How many employees do you have that have quit and stayed but did not tell you? Do you work in a graveyard? Meaning you are surrounded by employees that areR.I.P., Retired In Position. You might want to write this down, you cannot get dead people to follow you, unless you are in the Halloween movie and you are taping a scene.

I am not a horror film watcher. They scare me to much and maybe because of that, I don’t want to lead a group of retired in position employees, they scare me too. Here’s another note to write down, they kill your business.

As leaders, you know when you have employees that are not good workers and should not be there, but too often you make excuses for them. Today you will learn how to identify your R.I.P employees.

Here are ten signs to look for:

1. They come to work and do just enough to get by
2. They complete additional tasks only when asked
3. They don’t take responsibility for their performance
4. They complain about everything and anything
5. They look for ways to cover their back
6. They have an excuse for almost everything
7. They are the last to get to work and the first to leave
8. They are not open to new ways to do their job
9. They look for people to agree with their complaints
10. They have the “Dis” syndrome-disengaged, dissatisfied, distrustful, disgruntled, disconnected, discouraged, dishearten and they disagree.

So what do you do with these employees? You cannot continue to see the signs and do nothing. Would you drive down a street and see a sign that say, ROAD MISSING IN 100 FEET and keep driving or would you STOP, turn around and go in a different direction to get to your destination?

Follow the same steps with your employees.

• Stop and address the behavior. It’s time to confront the issue.
• Turnaround. Once you have addressed the issue you must ensure the employee turn their performance and behavior around. You need to see signs of the turnaround.
• Go in a different direction. It’s time for you to lead differently. You have to take responsibility that the performance has existed because you allowed it.

Having having poor performing employees is a bad reflection of leadership. Your staff will lose respect for you, they lose trust and you lose credibility. You can’t produce exceptional team performance and results when your team will not follow you.

Today is the day of awakening.

Go INgage,
Becky A. Davis