Managing Underperformance

#CEOLife #CEOTalks #careerwars #campustalks Time and again, I see leaders/managers apply "Pressure" as the primary lever on their teams to push for outcomes/performance. And teams/people crumble under that. They make mistakes. And performance rarely sustains. In simple terms, there are 3 typical reasons why teams/people underperform or make mistakes: 1. Wrong Intent. Focused on self or Lazy or lack of Integrity/Work Ethic 2. Inadequate Capability. Don't have the necessary skills or capability (functional or behavioural) to do the job 3. Lack of Perspective. Can't see the issue from your vantage point, and hence use inappropriate lens to decide/prioritize Pressure or Directing style only works if Intent is the Primary reason. And it is rarely sustainable - you may be better off firing the person if you feel Intent remains the issue over time. For the other two causes interventions need to be different. - Capability - see if you can pair them up with someone who brings in the complementary capability to do the job fully (eg, a finance person to support an operating person if decision needs economic calls) and also put them through the right trainings. Coaching also works for this gap - Perspective - spending time explaining how you see the situation/industry, giving them exposure to hear different views in industry forums etc, sharing documents that you may have access to any the business are all great ways to help them see the business like you do So next time your team members underperform or make a mistake, try not to get to Pressure as the first instinct. Reflect on the reason for the same and apply the other levers as relevant. Strongly believe that if you end up using Pressure as the Primary tool, you either have the wrong team or you are free wrong leader for them! #careers #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #management #mentoring #coaching #buildingcareers

I used to get jealous when I saw people brag about their accomplishments on LinkedIn. I understand why they do it, they're just going about it the wrong way. Highlighting your credibility helps build your personal brand which can build your bank account. But what if there was a way to show what you've achieved, while also displaying authenticity and empathy at the same time? There is, and I inadvertently created a three-step process for it. Whenever I share one my wins, I include the following: ‣ The thing I accomplished ‣ Something that occurred behind the scenes ‣ What can you learn from this experience that will help you For example: ‣ I was recently cast in a reality TV show ‣ I was told to dress a certain way for the premiere, I declined ‣ Rather than conforming to a culture, you can choose to contribute instead. ‣ I spoke at the Speak Your Way to cash event in Atlanta ‣ I forgot my belt so I had to make one out of two lanyards ‣ Being prepared is great, but sometimes you gotta improvise ‣ I interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk for Fiverr's series The Signal ‣ I was traveling at the time and had to ask ConvertKit to borrow their studio ‣ You’ll be amazed at who’s willing to help you, especially if you’ve nurtured the relationship These are all legit accomplishments. However, if I just focus on what I’ve done it doesn't help anyone but me. So try this out next time you have a big win (or even a small one) You’ll still get the acknowledgement. But if you help others along the way, you’ll gain fans and friends instead of followers and fakes. Plus, who’s going to share a post where someone else just brags about how great they are? ______ ♻️ If this post was helpful or inspiring, please share it and follow Terry Rice for more.

Picture walking into your favorite coffee shop, a new boutique, or a busy hotel lobby. Who welcomes you? Who keeps things running smoothly & ensures you receive excellent service? 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗱. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 & 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲. 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽. The connection is undeniable. Gallup polling shows that 73% of workers are less likely to feel burned out when their employers recognize & care about them. And 26% of frontline workers say a lack of recognition negatively impacts their productivity. For businesses that depend on frontline workers, recognition isn’t just a nice-to-have - it’s a performance driver. ❌ Unfortunately, frontline workers often don’t receive the same recognition as office-based employees. ❌ With limited face-to-face time with managers & HR, their contributions can be overlooked in traditional recognition programs. ✅ Working in fast-paced, high-pressure environments, they need a recognition approach that’s immediate, relevant & impactful. Anyway, let’s get to the point. 𝟰 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹: 1️⃣ Celebrate achievements in real time  Recognition should be immediate & visible. Call it out as it happens. Practical Tip: Equip managers with a tool like Beekeeper that makes it easy to spotlight accomplishments in team chats, newsletters & company-wide announcements - all from a single mobile app embedded in the frontline worker’s flow of work. 2️⃣ Encourage peer-to-peer recognition  Create a peer recognition program where employees can nominate colleagues for going above & beyond with instant recognition posts on your Employee App. 3️⃣ Tailor rewards to individual preferences  Not all employees want the same type of recognition. While some value financial incentives, others prefer additional time off or career development opportunities. Practical Tip: Integrating Beekeeper with a rewards platform like Snappy or Bucketlist Rewards, managers can instantly deliver personalized rewards to employees, all with just a few clicks. 4️⃣ Make recognition part of everyday conversations Practical Tip: Implement monthly or quarterly recognition initiatives, such as “Frontline MVP” awards or milestone celebrations. Small, frequent acts of appreciation have even greater influence than one-time ceremonies that could feel scripted or lack authenticity. Recognition isn’t just a feel-good gesture - it’s the key to higher engagement, stronger retention, & better performance of your frontline sheroes & heroes. A culture of recognition starts today. ➡️ 𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮? 🍯

