Are Performance Improvement Plans the only option?

By Destinations Coaching

18 Aug 2022

helen-photolight-background.png

In a recent poll 57 per cent of respondents told us that their current top HR challenge was engaging the workforce. My first thought here was: what are these organisations doing about employee development? The two go hand in hand.

How can you ensure your top performing employees continue to grow and how can you take your worst performing employees and either help them succeed or find them an exit strategy from your organisation?

There is no one size fits all approach. Each employee is a unique individual with their own family, emotions, and values.

2022 has seen us revert to some normality in the UK - school children took SATs, GCSEs, and A-Levels; foreign holidays came back; no more imposed limits on the number of guests to weddings, funerals, or bar mitzvahs.  

One thing that hasn’t reverted to the pre-Covid norm is sitting together in the same office. – No more listening to colleagues on the phone to clients. No more shouting across the desk for someone to help. Whether we miss these aspects of working in an office environment or not, the fact is, listening and watching colleagues, and being able to discuss aspects of work in an informal atmosphere provided us with continuous development and growth at work.

Whilst there are many benefits to hybrid working or working from home, the unstructured and unplanned discussions we had in the office, provided us with a steady professional growth that we have now lost by not being sat in a room with experienced and knowledgeable colleagues.

If staff feel stagnated in their development, even the stars of your team can start to feel de-motivated and become less productive. Performance will go downhill.

Poor employee performance is not a new concept but for many organisations dealing with it in a remote setting is unfamiliar.

Where performance improvements are identified as being needed, I have seen approaches include placing the employee on a PIP (performance improvement plan), extending their probation period, and withholding bonuses or pay increases. All these approaches risk making the employee feel stigmatised and depressed. Not many people would perform their best when they feel this way. In addition, PIPs and extended probations often require increased management and HR interaction and resource. The leadership and HR teams are normally very busy, and this adds to their workloads.

Often by the time the manager has decided to put formal action in place, they have become frustrated and may have even given up on the employee. Again, these feelings are not conducive to a leader performing their best.

What about this as a concept? - “There’s no such thing as a bad employee”  What if it’s just people in the wrong fit, i.e. wrong manager/wrong team/wrong organisation? (If it’s the latter, it may be of benefit to all to help them exit.) Some people excel in one team and struggle in another.

The goal for managers in dealing with their employees’ performance (strong or poor) is employee development, but each employee is different — their development needs to be approached in different ways. Software programmes exist to help with performance management, but nothing is going to replace the benefits of face-to-face communication and context.

Whilst a PIP does provide a standardised process with timelines and targets which provides a legally justifiable way to terminate the employee’s contract, if the actual goal is employee development, then a PIP does not go far enough. True employee development requires mutual respect, active listening, relationship building – all of which requires managers to make time to coach their staff. Coaching isn’t a skill set that can be automated.

So, what can you do to help develop your employees? For me it’s a mix of

Have a system that recognises the individuality of your staff. This could be a notepad, an excel spreadsheet or appraisal software. It should include their bespoke needs such as career aspirations, strengths to develop, the types of recognition they value and what is important to them. A regular 121 discussion (no less than monthly) that is rooted in real conversation. Use coaching tools such as open questions, active listening, and mirroring body language to create an environment that allows the individual to talk openly and feel really listened to.  Make it clear that this is a non-judgemental, confidential space helping to build a partnership based on trust. Celebrate their successes in a way that links to the type of recognition they value. Mutually agree any goals or objectives together with any next actions and timescales. A typical conversation may go something like this: 5 minutes on small talk 10 minutes on current projects/ work items 10 minutes on future iterations 5 minutes on closing the discussion/1-2 action items to take away Record the key points from the discussion and make sure each has a copy

Use the discussions to get to know each other as well as moving work items forward and don’t forget that each discussion needs to reflect the individuality of the employee. If the discussions start to feel like ground hog day as you go through your team, then this should be an alarm bell. Their objectives may the same, but the discussions should be very different.

A tip I recommend is to review what you noted in your system that recognises the individuality of the staff before you start the discussion to remind yourself what their career aspirations are, what strengths they need to work on and what types of recognition they value.

If you want to know more about how coaching can improve your team performance, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.

