Expectations at work

3 posts
Executive Spotlight: How To Tell An Employee They’re Underperforming



In every company, there are usually overachievers and underperformers. For underperforming employees, managers need to figure out a way to tell these employees that they're underperforming while also motivating them to work harder and meet their goals.

We recently asked our leading executives for their advice on how to tell an employee they're underperforming.

Here are their responses...

Lisa Perry, Global Marketing Executive


As a marketing executive, one of the most challenging aspects of your role is addressing underperformance within your team. Delivering constructive feedback can be uncomfortable, but it is essential for the growth and success of both the employee and the organization. Throughout my career, I’ve used these seven effective strategies to communicate with an underperforming employee, ensuring a respectful and supportive approach that encourages improvement.

1. Preparation is Key: Before initiating a conversation about underperformance, gathering relevant data and facts to support your assessment is crucial. Review the employee's job description, performance metrics, stakeholder feedback, and specific instances of subpar performance. Identify the areas in which they are falling short and the impact it has on the team and organizational goals. This preparation will help you approach the conversation objectively and ensure that your feedback is specific and constructive.

2. Understand Their Perspective: When addressing underperformance, it's essential to consider the employee's perspective. While you may believe they are not meeting expectations, they may have a different understanding of those expectations. Take the time to listen to their viewpoint and clarify any misalignments between their perception and the role, assignment, or job description. By fostering open communication and understanding, you can bridge the gap in expectations and ensure everyone is on the same page moving forward.

3. Focus on Behavior and Performance: When discussing underperformance, it is crucial to focus on specific behaviors and performance outcomes rather than personal characteristics. Avoid using judgmental language and provide objective feedback supported by evidence. Communicate the expectations that were not met and highlight the impact of their underperformance on the team or organization. Focusing on the actions and results can help the employee understand what they need to improve upon and avoid making it a personal attack.

4. Use the Feedback Sandwich Approach: The feedback sandwich technique starts and ends the conversation with positive and constructive points, with critical feedback sandwiched in between. Begin by acknowledging the employee's strengths, achievements, and valuable contributions. Then, provide constructive feedback, emphasizing the areas where improvement is needed. Finally, conclude the conversation positively, offering support, guidance, and resources to help the employee succeed. This approach helps maintain the employee's motivation and self-esteem while addressing the areas of concern.

5. Collaborative Goal Setting and Action Plan: To facilitate the employee's improvement, involve them in setting goals and developing an action plan. Ask for their input on overcoming their performance challenges and achieving the desired results. This collaborative approach fosters ownership and engagement from the employee. Together, define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals.

6. Regular Check-Ins and Tracking: Once you have set goals and developed an action plan with the employee, it's important to establish regular check-ins to track their progress. These check-ins are opportunities to review their performance, provide guidance, address any questions or confusion, and offer further clarification. By maintaining ongoing communication and monitoring their progress, you can identify any potential obstacles or challenges early on. These check-ins also allow you to offer support and adjust the action plan if necessary, ensuring that the employee stays on track towards meeting their goals.

7. Documentation for Clarity, Alignment, & Accountability: Maintaining documentation throughout the performance improvement process serves as a means of accountability and a tool for clarity and alignment. Documenting the agreed-upon expectations, action plans, and next steps ensures that you and the employee have a clear record of what was discussed and agreed upon. This documentation helps avoid confusion or miscommunication and provides a reference point for future discussions. By keeping detailed records of conversations, goals, progress, and any adjustments made, you can ensure that both parties are aligned and on the same page, fostering a productive and transparent working relationship.

Remember, effectively addressing employee underperformance aims to inspire improvement and create a culture of continuous growth and development within your team.

Lisa Perry helps companies build leadership brands, driving loyal customers & delivering profitability. She does this through a process that builds brands consumers love. Her goal is to help companies develop, monetize, and grow their brands.

Michael Willis, Sports Business Operations Executive


Manager talks to an underperforming employee during a meeting

My first thought is: what’s the temperature of what’s happening inside the company now? If the company is in a season of staff reductions, this could be the “perfect storm” for making the employee a candidate for dismissal.

If this is an employee I see as a valuable part of the team, then as a manager, I need to figure out how to get the employee back on track by investing time and energy into a fix.

  1. Start an investigation.
  2. What’s not meeting the standard? I need specifics.
  3. Meet one on one with the employee.
  4. Lead the conversation with the many good things that the employee is doing.
  5. Go into a detailed discussion on the item(s) not meeting the standard.
  6. Plan an action plan to correct the issue.
  7. After a short time, meet again with the employee to see the results of the corrected action.

