Guide for Excellence in Leadership

Managing underperformance…

“Sir, I did not even know, what are the expectations from me by my boss. And now, you people are telling me that my performance is not at par. If this is a case then why this was not communicated earlier. I would have made improvement.” One so called underperformer employee was complaining after he was rated below expectations after annual performance review sessions.

Managing underperformer is always challenging task. Sometimes even managers do not take concrete stand on this. However assume that you have everything in place and you identified underperformers in the organization, how you would deal with them?

What is underperformer?

 Underperformers are poor performers are those who fails to perform the duties as per the job profile and KPIs. But it is not only about the results, it is also related to non-compliance of set behaviours, rules and regulations and policies of the company. However underperformance is not the misconduct. Sometimes it is just making people aware about the same. Sometimes, expectations are not clear; they don’t know the dos and don’ts in the organization.

Reasons for underperformance

There are many reasons why an employee may perform poorly. Some of the common reasons are:

• An employee is not clear about expectations, performance goals and KPIs.
• Relationship with superiors and interpersonal differences
• Mismatch of the job profile and employee capabilities.
• Lack of personal motivation, low morale in the workplace and/or poor work environment
• Personal issues such as family stress, physical and/or mental health problems or problems with drugs or alcohol
• Cultural mismatch

How to deal with them? Is sacking them is the only solution?

Most of the time, poor performers are treated without logic. Sometimes manager does not want them in their team due to personal biases.  Direct termination in such cases is not the solution. Dealing with underperformance can be challenging and confronting for employees and employers alike, but it does need to be addressed. Managers need clear procedures, organizational support and the courage and willingness to manage the issue.

Methodological approach:

Identify the problem

It is important to understand the key drivers of performance or underperformance within the workforce. It is also important to correctly and specifically identify the problem.

Assess and analyze the problem

Once you identify the issue behind being poor performance, it is a time to analyze it how serious the problem is, how long the problem has existed, and how wide the gap is between what is expected and what is being delivered.

Once the problem is analyzed, call the meeting with employee to discuss issues.

Meet with the employee to discuss the problem

During the meeting the employee should be able to clearly understand:

•          what the problem is

•          why it is a problem

•          how it impacts on the workplace, and why there is a concern.

The discussion should end with the solid results and agreeable solution.

Jointly devise a solution

Where possible, it is important that a solution is jointly devised with the employee. An employee who has contributed to the solution will be more likely to accept and act on it.

When working out a solution, the employer should:

•          Explore ideas by asking open questions

•          Emphasize common ground and keep the discussion on track

•          Focus on positive possibilities, and offer assistance, such as further training, mentoring, flexible work practices or redefining roles and expectations.

A clear plan of action should be developed with the employee to implement the solution. This can be in the form of a performance agreement or action plan. A performance agreement or action plan can:

•          Reflect an understanding of performance expectations and what is to be achieved over the specified time period (performance improvement milestones)

•          Clarify roles and responsibilities of the employee

•          Include strategies for training and career development

•          Include timeframes for improvements (these may vary depending on the issue and needs of the business, however it is important to give an employee adequate time to improve their performance) reinforce the value and worth of the role being performed. 

A date should be set for another meeting with the employee to review progress and discuss the employee’s performance against the agreed action plan.

The HR and line manager should keep a written record of all discussions relating to underperformance in case further action is required. Generally, it may also be used as evidence if legal action is taken about the matter.

Go to the people

Go to the people,

Learn from them,

Love them,

Start with what they know,

Build on what they have,

But the best of leaders,

When their task is accomplished,

When their work is done,

The people will remark:

"We have done it ourselves."

(2,000 Year Old Chinese Poem)

When Brijesh Kumar invents new language…

Brijesh Kumar retired after spending almost 35 years in the company. After the retirement, he thought that he would do something differently. Initial 6 months went well enjoying the freedom of retired life. His only son was settled in USA. His wife was passed away almost 4 years back. It was sometimes difficult for him to forget memories of his wife. But he kept himself involved in reading, writing and travelling at different places. He almost attended every lecture, seminar on different topics in the city. Travelled all over India. Spent two months in USA with his son. But he was not happy. He came back in India.   

He thought what he was doing. He should do something differently. He got totally bored with everything. He stopped going out. He stopped watching TV, reading books and everything he was doing earlier. He used to sit alone in the flat staring towards walls. He would go to sleep, he would take his lunch, dinner on time, but he was restless.

One day while gazing to the wall, he got an excellent idea. Why not change the whole language of this world. Language of whole World, very difficult! County, difficult, and what about City, sounds good. But then “Which language?” He asked himself. He though lot.

One fine morning, he thought, why not exchange the words? People call table to table, I will call table as a watch. People called watch as a watch; I will call watch as a drawer. And he went on, he changed his whole language. What to call, human being, ok, Flowerpot.

And he invented different language. He was very happy when he woke up early in the morning. After the breakfast, he went outside. He greeted his neighbor first time. Next day, he was supposed to call him flower pot!  Some children were playing on the playground and he was supposed to call them small flowerpots and playground as school.

And he practiced a lot. He thought alternate “different words” to “different words.”J

 “Man woke up early in the morning with the noisy alarm of the clock. He sat on the chair waiting for his tea. He took newspapers from the door for reading. Children were playing on the ground and making noises.”  

He would say the above paragraph as under:

“Flowerpot woke up middle of the evening with beautiful sound of the chair. He sat on the cupboard waiting for his wine. He threw lights from the hole for eating. Small flowerpots were sleeping in the school and eating silence.” StrangeJ

And from next day, he practiced and practiced and practiced. After few months, he invented his own language.       

He was totally new person with new language. But he forgot the whole language which others people used to speak. He went to the milk parlour to take milk, but he asked for salt. He went to hair salon to cut hair, and he asked to steal his legs. … And so on….

People were unable to understand his language and he was unable to their language.

When his son called on his “TV (Mobile)”, he could not understand his language and son could not understand his father’s language.

People started to make a fun on him…. He was an alien in the city with crazy language…

But Brijesh Kumar was happy that he invented something different.

After few months, his son came back in India and took Brijesh Kumar to the psychiatric.