Episode 8: How To Manage A Low Performer
Play Video
Show Notes
In this episode of The Happy Leader, I share insights on addressing chronic underperformers in the workplace. Chronic underperformance not only affects productivity but also has emotional and professional consequences for leaders and teams. I’ll go into the reasons behind underperformance, such as skill mismatches, personal challenges, and lack of motivation, helping you determine the root cause to inform the right course of action.
I’ll share the story of the leadership team of a well-known non-profit organization here in Silicon Valley, whose delays in addressing the underperformance of a team member eventually led to questioning the abilities of the team leader.
Lastly, I’ll provide a strategic approach for leaders to leverage to address underperformance, including how to gather data, having a candid performance conversation, and setting clear expectations and goals for improvement.
Key Questions Discussed In the Podcast
- Why waiting to address poor performance amongst your team is a losing strategy
- How to determine the best way to address poor performance
- What steps you can take to address the underlying issues of a team member’s poor performance.
Resources Mentioned In the Podcast
Contact Amy to secure leadership training: amy@swim-against.com
Further Reading
Transcript
[0:00] One of the most frustrating situations that we navigate as leaders is when we have chronic underperformers on our team.
Not only does this wreak havoc on you and your team's productivity, but it can lead to a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to address this person's underperformance.
In this week's episode of The Happy Leader, I'm going to share with you tips and tricks to help you address this chronic underperformer, what you can do to really get to the heart of why they might be underperforming, and tips that you can take to make things better.
Welcome to The Happy Leader. I'm Amy Sanchez, executive coach to some of the most innovative leaders and teams in Silicon Valley.
I'll share stories and tips to help you navigate the most common leadership challenges so you can amplify what matters most, happiness. be missed. [0:47] Music. [0:53] One of the most frustrating challenges in leadership is when one of your direct reports is underperforming.
This takes a productive and emotional toll on you as the leader and on the rest of your team.
However, what to do with your underperformer is key to ensuring that this underperformer doesn't leave a dangerous and lasting impact. That's what we're going to dive into today.
We're going to talk about why people underperform, the impact it can have, what you can do as the leader to nip it in the bud.
And as always, I'll share a story with you about when I've seen this in coaching to really bring it to life.
And this was one story that I'll never forget.
The first thing I want to emphasize, and I can't underpin this enough, is not to brush the issue of a low performer under the rug or simply try to move your low performer to another manager.
I've worked with organizations who, for a number of reasons that we'll get into, have taken this approach, and while it may have provided some temporary relief, ended in them losing some of their best talent, who had to pick up the extra slack and became frustrated by leadership's inequitable expectation for employee performance. [2:16] In short, people at the same level were held to a different standard.
Choosing to ignore the low-performer problem leads to the unintended consequence or lowering of the bar for the rest of your group.
So let me just caution you against that. Although it seems like an easy path to pursue, and I see a lot of companies go that route, don't fall into that trap.
There are two main reasons why I see leaders keep underperformers.
The first reason is that the leader feels uncomfortable giving poor feedback or they feel bad firing someone.
The second reason that I see a lot of companies keep low performers is because this person solves another need.
For example, they've been there a long time, they have more institutional knowledge than others, or they have a key relationship with a big customer.
So a leader will put up with their poor performance to preserve this crucial thread.
I had one company put it this way, but this person knows about all the bodies in the basement. it. [3:23] So I just want to pause and acknowledge if you do have a low performer on your team and they've been there for quite some time and you resonate with one of those two reasons, you're not alone.
A lot of companies will hang on to low performers for this reason, but I'm hoping at the end of this podcast that I will convince you to try a different direction because keeping a slow performer is really not doing your team any favors. [3:49] In fact, there's probably a lot of unrecognized consequences for it.
When I see companies keep low performers, there is a large negative ripple effect that this person is causing.
And that ripple effect is usually causing the company significantly more money.
