Welcome to Minute with Mallon!

Something I Taught:

Recently I was watching a YouTube video that featured former NFL star and current ESPN announcer Desmond Howard. He was discussing how certain coaches held him to very high standards and demanded that he do things at an elite level. He credited this attitude with turning him from an average-at-best player during his second year at Michigan, to Heisman Trophy winner and 11-year elite player in the NFL. And by the way, he was named Super Bowl XXXI's Most Valuable Player.

Here's a comment that really hit me:

"One of the greatest quotes I ever heard was from Joe Dumars. Joe was front office with the Detroit Pistons. He said that there'd never been a superstar that was coddled to greatness."

He went on to say that there always has to be some fire to sharpen a sword. And it doesn’t just go for elite football players – this is true for any leader, manager, or for that matter, any parent who's reading this newsletter!

I was working with a client who told me that about 70 of his current employees were very engaged and that about 20 were averagely engaged. But then he told me that there was one employee who was just trying to get by with the least amount of effort.

Which made me think of this commonly cited breakdown based on 2023 Gallup's employee engagement research:

Actively Engaged: 30 of employees
Engaged: Approximately 50 of employees
Disengaged: About 20 of employees
Actively Disengaged: 17 of employees

The problem was that my client was putting up with the employee who was at best Disengaged, and who could possibly be at the Actively Disengaged level.

We went on to talk about what to do with that employee. My client agreed that if the situation was ignored, it very possibly would affect the rest of the team and possibly the entire culture of the workplace. I told him this:

A Players don't like playing with C Players!

Or in language based on the Gallup survey, Actively Engaged and Engaged employees don't like working with Disengaged and Actively Disengaged employees.

So if you have one or more of these on your team, don't "coddle" them. Talk to them. Tell them exactly what standards you expect and let them know that under no circumstances will you tolerate anything less. Document the conversations, then stay on them. If they choose not to change, so be it! At that point, free up their future to go find a place that better fits their work ethic and disposition!

Something I Learned:

I'm reading a really good book recommended by my friends Jason and Rachael Auyer. It's called "The Effective Manager." The author is Mark Horstman

A couple of passages in particular jumped out at me:

"The military has a phrase that captures the connection between results and people beautifully: Mission First, People Always. Your first responsibility is to deliver whatever results your organization expects from you.

Your second responsibility as a manager is to retain your people.

The definition of an effective manager is one who gets results and keeps her people."

Think about that! If you deliver the results your organization expects from you and if you retain your people, you're absolutely accomplishing your job you're doing it well!

It doesn't get clearer than that!

The rest of the book explains HOW to actually accomplish these two crucial responsibilities.

If you're in any type of position where you are managing and/or leading employees, even one, I'd highly recommend this book! It will make your life much easier!

Something to Ponder:

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.

Maya Angelou

Something I Saw:

Redfish at a place called Seabird Oysters in Wilmington!

Who comes to mind who could benefit from this information? Just copy and paste this link and send it to them by text or email: RobertMallon.com/Newsletter

Hope you have an incredible week!

Robert

Minute With Mallon: Don't Coddle Them!