7 questions to ask your underperforming team member

From a rockstar to an underperformer- what went wrong?

Here’s a situation- you had a team member (let’s call her Anna) who was always brimming with innovative ideas. She used to come with the zeal to make things better, always rooted in the team’s success. When tasks were assigned to her, you could rest assured that she would see it to completion and that too with excellence! She had an incredible commitment towards her work and she was always invested in the organization’s success.

But now, Anna suddenly seems to be on the fence. She has been a bit off lately- she misses deadlines, she is oblivious to team’s goals, and there is a considerable dip in the quality of her work. Such a change doesn’t happen overnight and it’s a rather unfortunate shift.

As her leader, the first thought that’ll come to you is- what could have possibly happened? What could possibly be missing from her work which is stopping her to be as excited as before? Is it the same person whom I loved (and I still do) having a part of my team? Where did I go wrong? Why such a sea change in performance? How can I help her see things in a way that she understands the difference and scales back to her old self?

The first thing that you need to do here is- go back in time (only figuratively) and try to see the reasons for such a slow down from such a staggeringly well performance. And once you have figured out the possible reasons- it’s time to set up a 1:1 meeting and sit down for a conversation.

I know this sounds intimidating and you might struggle with thoughts like- how should I convey my feedback transparently?

But, here’s what you need to understand- if you want her as a part of your team, then it’s important to have this conversation. If you ask the right questions and share the feedback transparently, there are chances that you’ll regain what you’ve lost!

In other scenarios, you might go through the usual ways to conduct effective one-on-ones. But the feedback conversation with this underperforming team member will be slightly different than the usual. The essence of this conversation would be to make the team member understand that you’re invested in their growth and would like to extend any kind of help or guidance to bring them back.

But, be aware that even though you have the best intentions in mind, it’s important for you to lead the team member to a stage of introspection rather than making them feel that it’s them who are at fault. Both of you should try to look from each others’ perspective.

Here are some questions that might be helpful for you to remember as you initiate such conversations-

Question one: “Do you clearly understand what are our expectations from your role?”

This should be the starting point where you should listen to their understanding of your expectations. Let them share their point of view using examples with as many details (just like you would have shared when you had set those expectations). Hopefully, you will know if there is a problem here and you can take note and make sure you come back to it and reiterate the points, if any, were missed.

Question two: “Nothing supersedes quality. Absolutely nothing! Did we set that expectation right for you?”

You need to clearly define what takes precedence when it comes to work- quality or quantum- or both. The work done by them leaves a bigger impact on their team, the organization, the internal or external partners, and most importantly on their growth as an individual.

So, it’s important that you take their opinion on what’s their understanding of this. If the team member has been consistently producing low-quality work, then it’s crucial to bring it up in this feedback session. No one likes to go through multiple reviews for the same thing (unless it’s for betterment) especially if it is related to oversight or minutest of detailing issues which are upfront and visible.

Question three: “Timeliness is next to Godliness! What do you have to say about your missed timelines?”

Commitments need to be honored in all cases. Timelines are sacrosanct! If not all, most cases are (there could be a genuine reason to push back timelines sometimes). So, do they know how much impact the delay will cause? Was it they who assessed, estimated and committed on the timeline or was it imposed? Did they agree or were they pushed into it? Did they flag-off issues along the way? All these answers should lead you to understand what they went through and their understanding of the severity.

Question four: “Did you fall short of context, information or any other relevant details to channel your tasks to completion?”

There are times when the team member might not have all or right context — the ‘why’ and ‘what’ should be understood before they got on with the ‘how’ of it. This will help you understand their engagement level — why did they not have context and what they could have done to get the relevant information. Did they try anything or were they mulling over it for days? Is it a SKILL crisis or a WILL crisis — this should help you get clarity.

Now, turn the tables and get the team member to introspect. Here are some questions that you can hover your conversation around:

Question five: “Why don’t you share any accomplishments from past 6–8 weeks that you are proud of?”

If you are talking to an underperformer, they will find it hugely difficult to enlist data items. Trust me, they will have a really hard time. That said, hear them out patiently. There might be a reason why something could have led to a debacle even though it was headed uphill. There could be external dependencies or any other situation that would have led things this way.

Question six: “What is the most depressing/annoying/frustrating part of your job that you would like to disengage from immediately?”

If the team member is not enjoying what she is expected to do, she will surely give you details here. It could be people, project, infrastructure, training- the list could be long and worrisome. But that’s okay. Atleast she has thought through and identified reasons herself which is a great beginning.

You still have her with you, don’t let her go with a feeling that she is alone in this. Just make sure you listen carefully to everything that the team member has to say. This is the stage which could help you get into the depth of the problem.

Question seven: “We have been talking about a few things over a period of time, again and again. Clearly, there is something wrong since it has not been fixed yet!”

This question has a lot of things wrapped in it-

1) It talks about more than one occasion when the team member did not do well.

2) This isn’t the first conversation about the dip in performance. You guys have been talking about it, and

3) There must have been multiple alternatives that you would have worked around but none of them have worked.

This should get you to the point where either you check if this association will work or you need to drop it off. Depending upon what the team member says here, you’ll get a fair understanding whether she still wants to give it a shot and start afresh and make things work.

One thing that you’ll have to keep in mind while asking these questions is to be free of any prejudiced notions about your team member. Remember that you are doing this conversation to help her overcome the failed attempt and regain the confidence to make a comeback.

Probably, the answers will reveal what will it take from you as a leader to set up the path for her comeback. After all, you would definitely want to be invested in her growth and bring her back to her old self!

I wrote this blog for our Medium Publication- Unboxing Product Management. The publication is a weekly column by leaders of Quovantis to share their learning and knowledge with the world. If you liked reading the blog, clap your heart out and help others find it.