Never put off tomorrow what you can do today

It happens all of the time. We see one of our people doing something they should not be doing. Nothing criminal mind you, maybe they are bickering, stirring the pot or doing something that is not acceptable behavior but it is more a misdemeanor than a felony.

So what do you do?

Often we will walk by thinking “this is not a big deal… I do not want to make a ‘thing’ about this…hopefully it will go away.” And invariably, not far down the line, this issue has continued on and has become not a minor issue but a repetitive, chronic problem. Our misdemeanor has turned into a felony. This happens to us all of the time. Why?

When you as the leader of the group walk by someone not behaving up to standards and you do not give direct feedback we forget that we are sending a clear message. A message that says “what you are doing is OK, it is not a problem, go ahead and keep on doing it”. So instead of helping it disappear you have reinforced that the behavior will continue. And it does not stop there, you have now made it that much harder to correct anyone else who is exhibiting the same behavior. (“Why are you picking on me? You let others get away with it…”)

I know it is not always easy to be correcting and coaching. No of us like to hear that we are not doing well, or doing something we are not supposed, and no one likes to give that feedback. But let’s think of it this way. Would you rather get a vaccine for a disease have the small discomfort upfront or ignore it and deal with the disease itself? It is cheaper and hurts much less…

If when you see that early behavior that is out of line, and out of standard, and grab that as an opportunity for easy improvement and immunization. Take the person aside and explain why that behavior is not what we do, and you know that they want to follow the standards and be a part of the team. We are going to have the conversation with the person at some point. If you do it early it will make them better and your whole team better. If you ignore it will be a part of the separation conversation. I prefer a vaccine that works to a disease that hurts. Early intervention is the difference between success and failure here. And we all want to succeed.

So let’s keep our eyes out for behaviors that we have let slide and start coaching our people as to how we should be doing things. The way we make sure it “get’s better” or “goes away” is by doing something about it.