CEO at BrightHR and COO at the Peninsula Group, responsible for the global rollout of HR tech supporting over 95,000 organizations.
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We’ve all been there: putting everything we've got into a project to no avail. Whether that’s at work, during a sports game or in a relationship, sometimes you don’t get the results you’re hoping for.
No one can be expected to win all the time, and failure is a normal part of the process. But as a leader, when it becomes a frequent issue for your team, you might need to look inward to see why everyone's effort just isn’t paying off. Here are some questions you should ask yourself to get to the root of the problem.
1. Are you working too hard?
Though some manageable levels of stress might be conducive to productivity, too much of it, especially over a prolonged period, can cause burnout. This can seep far beyond the workplace to every facet of someone's life, manifesting itself as fatigue, insomnia, sadness and anger. Once you’ve reached that stage, it’s difficult to find a way back to normality.
No workplace is immune. More than three-quarters of employees have suffered burnout in their current roles. Not only is this detrimental to employees’ well-being, but it also hurts your organization's bottom line. When staff are burned out, it can snowball into lengthy absences. Research shows that lost productivity brought on by depression and anxiety disorders costs the global economy $1 trillion annually, with burnout accounting for 8% of all occupational illness cases in the United States.
Worse still, let a high-stress work environment fester and you’ll experience high staff turnover. One lost employee and you’ll face costs of up to six to nine months of the original employee's salary when replacing them.
2. Are your goals realistic?
If your team is working too hard or struggling to perform, it's possible that you're asking too much of them. It’s understandable that, as an employer, you want to grow. Arguably, profits have never been so important as businesses struggle to stay afloat during a cost-of-living crisis. But you have to be realistic with your goals and aim to grow in a sustainable manner.
Collaboration is the cornerstone of a company’s success. When employees know how the part they play helps drive toward shared goals, they have more purpose, greater pride and a deeper understanding of why their work is significant. But without that meaningful communication, you might find staff slacking and disengaged. So you need to champion a collaborative approach and ensure strategy involves every team member with a clear view of their responsibilities and impact.
Sit down with your team and consider the road map forward. When you seek agreement on your objectives and deliverables, you’ll have team buy-in. It's also important to remember that your people know the barriers that exist within their roles and prevent them from reaching certain targets. By involving them in your strategy, you can implement measures to remove those barriers or alter your expectations. That creates a greater chance of reaching your shared goals.
3. Is there someone who’s not pulling their weight?
Managing a team where one person is not doing their part can affect the productivity, morale and success of the whole team. But instead of pointing the finger, consider whether there are contributing factors to their lacking performance.
For example, are they struggling with the task? They could be feeling frustrated about not receiving extra guidance or upskilling. After all, a lack of learning and development is now a deal-breaker for 92% of employees. Or if the project’s requirements lie beyond your employee’s skillset, perhaps they'd be better suited for another task or team. Perhaps the underperforming employee is dealing with personal matters outside of work.
No matter the situation, have a conversation to identify the issues and see whether there are actions you can take to remedy them. By having frequent one-to-one meetings with your team, you can help them feel supported and empowered to raise any concerns, thus mitigating the risk of lowered performance in the first place.
However, for an employee who's consistently falling behind, you'll want to assess their efficiency and productivity. Set clear goals and targets, and give them a hard deadline for when these should be completed. If these measures don't deliver the desired outcome, you may need to consider removing this person from your team. This could help ensure your performing employees aren't penalized for someone else's suffering performance. Instead, they can continue to grow and provide valuable input to the business.
Don't consider failure insurmountable.
It might be counterintuitive to success, but remember: to never fail is to never try new things. Arguably, it takes failure for success to eventually arise.
There’s a whole host of bright minds who have changed the world for the better but experienced a series of failures on the way there. Sir James Dyson of vacuum cleaner fame, for example, failed 5,126 times before his first successful prototype. Despite facing myriad rejections and even lawsuits from competitors, he still became one of the U.K.’s most respected entrepreneurs.
Another notable example: Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, was rejected by the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts more than once. This only fueled his passion before he went on to direct and produce blockbusters like Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and many more.
When failure feels final, it can actually be the start of a new chapter. It’s not something to be feared or avoided. Instead, use it as a learning opportunity and a stepping stone to achieving your goals.
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