Addressing underperformance is one of the most uncomfortable responsibilities a new manager faces — and one of the most consequential if handled poorly or avoided altogether. Left unaddressed, performance problems compound: the individual falls further behind, the rest of the team absorbs the impact, and the conversation that was hard at week four becomes significantly harder at month six. Handled well, these situations can turn around, and the process of addressing them directly and fairly is itself a demonstration of the kind of leadership that builds respect. These five steps will help you navigate underperformance with clarity, honesty and genuine care for the person involved.
1 Detect early and ground your observations in evidence
The most common mistake new managers make with underperformance is waiting too long to act. The instinct is understandable — the situation might improve on its own, the conversation is uncomfortable, and there is always something more pressing to deal with. But performance problems rarely resolve without intervention, and the cost of delay is high. A pattern that could be addressed constructively at four weeks becomes entrenched at four months, with more disruption for everyone involved.
Early detection requires paying close attention to output, deadlines and how someone is engaging with their work — and backing up what you observe with evidence. Gut feelings are a useful signal, but they are not a sufficient basis for a performance conversation. Concrete data — missed deadlines, specific deliverables that fell short, documented patterns rather than isolated incidents — gives you something factual to discuss and protects both the team member and you from conversations that become about impressions rather than reality.
Before raising a performance concern, review the record. Look at project logs, delivery timelines and your own one-to-one notes over the relevant period. What you are looking for is a pattern, not a single incident — one missed deadline can have a dozen legitimate explanations; a consistent pattern of missed deadlines tells you something different. Having that documented picture in front of you when you enter the conversation means you are discussing facts, not opinions, which is a significantly more productive starting point for both parties.
2 Have the conversation privately — and listen before you conclude
Once you have identified a genuine performance concern and gathered supporting evidence, the next step is a private, one-to-one conversation. The purpose of this conversation is not to deliver a verdict — it is to understand what is actually happening. Performance issues have many possible causes: unclear expectations, inadequate training, personal circumstances, a mismatch between the role and the person's strengths, or factors in the team environment. You will not know which until you ask, and getting it wrong has real consequences for whether the situation can be resolved.
State what you have observed clearly and specifically — the behaviour and its impact, not an assessment of the person's character or attitude — then open the floor. Many managers are surprised by what they learn when they actually ask. A team member missing deadlines might be struggling with a tool they were never properly trained on. Someone disengaging in meetings might be dealing with something outside work that is affecting their focus. None of these explanations excuse the performance gap, but they change significantly what the right response looks like.
Prepare the opening of the conversation in advance. Something like: "I've noticed that several project deadlines have been missed over the past month — specifically on projects X, Y and Z. The impact has been [describe it]. I wanted to talk with you directly because I want to understand what's going on and how I can support you." Then stop and genuinely listen. The question "Can you help me understand what's been happening?" is not rhetorical — the answer matters, and your response to it will determine whether the conversation produces anything useful.
Managing performance is covered in the LeadWise Emerging Leaders Program — with practical frameworks for difficult conversations, PIPs and the kind of ongoing coaching that prevents small problems from becoming large ones.
Explore the program — €2993 Co-create a performance improvement plan — not a punishment
Once you understand the root cause of the performance gap, the next step is to create a structured plan to address it. A Performance Improvement Plan — PIP — is not primarily a disciplinary document; it is a framework for getting someone back on track, with clear expectations, defined support and an agreed timeline for review. The key word is co-created: a plan built with the team member's input is more likely to be realistic, more likely to be owned and more likely to produce actual improvement than one presented as a fait accompli.
A useful PIP specifies what good performance looks like in concrete, measurable terms — not "improve communication" but "send a project status update by every Thursday at 5pm." It identifies what support will be provided: training, a mentor, adjusted resources, more frequent check-ins. And it sets a clear review date so both parties know when and how progress will be assessed. Breaking large goals into smaller steps makes the improvement process less daunting and creates natural moments to acknowledge progress along the way.
In the PIP conversation, ask the team member what they think would help most. They will often identify the most significant obstacle themselves — a skill gap, a resource they are missing, a working arrangement that is not serving them — and their identification of it is worth more than your prescription of it. Document everything: the specific goals, the support commitments on both sides, the timeline and the review date. Both parties should leave with the same written record of what was agreed.
4 Provide consistent feedback and support throughout
A PIP is the starting point, not the end point. The improvement process requires ongoing attention: regular short check-ins separate from standard one-to-ones, genuine acknowledgement of progress when it happens, and prompt re-engagement when things slip. The manager who sets up a plan and then checks back at the four-week review without any contact in between has not been managing performance — they have been documenting it.
Consistent support also means being specific when things are going well. People who are working to improve their performance need to know when they are on the right track, not just when they are still falling short. Recognising genuine progress — even partial progress — reinforces the behaviours you want to see and builds the confidence that makes sustained improvement more likely. If you see regression, address it at the time rather than saving it for the next formal review: small course-corrections made quickly are far less disruptive than larger ones made late.
Schedule dedicated, short check-ins — 20 to 30 minutes — specifically to discuss PIP progress, separate from your regular one-to-ones. Use a consistent structure: what has gone well since we last spoke, where is there still a gap, and what do you need from me this week? The consistency matters as much as the content. A team member navigating a performance improvement process needs to know that you are genuinely engaged with their progress, not just monitoring from a distance and waiting to see what happens.
5 Know when to make the harder decision — and be ready to act
Most performance issues, addressed early and managed well, can be resolved. But not all of them. Despite genuine effort, clear support and adequate time, some situations do not improve — and when that happens, a manager needs to be prepared to make decisions that are difficult but necessary. Continuing to manage around persistent underperformance, or repeatedly extending timelines without genuine progress, has consequences that extend beyond the individual: it affects team morale, places unfair load on colleagues who are performing and gradually erodes your credibility as a manager.
Making tough decisions in these situations is not a failure of management — it is part of the job. What matters is that those decisions are made thoughtfully, after genuine effort to support improvement, with full documentation of the process and in close consultation with HR. The team member deserves to have been given a real chance; the rest of the team deserves a manager who acts when that chance has not been taken.
Document every step of the performance management process from the beginning: the initial observations, the conversations you had, the PIP that was agreed, the check-in notes, and the outcomes at each review point. This documentation serves two purposes. It creates a clear record that the process was handled fairly and thoroughly — which matters both for HR and for your own peace of mind. And it prevents the situation from drifting: when everything is written down, it is much harder to keep extending timelines indefinitely without a clear reason for doing so.
The bottom line
Underperformance is not a comfortable part of management, and it should not be. It involves real consequences for a real person, and it deserves to be handled with both seriousness and genuine care. The managers who do it well are not those who find it easy — they are those who act early, listen carefully, invest genuinely in supporting improvement and are honest about the limits of what they can do when improvement does not come.
The ability to navigate these situations — clearly, fairly and without either avoiding them or handling them harshly — is one of the clearest demonstrations of management maturity. It builds trust with your team, including those not directly involved, because it signals that expectations are real, that support is genuine and that the standards everyone is held to will actually be maintained. That combination of clarity and care is what effective performance management looks like in practice.