In closing, managers need to act when the deficiency first occurs. That action could be an observation of the deficiency. Build your plan of action to be a resource to make the employee better.

If the deficiency is a resistance to change or company culture, it might be time to move on from this employee.

The window to fix underperformance might be short in a fast-paced, results-driven environment.

Michael Willis has 18+ years of experience working with accounting & sports organizations and has managed P&Ls of $10M - $125M+ with budgets of $3M-$50M+. He worked for the NFL for 22 1/2 years, mainly with the game officials working on the financial/accounting side of the business.

Ana Smith, Talent Architect & Global Learning Strategist


Manager listens to an underperforming employee during a meeting

Addressing employee underperformance can be a very delicate task, but with a structured approach, you can effectively communicate the issue and help the employee sustain improved performance. Here's a step-by-step process for handling this situation:

  1. Preparation and planning:
    a. Gather data: Collect objective performance metrics, feedback from colleagues, and any other relevant information to support your evaluation of the employee's underperformance.
    b. Define expectations: Clarify the job responsibilities, performance standards, and specific areas where the employee is falling short. Identify the desired level of performance for each area.
  2. Choose an appropriate time and place:
    Schedule a private meeting with the employee at a mutually convenient time and select a quiet location where you can have an uninterrupted conversation.
  3. Open the conversation:
    a. Start on a positive note: Begin the meeting by acknowledging the employee's strengths and past contributions. This sets a constructive tone and helps the employee feel more receptive to feedback.
    b. Express concern: Clearly communicate your concern regarding the employee's current level of performance. Use specific examples and objective data to support your observations.
  4. Seek their perspective:
    Give the employee an opportunity to share their perspective on their performance. Ask open-ended questions to encourage them to reflect on the challenges they may be facing or any factors that might be impacting their performance.
  5. Provide clear feedback:
    a. Be specific: Clearly communicate the gaps between the expected and actual performance, focusing on behaviors and outcomes. Avoid generalizations or personal attacks.
    b. Use the SBI (Situation-Behavior-Impact) model: Describe the specific situation, highlight the observed behavior, and explain the impact of their actions on the team or organization.
    c. Active listening: Give the employee a chance to respond to your feedback, allowing them to express their thoughts or concerns. Listen actively and demonstrate empathy.
  6. Collaborative goal setting:
    Work together with the employee to develop a plan for improvement. Set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that address the areas of underperformance. Ensure the employee understands the expectations and the consequences of not meeting them.
  7. Provide support and resources:
    Identify any resources, training, or mentoring opportunities that can assist the employee in developing the necessary skills and knowledge. Offer your assistance in addressing any obstacles they may encounter.
  8. Regular check-ins and feedback:
    Schedule regular follow-up meetings to review progress, provide constructive feedback, and offer support. Recognize and acknowledge improvement, reinforcing positive behaviors.
  9. Offer training and development:
    Provide opportunities for professional development that target the specific areas where the employee needs improvement. This could include workshops, seminars, online courses, or mentoring programs.
  10. Recognize and reward progress:
    Celebrate milestones and achievements along the way. Acknowledge the employee's efforts and progress publicly when appropriate, reinforcing their motivation to sustain improved performance.

Remember, it's important to approach this process with empathy, fairness, and a genuine desire to help the employee succeed. Building a supportive environment and providing ongoing guidance can contribute to the employee's long-term growth and improved performance.

Ana Smith helps people & organizations achieve their full talent potential by developing and co-creating people strategies and customized solutions, and turning them into impactful outcomes and collaborative relationships, using coaching as the "red thread."

How do you tell an employee they're underperforming? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily's Executive Program.


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6 Tips To Make Sure Your Ego At Work, Works (Even In Uncertainty!)



Work is important to a lot of us. And we all have egos. The trick is to balance our own view of work and success so that the ego remains a helpful source of support and not a tyrannical master. One is the road to relative contentment, the other to continued misery. Have you struck the balance?

We particularly need to know we have the balance as close to right (for us and others at work—everywhere!) especially given the likely turmoil and stress employees, colleagues, leadership, and ourselves may feel because of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding us right now.

Why do I even write about ego and why should any of us in business care about it?

To understand the influence of our own ego at work, let's first get a working definition of what ego is. Oxford Languages defines ego as, among other things, ‘the part of the mind that …is responsible for reality testing.’

So, what does reality testing look like on the ground? How do we implement reality testing at work for us?

