Can You Fix A Dysfunctional Department of Lazy Performers?

[FYI - The following article is a response to a LinkedIn user from myself and my writing partner, Dale Dauten. We recently wrote the new leadership book, Mandatory Greatness --12 Laws of Driving Exceptional Performance to help managers become more respected as leaders. If you would like us to answer you question in a post (we'll keep your identity a secret), email us at [email protected].]

Dear Dale & J.T.,

I just got hired by a company to turn around a dysfunctional department. I've been here 30 days and am appalled at the lack of effort by the staff. They have been in their jobs for many years and are resistant to change. The owner doesn't want to let anyone go, but he admits the team's lack of motivation is an issue. How do I inspire a team that knows they aren't going to lose their jobs? Taylor

JT: Let’s back up for a minute and consider this as a cautionary tale. When interviewing for a management job, you need to ask the tough questions around what your true authority will be. Not being able to dismiss poor performers means you really aren't in charge.

DALE: True. However, I’m not convinced that “dismissals” are the key to management success. There are plenty of managers who think that one good firing can turn a team around. No. One good hiring can turn a team around. A firing shows what level of performance is not acceptable, which defines a new performance bottom. That’s how mediocre teams operate—working just above minimum performance. Great teams, on the other hand, explore the other end of excellence, challenging themselves to be better than ever or better than any other team in their profession. A great hire is a new role model who turns the eyes upward.

JT: What I’m about to say is not quite as endearing, but what would even more effective is to combine a good fire with a good hire, establishing a higher low and a higher high. However, Taylor, until you can convince the owner that the team needs to be held accountable for better performance, you won't get far. Your best bet is to show the owner how their actions are hurting the company.

DALE: Hey, he’s the owner. Show him revenue or P&L projections with the current system versus what you believe a high-performing team could produce. See if he still wants to be cavalier about setting higher standards.

JT: You can also offer him a worst-case scenario, where a continued lack of effort will result in the business crumbling and leading to layoffs. Thus, you can argue that pushing for better performance will save jobs. Give yourself a month or two of concentrated efforts on getting the owner to change his mind; if he doesn't budge, start looking for a new job ASAP.

DALE: No hurry. Give yourself a chance to experiment. Even if you can’t fire people, you can still transform the culture with new incentives and rewards. I met one manager who inherited a sub-par team and he calculated that they needed to up their output by 10 percent to be able to work off their backlog of paperwork. “Impossible,” they all insisted. He told them that on any given day that they got all through their regular workload, plus the ten percent, they could leave as soon as the work was done. Within days they were leaving early and within weeks they were caught up.

JT: Agreed, IF you can get the authority to change the incentives. One of the ideas we detail the book Dale and I wrote together, Mandatory Greatness --12 Laws of Driving Exceptional Performance is that the a true leader is usually a “lovable hard-ass.” By that we mean that the leader is charming and caring (lovable), while being relentless in setting and achieving goals (hard-ass). If you can tie bonuses and other rewards to new ambitious goals, you can turn the team around.

DALE: The secret is to let the metrics be the bad guy, while you work to be the ally of every employee, helping each person live up to the new standards.

JT: If your boss won’t cooperate with even that, then you’re back to an ASAP job search. You'll be able to tell potential employers the truth, "I was hired to fix a broken department, but when it came clear some changes in staff would be necessary the owner didn't want to let them go. I realized I couldn't achieve the goal and decided it was better to move on and find a better fit for my skills. My only regret was not asking some important questions in the interview so I could have learned before accepting that the owner wasn't willing to make staff changes. I wouldn't have accepted the job had I known." That last statement is key because it shows accountability for your actions and shares the blame. That's a more balanced answer that a potential employer will respect.

If you want to read more of what I've written, check out my articles on Inc.com.

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Jeanine “JT” Tanner O’Donnell and Dale Dauten are authors of MANDATORY GREATNESS: The 12 Laws of Driving Exceptional Performance.

JT is a career coach and the founder of the leading blog www.careerealism.com and the career coaching service, CareerHMO.com.

Dale is founder of The Innovators’ Lab? and author of The Gifted Boss.

? 2014 by O’Donnell and Dauten

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