The HR Daily Advisor announced today the release of a free leadership report for HR managers, Not a Ticket to Slide: 7 Most Common Accountability Excuses, which will help employers to hold employees accountable for their results.
According to Rick Lepsinger, president of OnPoint Consulting, and author of Closing the Execution Gap: How Great Leaders and Their Companies Get Results, 40 percent of senior and mid-level leaders report that employees in their organizations are not being held accountable for results, and 20 percent report that managers in their organizations do not deal with poor performers. This exclusive special report takes a look at several misconceptions and misunderstandings that managers have about dealing with performance issues – and the best response for each situation.
“Accountability excuses echo from cubicles, C-suite offices, and factory floors throughout
the land. However, they may be causing more damage than you think,” explained HR Daily Advisor Editor Stephen Bruce, PHR. “Allowing excuses such as ‘No one told me the project was due Friday!’ or ‘It’s not our department’s responsibility to pick up the slack when another department drops the ball,’ not only reward poor performance – they also hurt your top performers, who have to pick up the slack. This report is critical reading for everyone dealing with accountability problems in their workplace.
For instant access to this complimentary resource courtesy of the HR Daily Advisor, go here.
Unfortunately, the issue of management not dealing with employees who are poor performers is certainly not new and not an easy problem to solve. The statistics that Mr. Lepsinger references (40 percent of senior and mid-level leaders report that employees in their organizations are not being held accountable for results, and 20 percent report that managers in their organizations do not deal with poor performers) are probably on the low side. In fact, the obvious point that managers are not dealing with poor performers indicates that both the manager and the poor performer are not meeting the requirements of the job so your number of poor performers just doubled.
Here are a couple of quick fixes: Communicate job requirements; Provide regular, timely feedback; Directly link compensation/rewards to job performance results; Help management with basic management skills so they feel comfortable addressing performance problems; Hold all levels of management accountable for results.
Rick, you make an excellent point about poor performance doubling when both parties fail to deal with performance issues.