Many managers are not doing a very good job managing poor performance in their teams. These managers aren't doing a very good job themselves. Many poor performers in the office get away with it for many different reasons. You too can fix them all.
Most people get great performance reviews from their supervisor. And even for some, that supervisor is simply not an appropriate role model to emulate. You can easily correct all of those things. Just let me tell you that whenever I'm helping a manager or one of my client's correct poor performance in their employees, I always tell them to take the same tact when dealing with inappropriate behavior. Punishing without reason rarely works.
To effectively managing poor performance in an employee, one of the most effective things you can do is to create an improvement plan and keep it up-to-date. The creation of a quality improvement plan is critical because it lets the employee know where they can begin to make improvements. Along with the plan, you also need to create regular intervals for them to report on how they're doing. I find that a simple notebook, labeled with the employee's name and details about what's happening, is very effective in letting the employee know that something is going on.
Once you manage poor performance, it's important to deal with morale and dismiss issues quickly. If you don't get this right, your morale and the employee's overall performance will suffer. I've often found that the best way to improve morale and employee performance is to engage the employee in an improvement program. When you do this, you not only provide the motivation they need to perform well, but you also end up building trust which is extremely important to managing poor performance in the workplace.
In order to start managing poor performance, you need to start communicating regularly with your employees. It doesn't matter whether they're in the office or in the home; communication is key. One of the easiest ways I like to do this is to set up weekly meetings. These meetings allow you to air out some of the hotter topics of the week so they don't get buried by the rest of the week's activities. If you can't schedule weekly meetings, I recommend setting up one-on-one meetings at least once a month. Even if it's just for a quick phone call or a quick email, it will go a long way towards strengthening your relationship with your workers and providing them with a sense of belonging.
Another key part of managing poor performance behaviours is to create a strong team culture. I find that when I'm dealing with difficult people, the best way to get them to change is to create an environment where it's not about them but about the entire team. The downfall of many managers is that they spend too much time focusing on individual lines and not enough time providing a framework for their teams. But the more successful I have been in business, the more I've realized that the best strategy is to spend a small amount of time a few times a week on creating a team culture. Once you've done this, it becomes easy to communicate effectively and solve problems as a group.
And finally, another powerful tool for managing poor performance is to deal with any unethical behaviours by identifying and disciplining them as soon as possible. One of the biggest frustrations of dealing with inappropriate behaviour by an employee knows that they are still employed and that there are people who would continue to harass them in the future. You have to be consistent in your actions so that you can protect yourself from any potential disciplinary actions.
The truth is, the hardest and most frustrating part of being a manager or business owner is dealing with people who are clearly not interested in following the rules. But by learning all you can about how to effectively manage poor performance in the workplace, you will find that you don't have to tolerate bad behaviour in your workplace any more. In fact, you will probably find that things will become far easier and that you can do far more things to increase workplace happiness and quality of work. That's a powerful feeling that no one ever wants to experience in their workplace.