If you are not addressing your employee’s poor performance, you are not in your power. Period. Not only that, you are forcing that person’s co-workers to be at a disadvantage as well. If they know you won’t address the problem, they will feel stuck with it instead of empowered.

Here’s the thing, every company wants to run “lean.” To do this, you need a talented, highly engaged workforce. To get that, you need to hire REALLY well and then manage well too.

Bottom line, if you are passionate about your business, you deserve to have employees who are passionate about your business. Right?

Nothing hurts a company more than the unengaged employee who does just enough not to get fired. Or, more specifically does just enough to make it tough for you to let them go.

Maybe they don’t make huge mistakes, but they just aren’t getting the work done well and generally fall very short of what you expect the workload to be.

Leaving this person in their role and giving what should be their work to your “A” players, is NOT the way to go. I know it’s easier to give the work to the person who gets it done, believe me, I’ve been a manager, but it’s not a good long-term solution.

You know the saying “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch?” Well, that’s true when you have an employee who is not pulling their weight and the team knows they are picking up that person’s slack.

But the bigger issue is energetic. When you neglect to address the low performer, you are not in your power.

When you neglect to address the low performer, you are not in your power, they are.

I’m not talking about Machiavellian walk-in-and-terminate-everyone power. I’m talking about your energetic power where you address issues and take ownership of situations to resolve them.

It generally forces that person’s coworkers out of their power too if they feel management will do nothing to change things, or to back them up, and they feel stuck with that person’s behavior.

Additionally, ignoring the problem is not productive. With my career in Human Resources, I can tell you 100% that your other employees will spend their time discussing just how much that person is slacking and begin to resent you if you keep redistributing the workload. When it gets to the point where you star performer is taking on too much of their co-worker’s job for the same pay, they will start looking for a new job where they make 20% more and go back to having just their own work (see The Risk of Leaving Rewards on Autopilot).

So what can you do? Address the problem!

Sounds easy, right?

Well, it isn’t always that easy. We tend to get our emotions caught up in this process.

Maybe we feel responsible for hiring the person who is not performing and we keep hoping they will do better. Maybe we are super busy and we’d rather focus on our own work.

Maybe, just maybe, these conversations are difficult and if we are being honest about this, we just don’t feel like addressing it.

But, letting it fester, ignoring it, doesn’t solve it.

It gives the poor performer the power and they usually begin to demand more and feel more entitled – which is backwards!

Instead of ignoring the issue, or sweeping it under the rug, you can shift this energy.

In fact, even making the decision to resolve it, even if you don’t know how yet, will begin the shift.

The solution may not be quick. If you’ve neglected a problem for two years, you can’t expect to fix it in two minutes.

However, the good news is that once you start the process, the momentum will grow. So even though you may want to push back or skip it, when you begin taking action it shifts the energy for the better almost immediately.

It doesn’t shift the person’s performance necessarily, but the energy of “living with the problem” instead of addressing it will dissolve.

Addressing a performance problem, taking steps to fix it, has a much more positive vibe than ignoring it, doesn’t it?

Taking steps to fix an employee issue, has a much more positive vibe than ignoring it.

Taking steps also signals the employee that you are getting serious. If they’ve been unhappy and thinking of leaving anyway, it may get them to take action to start revising their resume and start job hunting.

Once you shift this energy, start looking for solutions, the employee and their co-workers will all feel it. Your star performers are your biggest concern, don’t lose sight of that. You want be legally cautious how you handle your low performers, follow your company guidelines, etc., but you want to keep in mind that top talent is hard to find. How you handle you “D” players, is affecting the retention of your “A” players. Big Picture!

Do you have employees like this? That sometimes you wonder why they even show up if they aren’t there to work? Or are you an employee living with co-workers like this? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

How to Co-Create Your Dream Job with the Universe

Many of us choose our careers based on what we think is available to us rather than based on what we really want deep down. How do I know this? Because over the years I’ve conducted countless interviews and counseled countless people in my former professions, and almost always when I ask someone what they WANT to do, they give me a list of jobs they think they can get. Which is not what I’m asking!

I’m asking, “What do you want to do?”

It should be simple, right? But without meaning to, we can limit our options based on the job ads we are seeing, or the positions we’ve heard about.

So when I say, “What do you really want to do?” Most often I get, “There is a job where I would do x, and another one where I would do y, but I don’t know if either are right for me.” Or, the big one I’m hearing lately “I want to do something with meaning.” Save

I want to do something with meaning.

I think deep down we all want to do something meaningful. But what is meaningful to me, is not the same as what is meaningful for you.

Which is why you need to really get specific. You must do your soul searching BEFORE your job hunting. Otherwise, each new position will end the same. With you feeling like something is missing and looking for a new job (see: How to Thrive When You’re Super Ready to Quit).

Or, the universe will start to end your jobs for you. Layoffs or company closures. You will find yourself in the position where you have to find a new job many times.

It’s really the universe helping you align with your soul’s mission.

They want you to succeed! Your soul does not want you to spend time where you are unhappy or unfulfilled. You came here to do something specific and they will help you stay on course (see: You Did Not Come Here to Play It Safe).

HOWEVER, and this is key, you get to choose your career as long as it’s aligned with your soul’s mission. You get to choose!

It’s CO-CREATION.