If you want stronger fundraising results this year, start with how you recognize your team. Research shows when employees feel valued, it leads to increased motivation, performance, and retention. In one of my favorite studies, fundraisers who received personal thanks from their manager increased their outreach by 50%. In advancement, recognition leads directly to increased fundraising outcomes. The good news: Recognizing your team doesn’t require extraordinary expense or effort—but it does require intentionality. Here are 15 ways you can put this into practice with your team: 1. Send a handwritten thank you note to your team member. 2. Acknowledge your team member’s accomplishments at an all-staff meeting. 3. Don’t miss the moment, such as after a meeting or presentation, to recognize what a team member did well and how it helps the organization. 4. Ask a senior academic leader (President, Dean, Provost, etc.) or advancement VP to personally thank a team member. 5. Start a team meeting by asking team members to acknowledge someone else on the team who helped them recently. 6. Extend access by inviting a team member to attend a strategy meeting or board meeting—a seat at the table they might not otherwise have access to. 7. Nominate your team member to lead or participate in a cross-functional committee that advances an important initiative for the organization. 8. Make a meaningful introduction to a trusted mentor in your network. 9. Create clarity on growth within your organization through a career pathways document. 10. Include learning and development goals as part of the performance evaluation process, not just fundraising metrics. 11. Acknowledge work anniversaries with university swag or a balloon at their desk. 12. Build a ritual to celebrate as a team when fundraisers close an aspirational gift. 13. Surprise a team member by sending a $5 Venmo for coffee to cheer them on when they’re en route to an early morning donor meeting or speaking at a conference. 14. Set up a thread (text/email/Slack) to celebrate your team’s Win of the Day (WOTD) where they can chime in with their progress and work wins. 15. Before you move on to the new fiscal year where the efforts start all over again, celebrate your team’s progress and accomplishments for the year. One of my favorite work memories was dreaming up and implementing a New Year’s Eve party (with party hats and confetti) in June to honor all of the work that went into a successful fundraising year. You don’t need to do all 15 at once. Start somewhere. Recognition builds connection, community, and culture in your advancement organization. What’s one of your favorite ways to recognize your team members?

We knew by month three. We let it run twelve. We had no written standard to hold that hire against, so we held them against a feeling. Everyone in the room knew it was wrong long before the twelve months were up. Nobody had a document to point at, so the conversation kept getting pushed to next month. We've rewritten how probation works for every accounts and sales role, and it now runs on three rules. ✅ Targets are set in writing before day one. The person knows what passing looks like before they accept the offer, and we can't reinterpret it at month five to suit ourselves. ✅ Miss them and probation isn't passed. That means we let you go. No second-guessing, no waiting to see whether next quarter looks kinder. ✅ Land at 80-90% and we review the case properly. Close isn't the same as passing, but it's worth examining. If the case holds, we grant one further probation period — written down, with an end date. · What we don't do any more is extend because someone feels close. Or because the conversation would be awkward and there's never a good week for it. Extensions are earned by performance, not granted by sympathy. From the outside this reads cold. From the inside it's the fairest version we've run. The vague probation is the cruel one: it keeps someone in a role they were never going to keep, judged against a standard nobody ever wrote down, while the whole team watches and says nothing. Clear targets protect the hire as much as they protect the company. Something you can check this week. Pull up your last probation extension and find the written target it was measured against. If there isn't one, you didn't extend on performance — you extended on mood. Three rules is where we landed. What's the one you'd add? #Hiring #AgencyOperations #Leadership

