How to Deal With Underperforming Team Members -Tried & Tested Approach

Working out how to deal with an underperforming team member and then taking the right action is one of the bigger personal challenges any manager or leader faces at work. I would like to take you through the approached I used, successfully, time and time again in over 25 years of managing teams.
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Examples:
Examples of how to start a conversation with a underperformer
enhance.training/lm-lp/eg-con...
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The first step to take when confronted with how to deal with an underperforming employee is not to ignore the problem. You know it will be a challenge, unpleasant and possibly difficult, yet procrastination around poor performance at work ends up being much worse.
The individual’s performance is likely to get worse, not better. Your team will get fed up with you and the underperforming employee and are likely to lose motivations and team performance will drop. None of this reflects well on you the manager nor your poor performance management skills.
So take action.
On of the first steps to take when thinking about how to deal with a poor performing employee is to talk to them and find out what the reasons are for the poor performance. Tell them why they are an underperforming team member, use examples and set out your expectations for them.
Work together to create a plan for how to help the underperforming team member improve their performance and how you are going to help them do this.
Coach and mentor the underperforming staff member, so they have the tools to enable them to improve their performance. The more effort you put in to this process, the more likely the team member will turn around their performance.
Throughout the plan, give honest feedback and monitor progress. Share progress with the underperformer so both parties are clear on what has gone well and what still needs to be improved.
Not all underperformers are willing or able to improve their performance. If this happens, it is important that you take formal action to resolve the underperformance, even if this means the underperformer leaves the business.
Good luck.
00:00 Intro
02:04 Don’t Ignore The Problem
03:01 Talk & Find The Reasons
04:48 Agree Expectations and a Plan
06:47 Coach & Mentor
08:03 Give Feedback & Monitor Progress
10:59 Take Formal Action If No Improvement
12:18 In Summary
Please let me know of any questions or suggestions in the comments below.
Jess
enhance.training

[@Enhancetraining]

Starting the first conversation with an underperformer is hard. What do I say? Will they be angry? How will they react? - are all common questions we ask ourselves. Make having this conversation much easier by using these examples of how to start these difficult conversations enhance.training/lm-lp/eg-conversations-difficult-84572/

[@highnoon9333]

I am the underperforming employee and all I want to do is improve. My dream is to be good at my job.

[@Enhancetraining]

Hi Lindsay - I am impressed with your self-awareness and courage in admitting where you are. What steps are you taking to learn? There is a lot you can do in addition to what you learn "on the job" - books, vidoes, courses, mentors, friends, work buddies. Keep working at getting better, stay hungry, stay determined, learn from everything and you will get good (or better) at what you do!

[@raenaj4749]

I too am impressed with your self-awareness. I too strive to practice that as often as possible as well. I am a Senior Director over multiple medical markets. I would be happy to help coach someone like you.

[@kingsleyagu6852]

I tried the ideals thought in this video today and it worked out so well. thanks so much. Keep it up!!

[@TimGoree]

I would add that there needs to be a recognition (usually during the mentoring/coaching process) that sometimes the person isn't in the right position, and that would explain their performance issues. If someone's strengths and passions don't fit the work well, the right answer isn't to get them to improve, it's to help them move into a more appropriate role. The only way to know this for sure is to deeply understand each person's strengths and interests, and this shouldn't be pursued only when someone is underperforming, but as a natural part of developing the leader's relationship with them. Good, solid video - thanks for sharing!

[@Enhancetraining]

Great comments - I absolutely agree. I would hope the manager would know their staff well and have already matched up their skills with the most suitable job / tasks / responsibilities. While not always possible or practical to move team members between jobs, there is a lot you can do with the activities and projects they are given.

[@TimGoree]

@@Enhancetraining Actually shocking how many managers don't bother to get to know their staff well enough to understand these things. It's Leadership 101, and many, many people in positions of authority need to go back to the basics. When it comes to not being practical to move team members to other jobs, that's absolutely true. What I've found is in the times that you don't have the ability to do that, a good, solid relational process for helping staff with developing their own goals will often illuminate to them that they are actually in the wrong position, and they'll choose to leave and find a position that suits them better, with the leader's help and blessing. No bridges burned, everyone's happier. In organizations where unions are strong, leaders will often find that this is the most frictionless/painless way to resolve performance issues that are due to a job mismatch.

