An Introduction to Poor Performance

Transcript

Ashlie Turner: To define poor performance, I would say that the individual isn't meeting the expectations, in simple terms, of their manager.

John Kerr: Poor performance in the workplace is defined in a lot of different ways. It can be through very tangible things like a deterioration in results, whether that's sales performance, or missing deadlines, missing objectives. Similarly, it can also be to do with poor behaviors, poor attitudes in the workplace, both are important, but both need handled slightly differently.

Ashlie Turner: For me, probably the most common thing is, for managers, just not communicating their expectations. The individual doesn't know what they don't know. To describe that in simple terms, you'd be looking at somebody that just wasn't aware that they were doing something that they shouldn't, or they weren't performing to the expectations of the manager, 'cause they just haven't had that communicated to them.

John Kerr: Well, I think the causes of poor performance, that's kind of what, as a manager, what you need to get to the bottom of because that's superficial level. What you think may be the cause of the problem may not be the actual cause of the problem. So having a conversation and understanding whether it's personal circumstances happening in their home life, their life away from work, or whether it's actually something to do with the job, the role that they're in... Is it the right role for them and do you need to help support them? Find a role that they can excel in.

Ashlie Turner: Another cause of poor performance would be identifying whether the individual has an issue with either their will to do the job or the fact that they don't have the skill to do the job. And will and skill are sometimes difficult to identify, so it's important to have those discussions in order to understand whether the attitude of the individual is affecting their performance, or whether it's down to the fact that they don't have the technical ability to do their job.

John Kerr: Some of the mistakes that managers often make when facing a performance issue are, one, to ignore it and hope it'll go away of its own volution. I can guarantee you it won't. Similarly, some of the other related mistakes that they make are around second-guessing the colleague. So, you know, going in with a preconceived idea that they know what the problem is and they're gonna just present lots of solutions to that individual around what they need to do differently.

I would definitely counsel against that. I think it's very important to sit down with the individual and get an open conversation going. So talk to them about what your concerns are as a manager and why performance needs to improve. But then find out what's the cause of the poor performance in the first place. So, have a really open conversation, ask them lots of "why" questions, lots of "how" questions. Find out if there's actually circumstances happening out with the workplace that are making them unhappy.

Ashlie Turner: Common errors that managers make when they have to have a discussion about poor performance with an individual are often linked again with communication. Address the issue with the member of staff, tell them what they're doing wrong but not necessarily explain why it's an issue or understand why they were doing it that way in the first place. So trying to get underneath the reason for the error or the way in which they work is really important because that allows the person to understand why it's not appropriate.

John Kerr: Well the best bit of advice that I've ever been given around dealing with poor performance is to deal with it early. So, you know, there is a famous saying around "getting the right people on the right bus" and I think that's absolutely critical. Attitude and behaviors are the big ingredient I guess, that makes for a very successful business and for successful individuals. And if people don't have the right attitudes and don't have the right behaviors then you need to deal with that.