You're managing a team that's underperforming. How can you turn things around?

To turn around an underperforming team, first identify root causes like unclear goals or communication issues. Set clear goals, provide necessary resources, and foster open communication. Address skill gaps, encourage collaboration, and recognize achievements. Continuously monitor progress, adjust strategies as needed, and seek external support if necessary.

It's only logical to understand the root cause before taking any corrective actions. Simple and effective way is to have an open conversation with each team member (not necessary the manager mentions of under performance or such) separately to understand where they stand and what concerns they have. Employ active listening, display empathy and compassion, so the team member feels comfortable to share. In addition to tools/frameworks shared by LN above, it would also help to pose a few open ended questions. It is possible that the issue is deeper and remember, it might end up as though you are peeling the onion to get to the real issue.

To assess a situation effectively, it is crucial to delve deep into the performance, trends, and insights impacting your brand planning. This involves creating a document that captures the 5 Cs: Company, Category, Competitors, Consumer, and Context, with the potential addition of Collaborators depending on your industry. Additionally, utilizing tools like the SWOC analysis, which focuses on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges, can provide a comprehensive understanding of your current situation and guide improvements.

Root cause analysis is key to understanding what exactly is happening so you can look for solutions. Using tools such as 5 Whys etc also helps with objectivity in getting the facts at stake as opposed to blaming or pointing fingers.

Finding the underlying reasons for your team's poor performance is the first step. You must ascertain the reasons behind their failure to live up to your standards, objectives, or goals. Is it a result of a lack of knowledge, drive, encouragement, feedback, resources, or assistance? Or is it a result of outside variables like competition, client wants, or changes in the market? To assist you go further into the issue and identify the underlying causes, you can employ techniques like the SWOT Analysis, the Fishbone Diagram, and the Five Whys.

Setting benchmarks and progress goals creates a motivation for the team in achieving the common objectives. The most important characteristic of a SMART goal, in my opinion, is A - Achievable. Set goals that your team is highly confident in achieving because setting unachievable or unrealistic goals may set the team back even further. Use the root cause investigation to determine what is achievable.

Establishing SMART goals for your team is the second stage. SMART stands for Time-bound, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Relevant. These standards will assist you in defining the objectives you have for your team, how you plan to evaluate their performance, how tough and realistic their goals are, how well they fit into your vision and mission, and when they must be completed. To assist you in creating measurable objectives for your team, you can utilize resources like the OKR Framework, the SMART Goal Worksheet, and the Goal Setting Template.

Go back a step! Gather intel on all the good things the team have achieved as they need to know. Take cake/chocolate and go sit and listen to all in the team from cleaning staff down to managers and stand in their shoes. Listen. Form what will be an enduring relationship, have their backs and be authentic at identifying a way forward. Don’t put all responsibility on them (someone senior has let them perform less well ??) then resource properly. Build pride, commitment not fear and resistance ??

SMART goals should be used in tandem with PDSA quality improvement methodology. You plan, you do, you study your findings, and then you act. Then the process starts again and should never end. Action plans are useful here, you need to remember where you started, what you did, and the results - tying in with SMART goals. As with any improvement project, you need to establish the problems, study how they came about, and separate them out - much like the ingredients to your favourite meal.

Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals provides clarity and direction for a team struggling with underperformance. It helps align efforts towards a common objective, ensuring everyone understands what needs to be accomplished and by when. This fosters accountability and motivation, as team members have clear benchmarks to track progress and measure success. SMART goals also facilitate constructive feedback and course corrections, leading to improved performance and mutual respect within the team.

After you have assessed the situation and found the root cause, the next step is to have some action items defined. Come together as a group and see which of these can be implemented and how do we measure this as we go ahead.Take feedback from the team, identify coaching areas and provide coaching wherever applicable

As naval once said “ The praise from being right becomes the pain from being wrong.” It is crucial to provide open and honest feedback, giving specific examples and actionable feedback to help team members understand what they are doing well and areas that need improvement. Regularly monitor progress, celebrate achievements, and provide ongoing guidance to foster trust and commitment to their development. Remember, feedback should be a regular habit, focusing on constructive feedback for improvement and praise for recognizing strengths and achievements to keep the team motivated and on track.

