How do you deal with a bad employee performance?

Performance = Ability x Motivation

Where:

• Ability is the person's aptitude, as well as the training and resources supplied by the organization.
• Motivation is the product of desire and commitment

There are five main ways to overcome performance problems associated with a lack of ability. Consider using them in this sequence, which starts with the least intrusive:

1. Resupply.
2. Retrain.
3. Refit.
4. Reassign.
5. Release.

Sometimes poor performance has its roots in low motivation. When this is the case, you need to work closely with the employee to create a motivating environmentin which to work. There are three key interventions that may improve people's motivation:

1. Setting of performance goals.
2. Provision of performance assistance.
3. Provision of performance feedback.

Here, then, are nine things that excellent managers do when confronted with a difficult employee – things that keep them from getting sucked into an endless vortex of ineffectiveness and frustration:

1. Listen.  Often, when an employee is difficult we stop paying attention to what’s actually going on. We’re irritated, it seems hopeless, and we’ve already decided what we think about the employee – so we just turn our attention to other things, out of a combination of avoidance and self-protection.  But the best managers get very attentive when someone’s not doing well.  They know their best shot at improving the situation lies in having the clearest possible understanding of the situation – including knowing the tough employee’s point of view.  An added bonus: in some cases, simply listening can save the day.  You may hear about a real problem that’s not the employee’s fault that you can solve; the tough employee may start acting very differently once he or she feels heard; you may discover legitimate issues he or she has that need to be addressed.
2. Give clear, behavioral feedback. Most managers will spend months, even years, complaining about poor employees… and not ever giving them actual feedback about what they need to be doing differently.  Yes, giving tough feedback is one of the most uncomfortable things a manager has to do.  But great managers learn to do to it reasonably well, and then they do it.  Here’s a post where I outline the approach we teach. This approach does two key things: lowers the other person’s defensiveness, and gives them the specific information they need in order to improve.  Whatever approach you use, make sure it does these two things.
3. Document. Whenever you’re having significant problems with an employee, WRITE DOWN THE KEY POINTS.  I can’t stress this strongly enough.  Dozens of times I’ve had managers tell me that they couldn’t let a difficult employee go because they had no record of his or her bad behavior. And all too often this lack of documentation arises out of misplaced hopefulness; that they didn’t want to be ‘too negative’ about the employee (As if it would all magically go away if they didn’t write it down).  Good managers know that documentation isn’t negative – it’s prudent.  Remember, if you’re able to solve the problem, you can just breathe a sigh of relief and put your documentation in the back of the drawer.
4. Be consistent. If you say you’re not OK with a behavior, don’t sometimes be OK with it.  Employees look to see what you do more than what you say.  If, for instance, you tell employees that it’s critical they submit a certain report by a certain time, and then you’re sometimes upset and sometimes not upset when they don’t do it…the less-good employees generally won’t do it. Pick your shots – only set standards you’re actually willing to hold to – and then hold to them.
5. Set consequences if things don’t change. If things still aren’t improving at this point, good managers get specific.  They say some version of, “I still believe you can turn this around.  Here’s what turning it around would look like.  If I don’t see that behavior by x date, here’s what will happen” (e.g., “you’ll be let go,” or “ you’ll be put on warning,” or “you won’t be eligible for a promotion” – some substantive negative consequence.) If problem employees don’t believe their behavior will have any real negative impact on them – why would they change?
6. Work through the company’s processes.  Good managers hold out hope for improvement until the point when they actually decide to let the person go. AND they make sure they’ve dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s that will allow them to fire the person if it comes to that.  If you’re at this point in your efforts to address the situation, you ought to be having very clear conversations with HR so that you know (and are doing) exactly what you need to do to clear the path to termination, if that turns out to be necessary.
7. Don’t poison the well. All too often, poor managers substitute bad-mouthing the problem employee to all and sundry rather than taking the steps I’ve outlined above.  No matter how difficult an employee may be, good managers don’t trash- talk to other employees. It creates an environment of distrust and back-stabbing, it pollutes others’ perception of the person, and it makes you look weak and unprofessional.  Just don’t do it.
8. Manage your self-talk.  Throughout this process, make sure your self-talk is neither unhelpfully positive nor unhelpfully negative.  Thinking to yourself, “This guy’s an idiot and will never change,” isn’t useful, nor is thinking, “Everything will turn out fine, he’s great, there’s no problem.” Good managers take a fair witness stance, making sure that what they say to themselves about the situation is as accurate as possible. For example, “His behavior is creating real problems for the team. I’m doing what I can to support him to change.  If he does, great, and if he doesn’t, I’ll do what I’ve said I’ll do.”
9. Be courageous.  Firing someone is the hardest thing a manager has to do.  If it gets to that point, do it right. Don’t make excuses, don’t put it off, don’t make someone else do it.  The best managers do the tough things impeccably. And if – hallelujah – things turn around, be courageous enough to accept that; sometimes being proved wrong when we think someone’s not salvageable is almost as hard as being proved right.

