Bad Apples

There’s an old saying that “one bad apple spoils the bunch.” The idea is that if you have one apple rotting, the rot can spread to others. But what happens if the rot doesn’t spread? What happens if the apples just get up and leave?

Apples don’t have legs, of course, so it’s hard for them to walk out. But your employees DO have legs, so when they see bad employees around them, they have the option of walking away.

When we have a bad employee, it sometimes seems easier to just let it go rather than confront them. Confrontation is no fun, and since we never know what the outcome will be, we may decide to just let it go, especially when the other employees are good and can get everything done despite the bad one.

But you know what? Your good employees don’t appreciate having to cover for someone else. They are already making the effort to do a good job, and now you’re expecting them to make an extra effort because someone else is not adding as much value. The bad employee benefits from that because they don’t have to improve, you benefit from that because you get to avoid conflict…the only people who don’t benefit are the ones making the extra effort, and it’s easy for the resentment from that to build up quickly. In today’s job market, the distance between “resentful” and “returning calls from recruiters” is a very short distance indeed.

Remember, too, that your best employees — the ones you REALLY want to hold onto — like to be surrounded by other talented people. They like the intellectual stimulation that comes from being around people from whom they can learn. They take pride in being part of a strong organization. Talented people know they are talented, and they want to feel like their talents are being used in a good way. If they aren’t getting that in your workplace, they are likely to go find another one.

So, you need to deal with that underperforming employee. One reason we avoid those conversations is the uncertainty of them, so consider how you can reduce that uncertainty:

• Have a plan for the conversation.
• Make sure it’s an actual conversation and not a lecture — ask for their thoughts and inputs.
• Have some positive solutions in mind — don’t just make this a complaint about their past performance, make it a planning session for their future performance.
• Finish the discussion with a plan and timeline for improvement, and also with realistic expectations about what happens if their performance doesn’t improve.

Yes, some conversations are difficult, and we have a natural tendency to avoid conflicts. But which difficult conversation would you rather have: telling the weak employee “you need to improve” or telling the strong employee “good luck in your new job?”