There’s a tendency among business leaders to focus on the outstanding performers on the team and ultimately cut their losses by letting go of the underperforming staff members. They may be operating on the belief that an organisation of adults can and should be able to keep up with everything required of the job, but this simply doesn’t ring true for every employee.

Whether an employee is charging ahead of the crowd or visibly lagging behind, it’s on the business leader to make the necessary changes to their management so everyone is happy, well-adjusted and productive at the office. 

There are different strategies you can use to become a better business leader, enabling you to manage your team more effectively.  Being empathetic and fostering an inclusive workplace can allow you to connect with your staff members and better understand their situation, particularly if they’re underperforming.

Terminating their employment shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction to instances of underperformance. Staff members were brought on board for their own merits, so it’s important to look into the ways they can be managed better before looking at letting them go.

What is underperformance?

Staff underperformance is a sign of more troubling employee challenges such as disengagement and burnout, so it’s important that business leaders recognise and address this before it leads to more work errors.

Staff underperformance may look like poor work quality, noncompliance with company policy or even poor behaviour. Other signs that your employees are underperforming include:

• Lack of motivation and enthusiasm
• Increased absenteeism
• Decreased productivity
• Decreased work satisfaction
• Low engagement

There are many reasons that your staff is underperforming, so it’s important to be conscious of these behaviours and their possible causes. They may feel like there is no room for growth or improvement in their current role and position, so it’s crucial to provide professional development opportunities and upskilling programs for your employees. 

Another possible cause for underperformance is that your staff feel taken for granted at work, that their efforts are not properly recognised and rewarded. Recognising your staff’s work and encouraging peer-to-peer recognition (i.e. employees recognising each other’s work) can boost morale and teamwork. 

Poor employee performance can also be a sign of burnout, which the World Health Organisation has defined as an occupational phenomenon that arises when employees are under constant stress, which can cause emotional and physical exhaustion. 

As a business leader, you need to implement strategies that can help you prevent and address burnout within your team. It’s important to set deadlines that your staff can realistically meet. Delegating tasks to the right people with the proper skill sets will also encourage a clear, organised workflow while motivating your staff to do their best in the workplace. 

3 ways to uplift and manage underperforming staff members

Handling underperforming staff can be challenging, but it’s important to be understanding of their situation while finding ways to help them get back on their feet. We’ve shortlisted three strategies you can use once you notice that a staff member is underperforming.

1. Ask how they’re doing

It’s one thing to notice underperformance and another to get confirmation from the staff member themselves; leaders should know their staff’s perception of the situation and address it from there.

Any employee, especially an underperforming one, will feel like they’re being pushed into an uncomfortable position if you approach them out of nowhere saying they aren’t performing up to standard. The challenges in terms of quality or behaviour are likely due to other causes, so it’s crucial that business leaders approach underperforming employees without any ill will.

There’s a way to talk to underperforming employees to ensure that you have a productive discussion about their work and how they can improve moving forward. 

Before you start a rundown of areas of improvement, you can ask how they’re doing and how they would assess their own performance. This will give you a clear idea of how closely your assessment aligns with your staff’s self-review. 

Ideally, you will both be on the same page, allowing you to discuss individual goals that can help them improve and grow while contributing to the organisation’s success. In case your staff think they’re doing fine, then that’s when you need to gently share that you have a different view. Make sure to use objective and specific metrics when discussing your assessment of the situation so that the areas of improvement are clear to your staff.

2. Find the cause for their underperformance

Understanding why staff members aren’t performing well can help you develop a solution tailored to your staff’s needs, minimising extra work to get them up to speed and encouraging them to improve.

In conversations with underperforming staff members, it’s crucial that business leaders get past the expressions of poor performance and focus on why they are behaving this way. Their underperformance may be due to a mismatch between your and their expectations for the job or a lack of capability in some areas, which can be addressed by training. 

Other potential reasons for poor employee performance include:

• Inability to focus – Lack of concentration can be due to a noisy and distracting work environment, but for some people, the inability to focus can be behavioural or medical. You can offer alternative working solutions to increase your staff’s productivity.
• Interpersonal issues – There might be some tension between your staff members, so it’s important to resolve internal conflicts and address any issues to keep the peace in the team.
• Personal circumstances – Family and home issues can significantly impact work performance. Giving your staff a safe space where they can share their issues will help you understand what they’re going through and how your organisation can support them during difficult times.

There’s usually always a reason as to why your staff are underperforming. The aim is to know what those reasons are so that you and your staff can develop practical solutions that are mutually beneficial to both you and your employee. 

3. Coach the employee and monitor their progress

Uplifting and managing underperforming employees is a gradual process of improvement that you need to stay on top of to monitor their progress.

Aside from an open and constructive dialogue with the employee, you and your management team need to coach your employee for a specific time duration to help them get their performance back up. 

Through the coaching process, you need to be able to take these steps:

• Explain why their performance needs to improve and how their current work has affected the team and the overall organisation.
• Confirm if your employee understands the performance issues and listen if they have any concerns or questions.
• Involve them in developing solutions as this will ensure they’re invested and engaged in their improvement. 
• Recognise the changes and improvements they make and reward them for their efforts.

It’s essential that employees not only agree with the assessment of the situation and the plan moving forward but are also committed to developing their skills further and improving their ways of working as they aim to make meaningful contributions to the organisation.

You can develop key performance indicators to track your employee’s performance against specific goals, which you can build with that staff member. Each month should have a different set of goals so that you can monitor your employee’s growth. This will give you a clear assessment of how much your staff member has improved since they first started their performance improvement program.

Letting go of your employee should be your last resort if there hasn’t been any significant improvement after several months of coaching and performance monitoring. Another factor you need to consider before making this decision is how the rest of the team is impacted by the employee’s performance or lack of contributions. 

It’s important to uplift all your employees, especially when they start underperforming. Utilising relevant strategies, such as coaching them and developing improvement programs, can help you effectively manage your underperforming employees.

As a business advisory firm, we’ve coached bosses and guided them into being strategic leaders. Contact us and we’ll help you bring your staff to the next level.