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Performance Management in 7 Steps

by Joanne G. Sujansky

There are certain problems that most business owners would like to avoid. Calling angry customers, for instance. Presenting unhealthy sales numbers to higher-ups. And yes, dealing with those slow-moving, low-achieving, company-rule-breaking employees known as poor performers. Here’s a suggestion: take care of the latter problem and the other two might just work themselves out.

When you confront your poor performers, you will find that one of two things happens. They improve or they move—hopefully to a new company and not another department, that is. Either way—improving or moving out of the company—keeps customers satisfied and business brisk. And it keeps your good employees happy, too.

Makes sense, right? Of course it does. Unfortunately, many owners fall down on the job when it’s time to deal with poor performers. Perhaps they don’t want to rock the boat, fearing that poor performers will retaliate with even worse performance. Or perhaps they don’t know how to confront someone professionally. So they do nothing, and everyone suffers.

Poor performers can and do hinder goal achievement resulting in less of everything: sales, revenue and profitability. What’s worse, poor performers bring down everyone else in your company. No one wants to work with a person who is unreliable and incapable of correcting his/her mistakes. Companies who tolerate poor performance will see an exodus of high performers who are unhappy working in that environment, resulting in yet another expense—costs for replacing a good employee can often reach the amount of that person’s salary.

Clearly, the benefits of putting an end to poor performance in your organization are innumerable. So, how do you confront these offenders? Here are a few tried and true rules of engagement:

Be specific. If an employee has been consistently late, specify the number of times (frequency) or amount of time (intensity). Avoid exaggerated statements, such as You are totally unreliable. Instead, try This is the third time in one week that you have been ten minutes late. If this form of poor performance has been a problem in the past, remind the employee that you have pointed out the offense previously. Say, I indicated to you the day before yesterday that coming in late is not acceptable. Always, always, always re-focus the employee on the stated goal. Otherwise your efforts will be fruitless. Say something like, “It is important for you to be here at the designated time since customers rely on our immediate responsiveness when they have questions about their orders.” You want to stay on track and give clear, focused feedback to your employee.

Focus on the performance required for the job. For example, if you need to correct something like inappropriate casual dress, make sure that you reiterate the guidelines that have been outlined for the workplace—not the personal taste of the individual. Straying into areas that have nothing to do with workplace performance will result in a loss of credibility with the person you are confronting. It is best to stay focused on the employee’s job performance and how her performance is affecting the company as a whole.

Consider the needs of the receiver. Everyone handles feedback differently. Some people want it straight, while others are sensitive to any kind of feedback that might be construed as negative. With an employee who wants straightforward feedback, you can get away with saying, “You gave the customer the wrong information because you didn’t have the updated manual. How do you think we should handle it?” To get through to a more sensitive employee, you will need to take a different approach. For instance, “I understand why you provided the customer with this information. Are you aware that the guidelines have changed? What do you suggest we do in this situation?” Regardless of the poor performer’s personality, however, you should always be clear and straightforward in your communication.

Focus on performance over which the receiver has control. Poor performance isn’t always the result of an employee’s carelessness. Let’s say one of your salespeople, Elliott, hasn’t reached his goals because he is being hindered by someone else. Don’t blame him. Instead, determine the options that he has available to remedy the situation. Discuss how you and/or Elliott can influence the other department member to better support goal accomplishment.

If, however, an employee hasn’t reached his goals because he has not conducted the required number of activities, work with him to identify things he can do—make more follow-up calls or aim for ten appointments a week instead of eight—that will help him to make progress. Simply telling the employee what was wrong won’t help him change his behavior. Always take the time to brainstorm ideas on how the employee can improve future performance or avoid the mistake in the future.

Give timely feedback. Usually, there’s no reason to hesitate on giving feedback to poor performers. Make the individual aware of what she did immediately so she’ll have total recall of what just happened. However, pay close attention to her mental state. It could be that she is too emotional in the moment or too pre-occupied with solving the problem. If either situation is the case, it is probably not a good idea to give corrective feedback at that time. Wait until the employee has calmed down and can really think about what has happened.

Just don’t wait days, or worse, weeks, to provide feedback, when the low performer’s behavior has become a hazy memory. A common pitfall is that too many managers do not provide feedback on a regular basis. And then they bombard the employee at her end of the year appraisal. The appraisal should be a review of previous discussions throughout the year. Nothing mentioned at that time should come as a surprise to the employee.

Check for understanding. Avoid asking close-ended questions during the discussion or when summarizing. At the end of a confrontation you never want to ask, “Do you understand?” The employee could simply say “Yes,” and you will not know if your message actually got through to him. Instead, ask the employee to summarize his understanding of the situation. Have him lay out actions, steps, or accountabilities that should be implemented while moving forward.

Keep a paper trail of your discussions. After each meeting with the poor performer, take notes that summarize the discussions. In your documentation, include the problem, the action taken to correct or eliminate it, the dates, the result that occurred, and any comments that will help you to recall feedback sessions when you are completing your summary of performance at the end of the year appraisal. However, don’t include only examples of the employee’s poor performance. Also highlight, discuss, and document examples of acceptable and/or outstanding performance. Avoid creating a “little black book” of mistakes and errors. Documentation should reflect all levels of performance and feedback discussions, both positive and corrective.

Confronting poor performers may not be easy now. But once they have a system in place for doing so, managers usually find that getting them back on track is far preferable to ignoring the problem. As you begin to deal with poor performers, instead of avoiding them, you will discover what makes them tick and you will be able to resolve issues more efficiently. Everyone will benefit, and your job will get a whole lot easier.

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