One more thought from new University of Nebraska coach Matt Rhule (see dot #3787). When he was asked what contributed to his success at Baylor and Temple, he replied that “we loved them (the players) and coached them hard. Others are afraid to coach hard for fear they will transfer, but we coached them hard.”
The same principle applies in the workplace. Managers allow employees to slack off for fear of them quitting or supervisors fail to confront poor performance because they figure having a weak employee is better than having none. Both behaviors cause more problems than they solve.
Great employees want to work with great employees. They don’t want to pick up the slack that others create and allowing sub-par work to continue diminishes the culture of the entire department.
The trick is to address both aspects of what Kim Scott labels as “radical candor — caring personally and challenging directly.” If you show that your team really matters to you, you can set those expectations high and push people to achieve more than they thought possible. And, as I know from experience, they almost always will come through for you.
Love hard and coach hard. It’s a winning formula on the field or in the office.
