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143: Why Performance Improvement Plans Fail—and What Changes Behavior · Leadership Sandbox: Strategies to Uplevel Workplace Communication, Team Collaboration, and Your Corporate Culture

• 0:16
  Hey friends, welcome into the Leadership Sandbox. Today I'm going to have a really direct and bold conversation with you about your performance improvement plan.
• 0:25
  I want to talk to you about what I see happen too often where that pip becomes the theater,
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  the theatrical performance. To help the managers and the leaders avoid the truth and reality that the employees deserve to have in their performance
• 0:41
  or regarding their performance or any issues that might come up. Because here's the reality: a PIP, a performance improvement plan,
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  is simply the documentation of a behavior, of behavior change that's wanted and a behavior change strategy. That's necessary for winning in the role that the employee's in.
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  And if the employee, I should say it this way, and too often I hear that the employee learns that there's a problem for
• 1:08
  the first time when they've been presented with this documentation called a pip. And the pip is not the beginning of change or accountability.
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  It's the evidence, if that's the fact that the employee heard it. In that moment for the first time, it's actually the evidence of management failure.
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  Because if you don't have the documentation to support getting to the pip and conversations that are documented effectively with the by-when of the
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  expectation of the outcome, and it's documented and there's a through thread and everything's very clear, and the employee learns of it the first
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  time when they're sitting across from you for their PIP, you've now entered into theater, not performance change. You certainly haven't given the the
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  employee trust to know that you're caring for them and the the and that you want the best for the outcome in this situation.
• 2:02
  You see, what I hear, and in fact, just had a conversation this morning with a leader on this very topic about needing to
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  have a bold conversation that's been long in the waiting with one of their team members, one of their leaders. And they told me that the struggle bus for them.
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  Was really just building up the comfort to be able to have this uncomfortable conversation. The reality is there's it's not about you're just taking care of yourself in that moment, leader.
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  You're not actually thinking the employee to see the change that you want to have happen for their performance. You probably have already even
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  started thinking, as most do, that this is the exit strategy. This is the the beginning of the end. So let's be real with that for a minute, that most.
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  for the most part a pip. It's not the actual performance improvement plan that's the issue. It's really there to be the paperwork trail for a predetermined firing, terminating, ending.
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  It's not about improving for the what's next. It's about ending for the what's next. And this is just the formality that HR says you have to go through.
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  Today I want to separate out what legitimate performance management looks like and where it differentiates from reality to corporate theater or theatrics that
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  is really only good with a curtain call and a stage. And we're gonna identify what actually changes behavior in your workplace today. Because
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  the truth of the matter leader is a well built performance improvement plan can create clarity. And we know clarity is kindness. It creates
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  structure and support and creates a legitimate opportunity for everybody to rise up and improve. And here's the one piece that y'all are missing.
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  When you do a pip to the one employee, the one employee isn't the only one that knows about it. Everybody in the office finds out about it.
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  And they're watching to see how you, as the leader, handled that one issue that everybody's been talking about as an issue or problems
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  that they've been having with that individual, or they're not surprised that that individual is getting a performance improvement plan, but they're waiting to see how you're handling it as the leader.
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  Why? Because they want to know that if they get in that situation, are they gonna be taken care of? Are you going to
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  be thinking of the best interest for the improvement, or are you looking at this as an end game and a strategy to get
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  them out the door and you just need to check the boxes for HR? Think about that for a minute. You're modeling the way
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  that you're going to put plans in place for every other team member moving forward with the way you handle one pip. And so
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  is it for true change, or is it simply? I've already predetermined the end result and I'm just checking the boxes. Cause if you
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  already have predetermined it, do yourself a favor, do the team a favor and let the person go with dignity. Instead of making them
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  jump through hoops for 30, 60, 90 days, just so you can check all the boxes. You see, I've interviewed a lot of people in HR.
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  I go in and help people in HR, not because I am some specialist, but because I Help people learn how to have the
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  conversations as leaders so that hopefully HR doesn't need to be involved. And when they are involved,
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  we've already got the supporting documentation because we've learned how to have the SBIE conversations in the workplace. We've learned how to explain what
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  situation is getting in the way and the behaviors that are impacting the performance and the impact to the team or to the to
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  the goals and the projects that we have and then what the new expectations are. And so often I see leaders struggle with setting
• 6:08
  clarity of expectations, which then ultimately the domino effect of that is it leads up to a we've got to have a pip because
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  somebody's not performing, but it was really never clear what they were performing to. So whose fail point is that the employees or leadership?
