It’s Easier To Give Birth Than Resurrect The Dead
Deadbeat workers are a given. They’re out there. Are they working for you?
Do not tolerate deadbeat employees! Free up their future and let them work somewhere else where the standards are low or non-existent. Why? Deadbeats kill moral and kill productivity.
Why Do I Have Deadbeat Employees?
There are usually two reasons that you have a deadbeat employee:
1. You made a mistake in hiring.
2. You inherited the person when you assumed responsibility for a different unit or department.
If you made a mistake in hiring, admit it (to yourself), and take action. If you inherited the deadbeat, take action. Take action means:
1. Give specific tasks with specific objectives.
2. Set specific expectations.
3. Make clear to the employee what will happen if objectives aren’t met.
4. Hold yourself and the employee accountable.
Give Birth
It’s always best to try to work with the deadbeat but give yourself a time-bound deadline – then stick to it! If results are not achieved, keep to your word and terminate the employee. Both of you will be better off.
Then give birth – hire a new employee that meets your standards. (See: 5 Steps To Interview and Hire the Right People)
Resurrecting the dead is a noble cause but seldom works. For years, I thought that I was the one that could do it. I finally learned through experience that it’s easier to give birth than to resurrect the dead.
Agreed, Ted.
But the gain from fixing the deadbeat is huge. Why?
The biggest loss from keeping a deadbeat around consists of the messages it sends to other employees. The first message is there is no reason to work hard because the boss will keep you around even if you aren’t a producer and leave the heavy lifting to everyone else. The second message is that the boss does not appreciate those who do the work, doesn’t really care about them.
These messages reduce overall productivity and morale. When people know, have proof positive, that the boss does not care about them or the work, they wonder why they should care about the work. Why should they care if the boss doesn’t. If you ever try to correct or criticize one of these people, you are by definition being unfair to them since you are failing to address the total deadbeat who is much worse.
All of this is very negative leadership and it will lead your people toward mediocrity and poor performance, the opposite of what you should want. In fact, it would tend to prove that your boss has hired the wrong person to be boss of these people and that he should get rid of you.
This brings up the question of whether fairness is served by just terminating the deadbeat. The answer is that it is not fair unless you have done you utmost to change the deadbeat. If you give up without trying hard to fix the problem, this also is bad leadership because it leads your people to never persevere to solve any of their problems.
To be the very best leadership, the fix should include an acknowledgment of the problem (the deadbeat as soon as you know it to be true), that you are working to resolve it and that you ask forbearance from everyone who has to work with the deadbeat while you work on the problem. You should admit that there is a possibility that no acceptable fix can be achieved and that termination would then be the final action. You are essentially apologizing for your error of having the deadbeat and how it happened is of no importance to anyone save you.
This is the very best leadership because it hopefully is exactly what you do with any problem that affects a group of people such as inoperable tools. The people are very well aware of the problem since they have to live with it each day. If their boss has not openly admitted it to them, they wonder if he knows or just doesn’t care. Open admission takes away all doubt and gives the boss a chance to apologize since it is the boss’ responsibility to properly support subordinates and an inoperable tool or a deadbeat are clear indications of low quality support. Don’t you want your people to admit to their problems? If not, then don’t bother with this admission of error on your part and they will know that failing to admit to their own errors is OK with you.
There is more to this, but that seems like a load for now.
Best regards, Ben Simonton
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Ted,
In my reply, I forgot to mention that if you succeed in fixing the person, the other people will greatly appreciate your effort and your perseverance. So the message they get is that if the boss can persevere in his responsibilities and suffer the tough ones, why shouldn’t I?
In addition, they will have proof positive that if they have a day in the barrel you will work with them to resolve it to everyone’s satisfaction. If you don’t succeed, that is a mark against you so don’t do it often. And don’t ever take the easy road of termination first. Being unwilling to take on people problems when that is your responsibility is terrible leadership.
Best regards, Ben
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