How do you avoid a key mistake managers make?

During my years as a HR professional and workplace consultant, coach and mentor, one of the key areas I've seen leaders and managers perform below the required standard is - ironically - when they are managing the underperformance of others.

Often, managers aren't quick enough to address underperformance (meaning the situation is exacerbated, mistakes continue to be made and problems - for the individual and the team - pile up). But one of the gravest errors when dealing with underperformance is a failure to fully understand the root cause that is leading an employee to perform differently or below the required standard. 

A failure to thoroughly investigate each instance of underperformance - to understand  the causal variables which might be at play -  means that managers have a limited scope of vision about the root cause of the problem. The result? Managers approach the performance management process without understanding if an employee(s) is under-resourced, hasn't been trained effectively or (worse still) is experiencing a mental or physical health problem (perhaps caused by a family or personal issue that is worrying them, de-motivating them or undermining their confidence). This is bad for the employee, but also for the manager - no one wants their credibility questioned after mis-managing a situation. 

Our places of work are like the proverbial pond. And Covid is like a stone that's been thrown into the middle. There are, and will continue to be, ripples in the water - each one representing long term emotional, physical, mental and psychological scars that your employees are carrying. And this, in turn, can manifest as the low-productivity or underperformance seen in the workplace. 

If we can learn one thing from Covid about the effective performance management of staff, it's for leaders and managers to be mindful that underperformance is like an iceberg. What you see isn't always the full picture, so don't judge the book by the cover. 

Ask questions. Find out how your employees are doing. Establish if they have the tools, resources and knowledge needed to do their jobs. And ask about them. Their health, their lives and anything outside of work that may affect how they're showing up. That way, we can ensure excellent duty of care to them, manage in a way that is fair and effective and appropriately support the delivery of organisational goals.