A common discussion amongst business owners and managers will often focus on employees and their performance, or lack of it.

But here’s an interesting thing… there are only 5 reasons why staff don’t perform at absolute capacity, 100% of the time.

That’s right. Just 5.

The first reason is because they simply ‘Can’t’. This is what is called the SELECTION issue. It means the chosen employee who, for some reason, is unsuited to the task assigned to them.

The second reason is that they don’t know ‘What’ it is employers want then to do. This is what is called the COMMUNICATIONS issue.

The third reason is that they don’t know ‘How’ to do what employees want them to do. This is what is called the EDUCATION issue.

The fourth reason is because they don’t know ‘Why’ to do it. They simply don’t know what will happen if they do, and what will happen if they do not perform to the desired standards. This is what is called the MOTIVATION issue.

And the fifth reason is because … they just ‘Won’t’. This is what is referred to as the INSUBORDINATION issue.

But guess what. Out of those five issues (being Can’t, What, How, Why and Won’t … or Selection, Communication, Education, Motivation and Insubordination) only ONE of them, the Insubordination issue, is a staff issue.

The rest are MANAGEMENT responsibilities.

So … if things aren’t working in your business as well as you’d like, take a moment to consider the 5 point checklist. Chances are you’ll find a large part of your problems are as a result of weaknesses in one or more of the areas which YOU are responsible for.

That might be a bitter pill to swallow – but take heart. The good news is that BECAUSE they’re your responsibility, you can do something to fix them.

You can change your recruitment systems, your induction program, your training program and your incentive systems … and thereby make sure that the problem never occurs again.

If it DOES pop up once more, you can again involve your team in improving the systems, procedures and programs which allowed it to occur. And if a ‘system fault’ was not the problem but ‘Insubordination’ was … then you can (and must) move quickly to remove that person from your organisation, before they poison it.

Remember: Selection, Communication, Education and Motivation. They’re the 4 critical responsibilities for managers. How well do YOU stack up?

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