How To Manage Poor Performance

There will come a time when you have to deal with a poorly performing employee, and it can be exhausting! You have to motivate them, talk to them repeatedly, and get them to keep up with you and the team.

So how can you do all that? How can you manage poor performance at work?

First, try to view things from their shoes. The better you understand the cause of their poor performance, the better you can resolve it.

Identifying the Root Causes of Poor Performance

You’ll have to deal with that employee who isn’t pulling their weight. You’ll have to talk with that teammate who can’t keep up. 

Before you jump right into the conversation, perhaps the best thing you can do is step back and observe the situation. 

If you understand the cause of the poor performance, you will be better able to resolve it…and maybe even unleash that employee’s latent talent that has yet to be shown.

Many factors affect individual performance. Poor performance could be a capability issue, meaning your people lack the knowledge, skills, or abilities to do the job. Hence, your role is to find training or a better position for them. 

It could be a communication issue, meaning they’re not interacting properly with the rest of the team (and it is their “fault”), but they simply need to develop some interpersonal skills. 

It could be a motivation issue. Perhaps they’re burned out of doing the same projects repeatedly and need something that will stretch and grow them. Maybe they’re not responding to the usual company incentives, and you need to help find something else they’d work toward. 

When considering poor performance, it is helpful to divide the causes into two broad categories. (We’ll subdivide a bit later.) 

There are primarily two reasons for poor performance. The first is the system—meaning the overall organization, the work environment, the way different parts of the organization interact, the way performance is being tracked, and a host of other elements surrounding an individual worker.

The second category is the employees themselves.

The 85/15 Rule

It’s helpful to remember the wise thoughts of W. Edwards Deming, the legendary organizational psychologist. 

Deming had a principle he called the 85/15 rule. The rule meant that 85% of an employee’s performance was determined by the system the employee worked within, while only 15% was the actual employees. 

If you’re looking at a poor performer and wondering what to do, look around first and ensure it’s not an environmental factor diminishing performance. 

As Deming liked to say, “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” 

Ensure the Availability of the Right Resources and Support

So, ensure your employees have access to all the resources they need, that coworkers work well together, and that you’ve clarified your expectations.

A lot of poor performance can actually be explained by good employees working hard to achieve what they THINK are management’s objectives, only to find out (too late) that they were working on the wrong tasks.

Perhaps they don’t want to work, and then you have to have a difficult conversation about inviting them to be successful somewhere else. But as Deming would remind us, that’s likely only the case about 15% of the time.

Offer Support and Clarify Issues

Regardless of what conversation you have to have, the best thing you can do is make sure you’ve got a clear picture of what conversation that is. 

Don’t rush into a meeting with poor performance and assume it’s a motivation issue when the employee thinks it’s a systems issue. Get objectively clear on what’s causing the poor performance, and if you’re not, make your first conversation one of offering help finding out what’s wrong.

Poor managers deal with poor performance by assuming the cause. Good managers find the actual cause first and adjust accordingly.

Build a Culture of Continuous Improvement

The best way to manage poor performance is to create a culture of improvement and growth.

Employees who feel motivated to develop and improve can better recognize where their performance lags. This will encourage them to make conscious efforts to improve themselves.

You need to create an environment where they can prosper, give constructive feedback where possible, motivate the employees to set new goals and drive them towards achieving them. Give them learning opportunities and mentor them to minimize the possibility of poor performance.

Set Clear, Achievable Goals and Expectations

Poor performance often stems from unclear expectations. Employees might work hard on tasks they believe are important, only to realize later that they neglected the key tasks simply because of their own assumptions.

So, be clear in your communication, keep your efforts aligned with the group or organization’s priorities, and set clear but achievable goals from the beginning. This way, everyone will be on the same page about the expectations, goals, and targets.

Another thing you can do is break complex tasks into simpler ones. 

Constructive Performance Reviews

Performance reviews must be done regularly. They allow us to address issues as and when they occur and recognize employee accomplishments. 

Performance reviews and constructive feedback can help identify challenges at work and help you collaborate to find solutions. They also motivate employees to share their perspectives and discuss obstacles hindering their growth and learning paths.

Wrap Up

So, the best way to get your employees to perform well is to get down to the root cause. Instead of assuming, take the time to understand where the employee’s low performance is coming from and adjust your goals and expectations accordingly.

Once you work with the employees and understand them, you can create a positive work environment where they will feel understood and valued and perform to their fullest potential.