Many years ago (published in 1970)) I read a book “You Really Oughta Wanna” by by .
In short, they articulated a method that helps you answer the following questions about a perceived performance problem at work.
- Is it really important?
- Is the problem that the workers don’t have the necessary skill(s)?
- If it’s truly a skill gap, why does the skill gap exist and what’s the best way to close it?
- If it’s not a skill gap (meaning employees DO have the skill but don’t use it), why aren’t they using it?
- Is there a better way to do the work so that the employees don’t have to perform the skill?
- Is the individual employee (or employees) incapable of performing the skill no matter how much training is provided?
- Given the answers to all the above questions, what is the best solution (or the best combination of solutions) to solve the problem?
It is worth reading if you can get your hands on it. As managers, we all want employees to be motivated and that somehow gets tangled up in engagement and performance issues. There is a school of thought that says engagement is the employees problem.
As Tim Clark says:
“…you have to want to be engaged. There has to be deep-seated desire in your heart and mind to participate, to be involved, and to make a difference. If the desire isn’t there, no person or book can plant it within you.” –Tim Clark
Still the conundrum of what to do about the un-motivated employee. There are lots of them. Is there any thing we, as managers, should do?
What should I do?
Should we just fire them all? Why did we hire them in the first place?
This is worth figuring out.
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