As a project manager, how would you handle underperforming team members?
I would define underperformance as lower quality of work or not completing work at all, missing deadlines and submissions, inappropriate conduct, and/or low morale. There are a myriad of factors that could lead to team member underperformance. The duty of the project manager is to attempt to understand and mitigate those issues to the best of their ability. Regardless of the issues behind the underperformance, the goals and objectives of the project cannot be forgotten and ideally deadlines should be missed. In this case, the project manager must motivate the team member to complete the work, and if that is an unreasonable request, they must split/assign the work to others in the team. A project manager may go above and beyond and assist in completing that work or complete it by themselves if possible to meet project goals and submissions. It is also the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that their team member feel welcome to share their problems and issues, otherwise the issues preventing the project from moving forward will remain masked or unclear. Underperformance due to personal issues, like death or other unfortunate circumstances must be given special care. I personally would not feel comfortable informing my manager of details unless I trusted them and knew they had my best interests at heart, while maintaining their best interests to the project.
As a project manager, I would talk to the individuals who are struggling to get the job done. I would have a discussion with them and explore whatever issues they are facing. I would implement a way to help them and guide them to succeed. If they have issues with the personal lives, I would recommend some time off so they can refill their energies and deal with the personal issues. If it is work-related, I would provide an ear to hear them out. If it is too much work that cannot be handled by them, I would get assistance with more experience for them so the job asked could be done in a timely manner. If the member does not know how to use their tools/ equipment, I would make sure, they get the appropriate training needed so they don’t get stuck, therefore, hinder their performance. If after helping them with that, I can still see them lacking in performance I might switch them over to a different position and observe/ evaluate them accordingly. If they still are being deficient delivering good quality of work, I would ask them to leave the company.
As a project manager, the primary job is making the project process. Of course, talking to underperforming members and helping them is the first step. However, there are too many situations that a project manager can't help. Therefore, distributing jobs from underperforming members to others who are available is the most common way. Making the project progress and letting the team work away from the contradicting is the first-class task for a project manager to do. Moreover, in some situations, the underperforming of members results from the board wanting the project to fail while the project is still ongoing. Comforting the member with the project keep going is also part of the project manager's job in this situation.
Usually, what I believe is that employee underperformance means the decrease in the quality of work of an employee falls below the base level. Some of the characteristics that indicate an employee is underperformance are failing to perform given tasks, disruptive conduct, and not following the ethical rules of the company. Every organization needs employees to run their business effectively to get profits but having underperformance employees leads the organization to lose its money as well as fame. Underperformance can be seen at every level of the department in the organization. It is even important for an organization to identify such underperformance situations and to resolve issues in order to inhibit them from preventing the organization’s whole productivity. Some of the skills, I consider having by the project manager needs to have in order to prevent employee underperformance are identifying that there is an issue, scheduling continuous meetings and enquiring to get what actually makes employees underperform, repeating job expectations and duties, managing employee expectations, recognize progress in them continuously, ask them to give feedback repeatedly, and to make an appropriate decision if the employee’s performance does not improve. Though solving the underperformance of an employee is time-consuming it is necessary for an organization to resolve them because having underperformance employees will lead to organizational defame, loss of money, and even clients.
Underperforming team members are always a hassle, and can interfere with the results of any project, whether it be for a medical device, a class assignment, etc. Similar to the other responses, I agree that communication is key between team members, especially with the project manager, to ensure that everyone is on the same page. In addition, communication leads to team members feeling more comfortable with expressing their concerns and explaining why they might be experiencing delays with their responsibilities that result in their underperformance. Together with the project team, or only the underperforming member, the project manager can determine the cause of underperformance and work with the team or individual to improve work methods and possibly eliminate the delay. I would like to add on to all previous responses about the importance of setting boundaries and emphasizing the importance of communication at the beginning of the project when the group is formed. Prior to starting any work, I think it is important for the project manager to talk to the team about the importance of respectful communication between team members (i.e. through group activities, friendly meetings, etc.), so that if it were ever necessary, underperforming team members don’t hesitate to explain themselves. Creating a bond between team members makes communication more natural and comfortable, not only allowing others to step in and help the underperforming team member complete their tasks, but also allow the project to flow more smoothly.
