At a glance:
Managing underperformance soaks up a lot of a manager's time, while the solid people in the middle of the team barely get any real attention. That middle group is where the biggest productivity lift is waiting. Give your managers a coach approach they can use in everyday conversations, and you'll lift engagement and hold on to the good people you can't afford to lose.
As we all know, managing underperformance eats up heaps of a manager's time and energy. Meanwhile, the solid, reliable people who make up most of your team hardly get a real conversation at all.
They're not causing problems, so nobody's asking them where they want to grow. And that's a missed opportunity for engagement, retention and performance that's sitting right under your nose.
In this post, we’ll cover why your average performers are so often overlooked, why lifting them makes such a big difference, and what a coach approach looks like in the conversations your managers are already having.
Key Takeaways
Managing underperformance takes up a lot of time, but your average performers are the biggest opportunity for productivity lift.
Don’t create a ‘sheep dip’ process for development conversations.
Use a simple coach approach, like the GROW framework, to help people find their own next step.
Swap the once-a-year review for short, regular check-ins.
Give managers real time to practise coaching conversations, not just learn the theory.
Why your average performers get overlooked
Most managers default to one of two modes. They either solve problems for people, or they leave them alone if nothing's obviously wrong. Neither is coaching.
Your underperformers get attention because they have to. Your standouts get attention because they're talent you don’t want to lose and they are generally a delight for managers to work with. Your average performers, the ones who turn up, get the job done mostly without fuss, often get a quick annual review and not much else. The development plan becomes a tick-box exercise that nobody finds meaningful.
It's not that managers don't care. It's that development conversations are hard. They are hard because very seldom are managers trained in how to lead an effective development conversation. Even though managers know that developing their people is a good thing, they typically deprioritise these conversations because they have so much on their plate. Dealing with the operational issues takes priority. The conversations aren’t urgent and the perception is the payback is longer term so the can gets kicked down the road. Then there's the worry about whether there's a safe enough space for an honest chat, the fear of "what if I don't have the answer?" or “they ask for something I can’t deliver”. Or that development may mean leaving my team and I can’t afford to lose them right now. We've unpacked these in more detail in our post on the 11 obstacles to meaningful development conversations.
Put all that together and it's no surprise the middle of the team gets left to tick along on its own.
Why the middle is where the lift is
Put simply, it’s a numbers game. For most organisations, your average performers make up the lions share of your team. If you can lift performance for the majority of your people, you’re likely to get the greatest lift in engagement and productivity.
Often average performers aren’t average because they choose to be. They just haven’t had a picture painted for what moving from good to great looks like and how they may improve their skills or use their strengths to get there. They may also be unaware of their core strengths or have had any conversation about what motivates them to come to work each day; what parts of their job do they enjoy most; what interests them; and what difference they’d like to make while they are there.
Having this type of conversation with your team members costs nothing but a bit of time and is likely to help them feel seen and more valued by the organisation at a bare minimum. The big opportunity comes from them turning that lifted engagement into higher productivity.
What coaching your average performers looks like on Monday
This isn't about adding another annual review or a fancy new form. It's about giving your managers a coach approach they can use in the regular, everyday conversations they're already having.
A coach approach means asking questions that help someone work things out for themselves, rather than telling them what to do. Something as simple as the GROW framework does the trick. What are you enjoying in your role right now? What strengths do you bring to the team? How are you using those strengths now? How could you use them more? What do you want to get better at? Where are you at right now? What could you try? What's one practical step you'll take this week? It builds ownership, so the change actually sticks.
It also means managers taking time to notice when behaviour is changing and giving them positive feedback and reinforcement. It also means managers giving their honest feedback on where they see the employee right now and what they believe are their strengths to amplify and gaps to close. As Brene Brown says “clear is kind”.
And it means little and often. A ten-minute check-in that happens every few weeks to keep momentum going and together review actions taken, will do more than a big conversation once a year. Nothing should come as a surprise.
Here's the catch. Most managers have never been shown how to do this, let alone had time to practise. They might have heard about coaching or had the topic covered once over lightly in a leadership programme, but as we've written before, most leadership programmes miss these practical skills. That's why practice matters so much. Our coaching skills for managers programme is short, sharp and purpose-built, with real frameworks your managers can use on Monday morning.
Want your managers coaching the whole team, not just firefighting?
We'd love to help. Get in touch to find out more or book an intro chat.