85% of faults lie with systems, processes, structures and practices in an organization and only 15% is down to operator skill and it is the responsibility of management to fix this.
W. Edwards Deming
Key Points
• Deming had a principle he called the 85/15 rule. What the rule meant was the 85% of an employees’ performance was determined by the system the employee worked within. Only 15% was the actually employee. That means than if you’re looking at a poor performer and wondering what to do, look around first and make sure it’s not an environmental factor that’s diminishing performance.
• So make sure they have the resources they need. Make sure coworkers are working well together. And honestly, make sure that you’ve made your expectations clear.
• A lot of poor performance can actually be explained by good employees working hard to achieve what they THINK are management’s objectives, only to find out too late they were working on the wrong tasks.
• If it’s not the system, then poor performers themselves. But even here, it may or may not be what we would fairly label an individual’s “fault.” Inside of individual performance, there are many factors.
• Poor performance could be a capability issue, meaning your people lack the knowledge, skills, or abilities to do the job. And hence your role is to find training or find a better position for them.
• It could be a communication issue, meaning they’re not interacting properly with the rest of the team (and it is their “fault”) but they simply need some interpersonal skills development. Or, it could be a motivation issue.
• Perhaps they’re burned out of doing the same projects over and over again and need something that will stretch and grow them. Perhaps they’re not responding to the usual company incentives and you need to help find something else they’d work toward.
Additional Reading
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
The Power of Business Process Improvement: 10 Simple Steps to Increase Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Adaptability by Susan Page
Points of Reflection
Are we asking the right questions to get the results we want?
“Without data, you're just another person with an opinion.”
W. Edwards Deming
“If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.”
W. C. Fields