Last week I led a session on #PerformanceManagement for senior leaders. One of them reached out with the following important question about #PsychologicalSafety in the context of managing underperformance: "Psychological safety is an extremely difficult concept to pin down, especially in a setting where we have to strike a balance between supporting human beings under pressure, while at the same time being accountable for results. I would like to have more guidance on is how one manages the psychological safety element in a situation of underperformance - which often requires (at least partially) withdrawing that safety, to the discomfort of the staff member." Here is my advice to those of you wondering the same thing: In the context of managing underperformance, having psychological safety means feeling that you won't be punished or humiliated for making mistakes or for underperforming. That being said, having a conversation with a supervisor about your performance when you’re not meeting expectations is inherently stressful. It is psychologically difficult for people to focus on where they are coming up short; this undermines their sense of self as a competent person, particularly when they feel that they have been working diligently or when they have been negatively affected by situations beyond their control. While it may not be possible to make a staff member completely comfortable during feedback conversations about underperformance — and indeed, a total lack of discomfort with the status quo may not be optimal for motivating improvement — these conversations are much more likely to achieve their aim of helping the staff member perform at a higher level when the supervisor does the following:   ⋙ Provide Actionable Feedback ⋘ 👉 Give specific, timely, and constructive feedback on performance gaps, not just vague criticisms. 👉 Clearly outline expectations, metrics, and deadlines for improvement. Maintain an empathetic, development-focused tone even as you increase accountability. ⋙ Focus on Development, Not Just Evaluation ⋘ 👉 When addressing underperformance, emphasize how you can support the employee's growth and improvement. Make it clear the goal is to help the employee succeed. 👉 Collaboratively identify obstacles (e.g., by asking questions like, “What is most difficult about this for you?” and “What’s getting in the way?”) and craft a plan to overcome them through coaching, training, or other resources. 👉 Engage the staff member in articulating what help they feel they need and what path forward feels most motivating and productive. This helps to build employee ownership over their plan for improvement rather than thrusting it upon them.

How to Make Your Team Feel Truly Valued and Appreciated In today’s fast-paced world, recognizing your team’s efforts is no longer optional—it’s essential. When people feel valued, they’re more engaged, motivated, and productive, fueling a workplace culture where everyone thrives Recognition works best when it’s specific. A vague “Good job” might feel empty, but something like, “Your detailed planning ensured the Smith project exceeded expectations,” connects their effort to real outcomes, showing them their work matters. Tie praise to results, whether it’s improved customer satisfaction, cost savings, or innovative problem-solving. Not everyone enjoys the same type of recognition. While some appreciate public shoutouts in meetings, others prefer private words of gratitude or a thoughtful note. Knowing how each team member prefers to be acknowledged ensures your appreciation feels personal and meaningful. Recognition isn’t just for leaders—encourage peers to celebrate each other, creating an environment where appreciation is a shared responsibility. Small moments of acknowledgment between team members foster camaraderie and make the workplace more inclusive. As a leader, you can set the tone by celebrating wins, big or small, and making recognition part of the daily rhythm. Timeliness and authenticity are key. Acknowledging efforts soon after they happen makes your appreciation feel genuine, and consistency builds trust over time. Even with constraints like tight budgets, small yet sincere gestures—like a team-wide email or a simple “thank you” in the moment—can have a lasting impact. Finally, keep evolving. Ask your team how they want to be recognized and adapt your approach based on their feedback. A willingness to listen and improve shows that you value not just their work, but their experiences too. When recognition is intentional and authentic, it boosts morale, builds trust, and fosters a workplace where people feel motivated and valued—a small effort with big rewards. #nyraleadershipconsulting

