KonMari the people in your business

If you haven’t heard of or jumped on the Marie Kondo bandwagon, here’s a quick recap:

Marie Kondo, a Japanese Netflix sensation and organisational matron centred around holding on to things that ‘spark joy’ and ridding yourself of anything that doesn’t.

So with all of the hype around Marie Kondo, its made us question if the KonMari Method be applied in the workplace? Can we identify those employees that ‘spark joy’ and hold on to them, and can we identify those that don’t? The answer is yes!

Here’s how to effectively apply the KonMari method to the people in your business:

• Ask yourself, do they ‘spark joy’?
• Are they productive, results-driven and results-producing?
• If yes, keep them, retain them! We’ve dedicated an article on talent retention here.
• If no, ask yourself:

Can they be converted from ‘painstaking’ to ‘joy sparking’? Do they have what it takes? OR, are they a lost cause? If not,  a performance improvement plan is recommended. Ideally, you already have regular one-on-one performance catch-ups in place, use these meetings to:

• Establish clear expectations and performance targets.
• Measure and report on results.
• Discuss improvement requirements and agree on the actions required and timeline for change.
• If the agreed performance plan is not met enter into the process of performance management and make it clear that the outcome could be dismissal.

Resources

Australia - Fairwork 

New Zealand - Ministry of Business and Innovation 

Read more about Marie Kondo here.