Here's how you can address underperforming team members in a Service Operations setting.

In order to deal with underperforming team members in Service Operations, you must first pinpoint the precise performance problems. Give concise, helpful criticism and establish quantifiable objectives for growth. If more instruction or resources are required, provide them. Maintain a close eye on developments and schedule follow-up meetings to talk about enhancements. Encourage honest dialogue to identify any underlying problems. Put in place a formal performance improvement strategy if the situation does not improve. To preserve team spirit and operational effectiveness, make sure that such situations are handled fairly and consistently.

Once you've recognized there is a performance issue, you need to meet with your employee. I feel a relaxed and open environment can help the employee open up. If you lead with accusations and tone, the employee might then feel attacked, deflect their behaviors and you will get nowhere. You might start by asking them how they feel about their workload. Are they overwhelmed? Ask if they understand the job. Do they need training? Ask them how they feel things are going - a lot of times, you'll find out there are internal issues within the team or the employee is experiencing personal issues impacting their performance. Let them know you're there to help them and together you'll get back on track.

The first step is to identify issues and reasons for those issues. It is important to understand whether it's a skill issue or a will issue or something else. Exact reasons will help you build an effective plan to make your team members improve.

When an employee underperforms, it often indicates they are either disengaged or not fully engaged with their work. Studies by the Gallup organization have shown that employee engagement is directly linked to performance. It's crucial to identify the underlying reasons for this lack of engagement. Conducting one-on-one meetings can be an effective approach to understand and address these issues. Open and honest discussions help to uncover the root causes, allowing for targeted support and solutions to re-engage the employee and enhance their performance.

It is best to start with open dialogue about how they think they are performing, the level of satisfaction they are getting from their role and why. As a leader you need to have an open mind as private matters may be impacting work performance as well. Once this is established a leader can add their perspective to help pinpoint issues.

Once you've determined the reason for the issue and met with the employee - get their "buy-in". Clearly show them in writing what is expected and then talk about each point, taking the time to answer any questions or address concerns. It's a good time to reset expectations and level-set with them to make sure you're both on the same page. Do this either face to face or on camera meetings for remote employees. Then after meeting with them, send them an email, reiterating your conversation and plan, so that it's properly documented.

Once the reasons for the underperformance have been identified, then a plan should be written to address each issue. This plan should be discussed with the employee. Regular weekly check-ins are important to ensure the employee is in track to improve performance and they are invested in their own growth and development

Creating a culture of empathy is important. If your team member is not able to perform, it does not make him/her a inferior investment. Make the employee valued and keeping his/her morale high during the improvement plan is a leader responsibility and one should not fail in that.