STEP 1:
Establish reason for underperformance
The first step in dealing with under-performance is to find out why it is taking place. There can be many causes of under-performance; a list of the most common follows:-
- Insufficient knowledge/ skills
- Simple inability to do the job
- Objectives not clearly defined
- Ineffective briefing.
We don’t like either of the last two to be the case, as it is a failing on the part our own management. It is important however, to understand that in cases of poor performance, poor management is often a contributing factor. Anyone in a management position needs to recognise when this is the case and be willing to correct their own behaviour to deal with the situation. Other possible causes follow:
- Poor relationships with other team members
- Difficulties in home life circumstances
- Stress (often quoted as a cause by staff who are under-performing but more often, the stress is caused by one of the other factors above).
When looking to identify the cause in your own circumstances, be aware that there may be a combination of factors affecting the performance of a member of staff.
How many people go into work and say “Right, today I am REALLY going to screw up!!” ? They don’t do they? Do you? In my experience, people do their best in the circumstances in which they find themselves and sometimes for whatever reason, it’s not good enough.
To establish where the problem lies, it will help to ask the following questions:
- Are you aware that recently the quality of your work has deteriorated? (This is an important reality check, as the person genuinely may not be aware.)
- Why do you think this might be? (You can ask this even if the person has answered “no” to the first question.)
Notice that these were open questions, requiring more than just a “yes – no” response.
STEP 2:
Discuss solutions with the person
The next stage is to listen extremely carefully to the person’s reply, as this will dictate the direction of the further conversation.
You may need to be a bit of a detective, as the person may not want to say outright – “you didn’t brief me properly” so you may need to check out their response with some further questions such as:
- Are you satisfied that you know exactly what the job entails?
- What do you think the final outcome should be?
It is likely that the person may be uncomfortable or defensive in their manner towards you, particularly if they have personal problems which they are unwilling to discuss with you. It is important to reassure them that you are interested only in helping them find a solution and not in punishing them for their underperformance (at this stage – if the underperformance continues beyond agreed corrective actions, it may be necessary to invoke disciplinary procedures – however at the start of the process, the objective is purely support and assistance).
If it is the case that the problem lies outside work, it would be reasonable to give the person some space to sort themselves out.
Whatever cause you discover, always ask people to suggest their own solution – so if they have a problem with briefing, they can ask for more information or if they have personal problems, they may suggest a timescale in which they can sort it out (or that it will sort itself out).
If the person cannot come up with a suitable reason or solution, they may feel under so much pressure that they cannot “see the wood for the trees”. It is still not particularly helpful to tell them what to do, no matter how well meaning this might be. It can appear very aggressive on the part of a manager to tell someone what to do in an arbitrary fashion, especially when they are discussing something not directly related to the work in hand.
The following methods may help to get your message across in a more appropriate manner:
- Relate a similar experience of your own and the choices you had to act upon – ask the person what they might have done in those circumstances
- If you haven’t a relevant experience to draw on, having a detached assessment of the situation may give you a wider view of the options available to the individual. In which case a statement along the lines of “it seems to me you have the following choices of action available to you….” and list those choices for them.
Again, what you are doing is giving the person a chance to work out their own solution. Your role as a manager is to support the individual in this process, rather than knowing all the answers and telling them what to do. In the described process, you are treating your staff member as an adult, able to make their own decisions, rather than as a child needing firm guidance.
It is very important to remember that the ideal management/ leader relationship with staff is that of collaborating adults, rather than that of parent/ child.
STEP 3: Set objectives for improvement with the person
Having established with the person the best solution(s) for their performance problem, the next step is to discuss with them how they will implement this.
To begin this process, it is important to explore fully the options identified. The sort of questions which will help in this process are:
- If you follow this solution what are the likely outcomes?
- What will happen if you do it this way?
- If this happens, how might you deal with it?
So you help them to think beyond the immediate prospects.
This will also help with the person who tends to find objections to any possibilities, rather than the “I can do this” approach, ie the “yes but…” response.
Agree with the staff member any support from you that is appropriate to help them achieve their solution.
STEP 4: Decide on a framework for achievement of objectives
In doing this, you need to remember the structure of objective setting, to ensure that they have a clear framework on which to hang their plans.
The simplest is to remember SMART:
The above will give the staff member a framework on which to plan their actions; the comments following each stage (*) give an indication of the types of questions to ask to enable you both to achieve an agreed action plan.
The more of this work that is decided by the staff member, the more “buy in” you will have from them and they will then be more strongly committed to having it succeed.
In the scenario described earlier, when I mentioned managers telling their staff what to do, the result of this style is to give people a motive for proving the other person wrong, rather than a commitment for making the solution work.
STEP 5:
Monitor and review performance regularly
As you set the action plan in place, it is important to be very specific about the timing of reviews and the final outcome.
The worst approach is to say something like “review weekly”, “to complete in 3
months” etc.
Agree specific dates and ensure that both your staff member and yourself have
entered those review meetings and the completion date in your diaries. (They are still not written in stone and either of you can rebook if something unforeseen arises in the meantime!)
Let the staff member know that if they are experiencing problems in any aspect of their action plan, that they should report to you straight away and not wait for the next meeting.
This is not so that they can move the responsibility for the solution to you, but so they can discuss further actions to deal with the new problem with you.
If you develop this style of management with all your staff, it saves you a lot of time and unnecessary work and your staff will feel trusted and “stretched” by their work and your problem-solving approach.
STEP 6: Finally
- Review the conversation
- Explain to the person that continued underperformance could be viewed as a disciplinary matter
- Reiterate the support that you have agreed and the actions they are to take
- Ensure that they have a written record of the actions they have agreed to, with the time frames and measures to which they are working.
If after following the above framework, the member of staff is still under-performing, you may have to face up to one of the most difficult decisions a manager must make; that this person is for whatever reason unable to do the job or worse, is unwilling to do so.
In these cases, you will either have to explore the disciplinary approach available to you or look for alternative work in the organisation for them, if that is possible.
Conclusion
A learning experience for managers too...
A proper disciplinary procedure should include the grounds of underperformance through inability or attitude and require an escalating process of warnings to be administered to the staff member. The above described procedures are appropriate to be implemented at each stage, with the consequence of non-fulfilment clearly explained.
Be aware that once you invoke a disciplinary approach, the person has the right to appeal against your decision and a more senior manager (if there is one!) can review your dealings with the staff member.
If you treat this process as a review of your own management approach and determine to learn how to improve your own performance through it, then you can improve your own management skills, rather than the situation becoming a battle between yourself and your staff member.