This is pertaining to the Leader and Follower traits;

If an employee perform bad not because of his personal, family, financial, environmental, societal, HR issues, then it is conclusive that its because of the Leader/ Boss!

If the leader evoke TRUST in the first place, then the follower has no question to unfollow whatsoever!

 one way to deal with a bad  employee is by giving him/her extra treaning.

The experts have rightly put it across.  Every one is an employee of the organization at the end of day and we are all working for a reason.  Apart from following the rules, listening, discussion, support, documentation, I usually ask the (really bad) employee to take a day to think of the consequences to himself, future job prospects, effect on family, and it does help too.

Coaching someone along is usually what I do.  You hired them for a reason - they must have the requisite education and skills, right?  Maybe they just need the motivation or help to achieve their potential.  By talking you may find there's a problem that you can help resolve.

Employee performance evaluations are used by many companies and firms to maintain the productivity of their employees and ensure that everyone in the office is working at top level. Most of the time, these employee evaluations are nothing to worry about – unless you get a bad review. Here’s how you can deal with bad employee performance reviews.

• Check yourself. First of all, try to determine what aspects of the review you disagree with, and what aspects of the review you agree with. The only time that a performance review should be considered bad is if you think that you have not been evaluated properly. If you think that you strive for a good quality of work, and if you think that you have achieved this, then the fact that the evaluation does not reflect your output and your efforts is a serious matter. But if you have actually lagged in your performance, then it is often best to simply take the review with a grain of salt.
• Ask your boss. If you still think that the employee evaluation is unfair, the next step is to visit your supervisor or your boss’ office and ask him about the review. Make sure, however, that you do not immediately talk to your boss right after you have received the employee evaluation. Remember, chances are that you are still quite emotional after receiving the unfair remarks, which means that you are in no condition to talk to your boss. Talking to your boss while your temper is flaring will not make you look good, and may worsen the situation. When you have already regained your composure, the question that you need to ask your boss is whether he was justified in highlighting your weak points instead of your strong points. Almost all employees will have weak points, but in most reviews, these are usually relegated to the sides. Usually, this is an effective bargaining tool.
• • Bargaining. Try to make your employer understand just how important the evaluation is to you, even if the evaluation will not directly determine your stay in the company. Try to tell your boss that you have actually worked very hard, and that if there are some shortcomings on your part, these were completely unintentional, that you have tried to make up for these, and that your permanent records should not hold these negative comments when there are actually other strong points that you have exhibited while performing your tasks as an employee.
  • Make a response. Another course of action that you can take is to create your own written response. The written letter is great because it allows you to respond and elaborate your side, without having to confront the boss. Some people bargain well when talking face to face, but there are also a number of employees who prefer sending letters.

   

  Also make sure that you continue to maintain your good working relationship between you and your boss and your office mates, in spite of the negative reviews. Remember, you will not necessarily be kicked out of your job because of the review. Severing all ties will only worsen the situation. And even if you happen to get dropped from the job, the last thing that you want is to have a negative recommendation letter. 

There are no bad soldier under a good general. You need to UP your management and communication skills. Do not look for short answers here, the real answers are in the books written by experts.

-Address the problems where its by using a template to recognize exactly

where the problem of that performance .

_ Check the job description of the employee and give him a message that his job is very important  for the organization.

- Show him or her how can be efficiently. Because the problem is the word of efficient is very wide so Its very important to show him the clear steps to enhance the performance .

.

When managers become aware of poor employee performance, the immediate reaction is "How do I discipline" the employee for performing poorly - absenteeism, tardiness, missing deadlines, not doing the work the right way, etc.

Instead of taking that approach, why not focus on the root cause of poor employee performance. What if there is a personal issue plaguing the employee? If so, disciplining is not the right answer.  Perhaps recommending counseling or other interventions might help with poor employee performance.

Very few employers have formal mentoring or coaching programs in the workplace. However, these programs can often offer grassroots intervention to poor performing employees. 

Agreed to the experts..............................