[@jesseskellington9427]

Thank you so much for a clear concise actuable items in this video. I truly appreciate 😊

[@Enhancetraining]

Hi Jesse - glad you found the video so useful and helpful.

[@Squirrel-zq6oe]

Thank you for your wisdom 🙏

[@Enhancetraining]

You are so welcome

[@CleVer25M]

Amazing seeing this video

[@Enhancetraining]

Glad you found it so useful. Good luck with your team members

[@brendapalmer8641]

I have gone from a staff of 3 including myself, to a staff of 7 including myself, in the past year (I'm the only one still there because the other two had job opportunities with more money and more hours, that i couldnt compete with). The whole dymanic has changed. It has truly been a whirlwind year. Now cracks are starting to show in some performances. Thank you for this video. I did not realize the disservice i was creating for some employees, by not addressing issues created by my other employees. It took us slowing down the amount of services we were providing to the public as a whole, for me to even notice the cracks were so prevalent. This video will really help the process. Thank you.

[@Enhancetraining]

Glad that this video has helped you and I hope the action you take helps all the team members and the team performance overall. Well done for getting such growth in your team - you are obviously doing a lot right. J

[@Thekenyaexperience]

Very helpful glad I found this video.

[@Enhancetraining]

Glad you enjoyed it! J

[@abdulillahaljader603]

I like your training,, very helpful

[@Enhancetraining]

I am glad you find the training very helpful.

[@artofteams]

Late to the party, but great video. I think managers have to be having these conversations more often especially in new remote / hybrid work settings where reduced visibility/access can give rise to underperformance. Thank you - awesome steps!

[@Enhancetraining]

Glad you found the video useful. I agree - the more conversations setting out what is expected and giving feedback against that, the more everyone will know where they stand and then managers can more fairly address underperformance. J

[@artofteams]

Absolutely! @@Enhancetraining

[@osmanhussein4496]

Very good lecture

[@Enhancetraining]

Thanks for your feedback

[@piuskimani5761]

Extremely helpful watching from Kenya in East Africa

[@Enhancetraining]

Glad you found it so helpful. J

[@pinkpastelstudio]

Summary : [00:00] 🤖 Ignoring underperformance signals to the team that it's okay to underperform. [01:53] 👍 Don't ignore the problem. Address it early to resolve underperformance. [03:03] 🕵‍♂ Find out the reasons for underperformance. Talk to the individual and actively listen. [04:52] 🤝 Agree on expectations and a plan of action with the underperformer. [06:43] 🧑‍🏫 Coach and mentor them to improve their performance. [08:07] 🗣 Give honest, specific, and timely feedback to the underperforming employee. [09:04] 📊 Monitor progress and measure performance improvement using data. [09:43] 📈 Use data to prove factual progress assessment. [10:51] 🚨 Take formal action if there is no improvement. [12:28] 🤝 Taking action signals to the team that you will not tolerate poor performance.

[@Enhancetraining]

A very good summary. Thanks for sharing. J

[@janetkateshi3612]

Very informative

[@Enhancetraining]

Glad it was helpful! J

[@somatiepersad9029]

Thank you for this , i currently have two underperforming employees who are very toxic to the team and it is causing me so much stress, i am just a supervisor in the chain and i am not getting the support from the team lead. The employees just dont want to accept structure and accoutability. I be using your video as a guide this weekend to build out the gap analysis and desired expectation which i have to present on monday to my upper management once approved we will be giving it to the employees and will be doing some monitoring over the next three months. My current mood is feeling like i am failing my ownself .

[@Enhancetraining]

Glad you found the video useful and that it has given you a way forward. Work hard to get support from your team lead - it makes it 10 times easier to have this for implementing performance improvement plans. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

[@susanagallardo3355]

I have to at work now so I'll 'll be best the tbe o be

[@patricias6227]

I am currently working with an under performer and it is so morale crushing. I value a high work ethic but why should I when people are allowed to get away with this? This is how managers get stuck with a low performing team. All the high performers quit.

[@Enhancetraining]

I agree that it is very important to improve the underperformers or ask them to leave if they don't improve. If you put up with underperformance, I agree - you will be stuck with a low performing team as all the high performers will go elsewhere.

