Things You Do That Might Make Your Best Employees Underperform
You’re lucky to have employees who always do their best for the company. They’re not necessarily motivated by cash incentives or promotions. They want to do their jobs well and learn from the process. You should take good care of them since they’re an asset to the company. However, you might exhibit behaviors that might make them underperform. Instead of always doing a good job, they lose interest.
You abuse their willingness to help
These employees are already pulling more than their share to make the business successful. You can’t expect them to do everything. Besides, you have other employees. Allow them to take the lead too. You might also deprive them of the chance to grow because you entrust everything to one person. These excellent employees also have other priorities. They can’t devote everything to work. When they get burnt out due to the number of projects, they will end up committing errors. You don’t want them to start performing poorly because you have them too many tasks to deal with.
You don’t show appreciation
You might be more reserved when giving compliments because you don’t want your employees to be complacent. You also don’t like handing out awards all the time to prevent them from resting on their laurels. While your strategy is understandable, it doesn’t mean you won’t say anything good at all. Let your employees know that you see what they’re doing. They should realize that even if there’s no concrete reward, you appreciate the contribution. Even a simple note on their desk will suffice.
Rewarding the wrong employee
Not everyone at work is a show-off. Some employees work quietly, but they accomplish a lot. They also hate being on the spotlight. They prefer working behind the scenes. As such, the employees who are always front and center get rewarded. It shows that you don’t know what’s going on while the employees work on a task. You only see the final results. If you’re always hands-on, you will know that some employees are working hard in silence. You will reward them too.
You don’t hire additional employees
You must realize that employees who work hard might already be doing the job that two people should accomplish. They don’t complain because they can still handle the responsibilities. At some point, they won’t feel that way anymore. These employees will ask you to hire additional employees and you have to listen. If you can’t, you should give them a significant salary bump. They deserve it.
You’re too lazy
Being the leader doesn’t mean you have to delegate everything to your employees. Your primary role is to supervise. It means that you check every department. You also inspect people’s work. If your employees realize that you’re slacking off, they will do the same. Why would they perform well when their boss doesn’t do anything?
Try to change your attitude and be a good role model to your employees. Even the best ones will change if they realize that you’re not doing your part as the leader.
Photo Attribution:
1st and featured image from https://www.peoplesense.com.au/theme/peoplesensecomau/assets/public/Image/blog/poor_performance.jpg
2nd image from https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/identify-underperformance-and-deal-with-it-the-right-way/
