Why Good People Fail: Diagnosing Employee Performance Problems

Quality suffers, and sales decline. What can be done? Retrain salespeople? Inspectors for firefighter quality control? Reorganize business processes. Introduce a new compensation system. If you put ten experts in a room and ask them to describe the causes of poor performance problems, you will probably get ten different answers. That’s because people tend to look at problems in the context of their experiences and knowledge.

A compensation expert will address salary issues; a reengineering consultant will address process issues, etc. No one sees the big picture. To determine the causes of employee performance problems, you need a system that allows you to see the entire forest as a system, not just the individual trees.

In his book The Theory of Everything, Ken Wilber argues that the entire universe is composed of parts of a whole, the holons. Each part is a whole and can be part of something else. For example, a whole atom is a part of a whole molecule. A whole molecule is part of a whole cell. And a whole cell can form a whole organ, which can then be organized into a whole person.

In the same way, an organization is made up of people who are part of a work team that executes and manages the processes that produce the results—products and services. Organizing these people determines what they are (work group, a team, crowd). The relationships inside and outside the work group determine how effectively they can work together to implement and manage the processes necessary to achieve acceptable results. When addressing poor quality or declining sales, it is, therefore, necessary to consider performance at three levels: organizational, process, and execution.

Table of Content

1. How People Are Assigned And Results Are Measured?

2. Using Structures to Solve Performance Problems

2.1. At the Organizational Level

2.2. At the Process Level

2.3. At the Performer Level

3. Individual Performance Depends On Six Interrelated Factors

4. Why Does Performance Not Always Improve?

How People Are Assigned And Results Are Measured?

The organizational level describes the company’s strategy, how people are assigned to implement the strategy, and how results are measured. The process level defines the methods and procedures used to create and deliver the product or service. An organization has many internal processes that must work well for the organization to function well. Processes link individual performance to organizational performance and may span organizational functions (e.g., design, marketing, and sales) or occur outside the organization. Processes are then executed and managed by people at the execution level.

Using Structures to Solve Performance Problems

Let’s return to one of the problems discussed at the beginning of this section: poor sales performance.

At the Organizational Level

We might ask: How can we improve our sales performance?

• Do we know exactly which markets we are targeting?
• Are our sales and marketing strategies right?
• Are our prices set correctly?
• Do we have an organizational structure that effectively develops and supports our products and services and delivers them to our target markets?
• How do we measure our results?

At the Process Level

One could ask the following question.

• Do our processes support the way we want to run our business?
• Which processes have an impact on the top line? Are our processes properly designed?
• Are we managing by function and failing to manage cross-functional processes?
• How do we measure the objectives and results of our processes?

At the Performer Level

One might ask this question.

• What tasks are critical to managing and executing processes that are important to distribution?
• Do we have the right people with the knowledge, experience, and skills to execute these processes?
• Is individual performance stable?
• Does the relative performance of individual artists adequately reflect the group’s performance as a whole?

Individual Performance Depends On Six Interrelated Factors

1. Performance requirements Do the individual clearly explain what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated?
2. Removing barriers have the barriers to effective performance been removed, for example, by providing appropriate information, resources, and time?
3. Are the consequences of not completing the task clear and acceptable to the company, the department, and the performer?
4. Knowledge and skills. Does the performer have the knowledge and skills to accomplish what is required?
5. Feedback Does the performer know how the results are measured, whether they are appropriate, and how they can be corrected if necessary?
6. Personal Competence Does the performer have the potential to achieve the expected results?

Why Does Performance Not Always Improve?

It is easy to get lost in exploring the various causes. What is certain is that individual performance depends on the six factors mentioned above. Even if employees know what is expected of them and have the necessary skills and competencies, they will not be able to accomplish the task if organizational barriers prevent it. In most cases, poor performance violates one or more of the six elements. In other words: If you put a good provider against a bad performance evaluation system, the latter will always win.

To accurately assess performance, whether functional or individual, you must consider all the factors that influence it. This way, there is a better chance that the employee, the evaluation system, and the company’s needs will be perfectly matched.

About EMS

EMS is employee monitoring systems that offer useful features such as time and attendance tracking, inactive/active time, and other useful features that help companies maintain good productivity.