还记得皮特•贝斯特吗？他曾经是甲壳虫乐队的鼓手。之后，林戈•斯塔尔接替了他的位子，甲壳虫乐队也自此获得了“披头四”（Fab Four）的美誉。

    1960年，应约翰•列侬、保罗•麦卡特尼和乔治•哈里森的邀请，贝斯特加盟甲壳虫乐队，当时，他们准备前往德国北部的汉堡市，去当地俱乐部进行一系列演出。据说，正是在汉堡夜复一夜的现场演出奠定了披头士的演出风格和表演技巧，使他们在几年后成为举世闻名的乐队。

    乐队其他成员继续名利双收，惟有贝斯特中途折戟。原因何在？他的表现确实不错，但还不足以好到能让他一直留在乐队的程度，所以在与乐队合作两年之后，他被乐队解雇。

    1962年初，为了获得迪卡唱片公司（Decca Records）的唱片合同，甲壳虫乐队（当时贝斯特还在）进行了试唱，却遭到了唱片公司的拒绝。几个月以后，他们去帕洛风唱片公司（Parlophone）试唱，该公司的制作人同意与他们签约，但是坚持在录音期间使用一位经验丰富的鼓手，而不是贝斯特（很显然，这是当时的一个行业惯例）。

    听了制作人的要求，列侬、麦卡特尼和哈里森他们决定解雇贝斯特，另寻他人。之后，他们选择了林戈•斯塔尔，接下来发生的事，就众所周知了。显然，他们觉得如果贝斯特不够优秀，不适合录音，那他肯定也没法与乐队共同实现更高的音乐抱负。

    音乐圈与大多数公司高管们的日常关心的工作焦点隔了十万八千里。但是，几乎我们遇到的每个经理人都遇到过类似“皮特•贝斯特”的问题——某个成员的表现不错，但还是不够好。

    一个人“表现不错，却又不够好”，怎么会这样呢？如果经理人希望自己的团队有所改善或与众不同时，他就会遇到这种情况。如果团队成员都希望能有所变化或提高，经理人就要弄清楚，是否所有团队成员（顺便说一句，也包括经理人本人）都能帮助团队实现和维持更高的业绩水平。

    遗憾的是，答案并不总是肯定的。总会有一个人能胜任目前的工作——如皮特•贝斯特能够胜任酒吧演出的乐队鼓手——但要想提升表现，他却有些力不从心。在这种情况下，该如何对待这类员工呢？

    Remember Pete Best? Best was the Beatles drummer before Ringo Starr took the job and the group went on to become the Fab Four.

    Best was invited by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison -- the original Beatles -- to join them in 1960 just as they went to Hamburg in northern Germany to play a series of club dates. According to Beatles lore, it was in Hamburg, playing night after night in front of a live audience, that the group developed the seasoning and skills that would make them world-famous only a few years later.

    Why didn't Best go on to fame and fortune with the others? He was considered good, but not good enough, and so he was dismissed after spending two years with the group.

    In early 1962, the Beatles (with Best) auditioned for a recording contract with Decca Records and they were turned down. Months later, they auditioned for Parlophone. The producer there agreed to sign them but insisted on using an experienced session drummer instead of Best for the recordings (apparently, this was common practice at the time).

    When Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison heard what the producer wanted, they decided to let Best go entirely and find someone else. They chose Ringo Starr and the rest is history. Apparently, they felt if Best wasn't good enough for the recording sessions, he wasn't good enough for what they aspired to become.

    The music world may seem like a universe away from the daily concerns of most bosses, but almost every manager we've encountered has had a "Pete Best" problem -- someone on staff who was good, but not good enough.

    How can someone be "good but not good enough"? It happens when you want your group to become better or somehow different. And when you and the group aspire to change and improve, you need to ask everyone involved (including yourself, by the way) if they are capable of helping the group attain and sustain that higher level of performance.

    Unfortunately, the answer isn't always "yes." There's often someone who's perfectly capable in the current scenario -- like Pete Best as a club band drummer -- but isn't capable of doing his part to lift performance. What do you do with this person?

