According to a recent study by Leadership IQ, 87% of employees say that working with a low performer has made them want to change jobs.
Don’t lose high performers because of low performers! Whether it’s a sour attitude or lack of motivation, these traits can be infectious, jeopardizing your team and company culture as a whole.
So what defines a low performer? Leadership IQ did a followup study and came up these 5 characteristics:
- Negative attitude
- Stir-up trouble
- Blames others
- Lacks initiative
- Incompetence
Failure isn’t necessarily a sign of low performance. In fact, trying things and failing can actually help us get better, faster. Thing is, you want to be sure you’re also managing the perceptions of your colleagues. As Stanford professor, Jeffrey Pfeffer puts it on HBR Blogs: “When it comes to job performance…perception becomes reality. This implies that you ought to manage your image and reputation as well as your actual work.” Go in with a positive attitude and communicate openly with your team and you’ll get positive recognition even if you fail now and again.
Attitude is the most important thing to watch for. If you have a low performer on your team, do something about it sooner rather than later! Don’t let one person, who most likely isn’t motivated or excited about work, affect you, your team or your company culture.
