by Dealing with underperforming employees is a challenge every manager or employer has to face once in a while. Unfortunately, many employers fail to realize their employee’s true potential and end up firing them instead. Firing underperforming employees without taking steps to mitigate underperformance has lasting impacts on not only the workers who have been let go, but also the company’s bottom line, effectively wasting a considerable amount of time, money and effort into hiring, onboarding and training an employee.
Are individual members of your team performing less well than you’d hoped? If so, this proverb can take on great significance. To figure out what’s causing the performance issue, you have to get to the root of the problem.
These types of solutions focus largely on the ability of the person performing the job. Performance, though, is a function of both ability and motivation.
Performance = Ability x Motivation
Where:
- Ability is the person’s aptitude, as well as the training and resources supplied by the organization.
- Motivation is the product of desire and commitment.
Diagnosing Poor Performance
So, before you can fix poor performance, you have to understand its cause. Does it come from lack of ability or low motivation?
Incorrect diagnoses can lead to lots of problems later on. If you believe an employee is not making enough of an effort, you’ll likely put increased pressure on him or her to perform. But if the real issue is ability, then increased pressure may only make the problem worse.
Low ability may be associated with the following:
- Over-difficult tasks.
- Low individual aptitude, skill, and knowledge.
- Evidence of strong effort, despite poor performance.
- Lack of improvement over time.
- Enhancing Ability
There are five main ways to overcome performance problems associated with a lack of ability. Consider using them in this sequence, which starts with the least intrusive:
Resupply
Focus on the resources provided to do the job. Do employees have what they need to perform well and meet expectations?
- Ask them about additional resources they think they need.
- Listen for points of frustration.
- Note where employees report that support is inadequate.
- Verify the claims with your own investigation. People will often blame external sources for their poor performance before admitting their own fault.
Retrain
Provide additional training to team members. Explore with them whether they have the actual skills required to do what’s expected. Given the pace of change of technology, it’s easy for people’s skills to become outdated.
This option recognizes the need to retain employees and keep their skills current. There are various types of retraining you can provide:
- Training seminars with in-house or external providers.
- Computer-based training (CBT).
- Simulation exercises.
- Subsidized college or university courses.
Refit
When these first two measures aren’t sufficient, consider refitting the job to the person. Are there parts of the job that can be reassigned?
Analyze the individual components of the work, and try out different combinations of tasks and abilities. This may involve rearranging the jobs of other people as well. Your goal is to retain the employee, meet operational needs, and provide meaningful and rewarding work to everyone involved.
Reassign
When revising or refitting the job doesn’t turn the situation around, look at reassigning the poor performer. Typical job reassignments may decrease the demands of the role by reducing the need for the following:
- Responsibility
- Technical knowledge
- Interpersonal skills
Release
As a final option for lack of ability, you may need to let the employee go . Sometimes there are no opportunities for reassignment, and refitting isn’t appropriate for the organization. In these cases, the best solution for everyone involved is for the employee to find other work. You may need to consider contractual terms and restrictions; however, in the long run, this may be the best decision for your whole team.
Set clear performance goals:
Goal setting is an integral part of creating an environment conducive to learning and can thereby improve performance. Before assigning a project or set of responsibilities it is essential both the employee and the manager align on the expected outcome and set up checkpoints along the way.
Provide performance feedback:
Providing regular feedback on the efforts of your employees helps them realize where they stand in terms of performance expectations. This should be well documented to ensure clarity of expectations for all parties. Make sure the feedback you provide is honest, direct and on time.
Monitor performance regularly
Actively check up on the performance of your troubled employee early and often so you can provide feedback and mitigate potential issues before they arise. This makes the employee feel supported and gives you, the manager, much better insight on gaps in skillset or misalignment of deliverables.
Respect employee’s confidentiality
It is equally important you respect the confidentiality of your employee by never disclosing his or her underperformance in front of their colleagues. Once they lose faith in the organization supporting them, or from their peers, self-doubt sets in and could compound issues further.
Reward incremental positive change
Let your employee know you recognize their strengths and growth. This goes a long way toward re-gaining the confidence they need to manage a way back into meeting the expectations of their role.
