Non-performance

Words to strike terror into the heart of a manager. Non-performance. Probably not grounds for termination and at the same time, you know that their heart isn’t in the job. You may have discovered that ignoring it in the hope it will get better is not working. Quick comments seem to have no effect. So now, what do you do?

Step one: make a list for yourself of what the issues are.
Step two: pick out the one problem area that is most crucial. (When you want change, focus on one issue – if you dump a pile of accusations and complaints on the employee they will be defensive and the conversation will go nowhere.)
Step three: call the employee in and give a direct message. e.g. “Over the last couple of months I have noticed that your performance in doing ____is not adequate. Please tell me what is going on and how you plan to change your behavior”
Chances are you are going to get excuses. Hear them out and go back to “your performance is not meeting the standards, which are _____, how are you going to change that?” If you engage in the excuse dance nothing will change.
Step four: have the employee commit to one specific behavioral change and give them a timeline for review. E.g. “You have agreed that you will be 5 minutes early for work every day and we will meet to discuss this a week from today”.
Another way of addressing this is to hire a coach to invest in the employee and have the coach assist the employee to improve. Coaching for performance issues can be done one on one or for a group.