Discussing team member performance that falls short of your expectations creates anxiety for even the best leaders. You may be concerned that the team member’s perception of their performance will not match yours or that you will have to deal with an unpleasant situation or a defensive reaction. You may also be hesitant to address one small area of performance if a team member’s overall performance meets your standards.
Still, your success and the success of your team require you to address performance gaps as soon as they become apparent. Knowing how to initiate and facilitate a performance dialogue in a way that reduces defensiveness and increases the likelihood of productive problem solving, is a skill that will increase your effectiveness as a leader.
The process outlined below can help you address team member performance issues and work with the team member to find solutions. Immediate, candid feedback about performance that does not meet expectations is critical to achieving results with people.
Problem Solving Principles
There are some proven problem-solving principles that you can use to increase the likelihood for sustained performance improvement:
- Maintain self-esteem
- Listen empathetically
- Ask for solutions
Maintain self-esteem. This is critical to successful problem solving. Everyone needs to feel a certain sense of self-worth and self-confidence. As a leader, you can maintain self-esteem of a team member by focusing your conversation on the problem and not the person. You can also express confidence in the team member’s ability to solve the problem. When a team member knows that you are interested in them as a person and want to see them succeed, they will be more committed to changing their behavior or work habits. When describing a performance issue, it is important to be specific and sincere. Let them know that you are concerned about their performance and that you want them to be successful in their role.
Listen empathetically. This means demonstrating an interest in the team member’s point of view and responding to both the content of what they say and the feelings they express. When you listen empathetically, you paraphrase your understanding of the feelings expressed and restate the content to check for understanding. Responding empathetically does not mean you necessarily agree with what the person is saying. It simply lets them know that you accept their point of view as valid.
Ask for solutions to the problem. This is the key to successful problem solving. Unfortunately, many leaders feel that they must have all the answers. When you involve the team member in improving his or her own performance, you tap a valuable resource and greatly increase the likelihood that the individual will follow through on the solution. This does not mean that you must give up your role in the problem-solving process. It simply means that you are going to first try to let the owner of the situation (the team member) think about and come up with reasonable, workable solutions. Solutions that come from the team member have a greater chance of working than solutions you impose.
When dealing with performance issues, planning is essential. Before you meet face to face with a team member to address important performance gaps, you should organize all the facts, know what you are going to say and consider possible solutions. Human Resources can help you prepare for a coaching discussion. When you meet with the team member, use the five coaching steps outlined below. These steps will help guide your performance conversation to a successful outcome and reduce the likelihood for defensive, unproductive reactions.
The Coaching Conversation
1. Describe the problem.
Tell the team member why you wanted to talk to them by briefly describing your observations. The key here is to reduce defensiveness and get the team member talking by being brief and to the point. Describe specifically the behavior that you have observed and why it concerns you. Remember to maintain self-esteem by focusing on the problem and not the person. Immediately follow your description of the problem by asking the team member why it is occurring.
”I have noticed that lately you are falling behind on your projects…
That is unusual for you. What’s going on?”
“I am concerned about your recent behavior in meetings.
You appear resistant to change. What’s up?”
2. Ask for causes of the problem.
Keep in mind that there are two sides to every story and that you may not have all the facts. This step helps you avoid jumping to conclusions and is your opportunity to listen empathetically. There may be a legitimate reason for this behavior or issues of which you are unaware. Gather all the information about the problem by asking open ended questions such as “who”, “what”, “how”, and “when”. Take the time to really listen to the team member. They will be much more likely to listen to your recommendations.
3. Indicate that problem must be solved and ask for solutions.
After listening to and acknowledging your team member’s viewpoint, you will have a better understanding of how to proceed. If the solution to the problem still rests with the team member, it is important to restate the need to solve the problem and ask the team member to suggest possible solutions. Some team members will be unprepared for your request for their own solution because they are conditioned to expect you to impose it on them. You can encourage them to find solutions by not judging their ideas too quickly and asking for several possible solutions. By saying something like, “OK…What other ideas do you have,” you tell the team member that you are listening and are interested in their ideas.
“I appreciate your perspective. It is important that we resolve this problem.
What ideas do you have?”
Note: Some team members may be unwilling or unable to offer solutions. It is important, therefore, that you come to the meeting prepared with some potential solutions of your own. You can offer these to team members in the form of a suggestion. By saying… “How about…” or “maybe you could consider…” you send the message that you are trying to help rather than imposing a rigid solution. It is only in extreme cases where the team member is being uncooperative that you should have to impose a solution. As a leader, however, you must be prepared to take this action if the situation calls for it.
4. Agree on action to be taken by each of you.
After the team member has offered some possible solutions, you should together agree on exactly what must be done – by whom and by when – to correct the problem. This usually involves restating the agreed upon solution. By saying something like “So, we agree that you will…” you give the team member the opportunity to clarify or confirm agreement and seal the coaching discussion. Indicate your support of the team member’s efforts and emphasize that the responsibility for immediate and sustained performance improvement rests with him or her.
5 Agree on a specific follow-up date
By setting a date to follow-up on the discussion, you send a message that improving performance is important to you. Where improvement has been achieved, the follow-up meeting provides you an opportunity to recognize team member efforts. Reinforcing performance improvement efforts enhances self-esteem and increases the likelihood that the new behaviors will become the norm. If performance does not satisfactorily improve, the follow-up meeting can help you find out why and initiate further improvement actions
It is important to the success of your team that everyone contributes to organizational goals and performs consistently with our leadership values. Coaching for Improved Performance is a valuable leadership tool for achieving results with people. It is intended to support your role as a coach and reinforce the team member’s accountability in his or her own performance.
Portions of the thinking in this article draw on foundational principles from DDI’s Interaction Management® program. DDI’s long‑standing contributions to leadership development and effective workplace communication have informed many leaders — including me — in how to coach, communicate, and build stronger teams. The guidance offered here represents my own interpretation and practical application of those ideas.
JCV Higher Reach 
Leave a comment