What do you do about an employee whose performance has declined from stellar to mediocre? I have tried talking to him, but six months have passed with no improvement and he is beginning to affect the team. Is it time to let him go?
Six months of warning seems a little brief for a person who once turned in stellar results, but still, we’d have to answer yes to your question. Because you’re onto one of the incontrovertible facts of organizational life. It is very hard to reverse the course of sliders— and that’s what you have, a high achiever who has checked out—before they begin to suck the team into their negative energy field and drag it down. Indeed, we’ve seen it time and again: Sliders pollute.
We’re not suggesting, of course, that managers dismiss all their sliders at dawn. Sometimes high performers hit a wall and need time to regroup. They might be dealing with a personal crisis, like sickness or a divorce. Or they might be bored and in need of help finding more challenge on the job.
But temporary sliders are the exception. Typically, these former achievers enter their descent and stick with it. And the reason is simple: They think they can. That is, they believe their bygone achievements protect them. And often, they’re right. Many organizations have employees who are sacred cows: the scientist who, 15 years back, created the breakthrough compound upon which the company is built; the art director who once won the industry’s highest creative award. There’s the slider whose armor is the company’s largest client, which loves him for a terrific idea he had five years ago, and the slider whose claim to fame is that she was there, taking customer orders and going on midnight pizza runs, when the company was run from a garage.
Whatever the reason, sliders usually begin their decline imperceptibly. They start contributing a little less and then show up a little less, too. Nothing happens—there are a few hushed conversations but no consequences—and so the downward spiral continues. Eventually, the under-performance and the lack of reaction become embedded, and the slider lands in a bubble of silence and acceptance.
The problem with this dynamic is that because sliders are often company heroes, especially to old-timers, their behavior sets the tone. For newer employees, less familiar with a slider’s past glories, the impact can be even more damaging. Sliders show them that do-nothing employees are permitted.
Either way, a slider’s mood and under-performance can deaden the pace and rhythm of a business. They round off the edge you need to win.
A slider is an achiever drifting along on past glories. That’s a waste, but a slider’s poor example can also be a poisonous influence. It sounds like you’re not there yet with your slider, but chances are you will be soon. So, yes, let him go now so he can find an organization that reenergizes him. And know that you’ll be sending a critical message to your staff. When it comes to performance, the past may be nice to recall, but nothing matters like the present.
This question and answer originally appeared in Business Week magazine on March 17, 2008.
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