The way that we measure this is through lost productivity, turnover, people who are working with this person and just get tired of it, and feeding a culture that accepts mediocrity, collectively, these are the prices you pay when you choose to retain an underperformer.
Now, I get it. It's not always easy to get rid of your chronic underperformer, but my experience working with hundreds of companies has proven time and again that the cost to keep the underperformer is much higher than the cost to get rid of them. [4:39] I'm going to share with you a story that really brings this to life.
Now, this is just one of the many, many stories that I have that highlights the danger of keeping an underperformer.
But even the way this story unfolded surprised me.
I once worked with a large, well-known, multi-billion dollar nonprofit here in Silicon Valley. [5:02] They hired me to help improve productivity among a struggling leadership team.
The context of this was the team had a bit of an old guard, new guard challenge, and the leadership team could commonly be found gossiping behind closed doors. [5:17] Teaming up against one another, and just spinning in circles, waiting for the CEO to provide guidance about how to move forward.
The way that I summed it up to my contact was this team was stuck in gridlock and they decided to hire me to help them smooth the path forward.
I started by working with the CEO because everything starts from the top and this really helped us diagnose what was happening.
It also gave us some powerful data to fuel our discussions.
With her permission, I launched a 360 and it was the longest and most emotionally charged 360 that I had ever seen.
One of the major themes that came out of her 360 is that there was a perception that she'd been coddling a chronic low performer.
She had trouble giving constructive feedback, and she tended to wear rose-colored glasses and ignore the cracks on the team, preferring instead to focus on the things that were going well, while all the things that were going wrong were slowly poisoning everything else on the team.
In the meantime, her high performers had been picking up the slack of this one low performer. [6:28] They had been expected to work longer and harder while he got away with doing the bare minimum.
The team was sick and tired of it, and they let her know in her 360 review.
When I went through this 360 with my CEO client, she was shocked to say the least about this insight, and she wasn't entirely sure who this low performer was. [6:50] Now that was another challenge that we had to address, but to her credit, she was very driven and very curious to solve this divide among her leadership team.
Powered with the insight that she had one chronic underperformer that she needed to get rid of, she started to ask questions to identify who this person was. [7:09] It didn't take long until she had a name identified and the pieces started to fall in place.
You see, here's what had happened.
She had accepted his downfalls for so long that it no longer clicked for her that he was an underperformer.
He was a really nice guy, and they had a good relationship, so she ignored the red flags.
But the team was suffering in silence.
And now, silence no more. The 360 really largely indicated that they were close to burnout, out and the anger that they had had for his chronic underperformance and habitual picking up the slack for him had now been turned in her direction.
As the leader, they held her accountable for not addressing this critical gap when she had the power to do so.
She did end up getting rid of her underperformer, but her action came too late.
The board reviewed her 360 and based on the depth of the dissatisfaction and dysfunction on her team, turned their attention to her fit as the CEO.
The moral of the story here is if you are a leader with an underperformer on your team that you chronically ignore, not only will your team suffer and you will be frustrated. [8:24] But it's possible that you will be held accountable for this underperformance that you choose not to address. [8:30] So let's help you figure out how to address your underperformer.
This is probably one of the most common challenges that I see.
As always, it's good to start by first understanding why your person may be underperforming before you decide how to address it.
There are three main reasons why people underperform.
Number one, they have the wrong skill set for the role.
They either haven't been properly trained, they don't respond well to your management style or they just truly don't have the skills needed to succeed in the role. That's the first one.
The second reason why people underperform is they're navigating a difficult personal situation and it's negatively impacting their work performance.
We cannot be two different people at work and home when things are really tough on the home front.
Inevitably, it bleeds over into work. And once in a while, we all need a little empathy when we're pushing through a tough time. That could be why someone on your team is underperforming.
Third, they are lacking the appropriate level of drive and motivation for the role.
It could be that they just will never get there. [9:39] These are the three main reasons why I see why people underperform.