[@justtekina6709]

This is one of the most valuable videos I have ever seen. I do have a business I started, that I should focus on more. But i'm actually watching this video because i want to be a better team leader in the video game League of legends. I think if you want to start a new career you should consider buying an esports franchise. I have one in mind for you. I think you will be an excellent coach for gamers in a competitive match or even possibly consider joining "Riot" the creators of league of legends. I don't like their appoach to deal with toxic behavior and their honor system rewards selfish before and not team behavior, like you get rewarded for the most kills instead of team play, under a leadership. and often times players get alot of kills but we still lose....

[@Enhancetraining]

Thanks for the comments about the video - I am glad that you found it so useful. I don't know much about video games so can't comment much. In my experience of business life, team work beats individual brilliance nearly every time and certainly over the longer term.

[@CALM-R]

Loved your video. What would you suggest if you took over an underperforming team where everyone is in their probation period. More often, you do not have three months to set out a plan of action, but rather 3 to 4 weeks. Happy to hear your feedback on this.

[@Enhancetraining]

I agree that you have to work faster when taking over an underperforming team. I always spent as much time as I could with team members, asking them to show me what they were doing and asking them a lot of questions (with a please can you educate your new boss approach). The aim is to work out which employees have skills to acceptable levels and even more importantly, what are their attitudes and desire to learn and get better. The team members that don't impress or that you have doubts over, put them on an accelerated plan with clear objectives/goals. 3-4 weeks should be fine. See how they do and make a decision. My general rule with regard to passing probation is - if you have any serious doubts then they fail probation. Probation is a period in which employees should be trying to impress (and the manager and company doing so in a different way). If either party is not impressed, then chances of this changing over the longer term are small.

[@brettsoanes2505]

I'm having to deal with an underperformer this employee has been with the company for a long time and has been moved to many different areas because he won't perform. I'll be pulling him aside and trying your tips.

[@Enhancetraining]

Good luck.

[@LukeBrennaHarris]

Do you have a recomendation on a performance improvement plan template document?

[@GenK1991]

Im training two candidates and could immediately tell which one is performing and which one is going to need alot of hand holding. And it’s one of the most difficult things as a manager to go through. One only needs to know where and how to run reports and then she’s all set and can build her own working files while the other one wants me to read his emails before sending them. Smh 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@Enhancetraining]

It is very frustrating when you have two individuals that are performing at very different levels. I would absolutely recommend finding out why the underperformance is happening: is it a confidence problem, a capability problem or something else? With help, do you think the individual will overcome their shortfalls and if so how long will this take? Giving team members a good chance is important, especially as more often than not, you get a great result - they improve and they really appreciate the chance and help. Other times it is best to acknowledge that the individual may be better off in a different role. I hope it works out whatever route you take Jen.

[@ginadiodati1965]

My problem is when the under preformer states their issue is being overwhelmed with the workload, yet its expected and realistic for their pay grade. Sometimes, the actual position itself isn't the right fit for an employee, but of course, they don't want to take a pay cut if you take some of the workload off them...

[@Enhancetraining]

Clear and realistic performance comparisons to as many peers as sensible is great for countering the "I have too much work; I am overwelmed" statements (assuming they are doing less than peers). J

[@paddykriton3475]

Managers actually need to care about their team first. If the manager can hide the impact of a poor performer and offload their workload to good performers until the manger can get promoted then the manger will do nothing

[@Enhancetraining]

Hi Paddy, - I agree that caring about your team is super important. It is much easier to hide poor performance in larger companies, or with leadership teams that do little checking up on their managers. I would like to think that the scenario you outline would be spotted yet I know that this is not always the case. If management teams or leadership teams don't look for this kind of behaviour and promote ineffective managers they are hitting their company with a double whammy - a person with poor attitude and/or skills having more influence and impact on the company and more people being impacted by the underlying issues. Not a good combination for anyone in the long term.

[@dobrasil8479]

Watching this in 2022 and I found it very helpful. We recently hired someone. I came to realize this person is underperforming because he/she overstated his/hers experience and coming to find out he does not have some of the skills he said he/she did. HR says that I have to him/her a chance. Why? He/she lied, and does not show any interest in learning. I have become his/her "reminder program" because he/she does not take notes or remembers stuff. I am overwhelmed with work and this is not the help I thought I was getting. Why can't I fire him/her w/o giving him/her a chance?

