Managing, not avoiding poor performance

Managing Not Avoiding
Poor Performance
A Guide For Managers

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CONTENTS
Managing not avoiding poor performance Page
1. Introduction 2
2 Common performance problems 3
3. Reasons why poor performance issues are avoided 4
4. Handling poor performance – key actions 5
5. Transferring to the workplace 7
For more information on managing employee performance and to find out how our
flexible HR Services can assist your business in addressing complex people issues
within your budget, please visit our website: www.connor.co.uk or call us on
01491414010

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Managing Not Avoiding Poor Performance
1)Introduction
Managing poor performance is an essential pre-requisite to getting the most out of your
people. However, it is not an easy subject to broach and many of us fail to take
appropriate action.
It takes a manager with skill and experience to be an expert at raising the issue of and
dealing with poor performance. In many instances, teams can become disengaged
from their manager when the manager fails to address poor performance issues, even
if the effect of this upon the team is not particularly extreme. A fundamental cause of
tension among teams is the feeling that they are carrying a member who is not pulling
their weight – this can quickly turn into stress if left unaddressed by their manager.
Poor performance can occur at any stage in the performance
management lifecycle, including an employee’s trial period. It is
important that as a manager you start as you mean to go on and
remain vigilant; resisting the temptation to give your new
employees the benefit of the doubt and end up wishing you had
resolved those issues earlier on.
What’s covered?
This eBook is about looking at the approaches you can use to handle poor
performance, ‘nipping in the bud’ issues early on before they become formal
disciplinary issues. If tackled early then there is a greater likelihood that the poor
performance issues can be resolved before the issue becomes more serious.
We will cover:
 Understanding the reasons why Poor Performance issues are so often avoided.
 Being knowledgeable of the most common problem behaviours.
 Knowing what a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is.
 Having an action plan to make sure that you can apply these new skills back into the
workplace.
Managing Not Avoiding Poor Performance – A Guide For Managers
Definition of poor performance:
“The difference between the behaviour the employee demonstrates and the behaviour
you want and have agreed.”

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2) Common reasons for poor performance
Performance issues can be due to a multitude of reasons. What we can do is split the most
common reasons into two groups – situational issues and problem behaviours such as:
Common situational issues
 Job description, end results or statistics not being clear.
 A lack of training or knowledge.
 Personal problems getting in the way.
 Employee is not suited to the job.
Common behaviour problems
The most common problem behaviours that we face in today’s workplace include:
 Persistent short term absence – Particularly Friday/Monday patterns. These can
have a corrosive effect on the morale of the employees who have to work harder.
 Apathetic people – they rarely make an effort and favour average performance
where they just do enough.
 Disruptive types – who don’t work with the team and do their own thing.
 Pass the buck – never their problem,
always somebody else’s and ‘it’s not my
job.’
 Gossipers – people who disrupt the office.
 Impulsive people – those who act before
they think causing well-meaning chaos.
 Procrastination – leaving things to the last
minute or missing deadlines.
 Temperamental types – those who quickly take offence.

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3) Reasons why poor performance issues are avoided
We all know that raising the issue of poor performance is a challenging and uncomfortable
situation for any manager. In fact, there are a lot of managers who have admitted that they
would prefer ‘a trip to the dentist’ over raising an issue of poor performance with a co-worker.
This we can all understand – as human beings we cannot help but want to be liked by our
co-workers, to not upset the equilibrium and to not have to feel guilty for the decisions we
make. There again, as a manager you want to be able to do your job without apologising;
after all, that’s what your role is, to manage your team and address any issues to ensure
your companies’ objectives are met. This is where we can struggle with striking a good
balance and occasionally we shy away from the issue of poor performance.
Here are some further reasons as to why addressing the issue of poor performance is
avoided:
1. Difficulty in delivering a negative
message – Some people are nervous
about delivering negative messages and
don’t want to be become unpopular. The
severity of this feeling will change
depending on your relationship with your
co-worker – for example, it’s harder to
deliver a negative message to a colleague
you also consider a friend or socialise
with after work.
2. Taking corrective action against a
person who used to be a peer – Never
an easy thing to do!
3. Lack of follow-through – In some instances a lack of notes were taken so next time they
have to start all over again.
4. Lack of time – Too busy! It’s easy to put a difficult task lower down the priorities list.
5. Hope the problem will go away! – Sometimes it does, most times it doesn’t and gets
worse.
6. Passing the buck – Many managers will be aware that one of the most common ways of
dealing with poor performance is to simply pass the problem – often by shifting the individual
to another department.
7. HR will deal with it – feeling that performance issues are the responsibility of the HR
department - This is not always the case!