Now, your goal as the manager is to have a conversation with this underperformer to uncover the why.
But before you have this conversation with your low performer, you're going to want to to get your ducks in the row and have the right data at your disposal to share with this low performer so you can have the right constructive conversation. [10:03] This is where you need to assume the role of investigator.
If you don't have a formal review process in place where your team regularly gets 360 feedback, just email me at amy at swim dash against.com. [10:18] And I can help you get a quick 360 to collect the data and insight you need to arm you for this conversation.
By the way, this is a really good first step to legally protect you before you decide to terminate.
If you don't want to go the 360 route, you can start asking questions of a broad group, but be sure to create a written record about what you learned.
Just be careful to do this right way to start creating the paper trail that can protect you from a potential lawsuit that can come by firing a disgruntled employee if your ducks are not in a row.
Once you fully understand how wide this underperformance is, [10:53] here are your next steps.
One, set up time to review the data with the underperformer and present this in an unbiased way with one emotion fueling this discussion, curiosity. [11:07] Don't point the finger, don't get mad, no matter how frustrated you are.
And it's very possible at this point that you're entirely frustrated with your underperformer.
This conversation is strictly about trying to give them a voice and understand their intent.
All you're trying to do is understand why this person is underperforming and give them the data and the insight that they need to understand the impact that it's having on other people.
This may be the first time that they hear about this. I have found that when people are underperforming, it's rarely because they don't care.
Although that's the conclusion that many disgruntled managers reach over time because they haven't tackled the issue the right way.
But just know it's probably not because they don't care.
There's almost always something else going on. Number two. [11:57] Identify the source of the underperformance. Which of the three former categories that I talked about explains it?
Do they have the wrong skillset for the role? Have they just not been properly trained?
Do they not respond well to your management style? Are they navigating a difficult personal situation that's negatively impacting their work performance?
Or are they lacking the appropriate level of drive and motivation for the role?
See if you can uncover this in this conversation.
The third thing to do in this conversation is to deliver clear and direct feedback about your expectations moving forward.
What do you need this employee to do to turn things around?
Be very specific and assign timelines. [12:41] Also schedule check-ins. At this point, depending on the reason for the underperformance, you may choose to put this employee on a PIP or or a performance improvement plan.
Again, this is another good legal step to take to put a paper trail in place to protect yourself from any potential legal action or recourse if they do get let go.
If you have an HR partner, this is the point where you pull them in to help you put this together.
In this last step, when you deliver clear and direct feedback, this is when you'll want to take the why into consideration.
If it's a personal reason why they're underperforming, offer empathy and set a time limit, ideally not longer than six months.
Have a conversation with the team. See if you can evenly distribute the work to help this person through a rough time.
Now, if this person has been with the company for 20 years and they've been a great performer up until the last few months, certainly you might want to have a little bit more longevity as you think about how to get them through this tough time.
It really varies from person to person. and use your best judgment. [13:46] However, don't let this underperformance last too long.
It doesn't do the person who's underperforming or your team any favors to let this go on longer than it should because you're likely to start losing top performers who have to pick up the weight. [14:02] If this person needs a longer-term reprieve from a demanding role given a personnel challenge, see if you can get creative and create a new role for them that gives them more flexibility without negatively impacting you and the rest of the team.
There's a lot of different ways that you can address this.
If they're not trained, invest in them to be trained if they're a high potential.
If that doesn't work, if they're not the right skill set, look to move them into a new role that does cater to their strengths.
Or you may choose to let them go. If you do find that they're lacking appropriate motivation, but they bring other benefits to the group, like a deep knowledge base or a unique ability to unite the group, put them in a different role.
Or it may just be that you don't get along with this person and that happens. [14:49] If they have a track record of success with the company before you, then you can look to move them under a different manager or try to adjust your style.
My only caveat is going Going back to what I said before, don't shuffle a chronic underperformer around just because you don't want to deal with the problem.
