Why curiosity – not avoidance – is key for managing performance

So many people who aren’t performing don’t even know there’s a problem.

Why?

Because you haven’t told them. 

Last week, my client Jim* was lamenting over the fact that one of his team members, Nigel*, had dropped the ball recently. The usually professional, and typically “onto it”, Nigel was missing deadlines hand over fist, handing in sloppy work, and being as apathetic as my 16-year-old when she’s told to unload the dishwasher.

When I asked Jim if he’d checked in with Nigel, he looked at me sheepishly. 

"No", he admitted, "I haven't."

As we chatted further, Jim realised he needed to:

1. not keep what he was noticing to himself 
2. get curious, rather than stay in ‘frustration and judgement’ mode

Jim decided to explore what was behind Nigel's recent drop in performance. Rather than jumping straight to judgement (putting Nigel's lack of recent performance down to a personal failing on Nigel's part), Jim needed to be open to the possibility that there could be other things at play that were causing Nigel's performance to drop. 

Having a conversation with Nigel about what he was noticing – with the focus initially on uncovering (together) the root cause of Nigel's drop in performance, rather than either going in ‘gung ho’ with the stick approach (or avoiding the performance drop altogether, and hoping it’s a blip) – looked to Jim to be the best way forward.

And he was right. 

Keeping what you’re noticing to yourself is not fair on the person who isn’t performing. And for you as their leader? Avoidance rarely leads to good outcomes.

So, the next time you notice one of your direct reports is not where they need to be, is struggling, or is somehow "getting in their own way", don’t make like an ostrich and put your head in the sand. Do this instead: 

1. Check it out. Be ‘straight up’ in a caring way. 
2. Don’t soft soap it or dance around the mulberry bush. Be direct and honest about what you’re noticing – again, still while being kind. 
3. Don’t hide behind emails. Rather, have a real conversation – face-to-face if possible, or at least on Teams – with loads of curiosity, active listening and a coaching approach. Ask lots of open-ended questions, trust and attune to the other person to gain valuable insights and answers. Note: coaching and kindness are NOT mutually exclusive from managing non-performance effectively. 
4. Nip it in the bud. Don’t wait for it to be a big deal, or for everyone to be tripping over the proverbial lump in the carpet, before you raise it.

If you truly care for your team members (and you should), it’s not fair on them or anyone else in the team to leave non-performance languishing and problems festering.

The upshot to the Jim-Nigel saga is that once Jim raised his concerns with Nigel in a supportive yet direct way, he discovered that Nigel was having some gnarly personal problems on the home front. Nigel hadn’t realised it was impacting his work as much as it was. They were then able to come up with ideas around what support he needed and what steps they could take to get him back where they both wanted him to be.