Should someone continue to pay me for doing part of my job? I have encountered people who think that doing a good job in parts of their work is enough to expect continued employment and in some cases promotions.

Here are some examples:

• A nurse who is strong clinically, but consistently fails to correctly document things in patient charts.
• A salesperson who knows his products and competitor products inside and out, but creates very few strong client relationships.
• A middle manager who always gets reports in on time, but does not coach or develop individuals on her team.

Don’t Be Surprised

If I have been given the expectations, the coaching and the time to become proficient in my job, but I still fall short, should I expect to continue to be paid?

The Lawn Man Analogy

Imagine I hired a lawn man to care for the outside of my house. When I pull into the driveway, the yard looks great. In fact, as neighbors are going by they compliment the front yard. Needless to say, I am pretty pleased.

But as I walk in the house, I look into the back yard and see it looks terrible. I call the lawn man and clarify my expectations that both the front and the back of the house are to be completed.

Over the next few weeks, the front lawn remains pristine. But the back yard looks half done. There are half raked piles of leaves and trimmings in the middle of yard. It is obvious my lawn man believes doing the front lawn well should be good enough.

I am the owner of the house. Only the lawn man and I know what is happening in the back yard. To the people on the street, the lawn man looks like he is doing his job.

As the owner of the house, should I be expected to keep paying my lawn man full wages for doing half the work well and the other half poorly?

I think all of us would begin looking for a new lawn man if this were the case.

Being Good Sometimes – Is Not Good Enough

I should not expect to continue being paid if I do a good job on SOME of my job. If I am hired to do an entire job, I should expect to only get paid if I do the all the work.

Because I made an agreement to do my job – all of it – every month, I can expect to get my salary – all of it – every month. If I do not fulfill my end of the agreement, I should not expect my employer to fulfill his end.

• If I am a nurse – I have to be great on the clinical side, but I better be proficient in documenting patient charts.
• If I am a salesperson – I have to know my product and my competitor products well, but I better be proficient in developing and maintaining relationships with customers.
• If I am a middle manager – I have to get my reports in on time, but I better be active in developing and coaching my people towards better performance.

If I choose to be good sometimes and not others, I will not be good enough to keep on the payroll.

The Bottom Line:

It is the supervisor’s responsibility to lay out expectations, provide coaching and give me time to become proficient. But not all bosses will provide those.

• If expectations are not provided, I need to ask for them or get clarity on anything I am unsure about.
• If coaching or training is not provided, I need to find someone to show me how.
• If time is not given, then I need to put in extra time to get up to speed quickly.

I should never expect to continue to be paid just because my boss has failed to provide me with these things. I am ultimately responsible for performing all of my job duties to standards.

We will all have some areas of our jobs we find more difficult than others. I was never great at my administrative work as a salesperson. However, I knew even though I excelled at sales, I was still responsible for being adequate in my administrative work.

In the lawn man analogy, if the lawn man had done a decent job on the back yard, most of us would keep paying him because of his excellence on the front yard.

We are all responsible for doing our entire job. Some people act like they have the right to choose to do some parts well and ignore other parts.

Those people are correct. They do have the right to make that choice. But remember, their employer has the right to quit paying them if they make that choice.

Question:

What parts of jobs do you some people believe are optional?