[@Enhancetraining]

Does the person in question have a probation period as you have just hired them? If they are not performing, would this not be grounds for removing them quickly. It sounds like removing them would only help if you could replace them with a stronger person (as you are overwhelmed with work).

[@dobrasil8479]

@@Enhancetraining yes, the person is in the probation period. Fortunately, it is not a matter of w/o the person is worst, because I am having to pretty much do the work for this person. Just hope HR agrees with my opinion.

[@Enhancetraining]

Good luck on convincing HR. Gather what evidience and examples you can and then you will be arguing more than your opinion.

[@dobrasil8479]

@@Enhancetraining done. Thanks.

[@Enhancetraining]

good luck

[@koowaa]

Hi, Should I be transparent in revealing all 6 steps? Including taking formal action?

[@Enhancetraining]

You need to judge how transparent you should be depending on the person and situation. I would generally advise transparency. I would not set out the conversation in terms of six steps but I would follow the order in terms of how I deal with an underperformer. I would ask them to a meeting, explain I am concerned and ask what the issues are. Depending on their response, I would then put a plan in place, with targets and book in mentoring / coaching sessions each week. You can then see how this approach progresses. If well then great. If not so well, get more formal about the process and state there are consequences for not hitting targets. Speaking to HR at this point is usually sensible.

[@newblackpaladin8246]

How can I get my team to talk to customers? I work in retail and currently theft by customers and a lack of perceived friendliness has put us in the lowest performance in our region. I've had multiple meetings with them outlining my expectations but as a whole the team is failing. I've done verbally warnings and written people up to no avail. When I ask for feedback they stay silent. I'm not a tough manager- if anything I lean towards being more forgiving. Is that a possible cause as well? I'm afraid if I don't improve my job will be on the line.

[@Enhancetraining]

You have posed a very hard set of questions to answer without a lot more information. Getting a third party to run questionnaires or 360 degree feedback anonymously might be a good and low investment route to take to get honest feedback. Other options that come to my mind would include how can you directly help team members have a better job experience and feel safer (if theft means confrontations). Think about all the practical actions you can personally take to extent trust to, and build trust with, your team. What can you do teach them and show them how to engage with customers? J

[@rami2211]

A manager assistant here , don't know what should i do as my manger doesn't care about it at all .

[@Enhancetraining]

No or little support from you boss is tough. I would keep reminding your boss of the impact of poor performance on their team, which in turn impacts their promotion chances and bonus etc. Try to persuade them to support action. In addition, moving up the chain to speak to your manager's boss is another option (to be done carefully). J

[@user-jr2mk7mw5w]

First started with company,work hard get it done,no matter how fast or hard i work get chewed,you need to do more,, Manager's seemed like they just wanted to make life hard,,it came down to relizeing i would never be good enough,,so it came down to surving,do just enough not to get fired,,then i noticed most of the people i work with including some managers,,just do enough not to get fired

[@Enhancetraining]

Your experience sounds pretty tough. I know from experience that creating a fair exchange between manager and team does amazing things for everyone - a nicer place to work, more personally development, more career progressing, less stress, more fun, better team performance, ... it is a long list. I personally don't understand why managers make life difficult for their team members, when doing the opposite is so much better for everyone - particularly the managers. J

[@user-jr2mk7mw5w]

@@Enhancetraining pressure from the top,lower level managers not taught leadership, people selected for thinking company way is only way ,they do not go outside of company to learn leadership

[@Enhancetraining]

@user-jr2mk7mw5w - all too common unfortunately.

[@jesseskellington9427]

9:07 is there an app or program you would recommend

[@Enhancetraining]

Hi Jesse, are you looking for more on how to measure performance? Here is a video that may partially help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmK6gXuibc2Iqqs If I have missed what you are looking for, please let me know exactly what you want and I will see what I can do. Jess

[@GForceIntel]

I've had a guy in fire alarm for 6 months and he can't even change the head of a smoke detector. Smh. That told me everything I needed to know about him

[@Enhancetraining]

Ouch. That is a bit unfortunate. If you have provided reasonable training and they don't learn or can't learn and this means they can't do their jobs properly you have limited options.

