Working out how to deal with an underperforming team member and then taking the right action is one of the bigger personal challenges any manager or leader faces at work. I would like to take you through the approached I used, successfully, time and time again in over 25 years of managing teams.

 The first step to take when confronted with how to deal with an underperforming employee is not to ignore the problem. You know it will be a challenge, unpleasant and possibly difficult, yet procrastination around poor performance at work ends up being much worse. 

 The individual’s performance is likely to get worse, not better. Your team will get fed up with you and the underperforming employee and are likely to lose motivations and team performance will drop. None of this reflects well on you the manager nor your poor performance management skills. 

 So take action. 

 On of the first steps to take when thinking about how to deal with a poor performing employee  is to talk to them and find out what the reasons are for the poor performance. Tell them why they are an underperforming team member, use examples and set out your expectations for them. 

 Work together to create a plan for how to help the underperforming team member improve their performance and how you are going to help them do this. 

 Coach and mentor the underperforming staff member, so they have the tools to enable them to improve their performance. The more effort you put in to this process, the more likely the team member will turn around their performance.

 Throughout the plan, give honest feedback and monitor progress. Share progress with the underperformer so both parties are clear on what has gone well and what still needs to be improved. 

 Not all underperformers are willing or able to improve their performance. If this happens, it is important that you take formal action to resolve the underperformance, even if this means the underperformer leaves the business. 

 Good luck.