This is where we start to see toxic situations created and lowering the bar for the rest of the group.
Whatever you do, do not sidestep the constructive feedback conversation.
This is the most common mistake that I see people make when I work with companies who have underperforming employees.
Employees everybody's talking about the problem employee behind their back but no one is having the professional and direct conversation with the perpetrator getting to a frustrated emotional point where you explode on this employee will make this worse so make sure when you go to connect with this person that you are in a very calm and logical space you have data to refer to and you're very clear on your ask for them to turn things around in the future if you get to the place where you have crossed the threshold of trusting and believing in this person, you are at risk of creating a toxic management situation.
You absolutely want to avoid this because it's the fastest way to spread poison through your team.
If you've given up and you're the only person who can change the situation. [16:13] You have just failed your team. This is why it's important to give feedback early, often, and take action to address the problem before it gets too big.
To reiterate, here are the three things to do if you have an underperformer on your team.
Number one, collect data about the extent of the underperformance.
You can do it through a 360 by messaging me. I can help you with this, or you can do it through your own way. Just create a paper portrayal.
Number two, have an honest, direct, and empathetic conversation with the perpetrator.
You have no idea what could be happening for them behind the scenes.
And number three, lay out your expectations moving forward.
Now, if there are circumstances that you want to give more leeway to, for example, personal circumstances, that's certainly understandable.
Just make sure that you communicate often and very honestly, and that the rest of the team isn't suffering.
I know I've said this before, but I just want to emphasize, do not expect your other employees to pick up the slack long-term.
If needed, there can be really great creative ways to help this person through a tough time, but do not hang on to an underperformer for longer than nine months.
Finally, be realistic about your expectations. [17:29] If this is a new mother or someone Someone who has recently beaten cancer and is still weak from the chemo, for example, don't set them and the team up for failure by stacking their plate full of demanding projects unless you have their buy-in to do so.
Part of your role as a leader is to create conditions that will allow your team to thrive.
So do that first. And if that's just not working, follow the three steps we talked about to address a chronic low performer.
There is no doubt about it. being a people manager is tough.
Many people say it's the toughest challenge of their career, but once you learn how to manage the really difficult people situations, like how to manage an underperformer, your confidence as a leader will increase and your team's performance will follow. Good luck out there.
Thanks for listening to the happy leader. If you would like more information about me, Amy Sanchez and our executive coaching and team leadership services at Swim Against the Current, visit swim-against.com.
And if you liked this podcast, help others who could use the support find it by giving us a rating.
Until next time, life is short, stay happy.
Not only does this wreak havoc on you and your team's productivity, but it can lead to a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to address this person's underperformance.
In this week's episode of The Happy Leader, I'm going to share with you tips and tricks to help you address this chronic underperformer, what you can do to really get to the heart of why they might be underperforming, and tips that you can take to make things better.
Welcome to The Happy Leader. I'm Amy Sanchez, executive coach to some of the most innovative leaders and teams in Silicon Valley.
I'll share stories and tips to help you navigate the most common leadership challenges so you can amplify what matters most, happiness. be missed. [0:47] Music. [0:53] One of the most frustrating challenges in leadership is when one of your direct reports is underperforming.
This takes a productive and emotional toll on you as the leader and on the rest of your team.
However, what to do with your underperformer is key to ensuring that this underperformer doesn't leave a dangerous and lasting impact. That's what we're going to dive into today.
We're going to talk about why people underperform, the impact it can have, what you can do as the leader to nip it in the bud.
And as always, I'll share a story with you about when I've seen this in coaching to really bring it to life.
And this was one story that I'll never forget.
The first thing I want to emphasize, and I can't underpin this enough, is not to brush the issue of a low performer under the rug or simply try to move your low performer to another manager.
I've worked with organizations who, for a number of reasons that we'll get into, have taken this approach, and while it may have provided some temporary relief, ended in them losing some of their best talent, who had to pick up the extra slack and became frustrated by leadership's inequitable expectation for employee performance. [2:16] In short, people at the same level were held to a different standard.
