How to Manage Poor Performance

Being a manager is hard!

As a manager you want to get the best out of your staff and make sure your customers have the best service you can provide, the people side can be pretty straightforward until you have a tricky staff situation. 

Being a leader is all well and good when performance is good, but when a team member is not performing, it is tough. It is easy to try and ignore it, in the hope it is a blip that will resolve itself.  But the reality is the longer you leave it, the worse the situation will become – it will not disappear, so please do not put it to the bottom of your list to manifest.   

If a staff member is underperforming, it does not necessarily mean you need to exit them from the business.   Most of the time addressing poor work performance issues results in a better performing and more engaged and happier employee.  This will have a positive knock-on effect on the team and your customers.  And getting the best out of your people is what being a leader is all about. 

So, what can you do?

Timing

No one likes having those difficult conversations, but the longer you leave it, the worse the situation will get for you, the person, their colleagues, and your customers.  So be brave and tackle the situation sooner rather than later, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Have a clear policy in place

Your employees want to know what is expected of them and what support they can receive, dealing with performance issues is no different. By making sure you have a robust process to follow, with a policy to guide you, will enable you to be fair and consistent in all cases. If your employee understands the process that will be followed and the potential consequences if their performance does not improve there can be no misunderstandings from both parties. 

Whilst it is not a legal requirement to have a capability/performance policy it can make things easier to have this structure in place before a potential situation arises, rather than after the event. 

Be open and honest

When you sit down with your employee, be prepared for the discussion: 

Plan out what you want to talk about – why are you dissatisfied with their performance? • Have recent, clear examples of behaviour/work that has been sub-standard so they can understand better. • Ask open questions, and then listen to what your employee has to say. Why is their performance not up to standard from their perspective? What will help them to improve? • Show compassion – perhaps there are personal issues that are affecting work so it is ok to ask if there is anything going on outside of work that might be impacting them.   • Agree on a way forward and when you will review – ensure they understand what needs to change and what ‘good’ looks like and agree a suitable timeframe. • Then, follow it up in an email, and note what has been agreed, asking them to let you know if they are unsure what is expected. 

Follow up that discussion

Hopefully, your employee will improve, but it is still important that you get back together to discuss their progress. If this is the case recognise the improvement with them, so they know they are on the right track.  Or, if you need to discuss the fact the necessary improvement is still short, have a further conversation about why this is. If you are still unhappy with the performance and you have followed what was agreed at the initial meeting, then you may need to consider starting a formal performance improvement process. 

When informal processes are not enough

Most of the time the informal process can be enough to take on board the feedback and act accordingly. However sometimes a more formal process is needed. For this you need to put in place formal performance objectives, along with timeframes for achievement, which you review and if not achieved, a formal warning is issued. 

This can be tricky, so it would be a good time to call a HR consultant (me) for more advice if you have not already sought advice at the informal stage. Crucially, you need to ensure you follow your own internal policies (disciplinary or capability, whichever is relevant) and consider ACAS guidance. If you do not then you may come up against issues should the employee raise a grievance or make a claim at an employment tribunal. 

Can I avoid performance issues

Strong leadership is all about great communication, so to reduce the possibility of performance issues altogether, talk to your employees and review their performance regularly– that will mean that any issues will be picked up quickly before they become a big problem. 

Be open, Be honest, Be fair.