Scenario: You see someone not performing up to their potential what do you do?

2015-01-31T00:20:31-05:00

You have a sergeant who is not living up to what you feel their potential is. What do you do?

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 31 at 2015 12:24 AM

2015-01-31T00:24:11-05:00

At any rank, I will typically begin by asking how things are going; once you know what's going on in someone's life, it may help put things into perspective, help to counsel or offer assistance later... IMHO it all usually starts with a simple conversation.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 31 at 2015 12:29 AM

2015-01-31T00:29:57-05:00

Sir, it's dependent on why the Soldier isn't performing up to their potential. Maybe they're overwhelmed with work, maybe home life has went south, maybe finances aren't where they would like them to be. There's a myriad of things.

But as a leader, I would pull the Soldier aside and ask if there's a problem they're having and if I can help. I would also mention that I have noticed their performance may not have been recently what it had been in the past and I knew they were better than how they had recently been performing. Most times, a Soldier just needs someone to listen and not necessarily fix a problem. Too often as leaders, we want to fix a problem versus just being a set of ears to listen.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 31 at 2015 10:57 AM

2015-01-31T10:57:40-05:00

Hopefully, there has been some counseling up to this point, during which there were some benchmarks or "measureables" that were not met as to make the assessment that this sergeant is not living up to their potential.

Next, as Col Private RallyPoint Member alludes to, you need to make sure you identify external factors that are affecting this leader. Next, to be succinct, you need to care. You need to sincerely care to find the path ahead for this leader -- which may be a compromise between how you mange one and how you mange this leader (you should always have the flexibility to adapt, while teaching those you lead to be able to adapt for different situations and different people. You also need to care about those this sergeant leads -- we are not in a profession where we can allow "the good guy" theory to prevail at the expense of the unit's mission, nor should we allow the "good guy" to retard the growth of those they lead unnecessarily.

When progress is made, counseling must continue to ensure new marks on the wall are made as a point from where there cannot be regression. If progress is not made, then the counseling detailing the effort so that your bosses can clearly the effort was sincere and therefore the decision to move on is supportable.

Good leadership and mentorship is time-consuming, as is reading this post.