In organisations, some situations have the virtue of consistency. Decisions that go nowhere, issues that keep recurring, errors that the same people are required to correct. And teams that eventually accept that part of their working day will be spent compensating for a specific colleague’s failings.
None of this escapes management’s notice for too long. Despite all this, years can go by without anything changing. “They know the place inside out”, “now isn’t the right time” “let’s give them another chance”. These are valid arguments – until it eventually becomes clear that the ‘last chance’ has been given many times.
In our world of executive search, we regularly encounter situations like these. What is striking isn’t the realisation itself – which others often share – but the time that it can take to realise the consequences. When a problem has been known for years, the issue at hand is no longer simply an individual’s performance, but the courage on the part of management to face the truth and do what needs to be done.
After all, tolerating situations such as these comes at a cost. Staff forced to put in extra hours, managers who patch things up rather than developing the team, and talented individuals who quickly realise that the same standards don’t apply to everyone.
When a decision is made to save just one person from dismissal, the entire team is often forced to carry the can. The best team members find themselves taking the strain, the managers adapt, goals are scaled back, and little by little the exception becomes the norm. What was meant to be temporary ends up becoming normal, and what was tolerated ends up being thought of as acceptable.
Sometimes, though, asking just one question is enough: “If this position were vacant today, would we choose the same person again?” If the answer is no, the status-quo becomes hard to justify.
The real issue is less that of an individual’s mediocrity, but more that of the collective tolerance that allows them to stay in their role. After all, by repeatedly avoiding making a difficult decision, a far weightier, unspoken one is made: to lower the standards of an entire organisation.
And the best ones can see it happening. They don’t always speak up. In many cases, they just leave.
And the problem doesn’t end there. An organisation that tolerates poor performance over the long term also finds itself losing its appeal to the talented people it seeks to attract. The most discerning job-seekers can see what a company values, what it accepts, and, above all else, what it allows to persist.
An organisation is judged less by the values it expresses than by the standards it upholds in practice. Decisions made, and those deferred, often speak far louder than words do.
Genuine managerial responsibility is to be found in never allowing mediocrity to become the norm.
