How To Handle Underperforming Team Members

You're about to tell your senior PM they're underperforming. You can already feel their walls going up. The conversation you've been dreading for weeks. As a new manager, I used to have a mental scoreboard of who was struggling. I'd pretend I didn't, but we all do. Then someone shared something in our recent Supra session that reframed everything: "I don't have a hidden scoreboard. My job is creating conditions of clarity so people can manage their own performance." Here's what happened when they applied this: A product leader inherited a principal PM who couldn't deliver at principal level. Former engineer, high salary, prestigious title. Struggling with basic PM tasks. Traditional approach would be a PIP. Maybe coaching. Probably termination. Instead, they started with total transparency. They mapped every competency expected at principal level. Not vague stuff like "strategic thinking" but concrete behaviors with examples. Then asked the PM to self-assess against each one. No judgment. Just inventory. Next came the question that changed everything: "Where do you want to be?" Not "you're failing." But "what's your actual goal here?" Together they mapped the gap. The PM realized something profound - she didn't actually want to be a PM. The role had seemed like the logical next step from engineering, but she missed building. They found her a sales engineering role. She thrived. The framework: ↳ Inventory current skills/competencies  ↳ Identify where they want to be  ↳ Map the gap together ↳ Create a growth roadmap with concrete projects But here's what really stuck with me: Another leader pointed out that defensive people often cling to "the little ownership they have." When their senior PM insisted their PRD didn't need more detail, instead of arguing, they asked: "If you were hiring a senior PM, what would you expect?" They defined their own standards. Then self-assessed against them. No confrontation. Just clarity. Since implementing this: - Review cycles take 30 minutes instead of 3 hours - Team members ask for extra 1:1s   - Performance conversations became growth planning sessions The shift is subtle but profound: Stop managing performance. Start creating conditions where people manage themselves. Your job isn't to fix anyone. It's to hold up a really clear mirror. What's your approach to performance conversations?

A few years ago, I was tapped to lead an underperforming team that owned a critical product area in a domain I knew nothing about. The person who tapped me gave me a few names of key stakeholders, a quick rundown of the team's responsibilities, and sent me on my way. I didn't have a playbook to follow but within weeks of stepping in, that person said “You took an area that was causing me to lose sleep and turned it into something I barely think about and you did it really quickly.” In case you find yourself in a similar boat and want a starting point - here's what I did: 1) 👥 I met with every person in and around the team and asked them what they think is holding the team back. I tracked these convos in a spreadsheet. 2) 🔗 I followed up w/ each to send me docs/links that outline the team’s current investments, priorities or strategy. I also asked for the biggest open questions that they're concerned don't have answers. 3) 📊 I aggregated and edited the docs into a master artifact which could be understood by someone who knew nothing about this area. I captured all questions that didn't have clear answers in an "Open Questions" section at the bottom of the master artifact. 4) 🔍 I walked key people from step 1 through the artifact and asked them what’s missing/wrong and iterated until it felt accurate and complete. 5) 📝 Based on the master artifact, I drafted a private 1-page summary of the current status of the team, diagnosing why it's under-performing and proposing immediate next steps to get things on track. 6) 🤝 I met with the person who tapped me and walked them through the summary + iterated based on their feedback. 7) 🛣️ Once there was alignment on the course of action, I met with the respective functional leaders around this team to let them know how we're planning to proceed and opened the door to any feedback before communicating broadly. 8) 💬 I DM'd key team members from step 1 letting them know how we're planning to proceed to avoid catching them by surprise in step 9. 9) ✅ I communicated the plan of action to all stakeholders from steps 1-8, linking to the master artifact and outlining next steps. n...) 🔄 months of hard work followed to execute on the plan. But leadership was no longer losing sleep over the team's performance, which was a great first milestone. My biggest learning from this experience was that leaders don't need all the answers to feel okay—they just need confidence in a reasonable plan. --- This was my approach—I'd love to hear yours. Have you ever turned around an underperforming team or witnessed a turnaround? What were some of your takeaways from that experience? Share your thoughts in the comments 👇

Confronting an underperforming employee is never easy. Here’s my guide to make sure it doesn’t go off the rails. Schedule a one-on-one meeting with the employee. Send the invite at least one day in advance via email, using a generic title like “Discussion”. Write detailed notes on what you plan to cover in the meeting. Meeting tone: Once the meeting starts, avoid small talk and get down to the matter at hand immediately. Maintain a positive and constructive attitude.  Focus on the facts, the impact, and the solutions. Do not focus on the personalities, the emotions, or point fingers. The beats of the meeting: Open by stating that this is going to be a difficult conversation about their performance issues. Make it clear that the goal of this meeting is to find a way for them to improve. This sets the tone. Next, describe the circumstances that have made this discussion necessary. Be specific about actions, dates and times, and tell them what the impact of their underperformance has been on the business and other co-workers. If applicable, tell them exactly where they’ve violated your policies. Get the employee’s perspective: Do they feel they have the necessary time, support, and resources to perform their job? Has anything changed in the business that has an impact on the employee’s performance? Has anything changed outside of the business, like a personal issue or health problem? Be clear about your expectations: Be specific, e.g. “Your job starts at 8 a.m. from Monday through Friday. You should be at your desk and available to answer client calls by that time every business day.” Together with the employee, make a detailed action plan you both understand and agree on. Set specific steps, deadlines, and targets. Include what you will do to support them. You should both sign and date the document. Schedule several followup meetings to check in on their progress. Once you’re done, update your meeting notes to include everything you discussed. Follow up: Send a recap of the meeting and your agreed upon action plan to the employee immediately after the meeting. If you have any to-do items on your side, get through them ASAP. You want them feeling the urgency of the situation. From there, things will go in one of two directions: Hopefully, the situation will improve. If it does, give that employee recognition. Refer specifically to what they’ve accomplished. Sometimes, things don’t get better. At that point, it’s time to move towards parting ways. — I hope this helps. Thoughts on this process? Comment below!

I once labeled my most challenging team member as "difficult." For months, I tried everything to improve their performance. Nothing worked... until I stopped trying to fix them. The real problem? I was solving the wrong problem. ⋯ The Challenge ⋯  | Before: I saw symptoms, not causes  | After: I discovered what was really happening Most underperforming teammates aren't lazy or difficult. They're misdiagnosed. Every performance gap has a story. And most leaders get that story wrong. I learned this the hard way. What looked like resistance was actually confusion. What seemed like incapability was actually an expectation gap. ---4 Hidden Causes of Underperformance--- ✅ The Clarity Gap – They're not resisting. They're unclear. --Your "obvious" isn't their "obvious" --They can't see the full picture you see ✅ The Skills Mirage – They're not incapable. They're untrained. --You see basic skills. They see complex puzzles. --Every task feels like the first time ✅ The Role Mismatch – They're not failing. They're misplaced. --Their strengths are your needs... for a different role --Success feels like swimming upstream ✅ The System Trap – They're not the problem. Their environment is. --Tools that waste more time than they save --Processes that create more problems than they solve It took me years to recognize these patterns. To see below the surface. Now I see them easily. Here's the reality: Bad performance is a symptom. Not the root issue. The best leaders? They're not performance critics. They're performance detectives. Before your next conversation about performance, ↳ Ask yourself one question: ↳"Am I solving a pattern or fighting a symptom?" Because here's what I've learned: The greatest performance gaps are in our diagnosis, not their delivery. And the most dangerous words in leadership? ↳"They just need to do better." ↳No. They need you to look deeper. Your hardest job as a leader isn't fixing performance. It's unlocking their true potential. ❓ Think of your most challenging team member right now. What might you be missing about their true potential?