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How Senior Leaders Can Approach Tough Talks With Poor-Performing Managers

Forbes Coaches Council

As a senior leader, after you hire or promote someone into a management position, it’s key to actively gather and listen to feedback from the new manager’s direct reports, peers and other co-workers. If you are hearing negative reviews regarding their behavior or other problems with their performance, it may be time to have a private discussion with the manager to course-correct.

Having this tough conversation is never fun, but it’s often necessary to keep team morale, productivity and retention up. Below, 15 members of Forbes Coaches Council discuss important objectives to cover during this initial conversation and how to ensure the manager stays on the right track moving forward.

1. Examine Your Own Role

I like to examine my leadership with the “finger-pointing” rule. Before I blame the person receiving negative feedback, I look at the three fingers pointing back at me as the leader and ask myself these questions: 1. How clear have I been about what success looks like? 2. Does the person need training? 3. Are they a good fit for the role? 4. Have I invested in a good relationship? - Pam Boney, Tilt 365

2. Ensure The Manager Feels Heard

The purpose of the meeting should focus on figuring out why the staff behaves the way they do before laying out an improvement plan. It could also be a misunderstanding, as communication styles could be perceived the wrong way in a diverse workplace. I would ensure the direct report feels heard before laying out a strategic improvement plan with expectations. - Holly Lee, Holly Lee & Associates, Inc.

3. Listen To Each Side

There are two sides to every story. An executive leader needs to do their due diligence, beyond listening only to the reports that have come in, or they may miss a part of the bigger picture. Has there been a history of such feedback? What’s happening with this manager at present? The feedback needs to be shared with a plan to address improvements, but hearing from the manager is also necessary. - David Yudis, Potential Selves

4. Provide Support And Resources

The objective should be step one toward management improvement. Consider how the feedback will be received based on other performance conversations. Approach it in alignment with your core values and be ready to support the manager’s development. Thoughtfully deliver the feedback, help the manager understand and accept that improvement is needed, and encourage improvement with resources and support. - Kelly Byrnes, Voyage Consulting Group


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5. Understand The Root Causes

I coach clients that “pulling back the layers of the onion” to better understand root causes should be the first objective. Once this is done, then a strategy can be compiled for having hard but respectful conversations on needed next steps. Then, jointly, a win-win course of direction can be determined. - Karan Rhodes, Shockingly Different Leadership (SDL)

6. Outline Specific Complaints

To preempt defensiveness or denials from a poor performer, leadership should prepare to be clear that managers have received consistently negative feedback from both peers and direct reports. The initial conversation should explain specific complaints about a manager’s behavior, offer the manager a chance to clarify any questions and collaborate on a path to improving performance. - Michael Timmes, Insperity

7. Invite Human Resources To Join You

Consider having an open conversation jointly with HR, the manager in question and yourself. Give the manager the opportunity to express their view on their performance. Identify areas for development and offer them the opportunity to do a formal 360 feedback survey coupled with executive coaching to help them traverse the challenges identified in the survey results. - Kevin Kan, Break Out Consulting Asia

8. Agree On An Action Plan

Leaders should say what they mean, mean what they say and not be mean about it. When leadership receives negative feedback with consistent patterns and themes, the objective should be to share the patterns, describe the gap between the feedback and expected performance, and agree on an action plan with the person to close or eliminate the gap. - Kathy Bernhard, KFB Leadership Solutions

9. Focus On The Future

One technique that can be helpful in these conversations is Marshall Goldsmith’s feedforward approach. This involves focusing on what the manager can do differently in the future, rather than dwelling on past mistakes. By doing this, you can help the manager identify areas for improvement and set them up for success in the future. - Peter Boolkah, The Transition Guy

10. Adopt An Objective, Empathetic Approach

Adopt an open, tactful and objective approach, with empathy. Be aware of context and communication styles. Share the feedback, use factual examples and seek to understand their perspective. If emotions are peaked, allow time for the message to set in. Together, create an action plan to address the performance with clear expectations, timelines and support. - Susan Murray, Clearpath Leadership

11. Be Curious About Their Perspective

Leaders should be curious. The primary objective of that initial conversation should be to get the manager talking and sharing so that you can understand their perspective. You will be able to see things through their lens. This will give you information on the situation and at the same time make the manager feel heard and respected. - Michele Cohen, Lead to Growth Coaching

12. Give The Benefit Of The Doubt

If the leader has open and honest relationships with their team, the approach to any conversation—even a difficult one—would be the same. The leader should provide reassurance and strive to understand if there has been a shift in this manager’s perception of or ability to perform the job. Sometimes, life creeps up on us, and we react in unintended ways. Giving someone the benefit of the doubt goes a long way. - Wendy Fong, Chief Gigs

13. Ask Questions About Their Self-Perception

Often, the challenge is that the executive hasn’t experienced the behavior/performance described by others, so it is easy to discount it as just noise. The trick: Hold the information as data. Enter the conversation with curiosity. Ask questions about their self-perception, then share the experiences others are having. Listen and engage. We judge ourselves by our intent, while others judge us on our impact. - Angela Cusack, Igniting Success

14. Simplify Feedback Delivery And Lay Out Objectives

A lot of what should happen in this conversation should be set long before it happens. The organization should have a way of presenting “feedback” in a uniform, standardized and uncomplicated way to managers and every other person in the organization. Laying out the objectives of this conversation could start like this: “As you know, we present feedback to everyone in the same way. This is yours.” - John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.

15. Stay Focused On The Conversation’s Purpose

Stay curious, with an emphasis on feeding insights forward. It’s easy to get caught up in emotions, so plan the purpose of the conversation and stay focused. Asking a manager to justify their past behavior may lead to unnecessary defensiveness; instead, focus on the learnings that need to be taken into account for better outcomes in the future. - Shamila Mhearban, Shamila M. Ltd

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