Have you ever wiped a spider web away only to find the spider has made a new web the next day? So you sweep it away again and, lo and behold, the spider has remade it in the exact same spot. The spider will continue to remake the web but with less and less quality. The quality suffers because he feels there is not point in spending his time, expertise, and energy to make the perfect spider web knowing it will just be destroyed. At some point the spider will find a better location and you will see the expert weaver once again.

Now think of your staff you have hired and the quality of work they deliver to you. You hired them for their expertise and ability. As time went on you may see the work that they are producing is not at the level that you hired them for. 

Instead of looking at them critically look at the environment where they work. Are they being supported? Is their work being overly criticized. Are they getting clear direction? Are they being micromanaged? In other words, do they feel, like the spider, where it doesn’t matter what they do, it will be always be either redone, over criticized or tossed. Just like the spider, they start to loose the will to do a good job.

So I ask you. Whose web is at its bare minimum? And how can you support them so they can perform to their maximum. As a leader create an environment where you encourage the best from your employees.