Performance Management starts with YOU!
Do you have someone in your team who just isn’t performing at the level you need them to?
Do you have someone on your team who you feel is a bit of a liability and it’s costing you clients or losing you money?
Do you just wish they would be better?
Would you like some free advice?
Performance management is the most frequent problem I get asked to help with as an HR consultant.
Often, line managers want to fire the underperforming employee. They just want a quick fix to their problem, to make it go away and be able to get someone better.
When I give advice, I start by asking questions about THEIR own performance rather than their employees.
Yes! Performance management starts with YOU
If you have someone who is under performing in your team, ask yourself these questions first.
- Did YOU make the right hire in the first place? Did you check they could do the thing you need them to do? Do you need to review your recruitment process?
- What efforts did YOU make during induction and onboarding? Did they have a buddy? Were they given proper training or just left to figure it out for themselves?
- Did YOU use the probation period properly and have regular, documented reviews during this time to check in on progress?
- When things started going wrong, did YOU sit down with them and review their job description with them to check you were on the same page?
- Have YOU told them that you are concerned? Sometimes that’s all someone needs.
- Have YOU asked them how they are? Maybe there’s something else going on.
- Have YOU given them goals/targets or made clear what good looks like?
- Have YOU been nice to them? Made time to get to know them and what makes them tick?
- Have you asked them if there are any barriers to learning? Have you asked them how they prefer to learn?
So, before you start thinking about failing probation or putting someone on a PIP or trying to dismiss someone, please ask yourselves those questions first. See if there’s something in there that YOU can do differently first!
At Mayday HR, I help coach and guide business leaders to have better conversations around performance management, I train line managers in effective performance management, and I can help you out if it all goes wrong.
If you would like some support, I’d love to help you – email me on [email protected]