"The true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.."
The latest and the most thought intriguing quote that I came across in the recent past. While most of us are on a constant run to excel ourselves, it is certainly unfortunate that we are having to let go of what we know as 'Deadweight'. We commonly refer to them as Bottom Performers. In all my experience, I had to go through the same. Letting go of people. The only thought that often comes to my mind is on whether I've done justice in terms of providing sufficient opportunities for them to cope up. If not, have I brainstormed enough to understand the actual concern that an individual is going through. While most of the times, these questions may have a 'Yes' for an answer, has there been a feeling deep inside that says, he could have done better only if I was able to spend some more time with him/her. Specifically while we for a moment drop our designation and the ownership that we carry for the process well-being. So the million dollar question; Am I saying that we will have to carry these performers for eternity? Read on...
Who is a bottom performer?
In most of the organizations, You have a defined training module, you have sufficient time at a 'Nesting' phase, a dedicated mentor, a bunch of senior staffs who are available to help you, the ongoing refresher training & process tests. While predominant youngsters are capable of multi-tasking in terms of making the right decisions, remembering the training content, the ability to relate to it and make a logical decision. During my tenure as a CSE, all possible questions had scripted responses. I would be marked down if I fail to follow the script. Most of the companies have now moved away from a 'Standard Operating Procedure' concept. This allows an employee to make logical decisions and just use the training to equip himself at a domain expertise perspective.
Though this paves way for the dynamic thought process, the downside to this concept is where the tag 'Bottom Performer' come into play. This could be due to various reasons such as unable to understand the concept, not knowing the right way to operate, resulting in not meeting the expected deliverables etc., While the training helps you understand the logic & the process to follow on each scenario, not everyone is able to relate & react. Here is where the so-called bottom performers crop up. They may find it difficult to adapt to the training provided and have the inability to apply the concepts if the question is framed differently. As I write this, I felt it was important to highlight the fact that I'm keeping myself away from issues faced from a disciplinary standpoint and take sides with 'Being Professional'. The thought process that I intend to offer is clearly about what can we do to make an individual's life better and make work experience a pleasure.
THE MAKING OF A BOTTOM PERFORMER
While I know for a fact that there is no such thing as "Making of a Bottom Performer", I would still like to call it that simply due to the fact that there is nobody who can make you but you make one out of yourself. Having said that, I would like to throw in some real-life occurrences that I have come across.
Monesh, a smart-cookie during the interview process was able to crack my questions with ease. The interview by itself did not last any more than 5 minutes. His confidence and enthusiasm made me look at a future quality assurance analyst. While we commenced the training process of banking basics, specific queues that we were working on and some practice cases. He was clear and was able to crack the accreditation process with flying colors. Well, my thoughts were right.. I am as a matter of fact looking at a future leader.
Then came the reality. The first currency loss in my entire career. My company now owed my clients a whopping 8,000 pounds. While my personal conversation with him still proved this to be a human error, and my thoughts around the overwhelming complications with the process pushed me to still believe that he will be OK in time. I was [fortunately] able to use my credibility and convince my boss to assure him that this is an isolated incident. A week passed without any hassles with a 2nd level check. A simple fix that came back to me to report that he had issues understanding customer queries. Sounds OK. A refresher and the most frequently occurring scenario's and the expected type of queries and how to perceive them should put this in place. I grossly underestimated the consequences and did not expect hell to break loose.
Our random audits brought about instances of smaller amounts being missed. Since the process protocol allowed us to credit/debit from a customer's account a week after the case was worked upon, we were still able to do some damage control. A plan was put in place to make him attend another round of new hire training which I felt would bring him to shape. Post this training, he seemed to have forgotten even the most basic of processing. This left me wondering, what went wrong? I know for a fact that he can do better than this. Every single case went about being incorrect. Direct questions went unanswered. This was when a unanimous decision to put him on an action plan took place.
I'm not keen on explaining the process or its severity since most of you who are reading this would know its content. To cut the long story short, he was given the areas where he went wrong, the 'help' that we had offered and a timeline by when he is expected to improve. Proceedings with the human resources were in order and the discussion was closed at it. The only point to note was that he had a grim face. The after effects were unplanned absenteeism, late login, not open for a feedback, remarks about respect and how his hard-work not being recognized. I must say he was good at it. You can imagine when I say this. People within my team who has had no questions about the methods that a company operates started posting questions during the HR meeting. A wave of resentment from a group of individuals. A typical behavior that you can expect from a person who was on the verge of desperation. He was almost succeeding in breaking the team morale.
