10 Powerful & Effective Questions to Ask Your Underperforming Team Member
Being a people manager and managing a team comes with its fair share of ups and downs. When you’re part of the right team at the right company, it can become one of the most fulfilling aspects of your career. But it can also be one of the most challenging.
One of the most significant challenges that people managers face is dealing with underperforming talent. As a manager, you not only need to recognize and diagnose the issue but you also need to provide guidance and support to help the individual get back on track. After all, the performance of your team depends on it.
A one-on-one meeting is a great opportunity to dig deeper into the causes of underperformance and it’s usually a good time to create a plan for improvement. But knowing what to ask your employee to uncover the root cause is key to making the conversation constructive. In this article, we’ll explore 10 powerful & effective questions to ask your underperforming team member when having a one-on-one meeting. We hope this will serve as a guide to help you navigate that first difficult conversation and set you on the path towards resolution. Let’s get into it!
1. What challenges are you currently facing in your role?
This is a great place to start your conversation because it helps you understand your employee’s perspective on their performance. Do they believe there are challenges today and are they aware of what the challenges are? Do they understand what is causing them? It’s basically a test of self-awareness to gauge how they perceive their performance so far before you offer your own feedback.
It also gives them the opportunity to voice concerns or challenges that you as their manager might not be aware of, such as unclear expectations, intra-team obstacles, or personal struggles that may be affecting their ability to perform. Encouraging them to openly share will provide you with valuable insights and make them feel like it’s a safe space to voice their side of the story. It sets a collaborative tone, signaling that you are invested in helping them overcome difficulties rather than simply critiquing their work.
2. Do you feel clear about your goals and expectations?
Sometimes underperformance stems from a basic lack of understanding of what success looks like in the role. By asking this question next, you can gauge whether your report has the required clarity around the job to be done or if there is a clear misalignment that you need to correct. If needed, you can also use this opportunity to provide concrete examples of what meeting expectations looks like in their daily work.
Remember, miscommunication or unclear expectations can often be the root of poor performance in role. By addressing this head on, you can prevent future misunderstandings and give your employee clear targets to aim for.
3. How do you feel about your role and responsibilities?
This is a great followup question to the prior one, and it’s important to ask it in this order. After your employee shares what their goals and expectations for the role are, you should fast follow with asking them how they make them feel. Employee engagement can have a direct impact on performance. Asking how they feel about their role gives them space to express any dissatisfaction or frustrations. Are they bored, overworked, or feeling disconnected from the work they are doing? This question could reveal a deeper disengagement issue that needs to be addressed before performance can improve.
4. How do you prioritize your tasks and manage your time?
Poor time management and lack of prioritization are common culprits when it comes to underperforming in a role. This question helps you as the manager understand how your employee structures their day and whether they’re focusing on the right inputs to drive the desired outputs.
Perhaps they are spending too much time on low-priority tasks, which in turn is causing them to neglect more impactful work that could progress them towards their goals. They may need guidance on how to prioritize tasks better or manage competing demands, especially if they’re feeling overwhelmed or feeling like they can’t push back and say no. This question allows you to get to the root of what is happening and where things may be falling apart.
5. What resources or support do you need to perform better?
We love this question because it puts the onus back on the employee to think about their performance and identify what they might need in order to improve. Instead of you just coming in and telling them how to get better, you encourage them to think like an owner and come up with ideas on their own, which is a learning moment in itself. For all you know, it could be that they just require better tools to do their tasks or a tweak to a process that is causing a lot of redundancy. By identifying these gaps, you as the manager can then run with it and take action to course correct.
Additionally, by asking this question, you also implicitly signal to your employee that you are down to partner with them to get better, rather than just critique their performance from afar. Remember, you want this conversation to feel collaborative and supportive, and not accusatory. Employees, especially more junior ones or ones newer to the company, may hesitate to ask for help on their own. This question ensures they have a moment to voice any gaps they feel are holding them back.
6. Do you feel that there are any skills you need to improve?
This is similar to the question above – it encourages the employee to self-reflect and identify the specific skills they believe could be upleveled. They may recognize (better than you!) that they lack specific skills or knowledge that’s preventing them from going above and beyond in their role. It also opens the door to discussions about additional training, mentorship, or other professional development opportunities that could help them succeed. Empowering your employee to recognize their own skill gaps gives them a sense of ownership over their development, and it’s a really important first step if you are going to explore any sort of development plan in the future.
7. What are your long-term career goals?
Underperformance may also stem from your employee feeling that they are not on the right career path. Maybe they feel like the job they are doing isn’t getting them towards their ultimate career goals, and as a result they are struggling to stay motivated. Asking about their long-term goals helps you understand whether they see this job as taking them one step closer to their dream role or as more of a blocker.
If they see it as more of a blocker, you can do one of two things. You can work with them to expose them to skill sets and projects that more closely align with what they want to do (not necessarily changing their scope, but getting creative to find a middle ground). If that doesn’t work, it may be time to have a hard conversation around a possible pivot to another team, function, or even company.
8. How do you think we can work together to improve your performance?
This question emphasizes collaboration and creates a partnership between you and your employee. It makes sure that they feel supported, but it also gives them the chance to be in the driver’s seat. By actively involving them in this process, you empower them to take ownership over their improvement. After all, if they aren’t bought into the idea of getting better, they won’t get better.
9. What has worked well for you in the past when overcoming similar challenges?
If the employee has struggled with performance issues before, they might already know what strategies work best for them to get back on track. This question encourages them to think back on previous successes and apply those lessons to the current situation. It also gives you insight into how they approach challenges and problem-solving.
10. What does success look like for you in this role?
This is a good closing question, because it allows your employee to reflect on the conversation you just had and summarize their thoughts and takeaways back to you. This in turn provides you with the opportunity to confirm that they do understand the role’s expectations, the specific actions they need to take for improvement, and, most importantly, that they are committed to the plan and dedicated to their growth.
Conclusion
Handling an underperforming team member is one of the more difficult parts of being a manager. That said, if you approach it with empathy, understanding, and guidance, you can easily turn a D player into an A player. Just remember, while it’s powerful to keep your employee in the driver’s seat so they feel a sense of ownership over their development, it’s equally as important for you to provide the guidance to ensure that they understand the job to be done and what is expected of them. Good luck!
If you enjoyed this article, make sure to check out our similar article on 9 Simple Ways to Improve Your Work Performance Immediately.
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