Your organisation probably has an established schedule for performance appraisal interviews. When a person is not performing however, you cannot afford to wait for the next planned appraisal. You need to talk now!
There is scarcely an employee who does not need a constant answer to the question: How am I doing? And there are few employees who would say that the question is answered by their managers in a regular, detailed and helpful way. Giving feedback on performance is a difficult conversation for most managers. We prefer to avoid conflict and put off the conversations that risk becoming arguments. Unfortunately, the longer you delay talking about things that need to be discussed, the more difficult and confrontational they are likely to be when finally you do speak up.
When someone is not performing, and you say nothing, the person has no way of knowing how you feel. They may be unaware that you are unhappy, unaware of the implications of their behaviour and unaware that you are becoming increasingly frustrated and angry.
When you do not speak up about a problem, you are tacitly accepting the way the person is behaving. If you do not confront a poor time keeping situation for example, people will continue to arrive late! If you accept missed deadlines without speaking up, deadlines will continue to be missed.
When you do not speak up people continue with their behaviour, assuming that because you have said nothing, everything is just as you want it to be.
Meanwhile, you become more frustrated. As your emotions rise, it becomes more difficult for you to speak calmly about the situation. When you finally open a conversation, it is from a highly emotional state. It sets the background for you to go into the conversation blaming and accusing; creating just the kind of confrontation you dreaded!
When you eventually speak up, the person is surprised and perhaps embarrassed to find you are dissatisfied with how they have been performing. They may feel they have been deceived and may respond with justifiable indignation and anger. A difficult conversation can turn into just the kind of confrontation you dreaded!
And sometimes events overtake us! Your emotions may one day run away with you and instead of planning a conversation, you burst out with anger and accusations accompanied by your raised voice, finger pointing and threats. This is exactly the kind of confrontation you dreaded!
The lesson is clear. When you need to confront poor performance, the best time to do it is sooner, rather than later. Problems that are ignored do not go away; nor do they stay the same. Mostly they get worse. As you become more upset about the problem, you become less competent to handle the conversation constructively, and the likelihood of argument and conflict increases.
When someone is not performing, plan a conversation as soon as possible in which the issue can be raised calmly and can be cleared up. Then you can move on. These regular and informal feedback conversations do not take the place of planned formal appraisal of performance. They do however make planned appraisals safer, easier, and less likely to contain surprises for unsuspecting employees.
Maureen Collins trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people in her consulting practice, Straight Talk. She has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. Go to http://www.straight-talk.co.za for free downloads and Straight Talk Tips.