Many business people and managers are spending too much time
trying to change the underperforming people who work for
them.
They seem to believe that if they train people - tell them
what to do or even threaten them with the sack - then the
performance level will go up.

The successful manager concentrates on developing the
strengths of his team members - not trying to correct their
weaknesses. Sometimes you have to manage around a weakness,
but you can't make people what they're not.

Some years ago I decided to improve my golf by taking some
lessons. A friend and I spent some hours with a professional
golfer and coach at a local country club. This was really
useful to me and I did get better. However my friend Robin
hadn't a clue. No matter what the pro told him to do, how to
change his stance and his grip, he could hardly hit the
ball.

If you'd given Robin a hundred lessons and threatened him
with a gun, I doubt if he'd ever have completed a round of
golf in less than two days. Robin is a successful lawyer and
makes a lot of money, however a golfer - he is not.

So if you have a sales person on your team who isn't
bringing in the sales or a production engineer who isn't
making his quota, then you have to make a decision. Is this
person not producing because they don't have the ability -
because they need more training or - because there's another
reason?

You can read more about coaching and other reasons for non
performance in my book - "How to get more Sales by
Motivating your Team" but for the moment it's important to
understand that the individual may not be able to do the
job.

They may tell you they can do the job because they're
unwilling to accept defeat; however I've known people in
sales jobs who shouldn't be in sales and doctors, plumbers,
lawyers and engineers who were also in the wrong job.

What you need to do is get people who can't do the job into
a job that they can do or get them out of your team.

I joined three companies as a manager and in each case I
inherited team members who didn't have what it takes to do
the job. I'd usually find three categories of people in the
teams - The first group were the 'good guys,' the ones I
knew could do the job and wouldn't give me any hassle.

The second group consisted of people who needed a bit of
looking after, watching closely and definitely some
coaching.

The third group were the ones didn't have either the skills
or the characteristics to do the job and no amount of
training, or anything I could do, would change that.
I would often find that these people, due to their lack of
success, weren't exactly happy in the job anyway and were
sometimes only too pleased to be transferred to another
position.

I hear you saying - "easier said than done Alan" and you're
right. But the successful manager needs to address these
issues for the good of the team and the business.

The successful manager concentrates on strengths not
weaknesses.
It's vital to give your people feedback on their strengths
and also on their weaknesses. However these should only be
weaknesses that you know the individual can do something
about.

It's a waste of your time and effort trying to sort
weaknesses that can't be sorted.
Some people just can't build relationships with customers;
others can't work as fast as you need them to and others
can't write a report to save their life.

Your most productive time as a manager will be spent giving
feedback on strengths and how to develop these even further.
Many managers spend the majority of their time with team
members trying to resolve weaknesses. They then don't have
the time or sometimes the capability to give feedback on
strengths.

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