Don’t Delay. They’re Waiting.

Early in my career I managed a terrific team made up of hardworking experts, who were supportive of each other and of me. But there was one exception. He was my training administrator, and he was inconsistent. One day, for example, class set up was perfect, and the next day big pieces were missing. I did what many of us do. I focused on the times that worked, hoping the others were anomalies and would right themselves. Finally I had to have some hard conversations with him, and in the end, I asked him to leave.

What surprised me most was the reaction of my direct reports. To a person they came to me and said, “Thank you. We’ve been waiting for you to fix this problem.”

And, once more, I learned the lesson I teach others … when a manager does not step in early and fix a problem, the people who suffer most are the peers. When a team member does not do their part, their peers often have to do extra work, they can miss their own deadlines, and they can end up delivering lower quality results.

So for the sake of your entire team, the next time you have a performance problem … please don’t delay! They’re waiting.