Choosing to ignore the low-performer problem leads to the unintended consequence or lowering of the bar for the rest of your group.
So let me just caution you against that. Although it seems like an easy path to pursue, and I see a lot of companies go that route, don't fall into that trap.
There are two main reasons why I see leaders keep underperformers.
The first reason is that the leader feels uncomfortable giving poor feedback or they feel bad firing someone.
The second reason that I see a lot of companies keep low performers is because this person solves another need.
For example, they've been there a long time, they have more institutional knowledge than others, or they have a key relationship with a big customer.
So a leader will put up with their poor performance to preserve this crucial thread.
I had one company put it this way, but this person knows about all the bodies in the basement. it. [3:23] So I just want to pause and acknowledge if you do have a low performer on your team and they've been there for quite some time and you resonate with one of those two reasons, you're not alone.
A lot of companies will hang on to low performers for this reason, but I'm hoping at the end of this podcast that I will convince you to try a different direction because keeping a slow performer is really not doing your team any favors. [3:49] In fact, there's probably a lot of unrecognized consequences for it.
When I see companies keep low performers, there is a large negative ripple effect that this person is causing.
And that ripple effect is usually causing the company significantly more money.
The way that we measure this is through lost productivity, turnover, people who are working with this person and just get tired of it, and feeding a culture that accepts mediocrity, collectively, these are the prices you pay when you choose to retain an underperformer.
Now, I get it. It's not always easy to get rid of your chronic underperformer, but my experience working with hundreds of companies has proven time and again that the cost to keep the underperformer is much higher than the cost to get rid of them. [4:39] I'm going to share with you a story that really brings this to life.
Now, this is just one of the many, many stories that I have that highlights the danger of keeping an underperformer.
But even the way this story unfolded surprised me.
I once worked with a large, well-known, multi-billion dollar nonprofit here in Silicon Valley. [5:02] They hired me to help improve productivity among a struggling leadership team.
The context of this was the team had a bit of an old guard, new guard challenge, and the leadership team could commonly be found gossiping behind closed doors. [5:17] Teaming up against one another, and just spinning in circles, waiting for the CEO to provide guidance about how to move forward.
The way that I summed it up to my contact was this team was stuck in gridlock and they decided to hire me to help them smooth the path forward.
I started by working with the CEO because everything starts from the top and this really helped us diagnose what was happening.
It also gave us some powerful data to fuel our discussions.
With her permission, I launched a 360 and it was the longest and most emotionally charged 360 that I had ever seen.
One of the major themes that came out of her 360 is that there was a perception that she'd been coddling a chronic low performer.
She had trouble giving constructive feedback, and she tended to wear rose-colored glasses and ignore the cracks on the team, preferring instead to focus on the things that were going well, while all the things that were going wrong were slowly poisoning everything else on the team.
In the meantime, her high performers had been picking up the slack of this one low performer. [6:28] They had been expected to work longer and harder while he got away with doing the bare minimum.
The team was sick and tired of it, and they let her know in her 360 review.
When I went through this 360 with my CEO client, she was shocked to say the least about this insight, and she wasn't entirely sure who this low performer was. [6:50] Now that was another challenge that we had to address, but to her credit, she was very driven and very curious to solve this divide among her leadership team.
Powered with the insight that she had one chronic underperformer that she needed to get rid of, she started to ask questions to identify who this person was. [7:09] It didn't take long until she had a name identified and the pieces started to fall in place.
You see, here's what had happened.
She had accepted his downfalls for so long that it no longer clicked for her that he was an underperformer.
He was a really nice guy, and they had a good relationship, so she ignored the red flags.
But the team was suffering in silence.
And now, silence no more. The 360 really largely indicated that they were close to burnout, out and the anger that they had had for his chronic underperformance and habitual picking up the slack for him had now been turned in her direction.
