When I am asked to present to a group, I ask the organization to survey the attendees to find out what they are looking to leave with from the session. The topics mentioned quite often are how to manage change, communication, building trust, improving staff retention, achieving excellent customer service, and the most requested item is how to address performance issues. For this column, we will dig into the last one, performance situations. The most common question is when you should invest in someone and when you should move on.

Most people in leadership roles struggle with providing feedback that is not positive. Leaders who can conduct difficult, crucial, or fierce conversations usually have better outcomes than those who struggle with these performance conversations.

Here are a few reasons why these conversations may be difficult to have. You hired the person and feel it is your fault they are not meeting expectations. You question if you could have done more to help the person be successful. You may know the individual personally and understand it may cause financial troubles if they lose their job. Some may feel that having a person who is not performing well is better than not having an employee at all. The person may be well-liked by others. They may have mentioned that they are looking to retire soon, so the conversation does not make sense to have. Most people in a leadership role are determined to provide as much support as possible and don’t want to give up on a person. Due to their difficult nature, the conversations are typically delayed or do not happen at all.

I encourage people to read the book Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott. She lays out a process that is very helpful.

There are a few items to ask yourself when assessing the situation. Based on the person’s current performance, would you hire them? At times, I will hear a manager share that they did not hire the underperforming person. While this may be true, the person now reports to you. When new skills are shared, does the person display the willingness to learn and perform better? Does the person have the will and/or the capacity to achieve performance expectations? Do you feel the person is aware of the situation? It is not unusual for people who are not performing to not have documented concerns in their file. If there is not documentation, a leader may be embarrassed and not address the issue.

Many factors can impact performance, from the constant change of new expectations, new technology, and others. There will be times when a person is not able to attain the skills needed for their role. It may be that there is a different role for them, but most often, the person needs to depart.

When I ask people if they have ever let someone go, most hands will go up. Next, I will ask if they felt they moved too fast, and most of the hands will go down. Yes, we often wait to make the departure decision. The leader wants to take all the steps possible to support the person. Because these decisions are not easy, I will share other items to consider.

Do you as a leader feel you are fair? Most will say yes, because they think of fairness as the schedule, job duties, pay, benefits, workload, etc. These are to a certain point, but staff may see fairness as addressing performance issues. Coworkers pay the price when someone is not performing. They become known as workarounds by their coworkers. The coworkers have given up hoping that action will be taken so they figure out ways to work around the person. Some may try not to be scheduled when someone else is working.

The decision to keep investing in the person should be made if they display the desire to meet expectations and have the ability to improve in areas needed to meet the job expectations.

The decision to move on should be made if you are working harder for the person to be successful than they are. I remember spending time thinking about a department in which the leader reported to me. When I spent time with the person, it was obvious that I was working harder on their job than they were. When the decision and action to let someone go is made, it is like a weight has been lifted or a rock has been dropped from the leader’s backpack. Subtracting the person feels like an addition. This includes people in the C-suite.

Here are a few tips:

1. Make attaining the skill to assess talent and have performance concern conversations a top priority in skill development.
2. Ensure that each supervisor has an update on their agenda to review their subpar performers. Ask the leader how long it will take for the person to meet expectations, or when the person will no longer be in their role.
3. Use a four-quadrant system for will and skill. The top right quadrant is where people need to get to.
4. Ask yourself what will happen if action is not taken. Usually, this leads to action. The answers are typically that we will not get better, the team will lose respect for me, or my leader will have a performance conversation with me.
5. Be accepting of yourself. We get better at things we do often. Performance conversations are actions that are not done often. They will not be easy, but they are necessary.
6. Spend time and celebrate those you lead who are meeting expectations. Don’t let those with performance issues take time away from them.

I appreciate your allowing me to be out in the field and learning from you. It is my hope that I am providing help to you.