Under the radar: Transforming underperformers into stars

Look around at your staff. Chances are, you’ll see someone who is flying under the radar, slouching through the day. This employee is doing the job, barely, but it’s clear that he or she is just going through the motions. Sometimes duties fall through the cracks, sometimes he or she arrives late and leaves early, sometimes everything gets done—but in a wholly lackluster way. Not a bad apple, per se, but not a star, either. Mediocrity personified.

It’s an all-too-common problem, especially for service-centered businesses with hourly employees. What do you typically do about it? According to a recent survey by NFI Research, not much.

The survey asked executives and managers how they deal with weaknesses in staff, specifically the inability to perform certain tasks, poor time management, procrastination and the like. A full 91 percent reported they talk to the offending employee about the behavior, but of those, only 12 percent see a change because of their efforts.

Barbara Fox, a Huddle House franchisee in Beaufort, S.C., thinks that’s a shame. A former director of operations for Huddle House corporate before becoming a franchisee two years ago, Fox is incredibly focused on training and what she calls “doing right by” her employees. For Fox, it’s a matter of history. When she and her husband moved to Beaufort some 30 years ago, Fox got a job waiting tables in the very restaurant she now owns—and an employee who showed her the ropes that first day is still there today.

“These employees are like family,” Fox said. “I bought the restaurant to give this staff security for their futures. I want to do better for my employees. They will always have a job. They will get better pay and better benefits, vacation pay, medical coverage. I do all of that because, without my employees, I have nothing.”

With that kind of commitment to her employees, you can bet that Fox expects commitment from them in return, in the form of doing their best on the job every day. What happens when one of Fox’s employees isn’t performing up to snuff? Contrary to that NFI survey, plenty. “A mediocre employee could be your best employee with proper training,” Fox said.

When Fox sees an underperforming employee in one of her restaurants, she makes a personal decision, right then and there. “I ask myself, is this an employee who could have a future here? Is this employee worth the effort it’s going to take to groom them?”

Fox said she looks for something positive about that employee—a great smile, an easy rapport with customers, anything to tell her that she’s dealing with a diamond in the rough. If she sees that glimmer, it’s time to go to work. “I’ll meet with them one-on-one,” she said. “Nothing formal, I don’t call them into the office or anything like that. I’ll just approach them, ask how they’re doing and then zero in on the problem.”

If, for example, Fox sees that the employee isn’t greeting customers properly, she’ll first ask if they understand the importance of that piece of the puzzle. “I’ll say, ‘Hey, have you ever thought of how important it is to be greeted right away when you go into a restaurant?’” she said. “Then I’ll do something like make that employee my official ‘greeter’ for the week. Her job will be to greet every customer that comes through the door.” By focusing on boosting those lagging skills, employees learn proper procedures.

In Fox’s restaurants, that kind of attention to the problem usually does the trick. When it doesn’t, that’s the time to think about parting ways with the employee. “If you’ve got a mediocre employee, there is always a reason why they’re mediocre,” she explained. “Sometimes it’s a training issue. They haven’t been properly trained. That’s easy to fix. But sometimes, they just don’t like the job. They’re there for the money and nothing else. Those are the employees who aren’t worth the effort.”

Fox said careful attention during the hiring process can go far toward stopping that problem before it starts by eliminating those candidates who are working only for the paycheck. “In an interview, the first question I ask is, ‘Before I tell you about what a great place this is to work, why don’t you tell me a little bit about what you can bring to this job. Why do you want to work here?’ If they tell me that they really just need a job, that’s a red flag. But if they say they love customer service or they love waiting tables or they love cooking, that’s the kind of person I want to hire.”

Susie Ross, a training consultant with www.waiter-training.com, agreed, noting that common mistakes and mediocre performance by new hires can turn into big problems if they’re not dealt with right away. “Management should treat these situations as seriously as anyone else in the corporate world would,” she said. “The restaurant business is a legitimate business; it’s not to be treated as a means of biding one’s time while waiting for a ‘real job.’”

Ross recommended identifying the most common problems seen on the job, and formulating policies with consequences for those issues. For example, you might see employees being tardy, treating the job as though it is just a stepping-stone, complaining or holding a superior attitude. “Create a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy,” Ross said. “Don’t let those common offenses get habitual.”

Bottom line, don’t make the mistake of those execs surveyed by NFI. It’s less expensive to deal with underperforming employees while their infractions are minor rather than waiting until problems grow big enough to warrant termination. By focusing on training those mediocre employees, you could turn them into magnificent ones.