{"id":90,"date":"2018-10-22T13:42:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T13:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielvlopes238992071.wordpress.com\/2018\/10\/22\/14-questions-to-ask-an-underperforming-employee-during-a-one-on-one-meeting\/"},"modified":"2024-07-10T12:59:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T19:59:59","slug":"14-questions-to-ask-an-underperforming-employee-during-a-one-on-one-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/14-questions-to-ask-an-underperforming-employee-during-a-one-on-one-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"14 questions to ask an underperforming employee during a one-on-one meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When an employee is struggling, here\u2019s what the best managers do.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Someone\u2019s slipping. You see it. You feel it. You\u2019re not on the same page. You desperately want to pull the person up, but you\u2019re not sure exactly how. Do you encourage them? Switch them off the project? Change how you\u2019re leading them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re now facing one of the toughest tasks as a leader: How do you manage underperformance at work? And more specifically, how do you sit down and talk about their underperformance with them, during a one-on-one meeting with her or him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s tempting to look outward<\/strong> first. To blame the person herself or extenuating circumstances. \u201cThey don\u2019t pay attention to detail.\u201d Or, \u201cThe client is being unreasonable with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While those may very well be the case, you should also turn inward<\/strong>. As leaders, when an employee is underperforming, we must self-reflect. What are you<\/em> doing that is stopping this person from doing their best work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nLooking for more detailed guidance on one-on-one meetings?<\/strong>\nMake sure to check out our 1:1 module in Canopy.\n<\/div>\n
\nLearn more<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The hard part about managing an underperforming employee is choosing to look both<\/em> inward and outward for the sources of underperformance at work: What are you doing to hold an underperforming employee back? And what is the underperforming employee doing to hold herself back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oftentimes, we think we know the answer to those questions. We have hunches about what\u2019s causing the underperformance: \u201cIt\u2019s their perfectionist tendency getting in the way, obviously\u2026\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s my lack of context I shared about the project, clearly\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we just create a performance improvement plan based on those hunches and move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That path is instinctual\u200a\u2014\u200abut that path is flawed. Assuming<\/em> what\u2019s wrong doesn\u2019t help you get any closer to finding out what actually<\/em> is wrong. While your hunches may end up being spot-on, in my experience, I discover the truth of what\u2019s really holding an employee back when I ask<\/em>, not when I assume. Coaching a struggling employee to success begins with asking the right questions, not simply arriving with the supposed answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given this, when you sit down in a one-on-one with an underperforming employee, what should you ask? What questions will help you look both inward and outward to get to the underlying source of underperformance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 14 questions to try. They are by no means the only questions you ask during a one-on-one (here are other ones to consider<\/a>). But, they provide a good starting place to delve into how to better manage an underperforming employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask these questions to look inward.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re trying to figure out: \u201cHow have I been letting this person down? How have I been getting in the way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n