You Have to Have the Guts

As a manager you've probably faced some tough employee situations. Many of those "tough" situations often involve an employee not doing what you expect them to do or not delivering on what they were hired to produce. These situations are tough because they require you to have a conversation to address the issue. And, in these tight economic times, you and your organization cannot afford poor performance. Yet, many managers would rather avoid the conversation, waiting to see if the issue will resolve itself. Are you one of those who avoid the tough conversations?

Lesson #1: Employee performance problems rarely, if ever, resolve themselves!

Let's face it. Having performance-related conversations comes with the job of being a leader. If you don't address issues that impact productivity and morale, who will? One of your many roles as a manager must be to have the "tough" conversations when necessary so that the work group and the organization can function effectively. The first step is to own this responsibility and stop putting off the hard work. Management takes courage. It takes guts.

This month you are probably setting goals for your work group, your employees and maybe for yourself. One of those personal goals might be to have the tough conversations that you've been putting off. Think about the impact you can have on individuals, as well as the team, if you just begin the conversation. In the months ahead, I'll offer more ideas for having those painless performance conversations. For now, have the guts to get started.