As the leader, they held her accountable for not addressing this critical gap when she had the power to do so.
She did end up getting rid of her underperformer, but her action came too late.
The board reviewed her 360 and based on the depth of the dissatisfaction and dysfunction on her team, turned their attention to her fit as the CEO.
The moral of the story here is if you are a leader with an underperformer on your team that you chronically ignore, not only will your team suffer and you will be frustrated. [8:24] But it's possible that you will be held accountable for this underperformance that you choose not to address. [8:30] So let's help you figure out how to address your underperformer.
This is probably one of the most common challenges that I see.
As always, it's good to start by first understanding why your person may be underperforming before you decide how to address it.
There are three main reasons why people underperform.
Number one, they have the wrong skill set for the role.
They either haven't been properly trained, they don't respond well to your management style or they just truly don't have the skills needed to succeed in the role. That's the first one.
The second reason why people underperform is they're navigating a difficult personal situation and it's negatively impacting their work performance.
We cannot be two different people at work and home when things are really tough on the home front.
Inevitably, it bleeds over into work. And once in a while, we all need a little empathy when we're pushing through a tough time. That could be why someone on your team is underperforming.
Third, they are lacking the appropriate level of drive and motivation for the role.
It could be that they just will never get there. [9:39] These are the three main reasons why I see why people underperform.
Now, your goal as the manager is to have a conversation with this underperformer to uncover the why.
But before you have this conversation with your low performer, you're going to want to to get your ducks in the row and have the right data at your disposal to share with this low performer so you can have the right constructive conversation. [10:03] This is where you need to assume the role of investigator.
If you don't have a formal review process in place where your team regularly gets 360 feedback, just email me at amy at swim dash against.com. [10:18] And I can help you get a quick 360 to collect the data and insight you need to arm you for this conversation.
By the way, this is a really good first step to legally protect you before you decide to terminate.
If you don't want to go the 360 route, you can start asking questions of a broad group, but be sure to create a written record about what you learned.
Just be careful to do this right way to start creating the paper trail that can protect you from a potential lawsuit that can come by firing a disgruntled employee if your ducks are not in a row.
Once you fully understand how wide this underperformance is, [10:53] here are your next steps.
One, set up time to review the data with the underperformer and present this in an unbiased way with one emotion fueling this discussion, curiosity. [11:07] Don't point the finger, don't get mad, no matter how frustrated you are.
And it's very possible at this point that you're entirely frustrated with your underperformer.
This conversation is strictly about trying to give them a voice and understand their intent.
All you're trying to do is understand why this person is underperforming and give them the data and the insight that they need to understand the impact that it's having on other people.
This may be the first time that they hear about this. I have found that when people are underperforming, it's rarely because they don't care.
Although that's the conclusion that many disgruntled managers reach over time because they haven't tackled the issue the right way.
But just know it's probably not because they don't care.
There's almost always something else going on. Number two. [11:57] Identify the source of the underperformance. Which of the three former categories that I talked about explains it?
Do they have the wrong skillset for the role? Have they just not been properly trained?
Do they not respond well to your management style? Are they navigating a difficult personal situation that's negatively impacting their work performance?
Or are they lacking the appropriate level of drive and motivation for the role?
See if you can uncover this in this conversation.
The third thing to do in this conversation is to deliver clear and direct feedback about your expectations moving forward.
What do you need this employee to do to turn things around?
Be very specific and assign timelines. [12:41] Also schedule check-ins. At this point, depending on the reason for the underperformance, you may choose to put this employee on a PIP or or a performance improvement plan.
Again, this is another good legal step to take to put a paper trail in place to protect yourself from any potential legal action or recourse if they do get let go.
If you have an HR partner, this is the point where you pull them in to help you put this together.
In this last step, when you deliver clear and direct feedback, this is when you'll want to take the why into consideration.
