How to Lead, 6th Edition

chapter 16

Dealing with poor performance

In most organisations, at least 90% of staff are rated as above average. That is statistically impossible, but emotionally inevitable. Bosses do not like giving bad news, and team members do not like getting bad news. So, the fiction is maintained that most people are above average. But, at some point, leaders have to deal with the reality that not everyone is performing to expectations.

An extreme response in some firms was to fire the bottom 10% of performers each year. Firms that took this approach discovered it was a good way to fuel division and politics. It was also a good way to lose good people: ...