How to Turnaround an Underperformer

By Keith Rosen

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I’ve coached thousands of managers over the years and out of all of my years doing this I’ve notice many common themes. One of them is that practically every manager I’ve ever worked with does not have a strategy when dealing with an underperformer.

Sure they have reviews and consequences but don’t have a defined process to turn someone around.

And I think the big part to that especially today is that managers are continually being seduced by the ether of potential.

They see an underperformer, and either buy into their excuses or they themselves are hoping that in time they’ll miraculously turn their performance around. Last time I checked HOPE is not a strategy!

What is needed is a detailed strategy to turn an underperformer around and I have proven that regardless of your industry or sales cycle you can either turn someone around in 30 days or make the decision that the person simply does not belong on your team so you no longer have to waste you precious time coaching them.

In short; over a four week period with at least one meeting each week, work closely with that person and have them declare and commit to the short term goals activities or changes they are going to make. At the end of four weeks there are only three outcomes.

1. Either they did it did part of it
2. They showed promise and demonstrated evidence that justifies continually working with them
3. Or didn’t do what you had outlined with them at all.

THE KEY POINT HERE IS: Coach the process rather than always managing the result.

Sure, we can’t control many of the things going on in the economy. However, what these CEO’s and companies can do is realign their thinking around the things they can control and the importance of continually developing their people, which begins with how these executives develop themselves into the leaders they can be in this new age.

It’s evident that many organizations have lost sight of the primary objective of management and leadership, which is simply this: To make your people more valuable.

There are several issues at work here that inhibit the manager’s ability to get their people to be more accountable around their goals.

1. Is there a consequence to their actions or non-actions? And that consequence can come from you (i.e. affect on their salary, position, job, bonus, etc.) or from a personal cost they would feel themselves by not changing.....

2. Building off number 1 above, it’s all about how you POSITION this conversation. This is always a tough job for managers. Because most of the time, they get on their soapbox and preach the consequences (i.e. "You can be more successful if.... you can make more money if only you would ......" or “If you don’t turn this around you’re going to (be out of a job, get fired, fail, etc.) This falls on deaf ears because for them to INTERNALIZE it, they must hear the consequence in their own words, through their own voice and arrive at the consequence on their own. They need to recognize it, say it and declare it.

And the only way to do this is by asking them better consequential questions. Here are the steps to coaching them to be more accountable.

1. Gauge where they are at regarding the process to achieve their goals. Are they doing it? What is the evidence? There’s a big difference between people’s good intentions and their actions.
2. Let them declare the consequence of inaction or doing things the same that aren’t working
3. Let them come up with the solution.
4. Let them articulate their commitments and deadlines to the task or for making the changes necessary.
5. Confirm specific action steps.

When dealing with conflict, most people do not like confrontation and tend to avoid at all costs. However, when you’re asking questions, you can never be the bad guy! Here are some examples of questions that are meant to uncover how you need to hold them accountable and the management style that they respond best to:

In short, ask better questions. Here are a few to build accountability.

• How can I best support you to achieve your goals? (Uncover how each employee wants to be managed and supported.) How can I best manage you and hold you accountable for the results you are looking to achieve?
• How can I hold you accountable in a way that will sound supportive and won't come across as negative or micro-managing?
• How do you want me to approach you if you don't follow through with the commitments you make?
• How do you want me to handle it? What would be a good way to bring this up with you so that you will be open to hearing it?

REMEMBER, you must find the gap to coach the gap and the gap is where the magic of coaching happens.

As you can imagine, this four week model can actually become your ongoing strategy for coaching your sales team. And will enable you to turn around more underperformers than ever before.

© 2009 Keith Rosen
LAM-001-00220

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