What To Do When a Team Member Isn’t Meeting Expectations
Introduction:
Many small business owners struggle with hiring people to join their team. It can be a long, stressful process that requires a lot of planning and considerations to be effective. Ideally, you want this new team member to have the perfect mix of hard and soft skills so that their contribution allows you to focus on the parts of the business that lights you up.
But what happens when you go through the whole process of hiring, and for whatever reason, this new team member isn’t meeting your expectations.
Maybe they miss deadlines or are hard to communicate with. Or maybe they deliver sloppy or incorrect work that has to be redone. Whatever the reason, dealing with a team member who isn’t effective adds stress to everyone else on the team, including you as the business owner.
I’ve had so many business owners ask me what happens when they have hired someone to join their team, but it’s just not working out? They usually don’t know whether they should stick it out and hope that the whole situation gets better, or if they should immediately fire the team member and start the hiring process all over again. It can be a hard decision for anyone to make.
I’m not a big believer in making snap decisions when it comes to hiring or firing. Here’s the process I follow when I’m dealing with a team member who isn’t meeting expectations.
- Start by reflecting on your hiring and onboarding process
- Schedule a 1:1 meeting with the team member
- If nothing improves, be willing to part ways
Always start by reflecting on your hiring and onboarding process:
There are almost always red flags that pop up when we’re dealing with someone who may not be a good fit for our business. We may choose to ignore those red flags, but they are usually there.
Think about what you felt when you initially met with this person. Was there something that made you hesitate hiring them? If nothing is coming up, go back and look at their application materials to see if anything sticks out. A few questions I usually ask myself are:
☑️ Did this person display a good attitude throughout the hiring process?
☑️ Were there any skills that I should have asked about or determined their proficiency level of but didn’t?
☑️ Were they asked to provide any examples of their work by answering situational based questions or providing a copy of their portfolio?
☑️ Was this person referred to you by someone in your network or another trusted source?
☑️ Did I check out their website and social media channels as part of the vetting process?
☑️ What was my onboarding process like? Did I provide enough to get them started on the right foot?
☑️ Has this person expressed any frustrations to any member of the team? Who did they talk to and were the frustrations valid?
☑️ Has this person’s performance taken a nosedive recently, or has their performance been poor from the beginning?
The purpose of asking yourself these questions isn’t to blame yourself or to start to think that you’re a bad business owner. These questions help you identify any holes in your hiring and onboarding process so that you can go back and refine your process before the next time you hire.
Have a 1:1 meeting with the team member in question.
If someone is exhibiting poor performance, I believe that they deserve to hear feedback from the business owner. They may be completely unaware that you are unhappy with their work
Scheduling a 1:1 meeting allows both parties to get on the same page with regard to expectations. I usually start the meeting by describing what I’ve been seeing and noting how concerning it is. Ask them if they are okay and if there is anything you can do to get them on the right track.
If they can acknowledge that they have been struggling, thank them for being honest and try to come up with a plan going forward to help them stay on track. The OBM or Project Manager on your team can provide more frequent check-ins to ensure everything is completed according to plan.
If this team member seems unaware of their poor performance, be sure to provide examples of when they missed a deadline or when something wasn’t done correctly. Ask them if they are willing to make improvements, and if so, what changes you can expect to see from them. Again, if you have an OBM or PM on your team, you may want them to help keep tabs on the team members performance.
If nothing improves, be willing to part ways.
Sometimes we have to acknowledge that we have made a bad hire. You must be willing to part ways with anyone who is a drain on you, the business owner, or the team.
Keep the relationship ending as simple and unemotional as possible. Simply reiterate that things aren’t working out and wish them the best going forward. You may want to check the contract to ensure that you’re following the terms for canceling services.
Additional Resources:
[Blog] How to onboard a new team member with ease
[Blog] 5 tips for hiring independent contractors for your business
Conclusion:
Those are my tips for handling team members whose performance isn’t up to par. Let me know if you’ve had to deal with a member of your team who needed to improve, and how you handled the situation.