I came across this article today and it prompting some thinking about performance management and how underperformance is managed in the most effective way.
Organisations can call it different things but it's still the same thing in any organisation. When people don't perform as expected - what do you do?
The article asks seven workplace experts what their top tip is for managing underperformance displayed in this rather nice image packed with great tips and some common themes.
You can find out more detail from the full article here over on the Cognology blog.
What do you think, do these tips ring true with you?
How do you manage under performance?
What top tips can you share?
Replies
Each of these tips will help, but the extent to which they will do so is likely to vary widely. The root of the problem is actually implied in the question and the management attitude that underpins it, viz. the expectation that an employee is there to do what they are told. If the manager was more of a leader they would inspire the individual to want what they want and the problem would disappear because the person would be more enthusiastic and engaged. In specific cases this may entail spending more time LISTENING to the person and finding out what is inhibiting their performance, rather than TELLING them they have to pull up their socks!
If I may be somewhat contrary, I would be say you cannot "manage" under performance. If you start from the premise that nobody sets out to do a bad job, then there has to be a reason for someone under performing.and it is the manager's role to work with the individual to find out why they are not performing to expectations and then mutually agree a course of remedial action to rectify the situation. This may well be due to an "environmental" problem in the workplace, which may be out of the employee's hands to rectify, and thus blaming the employee may simply create a victim and be even more disengaging and likely to compound the situation.
I agree with them all, but especially agree with Helen Blunden's comment and then, when we understand the reason for the underperformance (and have had the discussion), follow up as per Jon Windust's comment.
I find one of the difficult parts is to identify underperformance and also to not make excuses for others. I'm ok dealing with it once I have overcome those hurdles!
Agree Alison - Helen is a great person to follow on Twitter @ActivateLearn