Business Management

If you are a manager or aspiring manager, sooner or later you will be faced with a member of staff who is not performing. The common response is to try and ignore it in the hope that it will go away. The trouble is that you are merely delaying what needs attention. It may well be that you end up being under scrutiny with your superiors wondering if you are really up to the job.
At the end of the day good managers and leaders want to deal professionally and compassionately with performance issues. So what are my 10 tips?
1. Review the individuals objectives and make sure they are clear. It is difficult to deal with an employee who is unclear about expectations.
2. Identify where performance is falling short of the required standard
3. Get specific examples to illustrate where performance is falling short rather than relying totally on gossip and observation
4. Arrange to meet 1 to 1 with the member of staff to discuss the issue privately. This is particularly important given the rapid increase in open plan offices
5. Prepare for the meeting thoroughly. remember this could be the start of a process that leads to dismissal.
6. Present your case and supporting examples clearly and professionally.
7. Give the member of staff the opportunity to respond without interrupting. Take the role of the listener.
8. Identify clearly the improvements required, timescales, monitoring and consequences if performance does not improve.
9. Ask the member of staff what support you or the organisation can provide to help them. This might be on the job coaching, a training course or workshop.
10. Confirm everything in writing.