Performance Management: Poor Performance

In the last byte, we looked at how one could manage performance by getting the right rewards in place. In today's byte, we look at dealing with poor performance.

It is not uncommon to find instances of performance being below par - there is one question that arises once a poor performance is detected - What is the source of the poor performance?

Poor performance could arise from a variety of causes, some are: poorly designed work systems, a not so good selection process, inadequate training and development dimension, lack of personal motivation, personal problems creeping into the work environment etc. Given this plethora of causes, it would be important to identify the right source of the problem and proceed with the apt corrective action.

Once the source is identified, we could classify it into 2 categories:

1. Problem due to the system - solution would be for the supervisor to set the system better
2. Problem due to the personal sphere of the employee - in this case, the source of the problem should be further investigated and nailed down.

Having nailed down the source of the problem and its primary responsibility, we would require to next chalk out a plan to correct the performance. Without getting into details, it is important to state here that both the employee and the supervisor should be engaged in getting to a solution - there are no short answers in here.