You can’t expect the people who report to you to work to or maintain standards
that you don’t keep yourself. Therefore, you need to avoid having
double standards! Developing double standards without realising it is all
too easy.
Be careful of unintentionally allowing double standards:
✓ Don’t make allowances for a person falling below your standard regarding
an aspect of work or behaviour just because that person is highly
skilled in other aspects. Some people are naturally more skilled or
proficient at doing certain tasks than their colleagues, and you need to
organise work to make best use of the collective talents of your team;
but don’t allow anyone to fall below the overall standards you expect
everyone to achieve.
✓ Don’t show favouritism towards certain team members. Be careful about
turning a ‘blind eye’ towards people who fail to maintain the team’s standards
simply because you like them.
Noticing that the standards of work and behaviour in your team are falling can
sometimes be difficult. Keep a constant lookout for early signs of standards
falling because, just as a careless mountaineer can fall down a crevasse covered
by snow, you need to discover problems sooner rather than later!
Acting Before Avalanches
When avalanches happen, they carry away everything in their path
and bury it in deep snow. You may find that things come crashing down
around you like an avalanche if you don’t notice or ignore that standards
are falling in your team as regards the work itself or how members of your
team are behaving. Recovering from such problems can be difficult and
time-consuming. We explore why and how you should avoid work avalanches
in the next two sections.
396 Book IV: Increasing Productivity and Performance
Appreciating the dangers of delay
Putting off talking to someone about an unacceptable standard of work or
behaviour can be all too easy, particularly if you:
✓ Are a busy person; you have good intentions regarding discussing the
issue with the person but never get round to acting on them!
✓ Don’t like having difficult conversations – and not many people do.
✓ Would be stepping outside of your comfort zone by raising the problem
with the person.
Be aware of these common dangers of delaying taking action:
✓ You accept a lower standard. When people fail to meet your standard
and you don’t raise the problem promptly, they think that you’re allowing
it to happen. For example, if a person is occasionally late arriving
at work and you don’t raise the issue of timekeeping, that person may
think that arriving late is okay. If you do not notice that the standard
isn’t being met, the affect on the other person is the same: she may
assume you don’t mind him arriving late.
✓ You risk a bad apple infecting others. If you allow one person’s work or
behaviour to fall below your expected standard, other team members may
notice your inactivity and question why they should work to that standard
when their colleague is being allowed to get away with not meeting
it. For example, you may find that you’ve a growing timekeeping problem
within your team if you don’t take prompt action with a poor timekeeper.
✓ Your credibility is damaged. Members of your team who have high standards
start to wonder why you don’t take action: your credibility can be
damaged by allowing a team member to fail to meet the team’s standards.
✓ Your job becomes more difficult. Tackling the problem of unacceptable
performance or behaviour becomes more difficult by not acting
promptly because:
• The problem grows due to the ‘bad apple’ effect mentioned above.
• You may have to explain why you didn’t act sooner; the person
who’s not meeting your standards may ask, ‘Why didn’t you raise
this issue with me earlier?’.
Applying the golden rule of ‘Now’
A golden rule to adopt regarding when to raise an unacceptable standard of
work or behaviour is: Do it Now!
Chapter 4: Leading People to Peak Performance 397
Book IV
Increasing
Productivity
and
Performance
When you act as soon as you notice the problem, you can avoid the dangers
mentioned in the preceding section and build your self-esteem by successfully
tackling and dealing with problems with people – or people problems!
Another good general principle to adopt in leading people is to praise people
in public and criticise them (constructively) in private. The following are the
main benefits of adopting this principle:
✓ Praising people in public for achieving your standards means that:
• They get the public recognition they deserve.
• You reinforce high standards by talking publicly about a person
achieving those standards.
• Their work colleagues recognise that they also have to achieve
those standards if they want to be recognised for doing a good job.
✓ Constructively criticising people who aren’t meeting
that you don’t keep yourself. Therefore, you need to avoid having
double standards! Developing double standards without realising it is all
too easy.
Be careful of unintentionally allowing double standards:
✓ Don’t make allowances for a person falling below your standard regarding
an aspect of work or behaviour just because that person is highly
skilled in other aspects. Some people are naturally more skilled or
proficient at doing certain tasks than their colleagues, and you need to
organise work to make best use of the collective talents of your team;
but don’t allow anyone to fall below the overall standards you expect
everyone to achieve.
✓ Don’t show favouritism towards certain team members. Be careful about
turning a ‘blind eye’ towards people who fail to maintain the team’s standards
simply because you like them.
Noticing that the standards of work and behaviour in your team are falling can
sometimes be difficult. Keep a constant lookout for early signs of standards
falling because, just as a careless mountaineer can fall down a crevasse covered
by snow, you need to discover problems sooner rather than later!
Acting Before Avalanches
When avalanches happen, they carry away everything in their path
and bury it in deep snow. You may find that things come crashing down
around you like an avalanche if you don’t notice or ignore that standards
are falling in your team as regards the work itself or how members of your
team are behaving. Recovering from such problems can be difficult and
time-consuming. We explore why and how you should avoid work avalanches
in the next two sections.
396 Book IV: Increasing Productivity and Performance
Appreciating the dangers of delay
Putting off talking to someone about an unacceptable standard of work or
behaviour can be all too easy, particularly if you:
✓ Are a busy person; you have good intentions regarding discussing the
issue with the person but never get round to acting on them!
✓ Don’t like having difficult conversations – and not many people do.
✓ Would be stepping outside of your comfort zone by raising the problem
with the person.
Be aware of these common dangers of delaying taking action:
✓ You accept a lower standard. When people fail to meet your standard
and you don’t raise the problem promptly, they think that you’re allowing
it to happen. For example, if a person is occasionally late arriving
at work and you don’t raise the issue of timekeeping, that person may
think that arriving late is okay. If you do not notice that the standard
isn’t being met, the affect on the other person is the same: she may
assume you don’t mind him arriving late.
✓ You risk a bad apple infecting others. If you allow one person’s work or
behaviour to fall below your expected standard, other team members may
notice your inactivity and question why they should work to that standard
when their colleague is being allowed to get away with not meeting
it. For example, you may find that you’ve a growing timekeeping problem
within your team if you don’t take prompt action with a poor timekeeper.
✓ Your credibility is damaged. Members of your team who have high standards
start to wonder why you don’t take action: your credibility can be
damaged by allowing a team member to fail to meet the team’s standards.
✓ Your job becomes more difficult. Tackling the problem of unacceptable
performance or behaviour becomes more difficult by not acting
promptly because:
• The problem grows due to the ‘bad apple’ effect mentioned above.
• You may have to explain why you didn’t act sooner; the person
who’s not meeting your standards may ask, ‘Why didn’t you raise
this issue with me earlier?’.
Applying the golden rule of ‘Now’
A golden rule to adopt regarding when to raise an unacceptable standard of
work or behaviour is: Do it Now!
Chapter 4: Leading People to Peak Performance 397
Book IV
Increasing
Productivity
and
Performance
When you act as soon as you notice the problem, you can avoid the dangers
mentioned in the preceding section and build your self-esteem by successfully
tackling and dealing with problems with people – or people problems!
Another good general principle to adopt in leading people is to praise people
in public and criticise them (constructively) in private. The following are the
main benefits of adopting this principle:
✓ Praising people in public for achieving your standards means that:
• They get the public recognition they deserve.
• You reinforce high standards by talking publicly about a person
achieving those standards.
• Their work colleagues recognise that they also have to achieve
those standards if they want to be recognised for doing a good job.
✓ Constructively criticising people who aren’t meeting
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