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More and more, I find myself repeating the same advice to my clients daily, “It’s never the right time to make a hard decision.” While this is applicable to several situations, I want to describe a particular one — and that is making the hard decision about poor-performing employees.

Nowadays, you’ve probably been affected by many businesses operating on limited hours and/or services due to a lack of employees. We are still experiencing what HBR Blog and Forbes have dubbed the year of the great resignation. For managers and leaders, this shortage of staff has meant tolerating behaviors that run against their organization’s culture. However, it is important to note that holding your employees accountable is a necessary evil to ensure business continuity.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that this is easy, I know it’s easier said than done. I also recognize that the fear of doing it in this environment comes with greater risks than in the past. However, as leaders in the middle, you must overcome it.

You see, there are still employees that show up every day with the right attitude. So, despite the few bad apples, the simple truth is that you owe it to those employees and clients to still operate with the level of service or work environment that they have come to expect.

Here’s how you can get this done:

• Embrace the thought decision and be willing to pay the price, even if it means being a little uncomfortable.
• Be willing to do more with less employees.
• Focus on finding new and better talent, not just new applicants.

Let’s break these down some more.

Embrace the Thought Decision and Be Willing to Pay the Price, Even if It Means Being a Little Uncomfortable

As a leader, you should take pride in the work you do, and the quality of work produced by your team. This means doing whatever it takes to build the best environment that can enable employees to execute their best work. Let me pause here for a second, I know that many of us continue to operate with a remote operational model, but this is just as relevant in a virtual environment as it is in a physical environment.

If you have a person who is not performing to your standards, then you owe it to that employee to bring it to their attention. Once you have addressed it, the onus lies with them to change their behavior. If they are not willing to improve or unable to improve, then the tough decision must be made to make the break with the poor-performing employees. Should you want to get more involved, you can also help them find success in a different role or at a different location.

Being a committed leader is a tough job that requires hard decisions. I encourage you to go from knowing what to do, to doing what needs to be done. As the Greatest Showman says, “It starts tonight.”

Be Willing to Do More With Fewer Employees

I have observed that when poor-performing employees are removed the committed employees step up. Now let me be clear, I am not saying that you overwork your hard working and committed employees. This will cause burnout and lead to the best of the best quitting — we don’t want that. What I am imploring is that as a leader, you should be willing to ask your team members to make a short commitment of taking on more and doing even better, while we find a better and more committed teammate. The acknowledgement that this is a temporary challenge, and that you are working to overcome it, goes a long way with employee morale.

The saying that “we have to do more with less” has never been more relevant. This principle is not an easy one to achieve and that is why most organizations will continue to struggle in this area. But I guarantee that the leaders that find ways to overcome this challenge will go on to win and win big. As a leader we must believe in those we lead and their ability to overcome temporary setbacks.

Focus on Finding New and Better Talent, Not Just New Applicants

If you operate under the belief that good employees are hard to find, then you will never make the extra effort to find them. One of the greatest failures in leadership is to operate under the tenet that a bad body is better than nobody. Nope, nah, no, this is simply not true.

This is a negative comfort zone that when occupied, grants us the excuse to not execute our number-one responsibility — creating a thriving culture for our employees and customers. There are plenty of good leaders and good employees out there. I’m sure you run across them every day. So, the mythology of scarce bad employees can soundly be refuted. You just need to make it a priority to go recruit them.

As a leader our job is to build the best team and that includes actively looking for ace employees. This goes beyond job boards, placing ads and applicant websites. It requires the effort of the leader to get uncomfortable, be proactive and go out and recruit. Remember, your success is a direct result of your efforts.

To wrap up, I know some will say this is an unrealistic outlook, but again I reiterate, if you believe you won’t find good talent, then you won’t. If you believe you will, you will.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].