How to Deal With Underperformance Before It Becomes the Culture

Poor performance does not announce itself. It starts as a missed number that is explained, then a promise that slips, then a story the team learns to tell about why that person is different. Each month it goes unaddressed teaches everyone around them the standard, and the good performers are the first to notice. By the time a founder acts, the team has already decided what the real rules are.

Founders delay for two reasons. They are not sure it is the person, and they have no stated process, so every case feels like a new, personal decision. Both are fixable in advance. Find the cause first, and then use a ladder you wrote before you needed it, so the consequence is the process and not the founder's mood.

The goal: A one-page ladder, known to the whole team, with dated steps and named owners, and a monthly list of every person on a rung so nobody sits on one longer than the plan says.

Steps

1. Write what good looks like for each role. Two to four measurable outcomes per role, the period they are measured over and who the person reports to. If you cannot state it, you cannot hold anyone to it, and an unclear goal is your failure and not theirs. Link the outcomes to the Execution Operating System play if you use one.
2. Find the root cause of every missed goal before acting on the person. Sit down with the person and ask why, then ask why again, up to five times, and write down the answers.
   • Was the goal clear and agreed?
   • Did they have the tools, access and training they needed?
   • Was the incentive pointing at the right behavior?
   • Is the manager doing the job?
   • Is a single person out of line with peers doing the same work under the same conditions?

Check the data first, such as call recordings, ticket queues or commit history, so you are not guessing. A team where one of four reps misses is a different problem from a team where all four miss.

1. Write the ladder. Four rungs, each with a duration and an owner, and share it with the team.
   • Conversation. The manager names the gap, the evidence and the standard, and the person responds. Document it in two lines.
   • Written expectations. Within a week, the manager sends measurable expectations and a 30-day check date, with the support you will provide.
   • Improvement plan. If the 30-day check is missed, write a formal plan of up to 60 days with named measures, weekly check-ins and the consequence stated plainly: the plan ends in a decision.
   • Decision. At the end date, the manager and founder decide, on the measures. Either the person has met the standard and comes off the ladder, or the employment ends.

Ask employment counsel to review the ladder and each plan before use, because the rules vary by state and country.

1. Skip the ladder for dishonesty. Lying about numbers, hiding a mistake, falsifying a record or misleading a customer or an investor leads to an immediate conversation with the founder and a consequence the same week, including termination. Say so in the ladder, in writing, before it happens.
2. Back the leader you put in charge. When a manager and a direct report disagree about a call the manager owns, support the manager in front of the report, then debrief the manager in private. Overruling a manager in public teaches everyone that the manager's authority is optional, and it makes accountability impossible. The exception is a manager who is dishonest or who is breaking the rules, which goes to the founder immediately.
3. Record every step. A two-line note after each conversation and a dated copy of each expectation or plan, kept where the manager and HR can find it. When a decision comes, the file should show that the person knew the standard and the date.
4. Review the ladder every month with the exec team. List everyone on a rung, how long they have been there, the next date and the owner. Anyone past their date gets a decision at that meeting. Look at the list as a whole too: if many people sit on the same rung in one team, the cause is usually the manager or the target.

Troubleshooting

I think this person is the problem, but I cannot prove it. Then spend a week on the root-cause step and look at the data. If you still cannot show it, write the expectations anyway. If the person is the problem, the next 30 days will make it clear.

They are my best salesperson and they break the rules. The rule exists for exactly this case. A top performer who is not held to it tells the rest of the team that the rules are for other people.

A 60-day plan feels too long. Shorten it if the measures can be read sooner. Do not skip it, and do not let it extend. A plan with no end date is another way to avoid a decision.

I am worried about losing someone we cannot replace. Count what the person costs you in the people who are carrying their load. The Hiring A Players (Topgrading) play gets a replacement faster than founders expect.