Handling a 60% contributor

Photo: José Manuel Suárez

A 60% contributor is a person that is not contributing to his or her best abilities. This has a big impact on any team, but most importantly,  it is a bad situation for the person himself/herself. Handling this type of situation is maybe the most important part of the job when leading a team.

The situation is both common, difficult and important to solve. I will share some thoughts on "how to" in this post.


It is a sensitive topic, so I will spend some lines introducing why this is so important, common and difficult.

Important: In a situation where a person is underperforming, this has a big impact on the rest of the team in regards to motivation, trust and ability to deliver. In the end, this also affect the ability to fulfil the organization's purpose and to deliver customer value. The most important aspect is the one of the individual that is underperforming: I believe that all people want to live their lives to their full potential, and work is an important part of life. This situation is therefore one that has no winner: neither the environment nor the individual. It is a leadership responsibility to address this as quickly as possible: Habits, also bad ones, grow fast, and there is a chance of getting stuck in the mud.

Common: During a lifetime, most people will experience problems either personal or at work. This could be anything on a range from lack of initiative to serious medical conditions. It can be physical, psychological, legal, addictions to gaming/drugs/alcohol, issues in close relationships, or at work: conflicts, lack of motivation, stagnation, wrong position/environment or company. It could also be nothing serious at all: just ignorance of the impact of one's own behavior.

Difficult: Each situation is unique; the manager and the employees are different, the history, relationships and context vary in each situation. It is also much nicer to bring good news. Handling tough situations are more demanding.


Each of these situations are unique, still some takeaways are generic:



Picture: momentum.se

1: Prepare

Communicate the problem clear and concise:

• To avoid uncertainty and misunderstandings: use solid situations that you have experienced
• If you are vague, this will only lead to misunderstandings and does not make a solid foundation to find the right solution, it even might feel like the Spanish inquisition

Possible solutions:

• Think through the boundaries and limitations that neither of you can change. Prepare to ask the employee to think through if this is something that he can live with.
• Think through what you would like to achieve (first meeting, follow up/next steps)
• Look up any supporting services that your company can offer (medical, legal, coaching, psychologists etc)

Prepare to listen:

• Prepare yourself mentally that all these thoughts are just a preparation: the key to any solution is in the hands of the employee: there are several aspects that you do not know -or solutions that you have not evaluated
• Prepare yourself to listen actively

Key focus of the meeting:

• What is the topic (max 3-4 bullet points)
• As important: How to handle not related issues that may come up (you can use a "parking lot" for issues not related to the key focus area. Parking lot items must be dealt with in a separate track)
• Plan to have the meeting early in the week
• so that you are available to clarify or follow up

Find the right words:

• If you are more experienced, you can think of difficult situations like this, where you handled it well to the best for the individual, the team and the company.
• If you are not as experienced, you could
• get help from HR
• practice (role play with a colleague), try to have both the role as yourself and as the employee, and see the effect different approaches has. Find words that is best aligned with your intention
• practice alone: talk to a chair or a mirror
• Write down a summary (pretend it is after the meeting). Did it capture what you wanted? Did you focus on things not related to the focus area, which you should not have spent time on?

Photo: Richard Ling

2: During the meeting


Introduction
You need to get the scene right: find the balance of being honest and direct on one side, and to create an environment for dialogue on the other.

You need to spend enough time on finding a common ground where you both see what is the challenge, and at the same time emphasize more that we now start working together to find a solution. I have good experience emphasizing my good intentions for the person and for the team, and by this avoiding to bring out  defense mechanisms.

• solid examples/your observations
• you want find a solution/how can you help/how can you work together on finding a solution

Know your responsibilities
As a leader, I have a responsibility of the work environment and things at work -at the same time, the leader does not need to know all the details on employee's personal issues. In situations where the employee is going through a tough time, he might not evaluate clearly if the details revealed might feel awkward for him afterwards. It is a good idea to say that you do not have the expertise on the matter, and offer the contact details to any professional aid the organization offer.

Main part of the meeting
The best solutions are the ones that comes from the employee. To facilitate in order to get to this is the main contribution from the leader. There are several solutions:

• temporary arrangements to help out for a difficult period in the employee's life, if that is the case
• find a solution to get the motivation back, if that is the issue
• sometimes change of environment could be a good solution

End
End the meeting by a summarizing what have been discussed and next steps.
If something needs to be communicated to the rest of the team, agree on what that should be.
It can be a good idea to send out a summary of the meeting afterwards.

Good luck!



Picture: favim.com