How to overcome a weak teammate

Every team has a weak link, no matter if you’re in the office or on the playing field. If you’re currently having trouble with a weak teammate in your office, here are a few ways you can turn that weakness into a strength.

Give them easy tasks

The simplest way to make use of a weak link on your team is to give them low-risk responsibilities that are less important to the overall team goal. This will give the employee some value in a low-risk way and relieve other employees of tasks that aren’t as important to the work that they’re doing.

Help them find and hone their skills

Even if an employee only has a few valuable skills, find one that they’re good at and let them do that repeatedly. Let them know that they’re doing a good job so they can find confidence and value in their existing skillset.

Let them shadow someone stronger

If your employee can spend time learning from a stronger coworker, this can put them on track to develop into a more valuable teammate. Let them shadow someone who’s on track for a leadership position and give that employee an opportunity to help turn the weak link into a stronger asset.

Send them on their way

Sometimes the best option is to cut ties and start over. If an employee has consistently shown that they’re the wink link on your team, it may be time to start from scratch.

Someone will always be the weakest link. On an All-Star baseball team, someone is the worst player. But that player is still an All-Star, so keep that in mind when you’re assembling the best team you possibly can. Don’t settle for any less than the best.