Designing and Implementing Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) that Really Work

Duration: 60 minutes

It’s great to give positive feedback to employees. In fact, managers don’t give enough of it. But in some cases, what employees need most is not praise but candid feedback about weaknesses that endanger their job or prevent their career advancement.

It’s the manager’s job to deliver that feedback as part of a well-thought-out performance improvement plan. But too many managers and supervisors shirk this critical responsibility.

Why? They're either afraid to confront workers about substandard results or they just don't understand how important it is.

Practicing avoidance is doubly disastrous. Without frank and specific feedback, low performers continue to deliver unacceptable results—or may even slide further. And there’s worse news: When top performers see that managers tolerate poor results from other team members, they get frustrated and leave.

Luckily there’s a solution. Managers can be taught how to deliver feedback that boosts performance. They simply need a blueprint for how to design, deliver and follow up on performance improvement sessions.