Who Should Attend
HR professionals, HR business partners, employee relations specialists, managers, supervisors, and business leaders responsible for addressing employee performance concerns, advising on corrective action, and helping employees succeed.
How You Will Benefit
Identify what is contributing to an employee's performance difficulties before deciding how to respond.
Separate capability, conduct, unclear expectations, workplace conditions, and possible accommodation concerns.
Determine when coaching, additional support, a performance improvement plan, or corrective action is appropriate.
Prepare for difficult conversations with clear facts, expectations, and next steps.
Document performance concerns and management responses in a clear, useful record.
Establish follow-up that measures improvement and supports further decisions when necessary.
Turn vague performance concerns into factual documentation that records expectations, employee responses, management actions, and progress.
What You Will Cover
Not every struggling employee needs a performance improvement plan. Some need clearer direction, appropriate support, or a manager willing to address a problem that has been allowed to continue.
This seminar gives you a practical approach to understanding the situation before acting. Through workplace examples and applied case discussions, you'll examine how to choose a proportionate response, recognize concerns that require additional review, and document decisions that can withstand scrutiny.
Seminar Outline
1. Understand the Performance Problem
Identify what is happening, what is expected, and what may be contributing to the gap. Separate assumptions from observable facts.
2. Choose the Right Management Response
Determine whether the situation calls for coaching, support, accommodation review, a structured improvement plan, corrective action, or escalation.
3. Prepare the Conversation
Address the concern directly, listen to the employee's explanation, communicate expectations, and establish what needs to change.
4. Document Performance and Follow Through
Learn how to document employee performance concerns using specific, observable facts rather than subjective judgments. Record expectations, conversations, commitments, management support, and progress. Identify gaps in the documentation and determine whether the record supports the proposed next step.
Meet Your Presenter
James Woods | Managing Partner, Seattle Consulting Group
James Woods brings a practical management and HR advisory perspective shaped by a consulting practice established in 1998. His work focuses on helping leaders and HR professionals address difficult workplace decisions, strengthen management accountability, and improve organizational performance.
He is the creator of The Woods HR Power Model™ and author of HR Unchained, reflecting his approach to strengthening HR's influence and helping organizations turn management decisions into effective action.
In this seminar, James focuses on a challenge familiar to almost every manager: understanding why an employee is struggling and determining what to do next. His emphasis is on sound judgment, fair treatment, clear expectations, and practical follow-through.
Program Details and Credits
Format: Live online, instructor-led seminar
Duration: 90 minutes
Tuition: CA$249 per participant
Recording: 12 months of access
Certificate: Certificate of Completion documenting 1.5 learning hours
Learning approach: Workplace examples and applied case discussions
This program is designed around Canadian workplace practice. Employment obligations may vary by jurisdiction, and unionized workplaces may have additional requirements.
Certificates document participation and learning hours. Acceptance toward professional development or recertification requirements is determined by the receiving organization. Participants should confirm eligibility with their professional association.
Experience You Can Trust
Seattle Consulting Group builds on a consulting practice established in 1998. We work with leaders, managers, and HR professionals responsible for difficult people decisions, strengthening accountability, improving management practice, and translating organizational expectations into action.
Professionals We've Helped Have Come From Organizations Including:
Canadian Government · MITRE · U.S. Army · Scotiabank · Pitney Bowes · 3M · Whirlpool
Our Satisfaction Guarantee
Attend and judge for yourself. If the seminar didn't give you practical guidance you can use in your work, contact us within seven calendar days after it ends and we'll refund your registration fee in full.
Help a Struggling Employee Move Forward
Know what to look for, what to say, what action to take, and how to follow through. Give employees a fair opportunity to improve while protecting performance and management accountability.
Live Online | 90 Minutes | CA$249 Per Person
Click to Choose Your Seminar Date & Register
Cancellation and Transfer Policy
Cancellations received at least 21 calendar days before the seminar qualify for a full refund. Cancellations received fewer than 21 calendar days before the seminar are non-refundable.
Participant substitutions are permitted. One transfer to another scheduled date of the same seminar is permitted, subject to availability. Any applicable tuition difference must be paid.
If Seattle Consulting Group cancels a seminar, participants may choose a full refund or transfer to another available session.
These cancellation terms do not limit our satisfaction guarantee or any rights provided by applicable law.
Program Disclaimer
Seattle Consulting Group seminars provide professional education and practical guidance to support informed workplace decisions. They do not provide legal, medical, or other individualized professional advice, and attendance does not establish a consulting or advisory relationship.
You remain responsible for applying the learning appropriately to your circumstances, workplace policies, collective agreements, and applicable laws. Certificates document learning hours for your records. Acceptance toward employer requirements, professional association credits, licensing requirements, or other credentials is determined by the receiving organization.
