So you have a (formerly-)great team member who’s slacking off: missing deadlines, showing up late, not delivering the quality you’re used to from them. Many leaders in this situation don’t want to bring it up because they’re afraid this team member will just walk and the leader, for whatever reason, won’t be able to replace them.
The reluctance is understandable. But here’s the thing: You want volunteers in your firm, not hostages. If someone doesn’t want to be there, they shouldn’t be there.
First things first, it’s important to establish a possible reason for the slacking off. Is it that the person simply lost interest in your organization and their work? Or are they going through something in their personal life? If the former, they’re already done with you. If the latter, there’s plenty you can do.
Be honest and communicate. Personal struggles can deter even the most capable professionals from delivering their best work. You can choose to be understanding and supportive. But it’s important to put a timeline on your support. Are you going to pick up their slack for a few weeks? A month or two? Or is it years-long/the rest of their life kind of an ordeal?
This timeline doesn’t take away from your support. It just puts expectations and boundaries around your help because, at the end of the day, it’s your job as a leader not to let your firm’s standards fall, no matter what.
Imagine if you were putting out an advertisement, where instead of saying you’re a world-class firm delivering the best results, you say you’re “not terrible” and will “do the bare minimum not too horribly.” Would you ever get any clients? Would you ever, as a consumer, seek out that firm’s services?
Regardless of what’s happening, a client is always going to expect top-notch service, and that’s why you can’t retain less than dedicated professionals for too long.
You want to be understanding. You want to be human. You want your team members to feel supported by you.
But no matter what, you don’t want to give them a limitless pass to mediocrity. That’s not leadership.
In the long-term, that strategy will only lead to harm: harm to your firm by decreasing its revenue as a result of decreased standards; harm to your team by making them pick up someone else’s slack endlessly; even harm to that person, by keeping them in a cycle that doesn’t serve or grow them.
So while it may seem uncomfortable, you need to have an open and honest conversation. Bring your team member into a room along with one more person. Sit them down, and without intimidation or pressure, ask them one very simple but powerful question:
“Do you still want to be here?”
Then stop talking.
Let the silence linger, if that’s what follows. Let them think it over, if they must.
If they say yes, great. You’re still aligned and can devise a plan: what they may need from you for support, how you can realistically provide it, and how long you can do so.
If not, then also great. They can be successful elsewhere (and as a true leader, you should want that for them), and you can focus on employing only those who actively want to be on your team and help it succeed.
It may seem scary. You may think you won’t be able to handle the workload without them. But trust me, a momentary hardship is better than a team of people who don’t absolutely love working for you. Eventually, you’ll find another person who may prove to be an even better fit than the person you lost ever was.
So don’t think of their potential departure as a loss. Think of this as realignment.
The struggle without them will be temporary. The success that results from this realignment will be a lot more permanent.
