Checklist: Are You Settling for Second-Place Employees?

So many managers settle for second place because they don’t create environments that expect first place.

Last week I spoke to an association of swimming pool contractors, retailers and service professionals at their annual northeast trade show. One of their constant observations was employees seem content doing just average — second place seems fine. Few employees seem committed to perform at exceptional levels and consistently do great things for customers.

After reviewing their situations, here are the ways many of them constantly focused on achieving second, not first place:

1. There are no specific hiring guidelines to ensure candidates hired are a good fit for the job — they hire almost exclusively on experience, not on fit.
2. There isn’t a clear mission or vision to define the focus or the purpose of the company — employees can’t relate to the business.
3. The workplace culture is not particularly employee-friendly which did not attract the best or inspire existing employees to be their best — employees are seen as disposable and expensive.
4. Clear performance expectations are not established for each employee — employees are unaware of their managers’ expectations and therefore do not plan their time, their work or their effort wisely.

Today’s recession caught many organizations without an updated performance plan; many are out of touch with how to play to win.

Great organizations, however, always have a winning plan; they know their businesses, use a more coaching-and-sharing approach by management, hire better, share information more effectively and work more closely with each employee. Second place is not in their vocabulary.

To end a focus on “second-place” employee-thinking consider the following:

1. Define the talents, skills and experience required in each role to improve the ability to hire strong performing employees (right person, right role).
2. Create a short and clear mission statement to define the attitude and purpose of the organization, one that will clearly establish the standard for the organization (clarity of vision and purpose).
3. Create a powerful employee-focused workplace culture to attract and keep the best employees (accommodate employees’ talents, values and interests to activate their loyalty).
4. Create clear performance expectations for each employee to provide guidance and clarity about the required level of daily performance (define expectations to make employees accountable and responsible for their success).

Don’t play for second place. Activate your employees’ performance with a clearer vision of success and then provide the guidance, direction and support to achieve it.