One thing I found helpful is to give individual coaching and feedback. Start a group activity feedback, collaborate with other staff members to complete each task based on the feedback. Supporting the team with positive comments and suggestions help build leaders. When you encourage them it helps build confidence in their ability to work out problems.

Giving your team coaching and feedback is the third phase. Giving and receiving feedback is crucial for performance improvement because it lets your team know what they are doing well, where they need to grow, and how to get there. Providing coaching to your team can help them grow as individuals, overcome obstacles, and accomplish their objectives. To assist you in providing your team with constructive criticism and mentoring, consider utilizing resources like the Feedback Sandwich, the GROW Model, or the STAR Method.

Constructive feedback offers valuable insights into areas needing improvement, fostering a culture of continuous growth and development. Through coaching, team members receive personalized support to enhance their skills and overcome challenges, empowering them to perform at their best. This approach demonstrates a commitment to individual growth and success, fostering mutual respect and trust within the team.

Promoting open communication and teamwork, team members feel valued and supported, leading to increased engagement and accountability. Collaboration allows for the sharing of ideas and resources, enabling collective problem-solving and innovation. Building trust within the team cultivates a supportive environment where individuals feel comfortable taking risks and learning from mistakes, ultimately leading to improved performance and mutual respect.

Effective leaders foster collaboration and trust within their teams by creating an environment where every voice is valued and respected. They lead by example, demonstrating transparency, empathy, and accountability in their actions and decisions. They encourage open communication and active listening, ensuring that team members feel heard and understood. By setting clear goals and expectations, providing support and resources, and celebrating successes together, leaders empower their teams to work collaboratively towards common objectives, building trust and cohesion along the way.

Acknowledging achievements, no matter how small, you reinforce positive behaviors and boost morale. Similarly, analyzing failures provides valuable insights for growth and improvement, fostering a culture of resilience and continuous learning. This approach cultivates mutual respect by recognizing effort and progress, while also demonstrating a commitment to collective success and development within the team.

Its always good to consider to monitor and adjust, but for this to be consistent, the leader needs to be always close to the team and show them with data where the adjusts are needed. It is interesting not to point failures or achievements when you need to make the adjustments, but show where the efforts are being spent wrongly, so the team members can put the focus where it is needed.

As a leader, reflect on your own leadership style and identify areas for improvement to better support and motivate your team. -Don't hesitate to seek guidance from your manager, HR, or external consultants if needed. -Turning around a team is a continuous process. Be patient, celebrate milestones, and stay committed to fostering a high-performing and engaged team.

When underperformance impacts the business or client, as a team manager, you find yourself in a challenging position. If you're familiar with situational leadership styles, this is the moment you take decisive actions and adopt a directing or autocratic approach, where you, as the leader, must provide clear instructions and closely supervise the team members until satisfactory performance is achieved. Once KPIs are back on track, then shift to an approach that matches the team's capability and capacity. Remember, effective team leadership adapts to situations; and your critical thinking and decisive actions will set the tone for success.

Sorry but the fish doesn’t rot from the head; it stinks all over! Maybe it isn’t you/ your team. It could be a toxic work environment you all face. Corporates treat culture as a postscript -a PS, nice to sort by paying thousands to a brand expert to create catchy strap lines for the Vision and Purpose. A different PS should be priority for any good leader. This is #psychologicalsafety. Beyond EDI fluff, it is the heart of great teams. Do you & your team: ??Show up and encourage authenticity? ??Fail forward, and feel safe to do so? ????♀?Challenge opinions of superiors & be heard/ respected? ??Have difficult peer convos without fear they’ll weaponise the complaint process in response? No? Then you have work to do. #justdeboharris

I believe communication is the key, as each team member has their own skills and capabilities, so following the below steps may be useful in most cases: 1) 1:1 meetings 2) understanding the main burden (is it lack of time? Too many tasks? The workplace isn't comforting?..etc 3) after identifying the major issues, we can start working to create a better working environment for each team member individually according to their needs and what will help them perform better.

As managers, we sometimes tend to shield our teams from frustration or critisism. In case of underperformance, it can help to shield less and let some frustration and critical voices through. Trust your best employees (and your team consists of them, right?) to cope with the pressure, as it is mainly due to their performance. Let them feel the reality of the effect they are causing (but sure, don't burn them either). Sometimes, that's just enough to increase performance ...