Our Internal Rule Book


Man smiles while working

Through a rule book. Our own internal rule book. An individual set of rules we each carry around inside our heads for how we deal with the world including at work.

Everyone has their own internal rule book. Your job is to make sure that your internal rule book continues to support and serve for the benefit of all including your stakeholders, your colleagues, your team, your company, and yourself at work.

We all have this internal rule book for all parts of our lives. So, our internal rule book pervades our waking moments including at work.

Almost from birth we acquire, adopt, and develop our own set of rules which drive what we expect and therefore what we impose on others and ourselves as a way to decide what is going on—that is we are reality testing.

For instance, simple rules picked up through experience like if you pay a baker for a bread roll you expect them to hand over a bread roll. If they don’t hand over a bread roll then you start reality testing. In this example, where the baker didn’t hand over the bread roll as you expected (rule about exchange) you might immediately reality test the situation by asking ‘Did I hand over the money to the baker’ or ‘Did he hear my order correctly?’

You see how the rule book works—it's reality testing what you expected. You expected a bread roll after handing over the money (a rule about exchange), yet the baker didn’t hand over a bread roll. So, you try to understand what happened given your rule explains there ‘should’ have been an exchange. You could call this sort of rule a ‘standard rule’ as many people follow it. In this scenario, the rule of exchange is a standard rule because it is widely followed and understood.

So, applying the rule book to work, if you delegate to someone and then they don’t meet your expectations...here is where things can get interesting. Remember our internal rule book guides and drives our expectations.

Your rule book is active 24 hours, 7 days a week in your subconscious, whether you’re at work or not, and whether you are always aware or not. The application of our rules often happens on ‘autopilot.’ Remaining mindful of how you apply your rules will increase your likelihood of successful interactions and activities at work and in general.

Why?

Because being mindful means you are in that very moment, live, and you are adjusting to the actual, live situation and the interaction or person in that very moment. Rather than applying the rule when it may have first formed for you.

Remember, right now, people may be in a heightened state of stress for other reasons than the immediate interaction with you. So make sure your rule is the best possible fit, in the moment, to that situation and people.

This mindful assessment of the ‘best fit’ of your rule in the moment will lead to better, healthier, more successful interactions and outcomes the more you can do it.

Remember: a negative emotion you may feel during the day at work, with others or during an activity you are doing—e.g., reading a work email, for instance (anger, frustration, annoyance)—is a pretty good indicator that someone or something has tripped over one of your rules.

This is then a split-second opportunity for you to grab hold of how you are feeling, and then recognize that it’s actually because of a rule you have in play. You then have the immediate opportunity to do something potentially different to how you would ‘normally’ react.

This can lead to a different (and possibly) better outcome for you and the person or situation than might otherwise have been the case.

Let’s continue with the example mentioned of delegating work to someone. You have more choices in this latter example scenario of delegating work to someone which is of course more complex than a simple transaction of buying a bread roll—obvious right?

What may be less obvious is that you and the person you delegated to don’t just have standard rules (i.e., widely followed and understood what is expected). We all have non-standard or individual internal rules as well. In other words, everyone has a standard set of rules that are widely followed and understood by others and non-standard rules where expectations between people might vary.

It’s also worth thinking about how you apply your rule book in say, difficult work situations like distressed projects and teams (see "6-Point Checklist For Taking Over A ‘Distressed’ Project Or Team" for more on this).

Let’s say in our delegation example you explained to your colleague that she keeps you in the communication loop on the progress of work you delegated to her. Let’s say she doesn’t copy you in on an update email and you find out from a colleague instead how the work is progressing.

This is the second time you have found out indirectly rather than directly from the person you delegated to. Do you apply a rule that says this colleague cannot be trusted or is slack or absent-minded? Or could it be that your rule instead interprets your colleague’s behaviour as they are purposely leaving you out of the loop.

What if her behaviour of leaving you off the update email is actually because she is continuously overworked and doing her very best and slips up sometimes because of how busy she is?

Take your pick of how you respond in this scenario.

Your response is driven by your internal rule about what you expect—in this scenario, what you expected when you delegate work to someone. So, when your expectation wasn’t met, your internal rule book kicks in (to reality test) and then reacts by judging the situation (and the person).

Remember that our rule book is built over time and evolves through observation, our own experiences, as well as our beliefs—a topic for another (many!) blog series.

How much you check, question, and validate your own internal rules that you use and apply to a given situation, such as the example above, will potentially influence your attitude and behaviour towards this person as well as similar scenarios in the future.

Tips To Make Sure Your Rulebook Is A Healthy, Balanced One:


Woman on laptop looks for a new job

Ask yourself, ‘Do my rules...

