You're Spending Too Much Time on the Wrong People
This was a briefing sent to our client last week.
Most Executive Teams I work with spend a good chunk of time in every meeting discussing TALENT… Not for the first time, I found myself in an Executive Strategic Planning Quarterly Meeting where we spent an inordinate amount of time talking about low performers. One executive even shared that she spends 50% of her time managing the bottom three or four team members – out of a team of 40!
I got a little firm with another client who continued to talk about “noted” poor performers, who had been underperforming for at least two years.
Talent is the single most important factor in whether a business succeeds or stalls.
They’ll either MAKE or BREAK your business. Poor performers drain productivity, miss results, and rarely deliver the quality required. They create drag and cost.
One client, looking to bring in highly sought-after advisors, lost the opportunity, simply because they were still holding onto low-grade talent. The prospective hire walked away from the offer. Why? They didn’t believe the “premium team” was actually premium. They wanted to be part of a high-performance culture, not one that tolerates mediocrity.
So, with your own team, it’s worth asking, How much of your time is spent talking about poor performers, versus your top talent? And more importantly, how much attention are you giving to your A-Class team members? They’re the ones who need recognition. They’re the ones who’ll help you scale, and they’re the ones quietly seeking more challenge.
And finally, how quickly are you acting on low performance? Just to be clear, this needs to be done with good intent, and always in line with your company’s values. But it needs to be done.
Don’t let indecision shape your culture.
Grow well.