How leaders handle incompetence #5

 

Strong leaders often feel frustrated by the incompetence they see in their organisations. One important thing we must do is to 

reflect on our own definitions of competence. Is it really a competence problem, or do you just want things your way? We become leaders because we are good at what we do. From our successful experiences, we have formed opinions and preferences on how things should be done. When things are not done exactly how we would have done them, we feel it's not good enough. 

When we ask our teams to complete a task, we have to be precise and fair about what the desired outcome is. We have every right to expect nothing less, and we must also remind ourselves to expect nothing more. Sometimes it is those unspoken expectations that frustrate not only ourselves, but also our teams. 

How leaders handle incompetence #4

 

I learned this simple framework about understanding why people do not perform. Reasons for underperformance can be classified into four types:

1. Don't know - They don't even realise that they are performing below expectations. 
2. Don't know how - They know what they are supposed to do, but they can't do it. They are not trained. They have never been taught. 
3. Can't - They know how to do the job, but they are not given the resources or the authority to do it. 
4. Won't - They have everything they need to do the job, but they choose not to. 

If the reason is (1), then we must clearly communicate our expectations and our standards. If (2), we teach them, train them, or find other ways for them to learn what they need to do. If (3), we need to give them the budget, we need to secure enough other people whose support they need, and so on. (4) is more complicated. Is it because they are forced to work with someone they don't like? Do they feel the work is beneath them? Do they not trust you? There are many possibilities. 

This tool is simple, and what it does is it tells us instead of feeling frustrated and complaining about incompetence, we must think deeply about the root causes, identify them, and take the right actions to address them. 

How leaders handle incompetence #3

 

Train your people. Teach them. Guide them. Give them learning resources. Assign them mentors. Motivate them to want to learn and be better at their jobs. I'm not saying this just because I am a leadership trainer and more companies looking for training means more business for me. When you know the reason your staff cannot do their jobs is they don't know how to do it, the simple answer is they need to learn. 

In some companies this is a glaring gap. Yet often no action is taken to address it. There is a reason why mature and international companies have a Learning & Development department. This is something SME's can learn from - being deliberate in identifying skill gaps and investing in upskilling the workforce. People need skills to do their jobs. They need skills to be able to create more value for the company. 

How leaders handle incompetence #2

 

If an employee is not performing, sometimes the best decision is to let the person go. This is a simple answer which everyone knows, but when it comes to actually doing it, many will say "it's not as easy as you think". I'm not just talking about legal matters and HR procedures. Many leaders just don't want to be the bad person asking the employee to leave. Or we fear damaging morale because the person has been with the company for so long. 

In one real case study, two business partners couldn't agree on whether to let an underperforming employee go. The first said we should help every employee, and this guy has been loyal to us for many years. The second said I don't stop you from helping him. You can employ him with your own money as your personal assistant and driver, but as decision makers for the company we cannot use company money to employ a person who is unable to perform his tasks. The company needs to be responsible to and fair to every employee. A company which tolerates underperformance invites more underperformance. As leaders, we need to be ready to make tough decisions. 

How leaders handle incompetence #1

 

All of us experience this. An employee who simply doesn't get the job done. You give him the time and resources he needs. What you ask of him is not complicated. Yet he makes mistakes which are so fundamental that it makes you wonder whether he is qualified for his position in the first place. It is frustrating. 

The first thing you need to ask is this - are you making it worse? 

Time and again, I observe leaders who worsen the performance of their staff. Yes, often these employees are indeed not performing up to par, and it is understandable that we feel frustrated. However, when we only show impatience and distrust, and we mercilessly criticise every mistake, it doesn't help the situation. It only helps us vent. There are more practical steps we can take. The first thing we need to have awareness of is whether we are making things worse. If our employees constantly work in fear, their performance will likely worsen, not improve. 

Do you know how to break rules?

 

I recently conducted my business simulation activity Rivers and Lakes with a group of entrepreneurs. It is amazing to see how creative they are not only in solving problems, but also in supporting one another, and interestingly, also in breaking rules.

As part of this learning activity, I designed a rule which forbids participants from showing a piece of information to others. It is a trick I play on them. There are ways to share and obtain this information, circumventing the rules, and it is important to do so. Most groups I have conducted this activity with do not fully grasp this. This particular group of entrepreneurs passed this test with flying colours.

To achieve success:
(1) We follow rules
(2) We understand why the rules are the way they are
(3) We break rules
(4) We make rules
(5) And we do this all over again

"In business, it doesn't pay to be honest"

 

At one recent training event, one of the activities required participants to make as much money as possible, and it was done as a closed economy. Everyone received $500 toy money at the start of the game. It was a zero sum game. During the debrief, I came to a difficult situation. I asked the participants their biggest takeaway, and more than one said, "In business, it doesn't pay to be honest". If you were the trainer, what would you do? 

Indeed in this activity, those who are desperate enough can cheat. We did have people who broke rules without getting caught, and indeed they did well. This was what I said. 

"Business is about trust. By being dishonest, you can win in this activity today, but if you lose the trust of a friend today, how many future opportunities have you lost?" 

Those who conduct business unscrupulously may well win one deal, close one transaction. But they will need to keep hunting for the next victim. Those who conduct business with integrity will build a network of trust, and this network grows and compounds.