    问题如何解决？并没有固定的模式。但是我们可以提供几条建议。

    首先，经理人要明确自己和团队的预期目标。确保每个成员都参与目标的制定过程，并以实现目标为己任。否则，管理层最终采取的任何行动都将被认为是专断独行、甚至是不公平的。

    确定了目标，就要与团队共同明确每个人在实现目标的过程中需要扮演的角色。另外，经理人也要与团队讨论作为管理者需要做出哪些改进。这样一来，才能确保自己不会成为那个表现还不错但又不够好的人。

    给每个员工提供接受挑战的机会。为他们提供培训和辅导的机会，给他们充足的时间和关注。当然，最重要的是，给他们提供必要的反馈，帮助他们不断提高。

    如果开始感觉到团队中有员工可能无法达到预期目标，这时，经理人需要与该员工继续共同努力，但是同时也应该与公司的人力资源部门讨论一下这个问题。我们在此提供几建议，供大家参考。

    通过定期向有问题的员工提供反馈，确保该员工对自己的现状有一个明确的认识。毕竟，员工有权知道自己的现状，以及可能面临的后果。

    一旦经理人确定某个员工无法达到预期目标，可以尝试在团队或公司的其他部门为其寻找一个合适的职位。根据该员工的能力、缺点和潜力，重新为她安排职位。但是，千万不要在公司的需求方面有所妥协。

    最重要的是，在这个艰难的过程中，要给予员工充分的尊重，这样做有益无害。相反，如果一味贬低员工以求心安，比如有事没事找茬，实际上可能根本于事无补。

    请注意，无论经理人怎么做，他的最终决定——留下或开除问题员工——在一定程度上都取决于个人的判断。如果皮特•贝斯特仍然留在甲壳虫乐队，没有林戈•斯塔尔的加盟，甲壳虫乐队是否还能声名大燥呢？答案不得而知。

    面对这样的难题，许多经理人选择了逃避，比如根本不做任何决定，或永久性地搁置问题。但是，如果经理人希望自己和团队能更上一层楼，就必须做出决定。这将是作为经理人面临的最艰难的抉择之一，纵使夜不能寐，也无法逃避。

    本文作者：Linda A. Hill，哈佛商学院（Harvard Business School）教授；Kent Lineback，作家，拥有30年丰富的管理经验。《做个真正的经理人：成为伟大领导者必须具备的三个特质》（Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader）一书由二人合著。

    翻译：乔树静/汪皓

    There's no formula for how to proceed, but we can offer some guidelines.

    Start by being as clear as possible about where you and your group want to go. Make sure everyone is part of that decision and is committed to it. Otherwise, any actions you eventually take will appear arbitrary and even unfair.

    Given the goals you've set, work with your team to identify their roles in making the change. Discuss with the group about how you may need to change as well. Make sure you're not the one who's good but not good enough.

    Give everyone the opportunity to rise to the challenge. Give them the training, coaching, time, attention, and, most of all, the feedback they need to improve.

    If and when you begin to sense that someone may not make it, keep working with that person, but it's also a good idea to start to talk to your company's HR department about the issue. There are policies and practices that you will likely need to follow.

    Make sure the person in question knows where she stands by giving them regular feedback. She deserves to know not only where she stands but also what's at stake.

    Once you decide someone won't make it, try to find another position that will work for that person, either in your group or elsewhere in the organization. Consider re-assigning roles and responsibilities to recognize her strengths, weaknesses, and potential. But don't compromise on what you need.

    Above all: throughout this difficult process, it only pays to treat people with dignity and respect. It doesn't help matters if you try to make yourself feel better by demonizing someone -- that is, by finding fault with everything that person does to justify what you must do.

    Be aware that, no matter what you do, your final decision -- to keep this person on or fire them -- will always be a judgment call to some degree. Could the Beatles have become stars with Pete Best instead of Ringo Starr? Who knows?

    Many managers duck the whole difficult issue by making no decision at all or by putting it off forever. However, if you and your group aspire to be more than you currently are, it's a call you will have to make. It's one of the most difficult choices you will face, one that will keep you awake at night, but you cannot avoid it.

    Linda A. Hill, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Kent Lineback, a writer with 30 years of management experience, are co-authors of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader.