Handling Underperforming Employees using Team Pillars

I was leading a team that had a team member who was one of our consistently underperforming employees.

He had been, regularly, taking longer breaks than he was entitled. The team were quite frustrated at having to cover for him, and a few had grumbled to me about it (not having the confidence to confront him directly).

To ensure I had the facts ... when he was due for a break I would note the time he left and the time he returned. After a few days of data gathering, I spoke to him about his performance. During the conversation he began to complain that I was treating him as a Stage 1 Team Member and I shouldn't be monitoring his performance.

I grabbed the Team Pillar and showed him that he had been acting as a Stage 1 Team Member, so this was the appropriate way to lead him. We were then able to discuss how he'd like to be treated, and the behaviours he'd need to exhibit in order to be treated differently.

Using the guidelines in the pillars we very quickly put in place a plan of action for him that enabled him to lift his performance to a level that ensured he was treated the way he wanted - as a Stage 3 team member. A win all round!