Here is where I decided to have a 1-2-1 conversation with him to understand where the real issue was. This happened over a coffee break where I went on to express my anticipations while he was hired and how he has deviated from the whole progressive approach. It was his turn. Surprisingly, the first thing that came from him was that he was aware of his vibes on the floor and was doing this since he knows what was eventual. I knew he was beginning to open up. It was best for me to allow him to vent out and that was not the best time to make him understand the consequences. Finally, there came a point where he gave me a 'ray of hope'. Believe me or not, he was not happy about going through a new hire training. That seems to have hurt him the most. At an outset, he topped his education and he was the 'go-to' person for any subject, any topic. He even gave me instances where his professor has many times told him to cover topics that needed revision. He had his style of making people understand and that seemed to have worked every time.
BREAKING THE Bottom Quartile CONCEPT
Contrasting to his way of life, he was now on the receiving end while he started working. Not a great start, considering the fact that he came in with a lot of aspiration and even to out-perform staffs who were already with the system. It was now time for me to put some thoughts on how to get him to perform at his full potential. I came out with a list of deliverables that I should incorporate immediately.
Contrasting to his way of life, he was now on the receiving end while he started working. Not a great start, considering the fact that he came in with a lot of aspiration and even to out-perform staffs who were already with the system. It was now time for me to put some thoughts on how to get him to perform at his full potential. I came out with a list of deliverables that I should incorporate immediately.
- Ask questions. Honest & open ones to understand where the real issue is.
- The comfort level of a recap training to be provided & How?
- How would you rate your performance if you were in my position?
- Offer smaller targets & run through a learning curve.
- Follow-up meetings to understand the mindset.
You may remember seeing HELP within quotes earlier. That had a purpose. Often, we end up thinking that talking about the issue at hand, issuing prompt warning intimations & the coaching provided as all the assistance offered. What we fail to realize is, how much have we diverted from this routine to help someone improve. Is there a display of genuine concern? Does the employee feel that the organization values his presence? Is he aware that there are prospects rewarded for good performance? Is this behavior temporary or is it a character outcome?
After this meeting, all he wanted was some time-off from processing. He did not want coaching to be with a group. He wanted to use the training period to sit with some seasoned staffs, observe & ask questions on dicey scenarios. Post this, he promised a timeline for improvement and did not want to go through a ramp target. We made it a point to meet every Monday to discuss how his week was and what were the learning he got out of the previous week. I made him explain this and offered occasional tweaks. 2 weeks down the line, he started with a 50% reduced target and he was able to get every single case spot on. There were even instances of areas where his senior operators were at the error which he was able to highlight. In a couple of weeks of processing, he was able to supersede the assigned target with utmost confidence.
There may be a question of what did I do differently. Honestly, nothing out of the box. The learning that I got out of this was to never to delay a personal conversation if you see a hint of dis-satisfaction reflecting on staff performance. It is just the change of mindset from treating everyone as your one-down into taking that extra step to make them feel appreciated. There are a people who fear rules and then there are a few who just want to feel recognized. No benefits, No rewards. Just make them feel important. Give them smaller tasks with deadlines. See to that their names are heard out in forums where your senior management is present. Ask your boss to come down to his bay and convey his regards. For, these could take away the entire concept of bottom performers and replace the term with 'a team that can take on any challenge'
It has been a year & half. Monesh is now a QA who is known to spot even the smallest of the issue and does not allow the bank to lose a penny. He has brought in a couple of process improvements and my clients ask me to take his consensus before implementing any improvement metrics. Had this been handled according to policies, I'm sure the name would have been long forgotten. After all, it was that 30 minutes that I spent listening to him, giving him an opportunity to learn as he pleased and made him feel important in a couple of forums.
What has been my learning out of this? Simple, though most of our answer to the popular question of whether we are people-oriented maybe yes, we often fail to identify if we are actually who we think we are. Though this does not discount us to be bad leaders, it is to make a conscious effort every single day to make a difference in someone's life. It could be just a 'How was your weekend?' or as personal as 'I've entrusted my credibility to you. Don't fail on me.' Trust me, you will see the determination on them to not flaw even if the world is coming to an end.
- Bharathkrishnan. A
Project Manager - Consumer Operations
Project Manager - Consumer Operations