[@VeasnaKp-oc7vq]

Hi could you give some ideas to help the unproductive staff?

[@Enhancetraining]

Hi Veasna - What makes the staff members unproductive - lack of skills, lack of resources, lack of will and effort, etc Let me know and I will have a better idea of how to help you.

[@VeasnaKp-oc7vq]

@@Enhancetraining one more I have a question because you've lots of experiences.what kinds of highly effective staff do you know or think? Thank you for your response

[@Enhancetraining]

Hi Veasna, I am very sorry - I don't really understand your question. Would you be able to expand on what you asking. Thanks, Jess

[@haneyguitarinstruction6260]

What if I am the underperformed? I want to be a 7 figure daytrader and need to get my performance up. Futures Daytrading requires immense pressure to perform live price action

[@Enhancetraining]

I can't help you much with day trading. Sorry. J

[@audreyblackmon8413]

My managers sister basically got me sent home today none of them are properly trained

[@Enhancetraining]

Not good news.

[@Fylasfrommabi]

Managers hate this one trick : stop paying them less then market value for their skills

[@Enhancetraining]

If you are being paid less than market value for what you deliver, I would hope you would get a job that does paid you properly and leave (whatever your position)

[@seanwalsh6649]

Maybe the problem is they are getting taxed to death, cost of living crisis, retirement age increasing year on year, salary not enough to survive on, 8 hours a day far too long, no considerable bonus pay, the list is endless. This is inevitably going to affect morale and performance. Where is the incentive??

[@Enhancetraining]

Most of what you mention is outside of a company's control. There are lots of jobs available and lots of opportunities when you really go looking for them. Why not find something you like doing more than your current job?

[@seanwalsh6649]

@@Enhancetraining yes some are outside the company’s control but it still can play a role in poor performance. I am happy in my job, I am just making the point that if they had better pay and working conditions things may be different with regards to performance.

[@Enhancetraining]

@seanwalsh6649 - thank you for the clarification. I agree that working conditions are very important to any team and of course be paid market rates is only fair. I would suggest that there are many things leaders and managers can do within a company to improve the working environment that don't rely on external factors they can't control. Much better to focus on improving these. J

[@raenaj4749]

I am not investing a tremendous amount of time and coaching and guiding someone to do the job that they’re being paid for. If a person comes into management with previous management experience I will coach and teach them on the new areas within the new company that they are not aware of. But I’m not going to teach them what responsibility means, what accountability means, would follow through means. Because he’s her skills they should have had an order to get to the level of management. If I wanted to teach those things I’d be a fifth grade teacher.

[@Enhancetraining]

Many people reach the management ranks knowing what responsibility, accountability and follow through means for themselves yet struggle to encourage those same traits in others. What do you do then if you don't help them learn - hire a different person or put up with them struggling? Both seem like more effort than teaching the person. I appreciate that this additional effort and ideally they would have the skills already...

[@thejaypc218]

@@Enhancetraining also more expensive in the long run. I would not advise this style of management. Period.

[@theempreror9608]

I fully agree. It is a fairy tale to take under performers under your wings. The problem of companies is that we cannot rapidly shuffle people between roles and team. Maybe at another unit their performance would be sufficient.

[@Priva_C]

That’s not all Teachers do. They also risk their lives every day

[@cupiddrenzproduction5792]

You might be apart of upper management if you're training managers. But based on your post you're an awfully leader. It's never too late to learn or improve as a manager it's my job to ensure all members of my team are trained and expectations are communicated

[@ms.sunflower6417]

Sorry so when will I so my work when I am already picking up their work .... sorry why I worked at the next level and have to help them at their come on this is BULLSHI........🍗

[@Enhancetraining]

You don't have to help them. Doing so helps you with the other team members you don't want to lose, nor do you want to create a culture of fear for the same reasons. If the underperformer doesn't improve, then you do need to remove them from the team otherwise you cause yourself a different set of problems.

[@OneAdam12Adam]

Beware of any video that allows advertisements from other companies. These aren't legit KZbinrs

[@Enhancetraining]

May I ask how "legit KZbinrs" pay their food, rent and clothing bills?

[@gauravpatel7954]

🤌🤌

[@Enhancetraining]

Thanks for your comment. J