Address Performance Problems Before They Consume the Team
Struggling performance rarely remains isolated to one employee.
Other employees absorb unfinished work and begin questioning whether standards still matter. Managers repeatedly correct mistakes, revisit conversations and postpone work that deserves their attention. Customers may experience delays while the organization continues carrying costs that remain difficult to see.
Early intervention can prevent those consequences, but speed alone does not produce better decisions.
Managers must understand what is causing the problem, what responsibility they carry and what response the situation actually requires.
This seminar will help participants:
Address performance concerns before stronger employees absorb additional responsibilities
Reduce the time spent repeatedly revisiting unresolved employee problems
Restore clearer expectations and accountability across the working team
Improve employee performance when appropriate correction remains genuinely possible
Prevent avoidable escalation caused by delayed or ineffective conversations
Create stronger records when formal performance management becomes necessary
Make fairer, more consistent and more defensible employment decisions
The seminar does not promise that every struggling employee will improve. It gives managers a fair process for supporting improvement while preserving their ability to act when improvement does not occur.
Poor Performance Is Not a Diagnosis
Managers often recognize struggling performance before they understand its cause.
What appears to be poor performance may involve:
Expectations that were never clearly explained or consistently reinforced
Knowledge or capability that remains insufficient for assigned responsibilities
Resources, information or managerial support that the employee lacks
Personal circumstances that require appropriate Human Resources consideration
Workplace conflict that interferes with otherwise capable performance
Responsibilities that no longer fit the employee’s current role
Conduct that requires correction rather than additional coaching
Unwillingness to perform responsibilities the employee already understands
These situations should not receive identical management responses.
A performance improvement plan cannot correct deliberate misconduct. Discipline cannot repair expectations the manager never established. Additional training will not resolve unwillingness to complete responsibilities the employee already understands.
Before choosing an intervention, the manager must determine what kind of problem requires management.
A struggling employee does not automatically need a PIP. The manager must first understand what the employee is struggling with.
That distinction helps managers avoid unnecessary escalation, misplaced support and formal processes that cannot resolve the underlying problem.
What You Will Be Able to Do Differently
After completing both live sessions, participants will be better prepared to:
Define performance concerns using observable facts and reasonable expectations
Separate evidence about performance from assumptions about employee motivation
Identify what may be preventing the employee from succeeding
Examine whether management decisions contributed to the performance difficulty
Conduct direct conversations without becoming vague, hostile or unnecessarily legalistic
Establish expectations the employee can clearly understand and follow
Choose between clarification, support, coaching, formal improvement or discipline
Document conversations without turning every concern into formal action
Establish meaningful follow-up dates and measures of improvement
Determine when continued support remains reasonable and when escalation becomes necessary
Recognize when Human Resources, legal counsel or another specialist should participate
The practical benefit extends beyond greater conversational confidence. Participants will understand which conversation the situation actually requires.
Session One: Identify What Is Preventing Better Performance
The first session focuses on understanding the problem before choosing the response.
Participants will learn how to:
Establish what the employee was reasonably expected to accomplish
Define the specific gap between expectations and actual results
Identify evidence that supports the manager’s performance concern
Distinguish clarity, capability, resources, willingness, conduct, conflict and fit
Examine whether the manager has contributed to the performance problem
Determine which organizational standard or job expectation properly applies
Identify information that remains necessary before approaching the employee
Recognize when another workplace process may be more appropriate
Participants will apply the process to a continuing workplace case and determine what should happen before any formal action begins.
By the conclusion of Session One, participants will be able to explain what problem they are managing, what evidence supports their concern and what information remains missing.
Session Two: Conduct the Conversation and Decide What Happens Next
The second session moves from understanding the problem toward appropriate managerial action.
Participants will learn how to:
Prepare a direct conversation that remains fair and productive
Explain the performance gap without attacking the employee personally
Ask questions that reveal information relevant to the management decision
Respond when employees disagree, become defensive or offer unexpected explanations
Establish measurable expectations, reasonable support and meaningful follow-up dates
Choose an intervention that fits the actual employee problem
Document the conversation clearly without manufacturing evidence afterward
Evaluate whether the employee has demonstrated sufficient improvement
Determine when informal management should become formal performance management
Decide when continued employment may no longer remain reasonable
Participants will continue working with the same workplace case and choose among clarification, coaching, formal improvement, disciplinary action and another appropriate process.
By the conclusion of Session Two, participants will have a practical process for addressing struggling performance from the first concern through the eventual management decision.
Practical Tools You Can Use Immediately
Participants will receive four practical tools designed for immediate workplace application.
The Struggling Employee Diagnostic helps identify what kind of problem may be present.
The Performance Conversation Planner organizes the facts, questions and expectations before discussion.
The Intervention Decision Guide connects different problems with appropriate management responses.
The Follow-Through Record documents expectations, support, commitments and subsequent progress.
These tools strengthen managerial judgment without replacing organizational policies, Human Resources advice or jurisdiction-specific legal counsel.
Who Should Attend This Live Seminar
This seminar is designed for people who personally manage employee performance or advise those responsible for managing it.
The program will benefit:
Business owners directly responsible for employee performance decisions
Managers and supervisors responsible for struggling team members
Department leaders managing performance across several working relationships
Human Resources managers supporting difficult employment decisions
Human Resources generalists advising managers on corrective action
Human Resources business partners strengthening managerial accountability
Employee-relations professionals handling recurring workplace performance concerns
Operations leaders responsible for productivity and employee standards
No previous Human Resources education or formal management training is required.
Registration Includes Everything Needed for Application
US$149 Per Person
Each participant receives:
Two live and fully instructor-led learning sessions
Three hours of practical management instruction
Continuing workplace case discussion and application
Four practical management tools and worksheets
A certificate documenting three instructional hours
Access to Seattle Consulting Group’s satisfaction guarantee
Organizations registering several participants may request one invoice for the complete group.
Register for Managing a Struggling Employee
Professional Development Documentation
Participants who complete both live sessions will receive a certificate documenting three instructional hours.
SHRM, HRCI, HRPA and CPHR credential holders may submit qualifying Human Resources education toward their recertification or continuing professional development requirements.
Professional development hours are self-reported and remain subject to each certifying organization’s requirements.
A Straightforward Satisfaction Guarantee
Attend both sessions and apply the seminar process to the continuing workplace case.
If you do not leave with a clearer and more practical way to assess and address a struggling employee, contact Seattle Consulting Group within seven days after completing the seminar.
Seattle Consulting Group will provide a full refund of your registration payment.
The guarantee allows you to evaluate the seminar through its practical usefulness rather than promotional promises.
Your Facilitator
Jim Woods is CEO and President of Seattle Consulting Group, a management advisory and executive education firm serving organizations across Canada and the United States.
He holds a master’s degree in Organizational Development and Human Resources and is a former university professor.
During his 25-year career, Jim has advised organizations across 51 countries on leadership, Human Resources and organizational performance.
He is the author of HR Unchained and creator of the Woods HR Power Model™.
Jim’s work helps managers and Human Resources professionals exercise stronger judgment, establish clearer standards and resolve difficult people problems before they become organizational failures.
Address the Problem Before Delay Becomes the Decision
A struggling employee needs more than another postponed conversation.
The manager needs a disciplined way to understand the problem, address it fairly and decide what should happen next.
This seminar provides that practical management capability across two focused live sessions.
Register for Managing a Struggling Employee