It's been said that leadership is really about having rich conversations. I've noticed that many great leaders have the ability to communicate their ideas and drive performance in a conversational style. They have the ability to maintain undivided attention, really “being there” for the other person – to remain focused on the conversation. They have self-awareness of their biases, beliefs and emotional triggers, meaning that they know what is going on for themselves during a conversation and how to control their emotions. They can draw out what the other person is really saying by getting to the meaning behind the words so that the other person really feels understood. They can easily express their views with courage and conviction in a way that is constructive and helpful for the conversation – even when they have to give tough messages. They manage conversations so that they flow well and result in clear outcomes that everyone agrees with. And they have the ability to develop effective strategies for addressing underperformance in their team. Let's dive into some practical steps we can take to navigate this challenge: 1. Speed Up By Slowing Down: The worst thing we can do to tackle underperformance it to do it when we are emotional. Take time out to stop and think about the context and outcomes you need. Offload your emotions, write down what you would love to say but can't, go for a walk. What is the real issue? What objective data do have that will make it clear? How can you present this data so there is no wriggle room for denial? What is on their plate, what is their preferred style? 2. Choose the Right Setting Select a private, neutral, and quiet environment for the conversation. 3. Empathetic Start Begin with empathy. Express concern for their well-being and inquire about any challenges they might be facing. Talk with, not at. 4. Give Specific Examples Provide specific instances of underperformance with clear, objective examples. This helps the individual understand the areas that need improvement and sets the foundation for a focused discussion. Allow time for them to offload their emotion and excuses. 5. Collaborative Problem-Solving Encourage a collaborative approach to finding solutions; this is key to accountability and commitment. 6. Establish Clear Expectations Outline expectations for improvement, setting measurable goals and realistic timelines. This provides clarity on what is expected moving forward. 7. Support and Resources Offer support and identify any resources or training that might assist in addressing the performance issues. This ensures the individual has the necessary tools for success. 8. Follow-Up Plan Schedule regular follow-up meetings to assess progress. This allows for ongoing adjustments, fostering a continuous improvement mindset. By implementing these strategies, you can contribute to the growth and success of both individuals and the overall team.

If you're a manager, and your employee is surprised by receiving a PIP / coaching plan, you've failed. Before their poor performance is a problem, you need to give feedback early and often. "I noticed you were late for standup for the second time. I just wanted you to know that it impacts our team's ability to get through standup quickly, and it can be frustrating to us all. Got it?" When the pattern becomes more serious, you need to ensure they understand the feedback is serious. And you need to own it, with "I", not "We" "That's the third time you've missed an important deadline without letting us know ahead of time. I am losing trust in your ability to deliver on your committed work. This is a problem." When serious feedback hasn't made an impact, you need to be extremely clear of where this is going, since many people don't have experience with this process. I find it helpful to make it clear that you're not the enemy. "I have warned you repeatedly that pushing code to production without peer sign-off is unacceptable. If this continues to happen, it will lead to you not working at this company anymore. I like you, and would like you to be successful, but I need to ensure that you understand what's at stake." Only then, after friendly warnings, serious warnings, and extremely clear warnings, should you proceed with PIPs/Coaching. Because only then have you actually given them a chance to improve their performance.

Recognition of others' work and worth empowers people; in many toxic organizations, leaders choose not to foster a culture of recognition to consolidate their power and control. We don't need the hundreds of studies on recognition in the workplace to know that it is essential to employee well-being, engagement, job satisfaction and retention. Some leaders not only fail to create a culture of recognition but also pass off their team's work as their own. The adage "I pay them, it's only normal that they do the work" is detrimental to employees and teams. In every relationship, humans need to feel seen, heard, and have their efforts recognized. Recognition should not be limited to once a year at an annual meeting, or to Valentine's Day or Mother's/Father's Day. It should be ingrained in everyday interactions, decisions and practices. Employees and managers give so much to their organization, and for some, at the expense of their personal/family time, leisure, and even health. Not taking the time to recognize employees is a choice. When I give training, I often ask people to write about which recognition gestures touched them the most. You would be surprised at how inexpensive and simple the answers invariably are: - A supervisor sending a thank-you email - A colleague calling to say the work was helpful - A supervisor taking the time to highlight team successes - A thank-you post-it note - A colleague baking something to celebrate a team success or as a thank-you Recognition is a way to boost employees' confidence and give them a sense of worth and purpose. Toxic leadership is not about uplifting people; it's about power and control. These leaders do not care about employee well-being or fairness, nor do they wish to empower employees. Recognition can be fostered by creating certificates or "thank you" notes for employees to give to colleagues, or by providing managers with tools to recognize others. Most importantly, it should become a regular part of daily behavior. The belief that giving praise and recognizing effort will spoil children, spouses, or employees and discourage their effort is a misconception. Empowered employees will give more, not less. Every employee at every level within the organization needs to be recognized for their contributions. Take care of yourself and the people around you 💗