Leading Those Who Rationalize Poor Performance

Very few people are quick to accept their role in subpar performance or lack of progress. 

Poor performers are notorious for explaining why their inferior results have little to do with them. They commonly rationalize their poor performance by pointing to external factors beyond their control. Technically known as Defensive Attribution, all performers have a tendency to blame anything and anyone else but themselves for undesirable outcomes or performance. 

By attributing poor results to factors outside of their control, people minimize their accountability for past, present, and future outcomes. This is a neat trick. Unfortunately, however, they don’t get any better. 

Leaders who accept rationalization or defensive attribution for poor performance fail to propel people forward. Team members don’t excel when they are allowed to place blame for inferior performance on anything but themselves.  

Requiring that team members accept full responsibility is sometimes the best path forward, but is often unnecessary and fights the human need for defensive attribution. The best leaders aren’t as concerned about the rationalization of why poor performance occurred. Instead, they ask others to focus on what they plan to do differently to change the outcome. 

This is a critically important move.

Whoever really said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results was onto something. (It seems like anything smart gets attributed to Albert Einstein, but it is unlikely he ever said it.) The key is not for leaders to get people to “own” their poor performance and to stare it down. Rather, the magic is in asking what they are going do differently to achieve a better result. Even those highly inclined to blame external factors for their inferior performance will accept that they can do something new to improve future results. 

Good leaders ask poor performers to be specific. They demand a precise plan of action that will create change. They push aside rationalizations and focus exclusively on the plan forward. 

While they may explore the root causes for weak performance with the team member, they quickly move to the actions that will change performance. This also reduces defensiveness and allows for a more reasonable conversation. 

By pushing people to decide what they will do differently, leaders confront poorly performing team members with the leadership they so desperately need. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means keep moving.” 

Better results don’t happen without new actions. The best leaders ask others to stop talking and begin doing.