(This article appeared in the Hindu on July 25, 2012.  The text of the entire article is reproduced below too)

In a perfect world, all your team members will have all the necessary skills and relevant experience to do their job, know how to work well independently and with others. They may be ethical, dependable and willing to work hard, have a positive attitude towards their work and employer and yet not cost an arm and a leg. In reality, as a manager, you will inevitably deal with employees unable to perform their role adequately or are just plain difficult to work with.

Undesirable behaviour and poor performance can slow down an entire team’s progress and make milestones impossible to reach within the stipulated time. In egregious cases, a worker’s bad attitude can even lead to client frustration and loss of trust resulting in business impact. The onus of addressing the problem is on you and ignoring it will not help, nor will a knee-jerk reaction. All efforts to improve the employee should be made; termination followed by hiring should be the last option. The following tips can help in dealing with this sometimes painful but necessary task.

Move fast

A problem employee can have pernicious effects on the rest of your team, especially impressionable youngsters, and the matter needs to be addressed as soon as possible. If left unchecked, such a situation can hurt team morale. Unhealthy attitudes are contagious and you will have a problem that snowballs by the day. Worse, the team will interpret inaction in this regard as a lack of leadership and that dysfunctional mindsets or poor performance are acceptable. Tackle the issue head-on firmly and quickly.

Understand the problem and its causes correctly

When trying to understand the problem, do not rely only on hearsay and rumour. Ask the employee to help you understand what is not in dispute. Citing examples of the problem behaviour, form consensus with the employee on what the issues are. This may not always proceed as planned – employees with deep-rooted issues may deny that there is a problem at all.

Reasons for poor performance at work typically include poor understanding of the job or work context, inadequate support or resources, inadequate skills, loss of motivation and unhealthy attitudes towards work. Find out if the employee understands his role and responsibilities well and how his performance will be measured. Employees can give less than their best efforts due to poor motivation even when they are competent and understand their role clearly. This can happen because of personal reasons such as health, finance and relationships. Motivation can also flag when the work is not satisfying or when ‘hygiene factors’ such as working conditions, remuneration and job security are inadequate. Failures and disappointments at work are usually accompanied by a loss of confidence and this contributes to a loss of motivation as well.

A major source of trouble is when the employee has unhealthy attitudes or mindsets such as “people are out to get me” or “nothing goes my way in this unfair world” or “it is my way or the highway”. Mindsets such as these are the hardest to fix.

How can you help?

If the problem is a skills issue, assess training needs and provide the needed learning opportunities, followed by mentoring and support. If the current role is a bad fit and the employee has performed well before, be creative and try to find him a different role. Unmotivated employees benefit enormously when their manager talks to them, listens to them and counsels them. Most managers do not do enough of this. If the employee is in trouble, explore with your HR partner how your company can offer assistance. Such measures can yield rich dividends – you may retain a productive worker, save on replacement costs and at the same time send the message that you care about the team.

Provide effective feedback

Arrange to give feedback in private to the problem employee. Focus on the behaviour not the person. With the help of specific examples, explain to the employee what has been observed and in unambiguous terms what the consequences of such behaviour will be.

Offer specific suggestions for improvement and your support in making the needed changes. Documenting the feedback will help avoid later confusion on what was discussed, lend seriousness to the exercise and will serve as important evidence if the matter ends up in court. If the employee is in denial or behaves aggressively, it is best to have an HR manager present during the feedback session.

Allow for improvement

Once you have identified the real reasons for the problematic behaviour and given feedback, develop and document a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) for the problem employee. This will typically include precise performance targets and expected behaviours over a 4 to 12 week period that can be easily measured.

Communicate clearly to the employee that the PIP is a probationary process, one that could end in termination. Assess and share feedback regularly. Focusing on the positive will increase motivation and performance.

If the employee’s performance remains disappointing and fails to meet the PIP’s passing criteria despite every feedback and support, you may have no choice but to initiate separation procedures. The reasons for termination should be clear to all, especially to the employee. Dealing with a problem worker requires professionalism, assertiveness, fairness and emotional competence. Learn to do this well and you will have acquired an essential leadership skill.