Unfinished Is Not Incapable

Are you frustrated by an underperforming employee and beginning to wonder whether continued coaching is worth the effort?

That is one of the most difficult judgments a leader must make. When results are suffering and other team members are carrying more than their share, waiting indefinitely is not a responsible option.

But neither is assuming that someone’s current performance represents the limit of their potential.

Sometimes the person we are tempted to give up on does not need lowered standards or freedom from accountability. They need honest feedback, effective coaching, and enough time to apply what they are learning.

It is easy to identify what someone lacks. It requires greater patience, flexibility, and leadership to recognize what they possess—and help them transform that potential into performance.

One of my leadership flaws that has consistently been brought to my attention is my unwillingness to terminate employees.

There is validity in that criticism. There have been instances when I waited too long to act on someone who was not performing.

My hesitation, however, did not come from avoiding difficult conversations. I had no problem providing direct feedback or confronting performance issues.

It came from my belief that I could coach anyone up.

If someone who worked for me failed, I viewed it as a failure on my part. I believed that if I provided enough coaching, feedback, encouragement, and support, I should be able to help that person become successful.

That belief may occasionally have caused me to remain patient for too long.

But it also prevented me from giving up too quickly on people who simply needed more time, coaching, and encouragement to demonstrate what they could become.

There have been many cases throughout my career in which employees overcame their growing pains and became not merely serviceable, but stellar performers. On one occasion, I was told that I needed to fire a manager who was underperforming. I resisted.

I believed there was more ability within that manager than the current results demonstrated.

Rather than accepting the early performance as the final verdict, I spent additional time coaching, clarifying expectations, and providing direct feedback.

Within a relatively short period, that manager was producing results comparable to those of the best performers in the organization.

Had I accepted the initial performance as proof of what that person could—or could not— become, we would never have discovered the manager who was waiting to emerge.

The employee had not been incapable.

The employee was unfinished.

I believe that everyone has greatness within them. As a leader, part of my responsibility is to help people discover that greatness, harness it, and become what they are capable of becoming.

Some people hit the ground running. Their talents are immediately apparent, their confidence is already established, and their experience allows them to contribute quickly.

Others require an elongated ramp.

They may need time to understand the organization, develop new skills, recover from mistakes, or begin believing in their own abilities. Their early struggles may tell us where they are today, but they do not necessarily tell us where they can go tomorrow.

Sam Darnold’s NFL career offers a compelling example.

Darnold entered the league as the third overall selection in the 2018 draft. Expectations wereenormous, but his early career did not unfold as anticipated.

He struggled with the New York Jets and failed to establish himself as a long-term starter in Carolina. He then spent a season as a backup in San Francisco.

After several stops and six NFL seasons, it would have been easy to decide that Darnold had already demonstrated what he was capable of becoming.

His story, however, was still being written.

Given another opportunity in Minnesota, Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-win regular season.

Even then, disappointing performances at the end of the year caused many people to question whether his success could continue.

Darnold moved to Seattle, continued to develop, and ultimately became the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl championship team.

The talent had not suddenly appeared. It had been there all along.

It took experience, failure, coaching, perseverance, the right environment—and patience—for that ability to fully emerge.

Not every struggling employee will become the organizational equivalent of a Super Bowlwinning quarterback. Patience does not eliminate standards or accountability. Not every person will respond to coaching, and not every employment relationship should continue indefinitely.

But current performance should not automatically become a permanent judgment of someone’s potential.

Leaders must possess the flexibility to recognize that people develop differently and the patience to help them through the process. We must be willing to see more in people than they may currently see in themselves.

Sometimes the difference between an underperformer and a stellar employee is a leader who possesses the patience to help an unfinished person develop.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Who on your team could benefit from more patience and coaching today?
What could you do to help that person tap into the potential they already possess?

CHALLENGE

Before you define someone by what they have not yet become, look again at what they have.
Unfinished is not the same as incapable.