How to address persistent poor performance
Leaders often ask me, ‘How do I address ongoing poor performance?’ I acknowledge it can be extremely challenging. That is why leaders need to establish clear goals and service standards to help people to know what is expected of them and provide continual recognition and coaching to avoid things getting to this point. However, I find myself being asked this question more frequently in recent times.
It is possible to manage poor performance with empathy. As service leaders, we need to dig deeper to understand why a team member is underperforming in customer service. It is my fundamental belief nobody turns up to work to deliver poor customer service. These reasons may be beyond attitude or effort. That’s why we start addressing underperformance with questions such as ‘Are you OK? I’ve noticed you haven’t been getting your customer requests completed on time. I’m worried about you.’ This is an important place to start. It’s an act of service leadership and more humane than simply telling someone they are not performing.
Garry Ridge, the Culture Coach, says, ‘In a great organisation, the leaders need to care about their people. Caring has two aspects. One is, I care enough about you to reward you and applaud you doing great work. I’m also brave enough to redirect you when the work you are doing isn’t helping you succeed.’
I also believe strongly in zero tolerance for poor or discourteous service. In their book, Committing to the Culture: How Leaders Can Create and Sustain Positive Schools, Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker wrote, ‘The culture of any organisation is shaped by the worst behaviour the leader is willing to tolerate’. Team members who deliver poor service can negatively affect the organisation with complaints, escalations, financial compensation and legal outcomes, decreased productivity, high turnover, negative social media and word of mouth, reputational damage and the loss of customers, sales or contracts.
“The servant as leader always empathises, always accepts the person, but sometimes refuses to accept some of the person’s effort or performance as good enough.”
Having difficult conversations requires immense courage and is undoubtedly challenging. However, failing to address issues of poor service can have dire consequences for the organisation's reputation, customers, and the entire team.
Effectively navigating these conversations is a critical leadership skill that can be honed through the adoption of the right mindset, acquisition of knowledge, and development of skills.
The best way to manage underperformance is to ensure it doesn’t happen in the first place. Clear standards and expectations combined with regular coaching and feedback will help to mitigate poor customer service performance.
Prevention is far more important than the cure.