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  Well, I would also include HR as part of the problem in that too, because We ought to be giving tools so that we
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  can set our employees up with clarity at every step of the way, so that the performance improvement plan is something people look forward to, not something people fear.
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  See, the problem is not the existence of a pip altogether. The problem is what leaders expect it to compensate for. They expect it to compensate for months of vagueness.
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  They expect it to compensate for. feedback that was softened, right? Until it became meaningless and nobody really trusted or missed opportunities for follow-up conversations, check-ins, wellness check-ins.
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  How are we doing? What more can we do better? What do we want to see different? All of those kinds of conversations are missed, right?
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  And we just make a lot of assumptions on the way. And then there's inconsistent enforcement of rules depending on who people are and
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  where they're it they're sitting in the office, right? There's there's across employees, there's an inconsistency for employees to perform with a clarity of expectation.
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  That's on the leadership to make sure that consistency is there. And then I think that a pip also kind of takes the place
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  of or we've gotten to this point and it overcompensates for a manager Who's already decided the outcome for this person? They've already decided that they're not worthy of investing more in.
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  They're just checking the proverbial box. And wow, that creates a lot of problems. It creates a lot of problems for those managers that
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  had they just been taught how to effectively lead and have bold conversations and set clarity of expectations and hold people to that. No
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  chasing after others to perform, set the expectations clear and in writing so that people know how to perform. They understand so they're not
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  surprised when a performance improvement plan comes across the table. In their direction because they know they've been on the struggle bus. And we're
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  just formally documenting it so we're all clear to give everybody the best option and opportunity to succeed and to win. But again,
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  I say if you or you know someone who is just using the pip as theater to an end because they've already decided that
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  this person needs to go, and this is just the formality of that. Stop. It's so disrespectful. And I promise you,
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  the ripple effect of that to the rest of the team is almost irrecoverable when you get known and labeled as that leader who gives pips instead of performance improvement opportunities.
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  We put a pip in place for the paperwork, right? Performance improvement paperwork. as an exit strategy instead of a performance improvement pip opportunity
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  for growth, for what's next, for how to win and what does winning look like. So instead of your PIP process,
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  your performance improvement process becoming theater and becoming something that's just the we're just gonna camouflage this and then we're gonna check the box
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  so we can move this person on in 30, 60, or 90 days. And by the way,
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  I need to say this too. If legitimately, leader, you have put somebody on a performance improvement plan and they're not meeting the mark at the percentage point of 80 to 100%.
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  On that performance plan that you've given them every day, week over week, over the 30, 60, 90 days,
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  cut them loose. Because when you give them more chances and more chances and more chances, why did we go back to the beginning and give it to them, anyways?
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  We're spinning our wheels, pushing and hoping that people perform when we ought to have set them up for success with the documentation from
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  the very beginning before the performance plan even came up. So here's what I want you to know. Here's your five signs that you might be in a wonderful production of theater.
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  I should say this. You might be in a wonderful theater production with your performance improvement plans. If this one, your outcome has already been decided.
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  And you know that Joe, Sally, Susie, Frank, whomever it is, needs to move on. And this is just HR's way helping you do that.
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  Number two, if the standards were never clear. Before they received the pip, they're not going to be any more clear when you give them the pip.
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  And it's truly unfair. If you're now trying to get super clear on what the standards are,
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  but you didn't give them to that up, give them those up front, there's no reason to have them on the pip. It's unfair. Start over.
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  Do something. There's a whole nother way to go ahead about doing that before you penalize somebody because you, as the leader, were not clear with the standards.
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  Number three. If the pip describes a personality and not a behavior, if the pip points to the personality of the person and not
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  the behavior that they're performing with, then it's theater and it's really your way of trying to move somebody on and check the box.
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  Number four, if you as the leader, the manager, avoid this conversation with the pip and you just hand it off to HR,
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  then that's your way of Abdicating authority and responsibility, more importantly, which is a huge flag to every team member that you supervise going forward in this organization.
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  So don't hand it off, be a part of it. That's the point of that. And then number five of that, your PIP is just a theatrical maneuver, there's no real follow-through.
