What if you are struggling to find encouraging words to say about a team member?
This is a tough one. After thinking about the performance of the team member, you are struggling to find things to encourage them with. The place to start with this one is to ask yourself, “is this you or them?” Are you someone who is highly critical and difficult to please? Do you find this problem with other members of the team or just this one in particular? Or is it really them because they are not fulfilling the core components of their job?
If it is genuinely a case of significant under-performance:
- Don’t say encouraging things that aren’t true just for the sake of it.
- Try to find something that you can genuinely encourage them with. If it is not their performance, it may be their attitudes.
- Ask how they are feeling about their work and start to probe into whether they are in the right role.
- Give them specific examples of how they are not reaching the main goals of their role and some growth goals to work on.
- Make notes regarding your observations and conversations as this may be important if in the long run they need to be asked to leave.
What if you are struggling to think of ways that a high performing team member can improve?
This is a dream scenario. You have an individual that is consistently high performing both in work and in team cohesion. In this case:
- Don’t look for critical comments just so that you have something to put into that box.
- Ask the person for the areas in which they feel like they could improve or be challenged.
- Encourage and congratulate them and also ask what will help them to stay at this level. The challenges for high performers are not to wear out themselves or others around them and to stay humble in their successes.
What if you don’t know how to help a struggling team member?
Sometimes leaders can see the areas in which a team member is struggling, but are not sure of exactly what is causing the under-performance or know how to help them to improve.
The use of coaches can be a very valuable commitment to struggling staff members as they can help the person to understand the problems, set goals for improvement and provide useful training resources. Coaches can also provide a confidential environment in which the person can share their concerns more openly. Offering coaching communicates that you value the team member and want to invest in them, but it also alerts them to some issues in which they will need to improve.
Are you stuck for words with anyone at the moment?
Steve Bagi
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