MANAGING PEOPLE & TEAMS
My Employee is Underperforming, What Do I Do?
13 Questions to Ask Your Employee and How LinkedIn Does It
“I’m rooting for you. I’m the reason you’re in this role. And I’m going to work with you to do everything within my power to get you up to the bar, if not over it.”
That’s what Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, would say to any underperforming employee in the company.
Every company has that one rockstar (or a team of rockstar) employee: these are the people that you can count on. These are the employees that are always performing within or above your expectations, with consistency, quality. You’d think they’d always stay the same and never falter.
Here’s the reality: rockstars are human beings, and to err is to be human. Machines break down all the time—what about human beings that are infinitely more complex, with organs that even we don’t know enough ourselves? Yet, in many organizations, leaders and managers often treat underperformance as a one-off, simple situation.
Underperformance is deep-rooted and predicated on many factors, and if ignored or allowed to stay, the domino effect will be unfettered and it can cause serious ramifications.
The data is clear: high-performing, happy employees are major contributors to revenue and growth. Research by the Norwich Business School at the University of East Anglia showed that companies with such employees significantly outperformed the overall stock market, earning 1.35% extra returns above the market.
Yet, why is the impact of underperformance still greatly understated?
Again, here’s the reality: leaders and managers are human beings. It is human nature to look outward—to blame the person or extenuating circumstances.
Definitely, it is undeniable that outward factors may also be the case. However, it is imperative that leaders and managers consider inwards before considering outwards. It is a signal calling for self-reflection and internal review: is it to do with the leadership? Is the underperformance correlated to the management? Is it due to the organization as a whole?
What’s insanely important here is the matrimony between both. As a leader, your role is to consider both inwards and outwards—are you doing anything that is causing the underperformance? Is there anything that the employee is doing to cause the underperformance?
It is easy to make assumptions here with our hunches. Perhaps it might be a lack of information. Maybe it’s their perfectionism. Maybe it’s just a bad day for them. Maybe it’s that time that you reprimanded them at the pantry.
Maybe it’s time you ask.
The old adage of ‘honesty is the best policy’ in the modern era is definitely near impossible: in 2002, a University of Massachusetts study showed 6 out of 10 people lie at least once in an everyday conversation. In 2010, the University of Michigan confirmed that again, with more numbers.
That’s not the case for the workplace; your role as a leader is to strive for two-way transparency and spark honest conversations. While it may not be your role to be everyone’s friend, it is definitely your role to be everyone’s support system and resource pool. Who else can they turn except for their leader in times of need?
Hence, leaders need to get a full understanding of both outwards and inwards. What are the factors that are causing underperformance and how can you be directly involved in improving them?
In an age where people treat social media accounts like personal PR and ego-inflation tools, honesty is considered ‘refreshing’, and rawness is considered ‘unique’. As a leader, you need to understand that being honest creates an intimate connection at the highest level. It opens up many doors for you to explore, be it to grow their skillsets or to have them self-improve with higher efficiency. As a manager, you need to reconcile that with actual practical steps that you can take with your employees.
Ditch the Performance Reviews
Performance reviews suck—it’s cold, routine, and looks at numbers. That’s not how a human conversation should work. Leaders need to be reminded that across the table sits a human being, warm-blooded and breathing, with an infinite number of emotions, thoughts, and opinions. Rather than look at numbers, you need to dig deep into what is causing the dip in their review as holistically as you can.
Are you the Problem?
Bluntly put, if you have sub-optimal leadership skills, you’re potentially causing a dip of up to 7% in your company’s revenue, according to the Blanchard Company. The single greatest cause for employee disengagement is poor leadership, according to Gallup. Rosen and Brown, the authors of Leading People, concluded that current leadership in American companies is costing more than half of their employees’ human potential and productivity.
Leaders need to dig extremely deep into this and open up room for honest conversations. One of the most important traits in a leader is the willingness to commit to perpetual growth, and the belief that humans never stop growing. Leaders who subscribe to that thought are leaders who can potentially curb underperformance and kickstart a process for improvement.
Leaders need to dig extremely deep into this and open up room for honest conversations.
Here’s what you need to think about: “What have I been doing that is causing the dip in performance? Have I been a hindrance?”
- “Are you clear on what you need to get done? What can I do to make things a lot clearer?”—miscommunication cause organizations an average of $62.4m annually in lost productivity. Do you have communication barriers? Do you speak in ‘their’ language? Are you using any social collaboration tools (which are hit with millennials)? Are you using the right vehicle for communication? Do you have solid numbers, clear pathways to your objectives and solid support systems?
- “Am I giving you too little time or too much time? How can I better protect your time?”—time is money, and so are your employees’. Giving your employee too little time stresses unnecessarily, and too much time may give off the wrong message or create lost productivity. Before giving a task, have a meeting and discuss the timeframe. Pinpoint what kind of resources they can get at any point, and how you can help if required.
- “Are my expectations realistic? Is there anything that I need to adjust to make it reasonable?”—humans learn differently and it is what our strengths and weaknesses are what make us unique. Sometimes, biases and prejudices come into play as well: wouldn’t you think it is strange for a Berkeley graduate to fail at something basic? Like before, sit down and have a talk with your employee before giving any task. Talk about the goal and reconcile with the organization’s mission and vision and overall goals. Sure, you have your KPIs as well, but your employees are not geniuses from day 1: understand that it is okay to fail and draw a line at where you can accept, and what you can accept.
