By Jeffrey E. McElyea, Lucid Business Strategies

You have worked so hard to make your business successful. At some point you make the decision to hire one or more employees. It is likely both a scary and exciting time. On one hand, adding staff is a clear indication that your business is progressing. On the other hand, you are adding payroll responsibilities, and the pressure of managing employees. As you face these new challenges, something else happens – something you may not expect. The people you hired are not providing you with the relief you hoped for. You are working just as hard, and your employees are working hard too. They just don’t seem to be accomplishing what you need to continue moving the business forward. Sound familiar? Many business owners wonder how they can improve the performance of the people they have hired. One of the first things that typically come to mind is that the employee just isn’t a good employee, or they’re not a good fit for the position. You may start to wonder if you should replace them, or reassign them to other job duties. Research proves that these are actually the last things you should do.

In 1978, Dr. Thomas Gilbert published a book, Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance, which describes the conditions that are required for employees to excel. In this ground-breaking book, Dr. Gilbert demonstrates that most performance problems are actually caused more by things the employer does, than by the employee themselves. The causes of poor performance the employer can control are generally categorized into four groups:

Resources/Systems/Tools: The second most common reason for poor performance is simply that the employee does not have the tools to do their jobs well. This may include things such as policies and procedures that make it difficult to do the job well, equipment that isn’t working, not enough supplies, etc.

Motivation: Most employers believe that motivation lies strictly within the employee. The truth is that most employees are motivated, but conditions exist within the business that kills that motivation. This could include paying poor performers as well as good performers,punishing or looking down at initiative, or simply not recognizing employees when they do something well.

Knowledge: Lack of knowledge of how to do the job also contributes to poor performance. As obvious as it sounds, your staff must be thoroughly trained how to do their job. Many small business owners let their staff learn their jobs by just being around it, rather than any formal training program.

Correcting performance problems should begin with an honest evaluation of how you can improve the job in the above areas. Correcting these issues will provide you with the quickest way to improve the performance of both your staff and your business! So, if you find yourself wishing that your employees would perform better, evaluate what you can do better to help them. Then, and only then, can you accurately assess whether the employee is the right person for the job.

Jeff McElyea, MA is the principal and lead consultant of Lucid Business Strategies, a management consulting firm that applies the principals of HPT to help small business owners build successful enterprises. Prior to Lucid Business Strategies, he spent 20 years in middle and senior management positions in the hospitality industry, where he had full operational and financial responsibility for the success of the businesses. McElyea received his master’s degree with high distinction from the performance improvement and instructional design program at the University of Michigan, Dearborn. As part of his graduate work, McElyea received his Human Performance Improvement (HPI) certificate from ASTD. He is a past board member of the Greater Detroit Chapter of ASTD, and is a mentor for the Michigan ASTD Train-the-Trainer program. McElyea has published articles in ASTD Links, and is a frequent contributor to business publications in S.E. Michigan. He has been an invited speaker at more than 30 national, state, and local conferences. He may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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