great leader<\/a> because she\u2019s wonderful at working with people, but this particular project requires hours behind closed doors, crunching numbers. You transfer her to a new project where she manages people, and she excels in the new role. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThey\u2019re having a bumpy entry into their new role: <\/strong>There are a few reasons your employee might be having a hard time finding their place in a new role. First, they may not have had adequate training. Ask yourself if your expectations are clear, and if their training covered everything they need to know. You might find you need to invest a bit more time into giving more effective training. Second, they may be overloaded with work. Make sure you\u2019re not giving them too much to handle right out of the gate\u2014it\u2019s easy for bosses to lose sight of an employee\u2019s \u201cnewness\u201d and give them a workload that only someone with years of experience could accomplish quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThey\u2019re having problems at home: <\/strong>Naturally, your employees will occasionally have to deal with personal problems that will affect their work performance. If you\u2019re aware of something happening in your employee\u2019s home life, let her have time and space to recover from the issue on her own. Show that you care by not pushing for high performance until she\u2019s ready\u2014this leads to an effective recovery, instead of a buildup of stress and resentment. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a poor cultural fit: <\/strong>Sometimes an employee is a great fit for the role, but not your work culture. This is an incredibly difficult gap to close. In this case, it\u2019s usually best that the employee leave the organization\u2014otherwise, they will be held back in a culture or among colleagues that they\u2019re always at odds with.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNudging Mediocrity One Way or the Other <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nSometimes, you\u2019ll have an employee who is simply average as opposed to a poor performing employee\u2014they regularly hand in work that\u2019s good but not great, and don\u2019t show much evidence of growth. There are several reasons an employee can get stuck in mediocrity. <\/em>Sometimes, they\u2019re uninterested in changing\u2014either they fear taking a step back in order to restart on a new path, they feel pressure to keep their position, or they\u2019re in their position solely for the money and power. Other times, the boss doesn\u2019t want to go through the effort of the firing process. Many bosses hesitate on this process because they think it will be too hard to find and train a new person, or the discomfort of the conversation and the employee\u2019s negative feelings is too daunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA good boss treats a mediocre employee fairly\u2014this means knowing her well enough to decide if you should let her go or give her space. Letting your employee go is the fair choice when she\u2019s clearly stuck in a position she\u2019s not suited for or thriving in.<\/strong> It\u2019s unfair to assume that mediocrity is just the best she can do. While the process of firing takes time and effort, and feels like the \u201cmean\u201d thing to do, it\u2019s selfish and cruel to stifle an employee\u2019s potential by keeping her onboard just so you can avoid effort and discomfort. Giving your employee space is the fair choice when she needs to recover from a personal event. <\/strong>A boss who cares personally about her employees understands what\u2019s going on in their lives and how it may cause their work to fall short, and knows to avoid pushing for better performance in a moment when their employee can\u2019t handle it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGrowth Management Mistakes to Avoid<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nBosses often make a couple mistakes when thinking of how to manage their employees. First, they think of their employees in terms of their \u201cpotential\u201d\u2014this automatically ranks superstars above rock stars, even though they\u2019re equally important. It\u2019s helpful to reframe how you think. Instead of focusing on potential, consider your employees\u2019 past performance, growth, and <\/em>willingness or interest in continuing their growth. This line of thinking gives you the best idea of whose work is consistently valuable, and what type of growth trajectory each of your employees is on. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSecond, many bosses think that pushing all <\/em>employees into a rapid growth trajectory will lead to better results. However, the best results are delivered when you see and honor the motivations of each of your employees. Your rock stars shouldn\u2019t be forced into doing work or taking on roles that come with a work or stress level they\u2019ll find overwhelming. Keeping them on a gradual growth trajectory contributes to great results because it prevents burnout. Your superstars, on the other hand, can and should <\/em>be put on a rapid growth trajectory\u2014this contributes to great results by preventing boredom and frustration. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile it\u2019s important to manage all of your employees, you\u2019ll want to focus most of your time on supporting your rock stars and superstars. <\/strong>Otherwise, you end up wasting time trying to take \u201cokay\u201d to \u201cgood\u201d when you could be focusing your efforts on taking \u201cgood\u201d to \u201cgreat.\u201d When you have a strong team and you can trust that all your employees are doing great work, then you can trust that they\u2019ll work together in a way that drives great results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n