 March 25, 2019
What is One Secret to Increased Productivity? More PIPS!
For mysterious reasons, many leaders are afraid to give their people performance improvement plans (PIPS). They seem to believe that their employees will view such plans as a start on the path to organizational exit, they are afraid that they will be criticized for being too demanding, or even that they will be viewed as engaging in harassment!
Instead of requesting the level of performance they have every right to demand, they tiptoe around serious performance issues and waste their own time trying to coach performance out of a substandard performer.
In addition, they fail to achieve the productivity they need since the underperformer drags down their entire team.
What Should You Do?
In order to increase performance and productivity, you need to:
- Realize that you have the right to be the boss. Expecting an excellent level of performance is not micromanagement or harassment. You have every right to expect the level of performance your team needs to be successful.
- Coach, counsel and warn... but if the outlier doesn’t shape up after you’ve engaged in all those steps, don’t hesitate to put them on a PIP. Certainly, you should make sure that you’ve offered them the training and coaching they need to succeed, but they have no right to 1,000 chances.
- Document, document, document. Make sure that you have documented all the steps above.
- Partner with HR so that the PIP is reasonable and drafted appropriately.
- Be positive. When you deliver the document, tell the employee you hope they do succeed with the requested performance and that this move is not an attempt to push them out the door.
- Remember that old management mantra: it’s not the people you fire who create the most problems, it’s the people you don’t fire.
 Did You Know
All our leadership and management classes deal with managing performance. Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
Learn more about our training offerings and check out our team members at:
www.workplacesthatwork.com
Be sure to read Lynne’s book“We Need to Talk — Tough Conversations with Your Employee” and learn to tackle any topic with sensitivity and smarts.
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