  1. Serve me in regards to my work?’
  2. Serve my stakeholders including my team, direct reports, sponsor, and colleagues?’
  3. Place onerous hurdles that serve little purpose except to continually reassure me?’
  4. Need to be removed in some areas?’
  5. Hinder or support fast progress at work?’
  6. Need streamlining, changing, revision, updating, editing, or deleting?’

Final Word


Happy coworkers at work

I’ve barely mentioned ego throughout this blog yet that’s where we started. We could spend a lot more than my 1200-word limit allows. So instead, I focused on a practical example of what is driven by our ego—the internal rule book.

At its most basic, our internal rule book is there to protect us and reassure us that we are in control as we deal with and decide what is going on around us at work (and beyond).

It’s important you place as much effort as you can muster into making sure, especially in today’s uncertain work environment, that the application of your rule book (i.e., in situations with stakeholders like colleagues, employees, or leadership) remains as balanced and unemotional as possible, no matter what is going on for you and your stress levels. Not an easy ask I realize—but I know you can do it!

The tips I provided aim to help you recognise and understand your own internal rule book, the one you apply at work especially, and help you ensure it remains supportive rather than one that drives unhelpful behaviours that can make things worse for you and those around you.

Remember the ultimate aim of our internal rules is to help not hinder.

Would love to hear about your internal rule books and how they serve you or how you review your rules regularly to make sure they continue to support you.

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How To Reset Work Expectations With Your Boss



In my last article, I talked about an example of someone who was working 60 hours a week and then went through a big life event (like having a baby) and now only wants to work 40 hours a week. If you're in the same boat, how can you reset work expectations with your boss and still get a good performance review?

Here's my advice on how to successfully manage work expectations without hurting your career...

It's Usually Easier To Get A New Job Than Reset Work Expectations


@j.t.odonnell Replying to @carolinecc1 How to reset work expectations with your boss. #worktok #careertok #jobtok #careertiktok #careeradvice #quietquitting #quietquittingmyjob #career #job #learnontiktok #edutok #worklife #work #workmode #boss #expectations ♬ original sound - J.T. O'Donnell

In my 20+ years of experience as a career coach, about 50% of the time it's just easier to get a new job if you're looking to reset work expectations at your current job. At a new job, you can set your ideal expectations from the get-go.

But if you really like where you are right now and want to stay there, follow the three steps below to reset your work expectations.

How To Successfully Reset Work Expectations With Your Boss (If You Want To Stay)


Woman tells her boss she wants to reset her expectations at work

Step #1: Do Some Homework

Get out a piece of paper and create three columns. In column #1, list all the things you were hired to do, looking back at the job description for your role if you have to. In column #2, list everything that you've taken on since then because if you're working 60 hours a week, you've taken on a lot of additional responsibility. Then, in column #3, think of one or two things that you could take off your boss's plate. Something that's a real headache to them that if you took it off their plate, you'd be super valuable to them.

Step #2: Meet With Your Boss

Next, set up a one-on-one meeting with your boss. Type up your three-column list, sit down with your boss, and have a conversation. Here's an example of what you could say...

"When I first started at this company, I was working 60 hours a week to get myself up to a level of value. But now, as you know, I've had this life event and I really want to stick to 40 hours a week but continue to give you a high level of value. So here's what I figured out. Here are all the things I was hired to do in column #1. Here are all the additional things I'm now doing in column #2. And here are some things that I would love to do for you to make your life easier in column #3. But in order for me to do that, we'd have to take a couple of things off my plate in column #1 that maybe somebody else with more junior skills could handle."

This is how you begin the conversation. Now, as a bonus, I would suggest you go through and list how many hours a week you do each task in columns one, two, and three, and add them up to show your boss how all of those tasks take over 40 hours to complete. And if you could move things around together, what would they want you to work on? What would be the highest payoff activities for your 40 hours?

Step #3: Update Your Boss On Your Progress

The final step is to give your boss some time to review this information. Then once they approve your new work expectations, you are going to regularly update them on your progress. Communicate with them about what you're getting done in 40 hours. Market yourself because that's what people forget to do. They forget to market their value and prove to the employer that they're working smarter, not harder—without having to do it in extra time.

Once you shift this perception, you're going to see great results. A lot of times managers don't realize how much you're doing and, upon seeing this list, will reset your work expectations for you. But it's on you to bring up your concerns and try to find a solution where both of you are happy.

Need more help with your career?

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How To Reset Work Expectations With Your …