5 Elegant Ways to Tell an Employee Their Performance is Poor
Optimize team management in minutes with ManageBetter. Start your free trial now and join Uber and Microsoft in boosting performance, gathering insights, and generating reviews—all AI-powered, no writing required.
Introduction
Informing an employee about poor performance is a difficult conversation. Sometimes the employee may not be aware that their performance is not meeting expectations. Careful planning and these essential tips can help you have a productive conversation about performance with an employee.
Preparation for the Meeting
Planning how to tell an employee about their poor performance can help the conversation run smoothly. Here are tips for preparing for the conversation:
Understand Your Employee
When preparing to tell an employee that they are underperforming, you must reflect on how the employee typically reacts. Will your employee react defensively? Is your employee willing to improve immediately? Are they going to require motivation? Taking time to reflect on your employee’s typical behavior can help you prepare how to head into the conversation.
Prepare A Thorough Performance Review Before the Meeting
As a manager, work life can be very busy. Using the ManageBetter ReviewBuilder helps make creating performance reviews easier. Making a performance review before the meeting allows you to have some time to reflect on the employee’s skills. You can pinpoint areas in which they excel or need improvement. Then, you can provide the employee with the performance review before the meeting, so they can understand the areas that need development.
Find Resources to Help Your Employee Improve
Does your employee lack the computer skills necessary to improve productivity? Do they need to develop leadership skills? Some of their underperforming areas can be improved by taking courses or attending seminars on the topics. Providing your employee with resources during the conversation takes some research, but will make the employee less overwhelmed with tackling the improvements.
Breaking the News
When the time comes for the conversation, go into the meeting prepared to listen and offer guidance. Here are key tips for telling an employee their performance is poor:
Have the Conversation as Soon as Possible
Despite how difficult it is to inform an employee about their performance, don’t delay the conversation. Waiting too long can allow the bad habits to solidify and can make it even more difficult to address the performance. Once you are prepared, ask the employee to have a conversation with you. Make sure to reserve plenty of time to speak to them, so there is no rush.
Be Direct by Referencing the Performance Review
Starting the conversation with small talk can allow for tension to build up. Therefore, preparing the performance review provides concrete information to reference right away Also, printing out a copy of the review for both you and the employee would be helpful so neither of you has to reference a computer during the meeting.
Ask the Employee Questions
Simply telling an employee their performance is poor without asking any questions will not help address and fix the problem. Asking questions about what they think might be affecting their performance can reveal any issues that may be facing such as personal troubles or workplace problems. In addition, asking how you can support them better can help them to reach successful performance. Also, you can ask clarifying questions about job expectations to make sure the employee understands their role.
Have a Supportive Tone
No one wants to be told their performance doesn’t meet your expectations. Some employees may become defensive. Do not respond to their defensiveness in anger. Say something like, “I understand where you are coming from, and I am here to support you and guide you through improving your performance.” Then, you demonstrate care for the employee and their success, which will allow them to be more open to change.
Help your Employee Create Goals
Guiding your employees to success is a key skill of being an effective manager. You can help your employees by creating goals for improvement. Using the ManageBetter ActionPlan, you can make goals and track progress. Providing the employee with this information will allow them to easily see if they are meeting your expectations and improving their performance.
Next Steps
After the meeting, it is important to follow up with the employee. Even checking back in later during the work day can help solidify the support for the employee’s improvement.
Schedule a Follow-up Meeting
Set up a follow-up meeting with the employee to discuss improvements. Doing this will allow the employee to ask questions after attempting the goals for some time. Also, you can see if the employee is truly investing in becoming better.
Remind the Employee Frequently that You Care About Their Performance
An employee can feel like their work doesn’t matter if you don’t check in with them. As the employee learns new habits, they may struggle. Remind them that you support them and want to help them succeed to increase their motivation.
Remain Clear of your Expectations
Despite being supportive, you must be a leader in the workplace. Finding a happy medium of caring and leading may be difficult. Remember to keep holding the employee accountable for their performance, even when it may be difficult.
Conclusion
Telling an employee they are not meeting your expectations is a complicated conversation. The best thing you can do is prepare for the conversation and offer support. Being a leader in the workplace requires sometimes having difficult meetings with employees, but coming into the meeting ready to be clear of your expectations and guide your employee to success is crucial.
Sharpen Your Leadership Edge: Join 3,000+ executives receiving weekly, actionable insights from industry experts. Subscribe free to The Thoughtful Leader and elevate your team's performance.