You have dead wood? Did you kill it?

"If you have dead wood in your organisation it is because you either hired dead wood in the first place, or you hired live wood; then killed it.” 
W. Edwards Deming

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"He just can't do what I need - we're going to have to find someone else..."
"She doesn't seem to understand how it works round here - do you think we can put her in another Department?"
"She seems to have lost that spark... I wonder what's happened to her?"

The chances are that these sorts of conversations are happening in your organisation, laced with a tinge of astonishment that things could have gone so badly wrong with an initially excellent hire - the early promise evaporating into thin air.  However, remarkably, few of us take a look at our own contribution to the apparent performance failing and we attribute the blame to anything other than ourselves: their attitude, their capability, the selection process, the training they received, their personal circumstances.....

 










We think we understand what the key indicators of positively engaged staff are - clearly defined by the Institute of Employment Studies :

• a positive attitude towards, and pride in, the organisation
  
• a belief in the organisation’s products/services
  
• a willingness to behave altruistically and be a good team player
  
• an understanding of the bigger picture
  
• a willingness to go beyond the requirements of the job.
  

But to achieve this state of nirvana, it's worth adding one other indicator - a belief that the organisation supports staff to be the best they can be.

Well do you?

Your responsibility in leading others, stretches way beyond hiring great people, you have a role that requires subtlety, empathy and outstanding communication skills. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do your employees trust you?
  
• Are they asked for their ideas and opinions?
  
• Do they understand the organisation’s vision and strategic direction?
  
• Do you recognise and praise good work?
  
• Would your employees say that you are a caring and considerate employer?
  

Room for improvement?  There usually is.

The Set-up-to-fail Syndrome 

Outlined in the Harvard Business Review in 1998, Manzoni and Barsoux suggested that managers’ actions are too often the cause of poor performance.  Triggered by an initial event, the syndrome described a deterioration in manager-staff relations, resulting in inevitable failure. Poor rapport, unclear communications, micro-managing, solution-focused conversations set within a clear blame culture are all elements within this unsatisfactory interplay.  It is difficult to rise above and will lead to overt indicators of poor performance:

• Poor work quality
  
• Lack of willingness to do anything beyond the job
  
• Failing to achieve targets
• Low interaction with other staff
• High sickness levels
  
• Disruptive behaviour
  
• Lack of contribution
  
• Closed to new ideas or change.
  

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Creating a nurturing performance environment
Working with colleague, Nicki Parker, we have established a performance matrix that can help all organisations move away from the inevitable deterioration  in staff performance when managers are the cause of poor performance.  The matrix recognises that there needs to be a positive and reinforcing  alignment between the organisations' corporate values, performance routines, team climate and staff motivation.   

Through careful assessment, implementation of the performance matrix is individual for each organisation and can be implemented at a Organisational, Department and Team level.  To find out more email chris@lorimerconsulting.co.uk