Recently, I came across a book about working with low performers, and this topic is discussed in team lead chats. Here’s a person who performs poorly, does tasks slowly or incorrectly, and maybe someone else doesn’t like the communication. So we put him on a Performance Improvement Plan with some metrics, which, for some reason, we consider objective. And then the person improves or not. If not, then we part ways. If yes, he becomes inspired and motivated and continues performing like a steam locomotive! Probably.
Let’s take a couple of steps back. The manager is responsible for the team processes. So let’s discuss what is happening with the processes and whether the person screwed up in them. What options do we have for this low performance?
If a person performs well and then stops, then why? Did he consciously decide to be dumber? Or did something happen? Or did work in our company happen to him? Where are the prerequisites for this burial? Sometimes, the manager’s job is to be a detective to prevent future crimes.
Suppose a person was promoted too high but is no longer capable. The demand from the one who is promoted is much greater. He has more influence and responsibility for such decisions. Count the money for a replacement or still lower expectations without killing motivation. Both the company and the person screwed but in a different proportion. We did not teach him.
If a person has personal problems in the family, with health, then let’s double-check what our company values say or a simple human attitude. Do we care about employees? How much time do we give them to recover? We broadcast this to everyone openly and carefully. Happy people work better. We probably shouldn’t let them sit on our necks, but counting money to replace a person and agreeing with words through the mouth are our guidelines.
If a person is not pulling their weight objectively, why did we not find out a) before the interview, b) at the interview, and c) during the probationary period? Or we did not know what we wanted, and we spent the company’s time and money hiring and removing the person. Or we do not know how to do it right yet. Well, okay, here is the cost of our acquired knowledge. Once again, let’s count the money for a replacement, lower expectations, or transfer—everything again through communication.
Maybe a person does their tasks more slowly and worse, but they do the glue part of the work. Work that continues to move everyone with less friction. Work that can be skipped when everyone is online (In the office, this is a little more noticeable). Again, maybe we can count the money from removing a person from the team or forcibly imposing not helping the team but saving ourselves (we remember that in PIP, we have the most “objective” metrics).
A person should grow, but he does not grow, the bastard! Well, he does not. Who does he owe you or himself? There are problems that he is not growing. Besides, we tell him transparently and openly: “These guys do this and that; they are growing, and they are getting more. Is this ok with you?” If it is okay, then does it seem okay? Return to the question of whether it is okay for someone. And I still cannot understand the financial depth of the “grow or leave” decisions. In an environment where cooperation is more valuable than competition, such a strategy only seems to harm.
And no, I will not dissuade you. If you want to put him on PIP, put him! Consider the risks of demotivating him and the team. Just think about where the designed system screwed up that we came to this point. Do some work on the mistakes so as not to come here again.
Of course, I am kind about people, peace, and pink unicorns. And I am learning to be about money. And then it turns out that in money it works out better this way. Coincidence :)
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I’m Alex, tech lead in Prestatech with experience from startups to middle-sized and big-tech companies. Loves to make effective and friendly team processes. The registry of talks and articles I gave is on the Published page.
You can freely drop a message to [email protected] or linkedin.com/in/aptakhin to greet and ask questions about any topic.