Pub. 4 Issue 1

13 Issue 4 2016/2017 he put into the time were unacceptable, and sometimes egregious. As much as we may appreciate long- time service, the sad truth is that tenure can become a license for laziness. This is not a certainty, but is a real possibility and is in evidence in positions where seniorit y rules: college campuses, certain government jobs, and the like. Whenever one takes something for granted he is likely to become lazy in that area: take your health, kids or marriage for granted and you may be compelled to abandon sound disciplines that you once paid attention to in those arenas. A job is no different. When one starts to take it for granted, which is common amongst those employed there for many years, they are prone to let up, believe rules or standards others must meet don’t apply to them, and start to expect that their tenure, experience or credentials should somehow substitute for results. Incidentally, if this happens, shame on YOU, for perhaps also taking your tenured employee for granted and failing to continue to invest in his development, stretch her with new challenges, or allow performance and behavioral expectations to become vague over time. Another point to consider is that if you’re going to use the time someone puts into a job as your primary criteria to crown one as loyal, that would also mean the new star employee who has only been with you six months but is outperforming everyone in his department couldn’t be considered as loyal because he hasn’t been with you very long. That’d be a ridiculous way to look at things, wouldn’t it? But it’s actually no sillier than claiming loyalty from an employee simply because he or she has cashed your paychecks longer than anyone else. If you’re still hung up on the “but he’s been with me X years” excuse, consider this: if a couple is married for forty years, an outsider might comment that the gentleman must be a loyal husband to have stayed married for so long to the same woman. My shor t-l ist of t ra it s t hat helps determine loyal employees is simple: 1. They perform in a manner that meets, and of ten exceeds your expectations for the position. 2. They add value to others in the workplace. 3. They share and live the company core values. 4. They create exceptional customer experiences that build your brand and increase customer loyalty. 5. They represent the organization well away from the job, through their behaviors and by speaking well of it. If you have a “loyal” non-performer, don’t get trigger-happy after reading this piece and overact by firing him; at least not yet. Chances are that you’ve got a lot invested in that person and should do all you can to turn their performance around before letting him go. I suggest you do the following if you desire to keep him in the position he’s in: 1. Hav e a f r a n k a nd s p e c i f i c conversation with him concerning his performance. 2. Take responsibility for allowing him to veer so far off track on your watch, but pledge to do your part to define expectations immediately. 3. Redefine what you expect and by when. Put it in writing. 4. Affirm that you’ll do what you can to help him get there and that you’re pulling for him to make it. 5. Pr e - e s t abl i sh an appropr i a te consequence for him not reaching the desired performance level. 6. Know that if you must remove him because he didn’t perform adequately, that you will not have caught him by surprise, and take solace in the fact that you gave him an opportunity to right his course. While you were firmwith him, you were also fair. 7. Move on. Now, look reality dead in the eye and deal with it.  Closing Note: I’ll cover many of these points live at Best Training Day Ever, January 22nd in San Francisco. www. thebesttrainingdayever.com