Reinforcing The Chain

We’re at the end of the work week, and hopefully it’s been a great one for you, your family, and your team. We’re into the swing of summer now, and hopefully wherever you are, you were able to enjoy some of the good weather this past weekend for the holiday.

As we push into the second half of the year, I want to encourage you to look at the people within your team, and hopefully when you do you’re reassured by their both their skills and how they fit within your team. 

But, what if there are people in your team that are more on the end of being low-performers? You know they're capable of more, but something's missing.

As the old saying goes, a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. 

If there are people in critical positions who are considered 'weak links', when the chain is faced with tension their links will begin to give out. Whether immediately or slowly over time, that link of the chain will start to separate until the whole thing breaks. 

But why is that? Is it that the entire chain was no good? No, of course not. But it means that the structural weak points are points that need to be reinforced, or potentially even replaced all together. 

The same is true for your culture, and the low performers in your team. 

With all that being said, the only way to identify which links in the chain are weak points, is to put it under a microscope. You don’t want to identify which links are breaking while they’re breaking; You want to identify them early on. Just like with a chain, your first move isn't going to be to get rid of the link and find a new one and then put the whole thing back together. You can help bend it the right way and reinforce it, but that’s only possible by first putting your culture under the microscope.

Go over your process with a fine toothed comb. Put in the time now, and it will be worth it down the line.