How can you improve the performance of team members who are struggling?

Individual Meetings: Schedule one-on-one meetings with struggling team members to discuss their challenges, concerns, and any obstacles they may be facing. Gather Feedback: Seek feedback from the team member about their role, workload, and potential areas where they feel they need support.

The first thing is to understand the individual strength and the background of his/her efforts. Check the known issues or the voice of the customer, Understand whether the team members understand them right and deep dive what is choking their bandwidth and see if any tools or technology to be leveraged, Listen to them and continously engage and give them feedback and define their goals clearly , align the workloads based on their USP's and reshuffle themso that it dont get montonus

Call for a face to face conversation and understand the actual reason for non-performance. Reasons can be effort related, personal problems getting mixed up, job might not be his/her cup of tea, peer comparison, micro management etc...etc. Give enough space to open-up. Have a friendly discussion rather than interrogating types. Lead by example post understanding the actual issue. Be hands-on with them to solve the problem. Create a mechanism to track the daily activity and efforts rather than talking about the end results.

While assessing the performance of a team member who is struggling we need to go through a complete and honest feedback from team members (no bias) and also have a 1 to 1 meeting with the member in question as to what challenges he /she is facing on the day to day job. Secondly find out if adequate tools for the job are provided to him /her for the job completion. Analyze the version provided by him / her to you and compare it to the feedback received from other team members. Suggest some solutions to improve on the gaps in the job. There would be improvement.

Improving the performance of struggling team members requires a thoughtful and proactive approach. Firstly, initiate open and honest conversations to understand their challenges and concerns. Listen actively and offer support, demonstrating a genuine commitment to their success. Provide constructive feedback, emphasizing strengths and outlining clear areas for improvement. Encourage collaboration and teamwork, creating an environment where team members feel valued and motivated. Above all, lead by example, showcasing a positive attitude and strong work ethic. By investing time and effort into their growth and well-being, you not only elevate individual performance but also cultivate a stronger, more cohesive team.

Once the root cause is identified of the struggling team member then it is up to the Manager to guide him / her on how to improve on their challenges faced or overcome the mistakes that do. Time Management is of utmost importance where in certain realistic deadlines could help the person to have an awareness on how to improve on the routine tasks delegated to them . Counselling him /her on how to overcome challenges and improve his / her performance is the key to getting the best of a person who is struggling and make him / her an example of coming out as a great performer. This would be of immense benefit and motivational factor to both parties : Team Member / Reporting Manager.

Supporting and guiding colleagues, regardless of their seniority or position, is an essential aspect of a healthy work environment and a compassionate society. When we offer support, we create a network of trust and cooperation. It's about lending a helping hand when someone faces challenges or feels overwhelmed. This support doesn't just benefit the individual; it contributes to a more collaborative and productive workplace. Guidance plays a pivotal role in nurturing growth and learning. Sharing knowledge, experiences, and advice helps colleagues navigate complexities they might not be familiar with. It fosters a culture of continuous learning and development, benefiting both the mentor and the mente

Identify Skill Gaps: Assess if there are specific skills or knowledge gaps contributing to the performance issues. Offer Training Opportunities: Provide targeted training or resources to help team members develop the necessary skills to excel in their roles.

Showing empathy and understanding is a huge factor in supporting your team members that may be struggling. There may be factors inside or outside of work that can contribute to a decline. Offer road maps out of the situation, and take the road with them. If there is an outside struggle, maybe the company offers programs to help, or knows of programs that can support. Maybe you need to add some change to their work to help excite them. KPIs (Keep People Interested) that focus on supporting their career path that they want can be a huge contributor to helping a struggling employee

Do they need support, guidance or more prescriptive direction? Use situational leadership to ensure the improvement plan for each individual is optimized.

Clear communication (being direct) and not leaving things loose. - Have the employee document the communication and recap or restate to ensure you are aligned - Ask for feedback regarding how you are communicating - Refer back to the goals and progress or lack there of often

Coaching is constant. Don’t wait until there’s a problem. Coaching in the moment celebrates successes, reinforces good practices, and allows for course correction and better understanding.

Encourage Open Communication: Foster an environment where team members feel comfortable discussing challenges openly. Emphasize Team Support: Encourage collaboration and peer support within the team to create a sense of unity.

Day 1/week 1 - Onboarding. Express that you operate in an open communication forum. Be it email, slack, or popping over to your desk. Set expectations and make sure they are understood and agreed upon - but also let them know any issues, concerns or struggles to come right to you before it snowballs. Management is difficult. Not everyone can nor should TBH. If you are one who does or strives to manage you have to be a good communicator at a minimum.

Create communication lines for team members through multiple channels and be available. As a manager, make calendar blocks every day, or a few times a week that can be used if there is a need for quick communication, all while setting 1 on 1's for your team members. Listen and verify what you are hearing from them and assess their needs

This is a very important factor while leading a team. Having a job description for each team member would help in distributing the responsibilities and create a tailor made profile for each member, however each team member would have to be rotated alternatively so that each one becomes a multi tasker and could take on each other's job thereby reducing the dependency factor which also ensures that the day to day jobs are not hampered. This is a dual benefit for a team. Motivate all team members to take on additional responsibilities so that they become multiskilled but at the same time ensure that they are not overloaded. Set priority goals to each team member so that all deadlines are met.

Prioritize Tasks: Collaborate with team members to prioritize tasks and responsibilities based on their strengths and skills. Manage Workload: Assess and adjust workloads to ensure they are realistic and aligned with individual capabilities.

KPIs...Not Key Performance Indicators, but "Keep People Interested". Make KPIs that focus on not only responsibilities that they currently have, but additional responsibilities that will give them opportunities to grow within their current role, and the role they want to be in, even if it is not within your group. Give them outlets to cross train in other areas of the business, and create mentorships with managers and employees that fit the role they are looking for. Create leaders and grow the business through people.

Public Recognition: Acknowledge and publicly recognize improvements and efforts made by struggling team members. Positive Reinforcement: Provide positive reinforcement to motivate continued progress.

we can follow below steps : 1- Do a thorough skill gap analysis ; hard and soft both. The output of this exercise should be the competency level of person for all the skills that are required to do his/her job vs the expected competency level. 2- Put an improvement plan and assign a mentor/s. 3- Do not ignore the behavioral as aspect of the person in question. 4- Review the progress at least on monthly basis and give feedbacks in a very structured way. 1st highlight the positive things in that person, then highlight the gaps he/she needs to fill , then explain why that gap filling is needed. Then give a strong dose of motivation. 5- Take a call to retain or let him/her go if there is no improvement in 6 months. Consider role change also.