I’m doing my best!

And so are you!  Everyone is doing their very best all the time.  A simple phrase that may or may not be part of your belief system.  It’s easy to believe that you are doing your best all the time – but everyone else is too?  Think about it – do you ever set out to do a poor job?  Looking back on your performance, you may find areas that you could improve or do differently because you have additional information.  However, at the time you set out to perform, you are doing your best with what you have – skills, knowledge, energy and resources.  I challenge you to practice believing this for one day or a week and see what changes for you.  Here’s what you might find when others aren’t performing as you’d like them to.

Find 1:  Training.  Your non-performer may need additional training to perform to your standards.  Remember that you are teaching someone something that may be second nature to you and so easy.  It may not be easy for the other person.  People learn in many different ways, visual, audio, step-by-step instructions, learning by doing and fixing mistakes.  Find out what best fits the person you’re trying to teach and use their method (which may be different from your own learning style).

Find 2:  Resources.  There may not be enough resources to complete the task.  Resources can include computers that have enough power or speed, adequate internet connections, enough members on a team, team members who complete their part of the project, or focused time devoted to a project.  Dig a little deeper to find out why the project is coming up short.

Find 3:  Results.  You may not have fully explained the results you were looking for.  Assuming that everyone “knows” what you want is a faulty assumption.  Take a few minutes to explain why someone is doing a task, how it fits into the greater whole, what you expect to happen and when you’d like it completed.

Find 4:  Skills.  You may have attempted to fit a square peg into a round hole.  People have skills in the areas they enjoy – whatever you’re good at you’ll want to do more of because you enjoy it and you’ll be even better at it.  Ask an artist to put together a spread sheet and you’ll see what I mean.  Ensure you’ve assigned the right people to the right tasks to ensure success.

Find 5:  Beyond your scope.  Your non-performer may have other issues going on in their lives that have nothing to do with you or the job.  Family illness, relationships, family problems and tragedy all play a part in your employees’ lives.  When a performer suddenly is not performing, approach the situation with compassion without probing for too much information.  The conversation could go something like “Jack, your performance hasn’t been up to your usual high standards, while I don’t need to know what is happening, I hope we can work together to return your performance to where it was before.  There are resources for you to take advantage of such as our EAP (employee assistance program).  Please let me know what I can do to help your performance get back to par.”

Do you believe you are doing the best you can at the time?  If you do, does this apply to others?  Does this change how you view those around you?  Leave your comments below.

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