An employee who is capable of dazzling performance but who achieves only average results is as much a waste as an unqualified
employee. Organizations can afford to accept average performers who are achieving average results. Accepting mediocre results from an employee with outstanding abilities is throwing away a valuable
resource, human capital. A manager who does this is doing both the
employee and organization a disservice. There are several steps to
resolving this fairly common problem.

Interventions
• Give the employee a vivid picture of what you want. What does
“good” performance look like? When you explain your performance
standards to your employee, spell out your criteria, such as the acceptable number of mistakes and quantity and quality requirements, using lots of examples. Do you manage a proposal
writer who turns out mediocre but not bad proposals? Show her
three examples of great proposals along with your explanation of
why they are good. Then show her three examples of poor or
mediocre proposals and tell her what they lack. Amazingly, some
employees don’t know what “good” performance looks like. It is
your job to show them.

In addition, every task should have quality standards. In the example of the proposal writer, whose responsibility is it to proofread? What are the approved format, dimensions, and content of proposals? Spell this out and give it to employees in writing. Similarly, create a list of signs of poor quality. Employees should know what not to do. Many employees think that no one cares if spelling in emails is incorrect. Their management, on the other hand, may be horrified at this lapse in professionalism. Spell out what is not acceptable.

• Discover the reason why the employee is choosing mediocrity. What if you have verified that the employee is capable of doing a
high-quality job but simply won’t do it? This is an entirely different
problem. Pinpoint with the employee exactly what elements of the job he finds problematic and then work around them. Is there a part of the job that is repugnant to him or that he considers beneath his level of experience? Or is this a personal issue? Is his noncompliance with quality standards the employee’s way of expressing resentment toward another employee or toward you? Ask the employee to list everything he likes about the tasks he does and then list the things he does not like. Ask him how many minutes or hours a day he spends doing the repugnant tasks. Point out that every job has some unpleasant parts. Underscore to the employee that you are searching for a solution to a quality problem that unequivocally must be solved immediately. Stress, however, that you are trying to work toward the employee’s success and satisfaction at the same time. Enlist the employee’s help in figuring out a solution to this mystery. If possible, reach some compromises. Together, attempt to create some solutions, but give the employee a deadline for improving his quality. Check in to make sure that the solutions are being implemented.

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