(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “We should take what we do seriously…people are counting on us.  We just shouldn’t take ourselves so seriously!  Be the consummate Pro…and then lighten up!  That combo is magical”
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   One simple question to ask job candidates that will tell you a lot about them.
    
   The simple question is, “What attracted you to this job?”  This will start a conversation that should tell you a lot about the candidate.
    
3. Fun facts about IKEA. IKEA is the world’s largest furniture manufacturer with 44 production facilities in 11 countries.  In addition, they buy finished products and components from 1.600 suppliers in 54 countries.  But, the most fun fact is that, because of their in-store restaurant / cafeterias, famous for their Swedish meatballs, IKEA is also the 6^th largest restaurant chain in the world.
    
4. The tragic math of cigarette smoking.  According to recent Study, each cigarette smoked can take 20 minutes off your life.  So, at half a pack a day (10 cigarettes), that’s 200 minutes a day removed from your life span…or 51 days a year lost from smoking.
    
   At a possible 40 years of smoking, that’s 5 ½ years off your life…and a lifetime expense of about $100,000 for cigarettes.  If that $2,500 a year was invested at 6% annually, it would grow to $245,000 in 40 years.
    
5. Pricy tuna. A 608 pound (276 kg) blue fin tuna, caught near Japan last week, sold for $1.3 million US at the famous Toyosu Wholesale Fish Market in Tokyo.  That’s about $2,170 US per pound, including all the guts, bones and other unsaleable parts.
    
6. Hyatt Hotel’s AI powered beds. At some Hyatt hotels, their AI-powered beds can monitor your heart rate, movement and blood pressure to offer more comfort and a better night’s sleep.  AI will affect / transform parts of every business, large and small.  Who’s carrying the ball on AI in your business?

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Why are some of your Team members not performing?

One of my new Biz Coaching clients has a number of Team members who aren’t performing.  So, the business is struggling and the Boss, my new client, has been working long hours to pick up the slack.  We’re going to put an end to this…fast!

Below are some of the possibilities for non-performance that I’ve discussed with him…

1. Team members aren’t clear about what’s expected of them?  There are no clear, specific and measurable performance expectations and commitments with agreed ‘due dates’.  And there’s no measurement of individual or Department performance.
2. They know what’s expected, but aren’t capable of doing it. Either this can be fixed with training and coaching, or they’re just not the right people for the job and need to be replaced by capable, engaged employees.
3. They know what’s expected and are capable, but choose not to do it…and are allowed to get away with it. There are no consequences for non-performance.  Failure to deal with non-performance is one of the biggest problems in many businesses today.
4. They know what’s expected, know how to do it and they want to do it, but the Boss (my new client) takes the initiative away from them and actually enjoys doing it all himself…and they cheerfully let him.

If you have non-performing Team members, do any of these 4 scenarios reflect what’s going on in your business…and what will you do to fix it?

Actually, there are 14 reasons for staff non-performance and they’re all revealed in my Biz Tool #B-21,  ‘14 reasons for our staff not performing…and whose fault are they?  You can download it, no charge, by Clicking Here.

That’s it for this week…

Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.