Do your employees’ work habits support or detract from your business? Are they slated for strong performance in the future?

Be honest when you think about your answer to this. Leaders who ignore the impact of the detractors can find themselves in a downward spiral when the pressure is on.

The people who work in sync with your mission are the future of your company. It’s in your best interest to enhance their talent by providing them with opportunities to get better at what they do.

But there are also employees who aren’t cutting it. If they aren’t on board, they’ll pull you down.

A client, Janet, shared a good example of this. Two of the people who report to her could not be more different.

One is entitled and expects everything to be handed to her. The other “owns” his job and frets about how he’s going to finish everything when he’s overloaded.

The first person was let go relatively quickly because her work wasn’t up to par and Janet didn’t feel she could be remediated.

This second person, however, has great work habits. He “owns” his job.

Janet can support his effectiveness, for example, by providing him with some time management tools to give him more options.

The beauty of this example is that Janet reached out for help because she wants to raise the level not only of the fretting employee but her entire team.

She knows that if her team is more effective, her department’s results will be stronger.

Take action to keep your team in great shape. Redeploy employees who aren’t cutting it and provide additional resources for those who are. The result will be a stronger, more productive team.