Unlike Garrison Keillor's fictitious Lake Wobegon, where "all the women are
strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average,"
not all your employees will be above average. In fact, you'll have your share
of underperformers. One mark of an outstanding manager is the ability to turn
underperforming employees, particularly those who have been successful in the
past, into strong performers.
Some managers unintentionally make mistakes that can contribute to an employee
becoming an underperformer. Avoiding a few common mistakes will help you keep
employees on track. When you do have an underachiever despite everything, a
good plan of action can help you turn the situation around.
3 Common Mistakes to Avoid
For many managers, trying to solve the problem of an underachieving employee
is the challenge they most dread. There are three common mistakes that even
otherwise good managers often make: waiting too long, being unclear about goals,
and overestimating abilities.
Mistake 1: Waiting too long.
A poor review or sudden termination should never be the first time an employee
hears that his or her performance is lacking. Waiting too long—indeed,
waiting at all—to tell an employee that he or she isn't meeting expectations
is a failure of the manager, not the employee. Catching an employee off guard
is not only unfair to the employee, but also not in the best interest of the
business. Hiring and training new employees is expensive and can be disruptive
to the rhythm of the business.
Managers who wait too long to confront an underperformer typically do so because
they're hesitant or even afraid to have an uncomfortable conversation with the
employee or because they've neglected the employee. If you're in such a situation,
ask your organization's HR department to help you figure out the best way to
have the conversation. Most underperforming employees already realize that they're
not living up to expectations, so the conversation usually isn't a surprise.
By delaying the discussion, however, you let the employee think that his or
her performance is at least minimally acceptable. If you wait until the employee's
annual review to convey your disappointment, for example, the employee will
likely be demoralized and distrustful, and those feelings will make recovery
more difficult.
Mistake 2: Being unclear about goals and deliverables.
Although communication is a two-way street, it's your responsibility as the
manager to ensure that you and the employee are on the same page with respect
to goals and deliverables. Employees often become underperformers not because
they're not doing good work, but because they're doing the wrong work. This
is a particularly difficult situation because the employee thinks that he or
she is doing well, and co-workers will reinforce that notion. But if the employee
isn't performing the job as it's defined, he or she is underperforming. In this
situation, the manager usually either hasn't established clear goals and deliverables
or hasn't properly tracked the work that the employee is doing toward those
goals.
Mistake 3: Overestimating an employee's abilities.
Sometimes an employee is just in over his or her head. Such employees are often
reticent about their struggles. The employee continues to work hard, but in
the end, performance isn't about how the employee spends time or how hard he
or she works, but rather about what is accomplished. These situations typically
occur because the manager isn't sufficiently knowledgeable about the employee's
experience or skills.
5 Steps for Managing Underperforming Employees
Although avoiding the common problems can help you ensure that employees don't
become poor performers, you'll still occasionally have an underachiever. The
more quickly you intervene when an employee isn't performing up to expectations,
the better your chances of resolving the situation. Here are five steps for
transforming an underperformer into a strong asset to your organization.
Step 1: Start a conversation with the employee about performance.
As soon as you see that an employee isn't meeting set goals or isn't meeting
expectations, sit down with him or her to discuss the situation. Don't wait.
Be prepared with specifics about how the employee is underperforming, what
good performance looks like, and how you measure it.
During the discussion, be sensitive to how the employee
it taking the news. Some will be afraid that you're going to
fire them and others will be in denial, but most will already
know.
Step 2: Determine why the employee is underperforming.
Employees underperform for many reasons. Sometimes the reasons are entirely
unrelated to work; for example, the employee might be having trouble coping
with difficulties in his or her home life. Other reasons might be directly related
to work, such as not following through on commitments.
Determining the reason for the underperformance is critical in redesigning
the employee's work plan so that he or she can be successful. For example, an
employee might perform subquality work because he or she lacks the skills necessary
to meet goals. In that scenario, providing more time to complete tasks won't
help solve the problem. However, extending deadlines might be the perfect
remedy for someone who hasn't prioritized work properly and simply needs additional
time to catch up.
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