Managers don’t divide their time equally among their team. Stepping back to think about where you spend your time and why may lead to insights on your team members performance.
Many people are familiar with the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. It says we don’t focus resources (time, money, effort) equally, but spread it out over a power law distribution. You spend 80% of your time driving on 20% of the roads in your town. 80% of your socialization time is spent with 20% of your friends (your closer ones), and only 20% of your time with the other 80% (the less-close friends).
Businesses realize 80% of their revenue comes from 20% of their customers. For example, I’ll eat at McDonald’s once in a blue moon, usually on a road trip or with a brief layover at an airport. I’m in the 80% of customers who provide only 20% of revenue. The people who eat there more than once a week are part of the 20% driving much of their revenue. (Meanwhile I’m getting pizza twice a week from my local pizza place.) It’s not literally 80% and 20% but the idea is a small amount drives a lot and a large amount drives very little.
For a business it’s important to look at two 80/20s and make sure they align. 80% of the revenue comes from 20% of the customers. Often 80% of the support costs (e.g., customer service calls) come from 20% of the customers. If the 20% of customers that drive 80% of your support costs is the same 20% generating 80% of your revenue, it’s aligned. If you find there are a small number of customers responsible for most of your support costs, but they’re in the low-contribution-to-revenue group, those customers may not be worth keeping. They’re taking more resources than they contribute. This is why companies sometimes talk about firing their customers.
Managers face similar distributions. One of my all-time most read articles has been If You’re a Manager, Dealing with Drama Is Your Job. People's issues are, most of the time, not fun. Mentoring is enjoyable, as is giving awards and promotions. More often you’re dealing with disputes, disengagements, poor performance etc. As the old saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Think for a moment about those squeaky wheels. It likely follows an 80/20 power distribution, too. 80% of the people-related problems likely come from 20% of your team. Now the question is, are those in the 20% who are needing most of your attention also generating significant output for the team?
There are teams with prima donnas. Sometimes these are necessary. A good sales person, researcher, designer, trader, or other person could bring in outsized returns. As long as they’re not crossing lines (e.g., harassment), it may be worth massaging their egos to keep them delivering (just ask the manager of a sports team with a superstar, or producer of a movie with A-list talent). That superstar or A-list celebrity clearly drives sales. They may even (often do) drive sales enough to make up how much they annoy others on the team.
This may be the case on your team. It also may not be.
Those problem employees take up your time and energy, preventing you from working on other issues, including issues that may let you or others create more value. They also negatively impact their teammates, and you, as their manager, need to put in extra effort to keep those teammates happy.
I’m not saying every employee needs equal treatment. Like plants, some need (and/or want) more attention, others less. It may vary over time, good employees sometimes hit a rough patch and need support. But equally important is to ask, for the quiet wheels who haven’t been asking for more grease, would a little extra attention or support help them turn even faster? If so, are you unable to provide it because of the squeaky ones?
Just as companies sometimes need to fire the high-cost, low-return customers (the ones providing 20% of the revenue but requiring 80% of the support costs), you might need to think about your employees the same way. Look at who generates the value to the team and who generates the costs. If one of them is greatly misaligned the wrong way, it may be time to reevaluate their roles on the team. And if one is greatly aligned positively (creates significant value with minimal supervision and support), it’s time to make sure that’s recognized, before some other manager recognizes her first.
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