The universe will only take you so far, and then you have to make the decisions.Save

HOW TO NARROW IT DOWN AND GET SPECIFIC

Eliminate Distractions

You have to completely block out what you think you can do for a job, and get quiet and ask “What do I really want to do?”

Try meditating, or clearing your head by exercising, yoga, or walking in nature and then ask:

“If I knew I could be anything in the world, I would be __________________.”

“If I knew I couldn’t fail I would __________________________.”

“What does my heart want me to do?

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Make a List

Then sit down and list your strengths and weaknesses. Any that come to mind. Don’t think about what you think employers want or how it fits a job, just list them. For example:

Strengths – Work well with others. Love to organize information. Great with numbers. Can see the outcome of a situation well in advance, etc.

Weaknesses – hate the structure of an office, don’t like writing, love being part of a team but really need alone time too, am uncomfortable enforcing rules I don’t believe in, etc.

You should start to see a pattern. This will become your master list! This will become your “order” for the universe!

With the strengths and weakness above this person may love working remotely a few days a week and coming into an office a few days a week to feel part of the team. Both interaction and alone time. Great with numbers – accounting, payroll, finance, so many options. “Can see outcomes,” maybe finance is a strong fit because he/she would be able to make predictions with the numbers.

Knowing what you would do if you could do anything at all, if you knew you couldn’t fail – plus really drilling down and being honest about your strengths and weaknesses, will help you draw the work to you that’s most aligned with where you are TODAY, rather than choose from options that are not lighting you up.Save

MAKE YOUR MASTER LIST!

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You should end up with a list of everything you want to do in the order of importance. No job is perfect but you need to know which items you can live with and which you cannot. Say there’s no way you will commute over 30 minutes per day. That should be on the non-negotiables and you shouldn’t even interview at companies an hour away because you know you won’t be happy (unless you are open to moving).

Once you know what you really want to do, and you know what you absolutely do not want to do, you will end up creating your dream job rather than trying to fit into one that may be restrictive.

I can feel you saying, “Nicole. It doesn’t work that way. I’m an _____________ and there are only three types of jobs for me,” or something along those lines. But I’m telling you, it does work this way!

You need ask for what you want, and in order to do that you need to really know what you want. Or at the very least, what you really love so you can get a majority of that in your work life.

I will say it has to be aligned with your talents though. If say you want to be a professional guitar player, and you’ve never played the guitar, you’re going to have an issue. In that case you will need to take lessons and work your way to that goal and it may take time.

If that’s the case, where you can see your end goal but have work to do to get there, you can ask the universe, “What can I do now that will help me earn a living as I work toward my goal, for the highest and greatest good?”

There’s nothing worse than having an occupation that lowers your vibration by day, and trying to high vibe up again at night to fulfill your passion. You need a high vibe occupation as you grow, or find a way to keep your vibes high when you are there (read: Manage Your Energy Like a Boss in Your Workplace).

If you are trying to figure out your DREAM JOB, you may like Write Your Future which includes a guide to get clarity on your calling. It’s what helped me co-create this business at a time when I was stuck between two worlds – the traditional workplace and my newly awakened self.

When you think about job hunting, it is really like dating. If you date someone who never wants kids, and you really want them, it’s going to end at some point.

The same goes for jobs, if you know you want to be an entrepreneur and have that flexibility and freedom, and you take a job with a micromanager, it is not going to end well.

Or the opposite, if you want a manager to really train you and show you the business and you take a job with someone who wants to be completely hands off, it won’t work out either.

Place an order with the universe! Like those delis that have a list for you to make your sandwich. They list every single ingredient and then you go down the list and check off mayo, mustard, pickles, lettuce, well you get the point.

To be clear you don’t order the universe around, you put in your wish list. You put in what you think will most help you find meaningful work. What type of boss you love, what type of environment best supports you. Then give the universe time to come up with it. You can even say, “Universe, please show me what will most align with my talents.” Then be open to what starts appearing in your field. There may be a new career or business that you couldn’t have even dreamed up!

The reason you need your master list is because when the opportunities come in, you want to be able to assess them. If there’s no way you can work in an office, then you know that about yourself and you won’t entertain that in a job. If you love to write, then you won’t take a job that has nothing to do with writing. Having your master list will help you stay on course.

And lastly, know what you want to be paid BEFORE your first phone interview. Never leave money on the table because you asked for too little or eliminate yourself from the running because you asked for too much (READ: Energetically Crush it at Your Next Salary Negotiation).

Trust me when I say that the person who really knows what they want, does so much better in an interview than one who doesn’t. The one who can consistently say why they are such a great fit for your position comes out on top!

The one who is looking for you to help them figure out their skill set and why they applied, doesn’t usually make it past the phone interview. Because if they don’t know why they should work at your job, then you don’t know either! After all, you are just meeting them for the first time and it’s usually over the phone.

Figure out what you truly, deep down want, make a list and work with the universe to come up with something spectacular. Just because it’s work and you have to make a living, doesn’t mean it can’t be inspiring and have meaning.

If you are truly stuck, then don’t wait another second to ask the universe to show you what else you can do now. Sometimes we have to reach for the next best job to keep working our way toward the end goal. Like a ladder to the really high vibe, fulfilling career.

Admit what you want, soul search for it if you don’t know what you want, and then co-create it. You can do it!

Have you already co-created a career that you didn’t think existed? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

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