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4) Handling poor performance – key actions
So how do you go about handing poor performance? There are many different ways that
have been suggested over the years, but we have condensed these down into 7 top tips for
you to try:
(It is important to remember that when dealing with poor performance it is the behaviour you
are addressing, not the person).
1. Point out the difference between present performance and agreed expectations
- A way to do this is by pointing out what you originally agreed. This key action will
define the ‘gap’ so that you both have a common focus.
Example:
Manager:
"Robert, we have a new IT infrastructure platform going
live next month and we agreed that you inform me of
your movements. This week, however, on three different
days it took over an hour to track you down."
2. Describe the negative impact of the individual’s performance
- Describe in objective terms, what the negative results of their performance, is having
on the rest of the team.
Example:
Manager:
"Robert, when you are not available, like this morning, you create a
problem for the whole of the team. The other engineers weren’t able
to start their Technical Review meeting as you couldn't be found. This
has resulted in the team missing a key project milestone and has
upset the other members of the team. This as you can imagine has
affected your credibility within the team."
3. Ask for their view
- There may be some facts that you are not aware of. Use open questions that
encourage input.
Example:
Manager:
"Robert, we've talked about the importance of letting
people know where you are before, and I'm very
concerned about this situation. I would like to
understand your point of view. Can you give me your
version of events?"

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4. Ask for their ideas to correct the situation, then add your own
- By asking for their input you are placing the ownership for correcting the problem with
the employee in order to get as much commitment as possible. Following this, you
can then add your own ideas.
Example:
Manager: "Robert, it's imperative that the rest of the team, including
myself, know where you are at any given time because you
are a key member of the team. Have you any ideas on how
we can achieve this?"
5. Agree a ‘Performance Improvement Plan’ (PIP)
PIP’s are remedial objectives that focus the employee on what is acceptable performance.
PIP’s are put in place to turnaround unsatisfactory performance and contain objectives
backed up by clear measures which make it possible to see if objectives have been
achieved.
In order to create this plan, it is important to remember to ask if your employee knows what
SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound and to
ensure you assist in building the employee’s objectives around the SMART method.
Example:
Manager: "Robert, I think your idea of keeping your mobile switched on
when you are away from your desk is a good one. You'll
never be out of touch then. That, along with keeping your
Outlook diary up to date should take care of this problem.
Let's try that for a while and see how it goes. Let's review
your progress on this, two weeks from today. How about right
before the staff meeting, around 10:00am, here in my office?"
6. Mutually identify necessary skills and resources
Identify and agree together, the skills and resources your employee requires to successfully
achieve their agreed objective(s). This will ensure that the employee has every possible
opportunity to turnaround their performance.
Example:
Manager:
"Robert, are you up to speed with how to use the Outlook diary particularly in
terms of colour coding your diary commitments? What support/ resources do
you need in order to successfully achieve your objective?”
7. Express Confidence
Ensure that you express confidence that the employee can turn around the situation.
Example:
Manager: "Robert, I have every confidence that we can turn this
situation around. I will be available to help whenever you
need me.

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5) Transferring To The Workplace – Manager’s Action Plan
We hope you have found this document to be useful, but as you will be aware, the real test
is applying what you’ve learnt back on the job. Thinking about actions now will help build
motivation and focus to put them in practice in your role.
Below is an action plan for you to complete, which is designed to trigger you to monitor the
effectiveness of those actions. From a business perspective it’s vital that we see results from
training. This process will help you get the most from this session and feel motivated to act.
When completing your action plan, ask yourself:
- What is one thing you will do differently to help you better manage poor performance
moving forward?
- What plan will you put in place to avoid procrastination in addressing poor
performance?
MY ACTION PLAN
Name
Learning Bite Title
Date
Putting into practice:
What were my learning objectives?
What did I learn?
How do the learnings relate to my current job?

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How specifically will I apply these new skills back on-the-job?
In what way will these new skills make me better at my job?
How will I measure my skill improvements?

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Founded in 1992 and with offices throughout the UK, Connor has over two decades
experience in providing flexible HR support.
Our flexible HR Services give you an extra pair of hands when you need them and a
wealth of HR experience. We work within your timelines to make a real difference; whether
you need us for ½ day, time to time, a few weeks or long term, we will design a service to fit
your budget and your business needs - we listen, we do, we deliver.
Companies who have used our service have said the following about Connor:
About Connor
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site or remotely
About Our People
Our HR Consultants have the following things in common:
 They understand small businesses and what it is like to run a business
 They are first and foremost business people who happen to have specialised in HR
– No fluff here!
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Look Out For More From Connor
Can we help you? Call Sam Eaton
today to find out more!
Call Sam: 01491 414 010
Email: sam@connor.co.uk
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Website: www.connor.co.uk

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Managing, not avoiding poor performance