Why did our HR director have a full-length mirror on the outside of her office door?

It was to remind us as we walked in the door to her office to lodge complaints and concerns about employees that there is a good chance that the person in the mirror is the cause (or at least a major contributor) to the employee’s issue.

Ouch.

But then again, she was also right.

I learned that the hard way some years ago.

We had a problem employee on my team.

I was a new(ish) leader, overseeing a team of about 20 people, managing 60-80 clients and a P&L of about $8 million/year.

This “problem” staff member just wasn’t cutting it. She wasn’t living up to expectations and her work was slipping.

Finally, I’d had enough.

I made the trek over to HR to talk with our head of human resources about helping me exit this employee.

“It’s time to let her go. I need your help to build an exit plan”, I told her.

“Ok. Sounds good. But first, I have a few questions for you, Andrew.”

1. Did you give this employee a clear set of goals and performance expectations?
2. Did you train her on the specific expectations of her role, and have you equipped her with ongoing coaching and support to ensure that she knows HOW to be successful in her role?
3. Have you effectively removed any roadblocks like competing objectives, unclear direction, lack of process or systems, resource gaps, or other issues that are keeping her from delivering effectively on the company’s expectations?

Here’s the thing.

Each of the questions she asked me that afternoon were exactly the right questions that needed to be asked.

I had provided a job description and a set of basic goals to this employee when she started.

But, I hadn’t provided her with the depth of understanding of specific performance objectives and hadn’t taken the time to ensure that she fully understood what I expected of her. That was a big mistake, and it was mine.

I had provided this employee with basic onboarding and training her role and responsibilities.

But I hadn’t provided her with detailed, in-depth training. And while I had worked with her on her goals and performance, I hadn’t done enough to coach, correct, guide, and counsel her in the moment when she wasn’t meeting expectations.

And while I had addressed some major roadblocks for the team, there were a few specific roadblocks that this employee was fighting against that I simply wasn’t aware of. I should have been. And I should have addressed them to help her overcome them and clear her path towards success.

We ultimately kept this employee in place and built a plan with her to help her more effectively succeed in her role.

What I learned as a new(ish) leader in this process is that the first question I need to ask when an employee isn’t meeting expectations is, what have I done or not done that is contributing to this situation?

As an experienced leader now, my first move is to ensure that I’ve prepared and equipped my people for success. Only when I have confirmed that I and my leadership team have delivered on our responsibilities as leaders should we then begin to consider whether an employee isn’t living up to our expectations.