work.
Discussions with them about performance and additional training seem to work for a while, but don’t cure the problem.
As a manager, you can’t ignore the issue because it affects morale or performance elsewhere in the team.
Capable people who work closely with an underperformer get disgruntled when their work is delayed or impaired.
And delays and mistakes lead to underperformance.
If the problem is allowed to persist, respect for the leader is undermined, and, in the worst-case scenario, goal achievement across the department is damaged.
This subject is covered by Quietly Good’s Team Turnaround issue, which is available now.
It presents an eight-step plan for changing the dynamics of a team that, with the right approach, could do much better than it is now.
You can see the steps on this page of our website.