If I was a PM and had underperforming team members, I would first try to figure out why they were missing deadlines or turning in low quality work. If there was a significant personal issue in their lives such as the death of a family member, I would like to think that I would either help them achieve their deliverables as best as I can (without doing their work for them), or if resources allow, assign another team member to help them with their work load for a certain duration. If it is due to not caring about the work, I would emphasize the importance of their work and how their low quality work negatively impacts the project.
I also understand that it is difficult to open up to a PM. There are PMs out there that if you were to tell them the truth, they still treat you like a cog in the wheel and expect you to churn out high quality work after overloading you. I think a PM needs to be approachable and value both the completion of a project and the person working towards that completion. I've been in the situation where I felt like I couldn't talk to my PM. I sustained a concussion after a car accident and came to work the next business day. I was scared to bring it up and it resulted in me delivering some low quality work that I, at the moment, did not realize. Had I felt more comfortable bringing it up earlier, my mistakes could've been prevented.
As a project manager, the obvious thing to do is communicate and confront the underperforming team member. Compare statistics and ask why there is underperformance. However, there is a lot of preparation involved. Awareness is key. A project manager should theorize why but be able to regulate themselves to not have it bias their decisions. After all, decisions should not be made without significant information. After analyzing the team member and their given reasons, decide whether or not if it's worth the effort to support them. I think a common mistake is the cost-sunk fallacy. Second chances are a cost, and each time it's given, the cost-benefit must be re-evaluated. The project manager is a person with limited time and resources. In other words, be a proactive servant in supporting the performance of their job, but not be the person working for them. Only through proper communication can the project manager make these decisions because it provides the information necessary.
I partially agree with your experiences. Although PM hold sway over the project and its members, project members themselves are powerful in solidarity. Project members should be willingly transparent to each other about their work performance and to the project manager about their issues. If a project manager does not create a constructive environment, it can affect the rest of the team and their performance. This is why project member to project member interpersonal communication besides just project manager to project member is powerful. Problems can be expressed early on without that fear if you have allies to support you. Although I don't know your social circumstances in your job, I think having coworkers who are willing support you, would dramatically increases the chances that the PM will listen and make a productive decision for everyone.
This is a lesson as well for PM. PM to create a supportive environment within the team that allows each member feel like their opinions matters. Relevant opinions create relevant discussions.
Underperformance in a team member can lead to numerous problems within the team such as missed deadlines and/or work of low quality. Sometimes events in a persons life can lead to lowered performance and that must be taken into account as a project manager (PM). If lower quality work is being turned in the PM must find out why and adjust the team accordingly. Lets say a team member had a death in the family or has sustained an injury, in this case a PM should start thinking whether steps can be taken to make the workload easier on this person, or if the work should be delegated to others on the teams or to someone else entirely. Underperformance can also be a result of a team member not being entirely qualified to perform their role. In this case steps need to be taken to reevaluate this persons abilities, to see if they can be taught/coached to better perform their function or to be replaced entirely. At the end of day with strict deadlines the project must go on and the PM needs to be able to handle these situation of underperforming team members.
As a PM I think you need to take several steps to address an underperforming team member. First, I think you need assess why the team member is performing in this manner (i.e. too many tasks, lack of motivation, knowledge gap, etc). Once root cause is established, then you need to communicate and discuss the team members performance in private and provide feedback. Even as the manager of the team, you may not know the best solutions going forward. That meeting can also be used to generate solutions and an action plan to achieve clear goals, expectations, and deadlines for the individual moving forward. Next, I would be checking in with the person to see how they were progressing and taking appropriate actions depending on the outcome. It is important to not rule with an iron fist. Team members improvement relies on coaching, constructive criticism, and fair treatment all while keeping the rest of the team’s motivation/morale/performance high.
@jal58 I agree with your response. Although meeting deadlines are important sometimes timelines dont exactly go as planned. If a team member finds that the deadlines are too strict as a PM it is important to analyze the situation. Is the team member not meeting deadlines because they aren't putting in the work or is it just taking longer than expected. Providing solutions to help a team member is important as well because the main goal as a PM is to make sure the project successfully comes to an end.
