Caffeinated Leadership: Energising Underperformers
Caffeinated Leadership: Energising Underperformers (instead of firing them)
A delightful tale of my coffee machine woes and how professional tweaks can work wonders for your team.
Imagine me, sipping my morning elixir, when I realize it doesn't taste heavenly anymore. Panic sets in—are my taste buds betraying me? Have I become immune to caffeine? But then, it hits me like a caffeine rush—I've got a coffee machine emergency! Instead of splurging on a new machine, I decided to give my faithful companion one last shot. Off it goes to the coffee machine spa, and lo and behold, it comes back brewing heaven in a mug!
Now, let's talk about underperforming staff at work. We often consider firing and rehiring, but the cost of employee turnover is a real buzzkill. Lowered morale, decreased productivity, and the financial burden of recruiting and training—ouch!
By investing in leadership mentoring and targeted strategies, struggling team members can transform into superstars without breaking the bank. It's like giving them an espresso shot of motivation! Plus, embracing professional tweaks fosters a culture of growth and improvement.
So, fellow coffee aficionados and team leaders, let's caffeinate our team's performance! If you want to chat about optimizing your team, let's grab a virtual coffee. I offer team workshops and one-on-one mentoring to help you unleash your team's potential.
Remember, a little professional tweak can go a long way in brewing success. Check the show notes for more info. Here's to a strong and delicious team performance. Thanks for brewing with me!
Links
References: https://www.peoplekeep.com/blog/employee-retention-the-real-cost-of-losing-an-employee
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Episode Transcript:
Do you love a good cup of coffee?
Having my coffee in the morning is one of those absolute joys.
I'm going to share a little coffee inspired tale that got me thinking about the importance of professional tweaks in making a real difference both in our Java and in our jobs. So picture this, I'm sitting at home, sipping on my freshly made coffee, when something seems off. My coffee. My glorious morning elixir just doesn't taste as heavenly as it used to. And I thought maybe my taste buds were playing tricks on me, or worse I've become immune to the magic of caffeine, I'm a new Mum after all. But then it hit me. I think I've got a coffee machine emergency on my hands. Being the responsible coffee connoisseur that I am, I do clean my coffee machine regularly. Yet, despite my dedication, I realized that the flavor had continued to decline probably over the past month. [00:01:00] And naturally my mind jumped to the conclusion it was time to bid farewell to my faithful coffee making companion.
But hold on, new machines are expensive. So instead of emptying my bank account for a shiny new contraption, I decided to give my trusty machine one last chance. Off it went to the coffee machine spa, also known as a coffee machine at professional service.
And guess what.
It turns out my coffee machine wasn't ready to retire just yet. It just needed a few professional tweaks. After some behind the scenes magic from the coffee machine experts, it tasted like heaven in a mug. Again. Now let's shift gears and talk about a dilemma many of us face in the workplace.
Under performing staff. When our team members aren't quite hitting the mark, our immediate response might be to start polishing our firing and rehiring shoes. [00:02:00] But wait a second. What if we could work some professional magic instead of going through the whole costly ordeal of starting from scratch.
The cost of employee turnover is more than you think.
There's three big impacts of employee turnover. One, it lowers morale. One of the first changes you'll notice after losing the employee is a decrease in employee morale. Unless they were a terrible performer and everybody hated working with them. And as more employees leave, the ones remaining may have lost a valuable work friend, which also matters more than you might think.
According to a study by office vibe 70% of employees say having a friend at work is the most crucial element to a happy work-life. Additionally employees will ask questions about why their coworkers are leaving and also reflect on the reasons why, which can further damage morale and your culture.
Another cost of employee turnover, it decreases productivity. Not only do you have fewer team members to get the work done, the remaining team members have to [00:03:00] pick up the slack and even as you hire somebody new, it can take them a while to get up to speed, depending on the type of job I like to say it takes at least three months. One month to learn the job, the second month to start working independently and the third month to start returning their salary. And this is for a job that is relatively straightforward or documented or they're coming in as an experienced person. So that's at least three months, but the real cost of employee turnover is even higher than that, because the other thing you need to factor in of the cost of employee turnover is the financial costs of recruiting and training.
I've looked at a few different reports and research in this area. Just to give you a bit of an idea of what the data says. It's one to two times an employee's annual salary to replace. It is 100% to 150% of employees' salary for technical positions. And if you're a C suite position, a CEO, a CFO, a COO up to 213% of an employee's salary. So we're [00:04:00] talking about huge numbers here.
This is a lot more than replacing my coffee machine. And I can tell you getting a professional service of the coffee machine was well worth it, rather than buying a new one. And getting some leadership mentoring to support how you can work with your team members before firing them, is also a great investment.
It's at this point I often would get calls from leaders who are looking for help from a professional like me and just like the professionals at the coffee machine spa, I can see what needs tweaking. So identifying the underlying causes of the underperformance, support with educational leadership and high-performing team strategies, help the team level up.
These professional tweaks can help turn your struggling team members into superstar performers without breaking the bank. And it is nothing on the cost of replacing them. In a world where change is the only constant, investing in our existing talent is not only a smart move, but it's also way easier on the budget than a constant rehiring and retraining process.
The other great thing is that by embracing the power of professional tweaks, you can create a culture of growth and improvement, where you're also learning on how to lead your team and the individuals in your team, improving the team culture.
If you'd like to chat about your team, we can grab a virtual coffee. Some ways I like to help teams is a half day team workshop, either virtually or in-person, or one-on-one mentoring with the leader.
You can read more about team workshops or my one-on-one work with leadership mentoring in the show notes.
He's to caffeinating the performance of our team. Thanks for listening.