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  You put in place a 30, 60, 90-day plan, but if you don't have the Calendar set of we're going to have weekly check-ins,
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  or every other Tuesday we're going to be checking in on this for accountability, then you what are you doing? Because if you had
• 12:33
  an issue with performance, why on earth would you think that somebody you've just penalized when you've been unclear with what the expectation is,
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  or you have Demeaned them to such a degree, they don't know up from down, why would you think they would take the initiative to follow up with you?
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  It's your responsibility, leader, to follow up with them. or if your pip includes those five things, you've created a wonderful theatrical performance. Wonderful. Go to your local playhouse and perform it.
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  See how far it goes. That for the workplace, take the theater out of it. Be clear up front every week, quarter, month,
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  have the expectations with your team members very clear so they know the standard that you expect and how to perform and what that looks like for them.
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  And no, friend, not everybody is going to be able to tell you this is what you expect of me. And if they can't,
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  and you ask your team, What do you believe that I expect from you in your position? And they can't answer something that makes you satisfied.
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  You have a responsibility to go clarify that with them, not leave them to tremble in the wake of you coming through,
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  the office and ruffling feathers because you're frustrated because people aren't performing at your expectations, but yet your expectations were never clear. I don't
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  believe and you cannot convince me that every person, that even the majority of people in the workplace, come to work with the idea that they want to fail.
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  You cannot convince me of that. I don't believe it. I believe that they come to work wanting to win, wanting to succeed. They might not know what that looks like.
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  And as a leader, that's your opportunity to help them define it. If they're not meeting your level of expectation, tell them up front,
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  don't wait till it gets to the point where you need to put a performance improvement plan in place. If you need a performance
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  improvement plan, Better darn well make sure all of your documentation was well manicured before that and the conversations were had,
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  not just through a Slack message or through an email, that they were actually physically, you were in person with the person that you need to have those bold conversations with.
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  Document it properly. document it thoroughly. Ask them what resources they need to succeed. Ask them what is not clear about the expectations. Have them repeat to you what the expectations are.
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  Do that with everybody. Do that in every team meeting. Don't get to the point where you're so frustrated and flabbergasted that you're now looking for the best road.
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  For these individuals that you're frustrated with to be exited out of the company. So you want to put them on a pip because that's what HR says to do.
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  No. Document, have conversations, set clarity of expectations before you get to a pip. Otherwise, if you truly,
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  I'll come back to have thought this person is not worthy of the investment because they're just not meeting the mark, bless and release them and let them know.
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  Thank you for your time and your service. We appreciate it. We've come to the decision where this is not the right fit. Today will be your last day.
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  That's it. And I promise you, you're actually gonna feel better in the end. But you create the theater in your head with the big storyline that you tell yourself.
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  So that storyline that you're telling yourself is what's so huge. That storyline that you tell yourself has made it so much bigger than it really needs to be.
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  So let it go. Pip is the documentation of behavior change. It's the documentation of a behavior change strategy. It's not the strategy. The
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  strategy is dialogue, clarity of expectations, consistent communication and feedback ongoing, right? There's a strategy to it. But the documentation of the pip is not it.
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  It's just part of it. It's a very small part of it, but it actually probably has the biggest punch. So remove the swing, remove the punch from the pip.
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  How about that? Get ahead of it by having clear expectations with people up front, what you need to see. And when they're not meeting that, tell them.
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  Feeling a bit frustrated because I thought we had the clarity of these three expectations and we're not meeting them. What's getting in the way?
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  Yes, that feels awkward to say, but I promise you, the more you practice it with respect and care because of the human being on the other side.
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  Remember, when you get caught in the human doing side of it and you just want that performance, you've lost sight. Of the human being.
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  And when we are clear and when we are consistent in our cadence of communication and expectation,
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  we're seeing the at the human being level what they need so that they can succeed at the human doing. That's it for me in the sandbox today.
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  I want you to go and take a look at a different approach to having a performance improvement conversation before you get to. The
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  exit strategy and using the excuse of the pip as the way out the door for that. It's on you,
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  leader. And I know that you are whole, capable, creative, and resourceful to get, achieve, attain everything that it is that you want to
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  achieve and more might just require some different reframing in the way you view it and a reframing in the way you say it.
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  Hey, thanks for joining me in the sandbox today. I know that good leadership is not something that you're born with. It's something that you grow into.
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  And I want to thank you for taking the time to grow into that next level leadership in the sandbox today. I'll see you next time in the Leadership Sandbox.
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  Make it a great day. God bless you.