I am hired by companies to help build top-performing teams. One of the biggest challenges a manager faces is keeping team members accountable for results. If ownership is established and roles and expectations are clear, we must insist on each team member delivering desired results. I find that managers often fall short in this area. Let me put this in perspective:
Suppose you have a loyal employee who has worked for you for many years. They are well liked and have a great attitude. The only problem is, they consistently fall short of results. The rest of the team is delivering, but this individual is not. You have talked with them many times, and after each “rah-rah” session, it isn’t long before they slip back to where they were before. Now we are faced with a tough situation: If one person is not pulling their weight, that means the rest of the team must pick up the slack. This creates resentment (even if we think it doesn’t). When employees are resentful, they are not as engaged in their work. The boss loses, the team loses, and so does the person falling short of results. Too often, a situation like this is tolerated for too long. It is costly.
Many of us remember the Cubs winning the World Series last year. Jason Heyward was the right fielder. He was hired for his skill in both offense and defense. He fell way short on offense, and they had to replace him with someone capable of generating more offense. Jason understood. He is working hard off season and I’ll bet he has a good year this year. Regardless of that, The Cubs manager made the tough decision of pulling Heyward out of the lineup.
