How do you help an under-performing employee to turn things around?

Under-performance is frustrating for colleagues, causes projects to drag on and can have a negative ripple effect across a team. Every business is bound to encounter an under-performing employee at some point and managers need to be able to spot the team members who are struggling in order to address the root causes.

As soon as managers notice that an employee is underperforming, they need to act. It’s best to start by documenting specific examples of how their work has failed to meet expectations including any problematic behaviours you have observed.

Once you have set out the key points and noted some key examples of under-performance, it’s time to set up a private, one-to-one meeting to discuss the situation. A common mistake is for managers to assume they already know the root cause of the problem. Its best to set an appropriate tone for the meeting and ask questions to understand, from the employee’s perspective, why they have failed to meet the expectations of their role.

It’s important to reiterate the expectations of the role and to discuss the areas that require improvement. At this stage it can be helpful to ask the employee what their hopes for the job are and whether these have been realised.

If there is a mismatch between what they expect and what the job can offer them, it’s time to discuss whether they can adjust their expectations or not.

Once you have discussed the underlying causes, it’s time to agree a set of objectives going forward. Make suggestions as to how the employee can address their issues and encourage them to come up with their own solutions.

Once you have agreed an action plan it is important to have regular check-in meetings to discuss performance and keep the employee on track. Provide feedback and ensure you keep a record of all discussions in case things don’t work out.