News & Views

By Pavitra Menon - As managers, how often do you feel like you just do not have the “right” staff to help move the work forward? And by “right”, managers mostly allude to job performance. This is a very frustrating and stressful situation to be in as a manager because if you do not have staff performing adequately and sharing the workload it means YOU end up doing it all.  A lot of the work I do with clients deals with situations where managers and staff just don’t seem to be able to work it out.

Poor performance on the job is usually a fall out of something breaking down at a more systemic level.  You need to analyze whether the staff person who is not performing is the “right” person for the role and by “right” I mean, among other things, does s/he have the necessary skills and competencies for the job. This of course assumes that you know what the necessary skills and competencies are. If not, you will need to analyze the job and figure that out. In addition you will want to take the following steps:

1. Make sure that the role the staff person is performing in continues to remain relevant in the organization.
2. Look into whether the person is being adequately supported in the role – are the performance expectations clear, has the person been receiving adequate feedback.
3. Gain understanding of what motivates this person to come to work. Is it the mission of the agency, the steady paycheck, the camaraderie they share with colleagues, the fringe benefits?

At CRE we believe that performance on the job is impacted by the staff person’s competence level to do that job and whether or not they are motivated to get it done.


It is quite easy to evaluate these factors when hiring new staff. What you need is a thorough hiring process and protocol that speaks to the criteria for the position. Criteria in this instance will include the demonstrated skills and competencies, prior experiences and education that speak to capability. It should also include the other non negotiable factors that your new hire must have in order for him/her to be successful in the job - for example people and communication skills.

Finally if you espouse certain core values which are the pillars and foundation of your organization you need to incorporate them into your criteria as well. As an example if the organization’s target population is individuals with criminal convictions your ideal candidate should be willing to accept that without judgment or prejudice.

You then need to tailor your hiring protocols to match the criteria that you have defined for the position – so the questions you ask the candidate during a phone screen or in person interview should match up to the criteria you have identified. You could test the candidate on a real life organizational situation or a case and have them walk you through what they would do if they were in the role. This will give you an assessment of their competence to do the job so that you can make informed hiring choices.

Hiring the person is only the first step though, a comprehensive on-boarding process to help that person integrate into the organization seamlessly is key. Your thorough hiring process helps establish competence; your on-boarding processes will help motivate.

It is more complex if you are dealing with existing staff you have inherited or you were not involved in hiring. You will need to invest time and energy in figuring out whether their issue is one of competence or motivation or both. Within reason consider what you can do to address the issue/s. Will training or development opportunities help? Will a change in the person’s role or position responsibilities fix the situation? Engage the staff person in a dialogue about what they think will be beneficial – ask them to help you help them! Do not be surprised if a person says a bigger bonus or a pay hike will help. Often staff do not understand the limitations organizations in our sector face when it comes to pay practices. Perhaps helping the person understand the reasons why a bonus is difficult or a pay hike improbable will help the situation.

Depending on the severity of the situation you may sometimes find yourself in the unpleasant position of needing to manage someone out. While that should really be the last resort, in many instances it is the best outcome for both the staff person and your organization alike. Should you find yourself in this situation, do use it as a learning opportunity to figure out what went wrong and what you can do differently so as to minimize the likelihood of it happening again.

The need for managers to communicate with staff cannot be overstated. Many of the issues discussed above can be resolved through better communication between both parties. You may also find that you need to adapt your management style to suit the needs of the different individuals you supervise.

At the same time it’s important to have your staff be accountable for the situation they are in. It does not take much effort on a staff person’s part to sit back and talk about how much more they could do if they were incentivized or motivated properly. Ask them what they did to remedy the situation. Explain that in order to move forward you will need to craft solutions together – solutions that you will both be accountable to.

For more information on staff performance, see Pavitra's previous blog entry "Managing Staff Performance in Real Time Avoids Difficult Conversations".