INNERGISE!

At some point as a manager you will have to deal with underperformance. Dealing with and managing employee performance is an important skill needed to become a great manager and leader.

When dealing with underperformance it can be easy to make rash decisions and start a conversation with the employee without thinking the issue through objectively and rationally and preparing a plan to deal with the issue.

These steps outline the process when dealing with underperformance: 

Identify and analyse the issue.

When you have an employee underperforming it is important to understand the reasons behind this underperformance. Underperformance within an individual could occur for many reasons, these could be:

• They don’t know what is expected of them
• The employee doesn’t have the knowledge or skills to do the job expected of them
• They don’t know if they have been doing a good/poor performance because there has been no feedback on their performance thus far
• Lack of personal motivation

As the employee’s manager you should determine how serious the problem is, how long it has existed and how wide the gap is between what is expected of them and what is being delivered.

Once the problem has been identified you should organise a meeting with the employee to discuss the problem.

Meet with the employee to discuss the problem. It is important that you meet with the employee in private, as you would do an appraisal, so that both of you are away from distractions and interruptions. You should begin the conversation by clearly outlining what the problem is so that they can understand why it is a problem and how it impacts on the team.

Give the employee the opportunity to explain why the problem has occurred and allow their view point to be heard. During this conversation remember to discuss the issue not the employee, stay relaxed and encouraging so you support the employee and summarise their points to check your understanding of the issue.

When you are discussing the underperformance check the employee understands what is required of them and the difference between that and what has been delivered.

• Jointly identify and commit to a solution. It is important to devise an appropriate solution together where possible, a solution that the employee has had input in will be one they are more likely to accept and act on. When working on a solution you should ask open questions so you can explore possible solutions with the employee, offer assistance such as training, mentoring or other support where needed. The outcome of this meeting should be a clear action plan to implement the solution with the employee understanding what is expected of them. During this meeting schedule a follow up meeting to review progress and discuss the employee’s performance against the action plan.
• Monitor and review performance. You should monitor the employee’s performance and continually provide feedback and encouragement. Ensure the follow up meeting that was scheduled in your initial meeting happens, even if the issue has been quickly resolved.

Remember when discussing underperformance with the employee isn’t an opportunity for you to berate them but to encourage and support them so you can get the best out of them.