If it's a personal reason why they're underperforming, offer empathy and set a time limit, ideally not longer than six months.
Have a conversation with the team. See if you can evenly distribute the work to help this person through a rough time.
Now, if this person has been with the company for 20 years and they've been a great performer up until the last few months, certainly you might want to have a little bit more longevity as you think about how to get them through this tough time.
It really varies from person to person. and use your best judgment. [13:46] However, don't let this underperformance last too long.
It doesn't do the person who's underperforming or your team any favors to let this go on longer than it should because you're likely to start losing top performers who have to pick up the weight. [14:02] If this person needs a longer-term reprieve from a demanding role given a personnel challenge, see if you can get creative and create a new role for them that gives them more flexibility without negatively impacting you and the rest of the team.
There's a lot of different ways that you can address this.
If they're not trained, invest in them to be trained if they're a high potential.
If that doesn't work, if they're not the right skill set, look to move them into a new role that does cater to their strengths.
Or you may choose to let them go. If you do find that they're lacking appropriate motivation, but they bring other benefits to the group, like a deep knowledge base or a unique ability to unite the group, put them in a different role.
Or it may just be that you don't get along with this person and that happens. [14:49] If they have a track record of success with the company before you, then you can look to move them under a different manager or try to adjust your style.
My only caveat is going Going back to what I said before, don't shuffle a chronic underperformer around just because you don't want to deal with the problem.
This is where we start to see toxic situations created and lowering the bar for the rest of the group.
Whatever you do, do not sidestep the constructive feedback conversation.
This is the most common mistake that I see people make when I work with companies who have underperforming employees.
Employees everybody's talking about the problem employee behind their back but no one is having the professional and direct conversation with the perpetrator getting to a frustrated emotional point where you explode on this employee will make this worse so make sure when you go to connect with this person that you are in a very calm and logical space you have data to refer to and you're very clear on your ask for them to turn things around in the future if you get to the place where you have crossed the threshold of trusting and believing in this person, you are at risk of creating a toxic management situation.
You absolutely want to avoid this because it's the fastest way to spread poison through your team.
If you've given up and you're the only person who can change the situation. [16:13] You have just failed your team. This is why it's important to give feedback early, often, and take action to address the problem before it gets too big.
To reiterate, here are the three things to do if you have an underperformer on your team.
Number one, collect data about the extent of the underperformance.
You can do it through a 360 by messaging me. I can help you with this, or you can do it through your own way. Just create a paper portrayal.
Number two, have an honest, direct, and empathetic conversation with the perpetrator.
You have no idea what could be happening for them behind the scenes.
And number three, lay out your expectations moving forward.
Now, if there are circumstances that you want to give more leeway to, for example, personal circumstances, that's certainly understandable.
Just make sure that you communicate often and very honestly, and that the rest of the team isn't suffering.
I know I've said this before, but I just want to emphasize, do not expect your other employees to pick up the slack long-term.
If needed, there can be really great creative ways to help this person through a tough time, but do not hang on to an underperformer for longer than nine months.
Finally, be realistic about your expectations. [17:29] If this is a new mother or someone Someone who has recently beaten cancer and is still weak from the chemo, for example, don't set them and the team up for failure by stacking their plate full of demanding projects unless you have their buy-in to do so.
Part of your role as a leader is to create conditions that will allow your team to thrive.
So do that first. And if that's just not working, follow the three steps we talked about to address a chronic low performer.
There is no doubt about it. being a people manager is tough.
Many people say it's the toughest challenge of their career, but once you learn how to manage the really difficult people situations, like how to manage an underperformer, your confidence as a leader will increase and your team's performance will follow. Good luck out there.
Thanks for listening to the happy leader. If you would like more information about me, Amy Sanchez and our executive coaching and team leadership services at Swim Against the Current, visit swim-against.com.
And if you liked this podcast, help others who could use the support find it by giving us a rating.
Until next time, life is short, stay happy.
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