Executives spend too much of their precious time addressing poorly performing employees. They lament that they squander 90 percent of their hours dealing with the bottom 10 percent of their work force. When they are not either disciplining them or somehow trying to compensate for them, they find themselves creating new systems and procedures to counterbalance poor performance.

In all my years in consulting, working with large organizations and small, I regularly hear this from executives who are totally exasperated by poorly performing employees. Why is this happening and what can be done?

Executives should be focused on things that provide the organization with the greatest return on investment. Whether it is new products, customers or services, your limited time should be directed toward things that will generate the greatest benefit for the organization.

The same thinking has to be used when dealing with employees. Your top-performing employees generate more productivity, better service and new ideas, and they usually do it without upsetting the organization or you. Yet they often get the least attention from executives who are more focused on the problem employees. This equation must be changed.

Executives need to reassess their thought processes. They need to stop trying to fix the unfixable. Successful executives emphasize raising the bar in their organization and not coddling the bottom. When their focus and attention is directed toward their stars, they'll find their organization soaring upward.

You and your organization can be successful only when your best workers are focused and motivated. They must be fully engaged. Their needs must be met. Each star is different. Most want challenging work, freedom and flexibility. Stars must be well paid.

Sometimes organizations create internal personnel systems that undermine managers' ability to take care of their star performers. Often these systems are based on out-dated, egalitarian models which say everyone should be treated the same so as to preserve some perceived notion of harmony and teamwork. Such systems do not differentiate between the bright light and the dim glow. Nothing could be more wrong. It is better to treat the stars as stars and retain them than to lose the mediocre over a fairness issue.

As for the rest of your work force, managers must train and develop their employees and provide continuous coaching in hopes of creating new stars. But terminate the nonperformers when your best efforts to coach or reassign don't pay off. It is in the employee's best interest to find a place where they can be successful. And it is in yours and the organization's best interest to part company before the nonperformers contaminate the rest.

Surveys consistently show that good performers complain when underperforming employees are tolerated while they themselves are often overworked and ignored. When the McKinsey Group asked thousands of employees how they would feel if their employers got rid of nonperformers, 59 percent strongly agreed with the option "delighted," yet only 7 percent believed their companies were doing it.

But should executives simply discard nonperformers? Some employees cannot do the job, others choose not to do it and the vast majority would perform if they knew how and if it were clear what was expected of them. Unfortunately, many executives and managers simply hope that these nonperformers will somehow miraculously turn overnight into superstars. It just doesn't happen this way.

Those who refuse to perform or who refuse to learn to perform and those who legitimately cannot perform need to find alternative employment. But for the rest, managers need to coach them to success. But how?

Being frank, candid and direct with your employees will go a long way to improving performance. Employees want to know when they are not meeting your expectations and how the job should be performed. Most employees will do what is asked of them. They will rise to meet your expectation as long as you tell them what you expect and are willing to teach them how. Remember, you get what you tolerate.

Executives should be clear about what they want. They should frequently communicate both the results they want and the behaviors they expect. That means they have a right to expect the job to be done well, with a positive attitude, by their employees. At the same time, employees should expect that their manager cares and is willing to train and coach them and that they will be treated with respect.

Take care of your stars, coach the willing and get rid of the deadwood. This is a recipe for success.

Rick Dacri is an organizational development consultant, coach and expert in employee relations. Since 1995 his firm, Dacri & Associates (http://www.dacri.com) has focused on improving the performance of individuals and organizations. Rick publishes a monthly newsletter, the Dacri Report (http://www.dacri.com/enewsletter.htm) with the intent to provide clients and friends critical information on issues that impact them, their organization and their employees. Rick can be reached at 1-800-892-9828, or [email protected]

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