Anya Soto* says workers who consistently meet their goals and put in long hours, are not necessarily the high performers you want in your team.
Do you have someone on your team who is hardworking and responsible, has a super-high IQ, puts in long hours and is loved by your clients?
On paper these high performers are dream employees — yet they can be surrounded by internal conflict and complaints.
Historically, anyone who was meeting their goals would be considered a high performer. Consequently, someone who was not delivering value would be considered a low performer right?
Well, that is so last year.
In modern organisations and high-performing cultures, it’s no longer the only measurement of high performance.
If you’re a manager or team lead, here are some other indicators of low performance you might want to consider.
If that person has low emotional intelligence, a complete lack of self-awareness or awareness of their impact, then they are causing a lot of emotional turmoil on your team.
They gossip; create a lack of trust by constantly breaking internal agreements; they promise clients unreasonable requests without consulting other team members.
Or is it someone who has completely detached from the team and is working in silos — thinking if they deliver results, everything is fine.
Civility Partners works with many HR Directors and Managers and yes, while it’s hard to let go of people who are killing it, do you know what’s harder?
That’s managing someone who isn’t a team player and is causing toxicity and mistrust.
Trust takes an enormous amount of time to build, and it’s just not worth having one jackass on a team who is bringing everyone down.
If you’re an employee who thinks that as long as you bring results to the organisation you have nothing to worry about, think again.
Start building relationships with your team and consider the impact your actions, or lack thereof, have on the people around you.
If you’re a manager who is trying to learn how to identify low performers on your team, the red flags are the stream of internal conflicts and complaints they create.
No results are worth the constant conflict and lack of sleep. Move them on before you lose the respect of good people on your team and valuable team members.
Remember: One bad apple spoils the barrel.
What are the signs of low performance in your organisation?
*Anya Soto is Director of Learning and Development at Civility Partners. She has lived in three countries and her experiences as an outsider along the way have fuelled her knowledge of, and passion for, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
This article originally appeared on the Civility Partners website.
