New to mgmt - help please

[Echoesandsilence]

Sorry this is long.
I was promoted to a management role at the end of last year so am quite new to all this.

One person who joined the company in july is under performing. At first it came across that she is very nervous and worried about doing things wrong so spends extra time checking and re checking things. I tried to reassure her that our work is very difficult to get everything right. We have a number of drafts of the work before
Its finalised so that any errors can be caught by external parties so she doesnt need to spend this extra time checking.

In the last 2 months, she has missed her deadlines which has had a knock on effect for my review of the work and her other projects. I raised this at the time.

She seems to have issues priotitising which tasks are important and need to be completed first. I raised this with her and now have to make her a daily list of priorities. At her level, this shouldnt ve required.

I had a week of AL in November. She had a task to complete in that time and didnt complete it. It seems she forgot.

Yesterday, she turned max 30 mins work into 3 hours work. There were senior clients waiting for her to make these minor updates and it was noted by my manager how long it was taking to complete. My manager couldnt understand how it was taking so long.

Following this, there was a second part of the task that needed to be completed. Again, this should have been 30 mins max. She told me the method she was using the complete the task and I told her that was not the procedure and what we had discussed and would take much longer. She agreed and said she would use the planned method.

40 mins later, I checked in with her and she said she was working through her method, not the planned method. She said she would have it completed in an extra 30 mins her way. I warned her again at this point that it wasnt agreed, would take much longer and my manager had noted how long it was taking her to complete the tasks so she needed to complete it asap.

An hour later the task is still not finished. Again I told her how she had gone against procedure and massively increased the workload and she said she was 'nearly there'.

Another hour after this, she completed the task. So it took 3 hours again for 30 mins work.

I need to have a talk with her today about this. How would you approach this?

Has she had any training in the company method? She seems to default to what she knows which is normal if she isn't comfortable with the new system?

Could she shadow someone so that she can see exactly how things need to be done?
It does sound like she isn’t particularly suited to the job. It will be difficult for you to help her improve if she keeps going back to her own methods which aren’t right and take much longer.

You need to approach it as you trying to understand why she chose to use her method rather than the approved method. Come from a position of ‘I want to support’ rather than ‘you did something wrong’.

Ultimately, your goal here is to get her to work faster, you’re not her parent and not there to chastise her. The way you frame it is:

‘Let’s talk about yesterday. You
Chose to use a different method which took much longer. I’d like to understand why you didn’t feel comfortable using the company method and how we can support you to work to our guidelines in future?’

It’s probably a case of lack of training and she’s not comfortable in role.

@ThreeB

Has she had any training in the company method? She seems to default to what she knows which is normal if she isn't comfortable with the new system?

Yes, the fast way to complete it is part of our daily job. Basically, we have the original document but also require a special formatted version for this client. Last week, she was taught how to create the special formatted verson and a trial run was completed. So, as of Friday, we had two versions of the document - the original and the special formatted one. The special formatted one was externally checked at that point.

There were about 20 small wording updates required to the document. She was supposed to make these wording changes to both versions of the document. Instead, she made the changes to the first document (3 hours). Then, instead of just changing these words in the second already formatted doc, she took the original (65 pages) and completed all the formatting again.

She has had 5 months to get it correct. You need to sit down and identify with her what is wrong, why she thinks she is struggling combined with your assessment and agree a plan to put it right. Agree weekly reviews and document these as to outcomes.

Alongside this, does your company have a capability policy? If so then read it and start doing the actions it requires. Usually they start with informal support like I have suggested but progress to formal action,plans, reviews and ultimately formal performance meetings leading to dismissal

Be clear what you expect, document and send it to her so she is clear and can't say she hasn't seen it

Do you have an HR function? Would be worth checking with them about how performance management is handled within the company and what the procedures are.

I would have a read of this www.acas.org.uk/capability-procedures

Also ask for advice from other managers you work with

Thanks all - I will look into these points.

Definitely speak to your HR team before you do anything. If you don't have an HR function, speak to your own manager.

Essentially you need to check that your intended approach is ok. Your employer may have policies and procedures around performance and you are getting into the sort of territory where there may be a process to follow or the step after the one you take today will involve that. You can run your intended action in front of them and they will be able to comment, guide you and give you the heads up about issues you may need to have at the forefront of your mind.

Performance improvement plan. Document the expectation, current state and agreed improvement pathway to meet the expectation. And make it timely. Weekly review. If improvements are not meeting standard that's a move to dismiss. And if she does improve everyone wins. Situation, task, action, result.

It's insubordination. You've asked and she's ignoring you completely. If she's on probation use this as a reason to extend the probation. If past probation start informal capability reviews making it clear that it will move to formal capability and possibly dismissal if performance is not improved.

Very very important, ask all the time what she needs to perform, what extra training, what she wants to do and expects to have to do and document it. Weekly 1:1 catch ups if appropriate and document everything.

Good luck. It's soul destroying managing people.

I managed someone like this. My sympathies, it's exhausting. I agree, it's insubordination. Def do a capability assessment but get your upper management on board too because you will likely have to fire her.