When Your Employee Is Underperforming

Many managers struggle with initiating difficult conversations
around an individual’s subpar performance. Often, leaders wait way
too long to sit down with an employee who isn’t meeting
expectations. Leadership coach Jenny Fernandez says that increasing
the frequency of feedback and consciously developing better
relationships with direct reports help make these conversations
easier to start. And she shares how the right preparation, tone,
and open-minded approach lead to more effective discussions that
improve not just the one-on-one relationship, but also team morale
and turnover rates. Fernandez is the author of the HBR article "How
to Talk to an Employee Who Isn’t Meeting Expectations."