202203241127 Overcoming poor performance of a peer

It is possible to fail in an organization primarily because we want to hold others to a higher standard than our organization's management is willing to enforce.

The basic pattern of one of these scenarios goes like this. We're trying to do our job effectively, but can't due to the low performance of a peer. We escalate our problem to our manager, but they transform the issue into one about interpersonal conflict or relationships instead of addressing the performance issue of the other individual. This (avoidant) transformation pushes the responsibility back onto us and if we persevere and insist on driving accountability for the peer, we block our own progress, becoming "hard to work with", without accomplishing anything.

Typically this scenario is not because the manager lacks the knowledge that there is an issue. It's more likely the manager knows about the problem but is unwilling or unable to address it directly.

There are two approaches for dealing with this scenario:¹

1. Have a direct discussion but frame it by asking your manager why they are comfortable maintaining the status quo. This can be uncomfortable for you and them, so be careful. If this is successful, it'll still be a slow change anyway.
2. Generate excitement, investment, and constructive energy directed towards a positive outcome. Even if your peer's performance isn't addressed directly, you can overcome the bad performance and get everyone moving in the direction that's needed. This can result in conflict with the peer as their views and behavior are implicitly discarded or rejected.

A related idea is to 202203241152 Ask for more from your people. The difference between this scenario and that idea is that our team is within our 202109121518 Circle of control whereas our peers are only within our 202109121516 Circle of influence. This means we can simply set the standards as a team and adhere to them, but we can't necessarily set our managers' or other teams' standards.