What do you do if an employee is simply lazy? He paces himself, and that pace is definitely slow. He seems to have no sense of the amount of effort that is expected. He has no radar for looking around and seeing that he is not contributing to the same degree as his peers—or, worse, he doesn’t care.

Interventions
• First, communicate to the employee that his level of productivity
is not acceptable. Simultaneously, convey your commitment to help him solve the problem. Encourage the employee to explore whether an external factor such as health issues, personal problems, or other distractions could be impairing performance (covered more thoroughly in Chapter 19).

• With the employee’s help, pinpoint the employee’s most productive
time in the workday. Shift the employee’s most critical work to this
time.

• Pinpoint times when the employee is least productive. On a daily
basis, schedule tasks for this time that force the employee to perform:
• Schedule appointments
• Make daily runs to suppliers, the bank, or other places so that
the employee keeps moving and working

• Change the employee’s locations. If the employee becomes lethargic every afternoon between two and four o’clock, suggest that he go to the conference room and work there during those hours if it is not occupied. Surprisingly, a change of location can refocus some employees.

Taken From: 201 Ways to Turn Any Employee Into a STAR Performer