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This begs the question, What are underperformers costing you? How much time do you spend reacting to problems related to underperformance? Think of the things you could do with that time if you could only get it back. That is the bait. Now here is the switch. It is easy to condemn underperformers for stealing your time and contributing the above ills. And they do own their share of the blame. But the hard truth is leaders also share the blame. As a leader, your job is to enable your people to achieve their performance goals. If they are not, then you are underperforming in this critical area of your job. It is not really your fault that you are in this situation. Leaders are seldom taught how to address performance problems in people. But that is no excuse to let the status quo ride. You are doing a great disservice to yourself, team, and underperformers by failing to act. Remember, police employers have a legally recognized right to insist that their employees fulfll certain fundamental duties like 1) show up for work; 2) perform the job; and 3) work well with others. Here are some tools to manage underperformance so that you can both strengthen your team and invest your time in more productive and engaging ways. By answering fve yes-or-no questions, you will be able to quickly diagnose causes of most performance issues and determine how best to address them. Sources of Underperformance One reason underperformance creates greater leadership challenges is that they don't expect it. Leaders usually expect that things will go right and that no news is good news. The Law of Entropy affrms that virtually everything is in a state of constant deterioration. Rather than expecting that things One reason that underperformers create leadership challenges is that leaders don't expect it ... or don't properly communicate what they expect. Photo by Mark C. Ide will go well, smart leaders anticipate problems in the performance chain. Start by searching in these places. First, the performance target isn't clear. Oftentimes, leaders assume employees know what success looks like and why it's important. Unless you make those expectations explicit, the employee may not have the same understanding. Expectations change as organizational goals change, but rarely are employees' goals updated. Employees often have competing priorities. They are making judgment calls every day about what takes priority. Leaders often leave loopholes in agreements, setting a deadline for "next week" without defning specifcally when next week they expect completion. The more ambiguous the goal, the harder it becomes for the employee to succeed. Second, the person doesn't know how to hit the target. This is often an issue for people new to a role. Employees cannot be effective without proper guidance and development. Under-performance may also be situational: The employee The reason for "Three Strikes" is that changing underperformance can take time, and the road is bumpy even with good effort by all involved. Hold them accountable, but give them the benefit of the doubt. Photo by Mark C. Ide www.lawandordermag.com 67