Shawn, Tim and John, thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I had hoped this post might be a useful tool for managers and the coaches who work with them. :-)

Yesterday, I got quite a surprise. Tony Latimer, an executive coach in Singapore, wrote a very detailed response to this post in one of the LinkedIn groups. He listed what he would say to managers offering these excuses. Enjoy!...

The fear underlying these excuses:
“I don’t know how to give negative feedback in a positive, unemotional manner; therefore, I fear the emotional reaction I might provoke.”

Re: star performers…
“What about the other staff who may leave due to your perceived unfairness? Are you sending message that unacceptable behaviour is ok providing you do some function well? Brace yourself for the moment when Joe is the only one left.”

Re: trying to preserve morale after a downsising
“Post downsizing is a tough time. As a leader you have the responsibility to make what is left successful. Allowing performance to slip increases the risk for more downsizing later.”

Re: trying to maintain a budgeted position
“Done right, handling poor performance will rarely result in someone leaving, and if they do, you now have room for better performer. Start planning; this excuse can only be used in a very short period at year end when budgets are done. If you have failed to deal with the situation at any other point in the year, maybe you will have no budget for your own position.”

Re: the popular employee
“They may love her socially. They may love her because she lets them get away with under-performance. If she is not their boss, they will not love the fact that they are expected to work hard and she is rewarded for not performing. All this is fine if you are working to develop an under-performance culture. What is your responsibility as a leader to the company that pays you?”

Re: the nonprofit factor
"Being a supportive leader who proactively handles performance and thereby develops his/her people, is not being mean. It is very nice. Allowing people to fail is mean. And let’s look at the leader's responsibility again. Regardless of pay rate (and they did accept the contract that said ‘do this job for this money,’ right? I don’t think it said, ‘do half this job for this money’). Let’s not forget, ‘Nonprofit’ does not mean Loss."

Re: magnitude
If it is big enough to notice, it’s big enough to bring up with the employee. (my paraphrase)

Re: concern about the employee’s confidence
"The one thing they are confident about is their ability to 'get away with it.' The responsibility of a leader is to get results through others."

Summary:
“Overall the answer is the same. Managers at all levels are there to develop people and ensure performance is delivered. The common underlying reason for all the variations on excuses for not doing your job as a leader (and there are many more) is the fear of the emotional reaction you will get.”

Thank you, Tony!