Latest news

1

Construction begins on new Civil Service office building in Talbot Gateway Alan McBride Muse Will Town Defence Infrastructure Organisation Jennifer Chard Defence Business Services Cllr Lynn Williams Blackpool Council Garry Bowker Vinci

Construction begins on new Civil Service office building in Talbot Gateway

20 May 2025

2

Skiddle raises over £750,000 for charities Skiddle cheque presentation to Alder Hey Hospital

Skiddle raises over £750,000 for charities

20 May 2025

3

Former Victorian Hotel approved for residential conversion The site

Former Victorian Hotel approved for residential conversion

19 May 2025

4

REVOLUTION PARK: Work starts on Darwen’s new home of advanced manufacturing Oliver Webber, Tracy Clavell-Bate and Tim Webber from Barnfield Group with Cllr Phil Riley, second from right, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council

REVOLUTION PARK: Work starts on Darwen’s new home of advanced manufacturing

19 May 2025

5

Two Cuckoo Gins named winners in The Gin Guide Awards 2025 Mark Long

Two Cuckoo Gins named winners in The Gin Guide Awards 2025

19 May 2025

Background image for hub sign up block

LBV Hub

Leverage Lancashire Business View platforms

Post your news
Post your events
Post your offers
Build your network
Improve your SEO
Gain coverage in the magazine
Sign-up
Events
LBV122 May/June Launch Event
121 Lancashire Business View Magazine Launch
Networking
21 May 2025

LBV122 May/June Launch Event

Lancaster and Morecambe College, Lancaster, LA1 2TY

08:30 - 10:30

Sub36 Networking
Networking
11 Jun 2025

Sub36 Networking

British Jewellery School, Scorton, PR3 1BA

15:00 - 17:00

Lancashire Net Zero Carbon Conference
Net Zero Carbon Social 1200pxtrident 2
Networking
18 Jun 2025

Lancashire Net Zero Carbon Conference

Crow Wood Hotel & Spa Resort, Burnley, BB12 0RT

08:30 - 13:00

Lancashire Built Environment Conference 2025
BEC 315 X 315 Px
Networking
25 Sep 2025

Lancashire Built Environment Conference 2025

Blackpool Football Club, Blackpool, FY1 6HX

08:30 - 13:00

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course

Preston Campus, Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 17:00

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course

Preston Campus, Preston, PR1 2HE

08:00 - 17:00

RISE - The Academy for Female Leaders and Managers
WENDY BOWERS RISE Illustrstion copy.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
02 Apr 2025 - 08 Oct 2025

RISE - The Academy for Female Leaders and Managers

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, Clayton le Moors, BB5 5JR

09:00 - 15:30

The Business Network Central & East Lancashire
LBV Hub Networking
22 May 2025 - 22 May 2025

The Business Network Central & East Lancashire

Mytton Fold, Langho, BB6 8AB

11:30 - 14:15

Preston Freelancer Meet-Up: May
Freelancer Meet-Up May.png.png
LBV Hub Networking
22 May 2025 - 22 May 2025

Preston Freelancer Meet-Up: May

society1, Coworking Space, Preston, PR1 3LT

10:00 - 11:30

Amber River True Bearing quarterly investment seminar
LBV Hub Seminars
22 May 2025 - 22 May 2025

Amber River True Bearing quarterly investment seminar

Cottons Hotel & Spa , Knutsford, WA16 0SU

16:00 - 18:00

Liverpool Business Expo 2025
https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-881365363-4862066883-1-original.20241023-085714.jpeg.jpg
LBV Hub Awards
23 May 2025 - 23 May 2025

Liverpool Business Expo 2025

Aintree Racecourse , Liverpool , L9 5AS

09:00 - 15:00

Advantage: AI – A Workshop for Business Leaders – May 29
Artboard 15.png.png
LBV Hub Seminars
29 May 2025 - 29 May 2025

Advantage: AI – A Workshop for Business Leaders – May 29

Door4 Office, Burnley Wharf, Manchester Road, Burnley, BB11 1JG

09:00 - 11:00

Advertise with us

Reaching 50,000 members, our print, digital and event platforms offer a fantastic way to raise your business profile and help you grow.

Find out more LBV122 Online Graphic
Subscribe now

Weekly news bulletin