boss as principal; employees as students

Let’s imagine that you’re a school principal. If you have 100 students with D’s and F’s, you’d conclude you had problems that were bigger than any one student, right? You’d try to figure out why they’re failing. Who is experiencing trouble at home? Who has undiagnosed learning disabilities or eyesight issues? Are some working to support their families or providing childcare for siblings? And have others simply fallen behind in the material and can’t catch up? 

It’s important to ask similar questions in the workplace, implicitly or explicitly. People are people, and knowing how to help them through hard times is one of the ways a good leader does her best, most empathetic work. If you’re a manager or employer, once you’ve gained your employees’ trust that you’ve created an environment where you’ll help them grow and won’t give up on them, you can start to act on what you’ve learned about them. Are they a caregiver? What stresses are they under at home?

If you have power and authority to help them, do so. It really can be that simple: help them navigate HR; work with them on accommodations; improve their ergonomics. Change their schedule. Offer them additional leave. Advocate for improved parental leave policies, hybrid work from home rules, and flex days.

That’s the macro level. On the micro level, here’s what you want to do with every struggling employee:

• Target specific things that are gumming up the works.

• Make sure employees know that changes in strategy do not indicate failure.

• Reevaluate expectations and plans that may not be working as initially envisioned.

-ben