I’ve seen this one more times than I can count. Someone on the team isn’t doing the job. Deadlines are missed. Work has to be redone. Other people are picking up the pieces. Maybe the person is routinely late, ignores procedures, creates conflict, or simply doesn’t seem to care very much about the quality of the work. Everybody knows it, including the manager. But nothing appears to be happening.
This is where things get interesting because the natural reaction is to ask, “What can I do about this person?” My answer is usually: be careful. This may not be your problem to solve.
If you’re an employee, you have responsibility for your own work. You can do your job well. You can meet your commitments. You can point out a problem when that problem is affecting your ability to do your work. But you aren’t the supervisor. If the person causing the problem reports to your manager, then managing that person’s performance is your manager’s responsibility.
I’ve watched good employees get themselves into trouble by trying to compensate for a manager who won’t manage. They start reminding the other employee about deadlines. They check their work. They cover for them. They have conversations they shouldn’t have to be having. Before long, they’re spending more time managing somebody else’s performance than doing their own job. That’s not accountability. That’s an organization quietly transferring responsibility from the person who has it to the person who is willing to carry it.
If someone else’s performance is affecting your work, I think it is reasonable to bring the matter to your manager. But stick to what you know. Don’t tell your manager that someone is lazy, incompetent, or doesn’t care. Tell the manager what happened. “The report was due Tuesday. I didn’t receive it until Thursday, and that delayed the work I was responsible for completing.” That’s useful information. “John is a terrible employee” is a judgment. There is a difference.
Once you’ve brought the problem forward, pay attention to what happens next. Your manager may have information you don’t have. There may be circumstances you’re unaware of. There may already be a conversation taking place that you don’t see. Or there may be nothing happening at all.
If the same behavior continues and management knows about it, eventually you have to recognize that you’re no longer dealing with just an employee performance problem. You’re dealing with a management problem.
That’s an important distinction. Organizations don’t just have the culture they write down on a wall or put on their website. They have the culture created by what people experience every day. If employees learn that deadlines don’t matter, that poor performance will be tolerated, or that certain people don’t have to meet the same expectations as everyone else, they notice.
People are led. And what leaders repeatedly tolerate becomes part of the organization.
So what should you do? Do your job. Raise legitimate problems. Be specific and factual. Use the appropriate organizational channels when the situation warrants it. Keep your own standards intact. And then be careful about taking responsibility for something that belongs to somebody else.
You may not be able to make your manager hold people accountable. You can, however, decide how you will behave when accountability is missing. Sometimes that’s the most important part of the situation you actually can control.
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Author’s Note: The content provided in this article is designed exclusively for educational and informational purposes, reflecting opinions shaped by decades of leadership training and organizational consulting experience. It should never be interpreted as formal professional advice. By reading or engaging with this material, you acknowledge that no professional-client relationship is established and that these insights do not substitute for tailored guidance from a qualified professional familiar with your specific circumstances. Consequently, readers are strongly advised to seek independent counsel from licensed legal, financial, medical, or other appropriate advisors before implementing any strategies or making decisions based on these perspectives. Ultimately, you assume full personal responsibility for any actions you choose to take or omit as a result of reading this material, releasing the author and publisher from any liability for outcomes arising from your reliance on the text.
