The smart aleck employee who prides himself on doing as little as possible to scrape by will needle you by saying, 'There are no bad workers -- just bad managers.'

The genius-in-residence has a minor point. But the question remains: How do you motivate employees who don't perform up to their potential?

"First, you try to avoid bad employees by hiring carefully," says Dr Lynda Dahlke, a specialist in organizational behavior at Psychology for Business, a consulting firm in Brookfield, Wis. "If you made a mistake in hiring, then you have to understand why the employee isn't performing well. It can be a lack of training, a poorly defined role, lack of feedback, shifting organizational priorities or something deeper."

Micromanaging is the surest way to kill an employee's enthusiasm. To succeed, employees need to know that they're trusted and their work is valued.

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Micromanaging tells the employee just the opposite, and constant checks are as annoying as a fussy elementary-school teacher telling you to print your name and the date in the upper right-hand corner of every assignment.

Pointing out every little mistake -- especially things that are a mistake only in your eyes -- will quickly kill incentive. Instead, try something like "Here's how to make your job easier" or "You're good, and here's how to get better."

Managers are responsible for the finished product, but good managers quickly learn how to concentrate on outcome and leave the process to others. What's more important: delivering a solid product or service to your customers on time or how the boxes are stacked?

The smart manager sets goals and lets employees perform within clearly defined parameters. Gushy praise is instantly recognized as fake and won't cut it. Thank an employee individually for his or her contribution and repeat your thanks at a staff meeting. Always use outstanding performance to jump to the larger issue: Here's how we solved the problem, or here's how we beat the competition.

You can't go wrong by rewarding your top performers with more challenging assignments. Many managers fall into this trap: Top performers are inundated with routine tasks because the work will be handled quickly and well. That soon becomes a disincentive to excel.

Additional pay is always appreciated, but a good working environment is more important to most employees than a few extra bucks each week. Employees need to know that their contributions are noticed, valued and part of expanding the enterprise.

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Review your employees' performance objectively and ask some basic questions: What are their strengths? Weaknesses? Are they in the right slot? Would their talents and interests flourish with a different assignment?

The manager's goal remains unchanged: How can you consistently get the best out of each worker?

Of course, there are some people who shake your faith in evolution and resist or ignore every effort to get them to improve. Such employees often show similar traits:

• They do the absolute minimum to meet their responsibilities and nothing more.
• They routinely perform their duties with more attitude than gusto, and their sullenness often carries over into their dealings with customers.
• They have little commitment to the company, frequently bad-mouth it and regularly denigrate fellow workers.
• When asked for ideas to improve the work flow, clever deadbeats respond with a quip like this: "Pardon me, but you've confused me with someone who gives a damn."
• They complain endlessly about poor pay, lack of advancement and don't have a clue how others see them.
• If you have the misfortune of dealing with such a slug, work carefully with the personnel department. Rule of thumb: The worst workers are often the most litigious.
• Meet privately with a problem worker. Tell him how and where he's failing to meet company standards. Tell him what he needs to do to improve. Set deadlines for improvement. Make the path to success clear. Demand improvement. Put everything in writing. Keep a copy for yourself, and give copies to personnel and the employee. This will build a record if it becomes necessary to fire the worker.

These issues will show up in mom-and-pop businesses and across all industries, including semiconductor companies such as Intel, banks such as Wells Fargo, energy companies such as Valero and software companies such as Microsoft.

"As a manager, you can't be buddies with your employees," Dahlke says. "You can't reprimand a best buddy. You must command respect and lead. But you don't want to be inaccessible or feared."

In short, managing is a balancing act -- and it's not easy to do it well. That, and what often seems to be your role as babysitter-in-chief for difficult workers, is why you make the big bucks.

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