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Rotten Apples and Poor Performers
April 22nd, 2022
by Bill Boyajian

We all know what one rotten apple can do to a bushel.  But we seldom assess the damage that a poor performer can do to a business.

A rotten apple – or any fruit, for that matter – slowly but surely degrades the fruit around it.  If not caught soon enough, it can ruin all the fruit.

It’s like that in a business, too.  Not all your staff can be super-stars, but even those who aren’t still need to do their job well.  Poor performers or even mediocre staff have a way of lowering the standard that top performers set.  They make everyone less productive and more complacent about their work.

I know it’s doubly hard to find good staff today, so the tendency is to hire warm bodies to fill a role without considering the ramifications they can have on everyone else.  Worse yet, there are long-time staff whose performance and attitude have declined so severely that they have become a downer – even a detriment – to the rest of the team.

I’m reminded of one top manager who expressed her dismay of not terminating a long-time employee two years sooner.  Sometimes the timing or the circumstances just aren’t right, but we all usually know when we’ve had enough.

If you’re an owner or manager, think about the consequences of poor performers in your business.  Chances are, you’ve had enough, too.   But you also now know what you have to do about it.



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–Charles Denaburg,
Managing Partner,
Levy’s Fine Jewelry
Birmingham, AL

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Leitzel Fine Jewelry
Hershey & Myerstown, PA

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Kizer-Cummings Jewelers
Lawrence, KS