Coaching Non-Performers toward Superstar Status

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Omar Castrezana in Best Practices, Human Capital Management

By Omar Castrezana, a member of TriNet’s Human Capital Services team

Every CEO has dealt with the difficult decision regarding what to do with a non-productive employee. While we all hope non-performers would improve their less-than-par habits on their own, the truth is, managers need to take action. One option would be to terminate the non-performer, another to document their issues. A preferred option would be to coach them through an improvement process. What CEO would not want to brag about transforming a non-performer into a superstar?

How to do that? It’s best to ask three questions up front:

1. Is the employee in the right position and understand his/her role?
2. Does the employee have the skills, knowledge and ability to do the job?
3. Have you given the employee the tools and training required to perform the job?

If the answer to any of these is NO, you have some work to do. Every employee is hired to do a certain job because they possess the skill set to perform the duties. Furthermore, every employee wants to succeed and wants to be considered a key contributor. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are fully prepared to complete the job at the highest level. A successful manager makes sure each member of their team understands their role and has the necessary training and tools to perform their job at the highest level. If they don’t, it’s easy to play the ‘blame game’ and not take responsibility for failure.

When it becomes apparent that an employee requires a counseling session, it must be presented as a learning opportunity, not a slap on the hand. When managers are able to turn a potentially negative situation into a positive one for the employee, everyone wins. The employee feels like a vital part of the overall success of the company and will do what is asked, as long as they are given the tools to succeed. Recognition and positive reinforcement are tools that, when used correctly, those employees that crave praise will strive to be at their best.

Too often, managers tend to take the easy way out and start the paper trail for the non-performers, instead of talking with them and discovering their shortcomings. Once those shortcomings are discovered, the manager can work with the employee and give them the opportunity to be successful.

I have worked in HR for more than 13 years and have conducted many counseling sessions for non-performers.  I can say that more than half of those counseling sessions turned the employee around and they eventually became supervisors and managers of their respective companies. More times than not, these non-performers are not even aware they have a deficiency or lack of performance issue to begin with.

I strongly believe coaching for performance is a great tool which can turn any non-performer into a superstar employee and contribute to the organization in more ways than you can imagine. They simply need to be given the tools and opportunity to do so and the majority of these non-performers WILL surprise you. Simply writing someone off because they have made a mistake is a habit managers need to overcome. Everyone deserves a second chance and a good leader recognizes a true performer and an employee who is willing and ready to succeed.