A frustrated staff member in a governmental agency commented to me, “Council members are supposed to get their agenda items to me by 12:00 noon on Wednesday so that I can get the agenda to all members by 8:00 a.m. on Thursday. She continued to explain that one of the elected council members was too often late meeting the 12:00 noon deadline.

When reminded, the council member was apologetic and mannerly but continued to be unreliable. I instructed the staff member to politely communicate to the council member that failure to submit his items on time would result in his topics being left off the agenda.  Although reluctant, the staff member gave the council member two weeks’ notice of her intention.  After seeing his items left off the agenda twice, the council member reliably began meeting the deadline.

Many conscientious employees eventually give in and accept rejuggling their priorities or working late as part of the job.  While it might work for the organization, it increases my bile to see high performing contributors consistently supporting poor performance.  Such codependent behavior is unfair to high performers. And it rewards the poor performers by shielding them from the consequences of their behaviors.