- “Do you have enough tools and resources to help you carry out your job?”—oftentimes, employees are left to their own devices with the tasks. As a leader, let them know what help is there. Is there mentorship? Are there past blueprints for success? Are there past references? Are there online tools? Is there research material? How much can you help to help them gather resources (together with them) to build a pile of resources, not just for the current task at hand, but for future ones as well?
- “Do you know why your job is important? Are you clear about that picture?”—Simon Sinek, in his books, Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, emphasized on the importance of why leaders need to reconcile KPIs and objectives with the purpose of the organization. Why is there a need for there to be awareness on social media? Why do you need to make $150K in sales and not $50K? The reason can be anything: “We need more people to know about our charity.” “The company aims to achieve $5m in sales, and we don’t have enough sales reps, so profit per employee needs to increase.” Just one simple reason is all it takes. Show them the reality and be transparent about it; the best organizations operate on trust.
- “Do you know how much quality am I looking for in this task? Am I clear enough with my expectations?”—this is not about the reasonability, but what kind of quality you’re expecting. What are your expectations for your team? Sometimes, it is inevitable that companies need to push for a better financial quarter or greater brand spread, which means you need to hit your KPIs no matter what. Regardless, you need to make it clear: where do you draw the line with quality? How far do they need to go? Do you tolerate mistakes or are you okay with some? Is this a serious project, or is it experimental?
- “How has my management style made you feel? Do you think I can improve in my tone? Do you think I give off the right attitude to make you work comfortably?”—you may not be as good of a leader/manager as you think: the best way to go about it is to stay open-minded and ask for feedback (many are not able to take criticism, especially if the other person is not able to do so constructively). Are you giving enough breathing space? Are you not giving enough attention? What exactly are you supposed to do?
Your role as a leader is to keep growing so you are able to lead with capability. Therefore, you need to review. Are you being a good leader? Objectively, what can you improve on right now? What are the long-term achievements for you? When you stagnate or regress, employees who are more perceptive and active about it will eventually contribute to the voluntary turnover rates—that’s a real problem in today’s world.
Do They Have Problems?
Understand this: the success of your employees is predicated on an infinite number of factors that you cannot control. Leaders can control many things, and as leaders, it is natural to want control and oversight. We want to make sure our employees can give us the results we want. We want them to be satisfied with their jobs. We want them to be happy with where they are.
The success of your employees is predicated on an infinite number of factors that you cannot control.
Yet, it is imperative for you to dig deep into internal factors. Kickstart the honest conversation: you want them to also look deep within themselves. As a collective, leaders cannot only have one individual grow—while we can have superstars, we must also do our best to have the rest grow alongside.
- “Can you rate your own performance? How are you feeling lately? Do you see opportunities to improve, if any?”—here, you’re forcing the conversation to be about themselves but in a comfortable, judgment-free zone. Listen to their response and internalize: why are they specifically referring to those opportunities? Could you do something about them? Is it something that only they can do? Is there any way you can be involved?
- “What do you enjoy the most about your current work? Anything that you find inspiring? Motivating? Energising?”—you’re able to find out what makes them feel the best at their job. Are you able to give them more work that makes them feel positive? Do you need to shift appointments? Through this, you are also able to get a clearer picture of their passions, which is an important aspect of empathetic leadership.
- “Any part of the work you feel that you’re stuck with? Have you hit a plateau somewhere in your work?”—everyone gets stuck in their own work sometimes. Writers have writer’s block. Designers run out of inspiration. No matter the job, plateaus are commonplace and you need to know how you can help them get across it. Could you give them past examples? Could you guide them along the way? Is there a way for them to align their way of thinking towards the direction that of solving the problem?
- “In your role, are you playing your strengths? Do you think your strengths have been fully utilized?”—sometimes, the most careless of people end up in roles that require utmost meticulousness. Oftentimes, our jobs don’t allow us to use our strengths fully. As a leader, your role is to find out what your employee thinks is his/her strength and reconcile with your own assumptions. Is there any way for you to tap on his/her strengths? What are the available options for you? Can you delegate tasks befitting of those strengths, so you can get the biggest return?
- “How do you feel over the past X months you’ve been in the company? Do you think you have grown in terms of your career?”—best suited for employees who have been there for long (or in the middle of internships), it is definitely important to understand where the employees think they stand in the company. Are they being undervalued? Are their opinions being cast aside? Humans are not meant to be stagnant: in a world of rapid changes, you need your employees to grow as well, be in their skillsets or in their attitudes.
- “Are they any factors beyond work that may be affecting your performance thus far? Is there anything that I can do to help?”—this is where you dive into a personal connection. Undeniably, not many would be willing to open up about personal problems and you are also not in any position to comment or help. However, this is about showing care and concern about their personal lives as well: you understand that they are also people with families and problems outside of the company. By displaying that you are considering their external life as a factor to their performance, you come off as human and empathetic.
Never approach the questions with an accusatory tone: your goal is to come off as kind and understanding—you’re a leader, not a dictator. Your objective is to reach a place of better understanding. By understanding how they work and how they think, you are able to have clarity in your next steps.
Underperformance in the workplace is very commonplace, but most of such occasions stem from bad leadership. Ineffective supervisors form the biggest reason for dipping employee productivity, according to NBRI.
Effective leadership is a multi-pronged solution: simply showing that you understand your employee already has the effect of showing empathy. It relieves stress and creates a Circle of Safety for them. It heightens their productivity and willingness to work. By improving that, you create engagement. The domino effect? It ties very closely to company growth and revenue.
You’re in the listening business. That’s what leaders are in since the beginning of time.