An underperforming employee can drag the entire team down and create unnecessary drama and tension. It could be things such as missing deadlines, not thinking strategically, poor communication, missing goals, or many other things. The “knee jerk” reaction for many managers, after most likely several intense conversations and a lot of frustration, is training or termination. That might still be the end result, but there is a better three-step process to go through that I outline below. Here’s an important data point to keep in mind when you are thinking about this: A manager’s ability to accurately and quickly diagnose their employees’ performance challenges and then provide the right prescriptive solutions is critical to building high-performing teams and companies. If a manager can’t, it not only causes frustration between the manager and employee, it cascades through the entire team and other teams they interact with. Managers often struggle to understand the ro...
