The best tip I can give you about dealing with a poorly performing workforce is to spot the signs early on and act upon them as soon as possible.

You’re probably thinking that this is both obvious and easier said than done!

Well actually, there are a few easy steps you can take to make sure that you can do a pre-emptive strike against poor performance.

Assess and Act – One of the best courses of action to find out why your employees are experiencing poor performance is through appraisals. By making it clear that you aren’t blaming anyone but rather want to help improve the situation, you can reassure employees and convince them to be candid, helping you to discover the root cause and build trust in the process.From this point, you can organise further meetings with individual employees and work towards a resolution.

Poor objectives – Sometimes poor performance can be down to simply not having any solid objectives, meaning that the work employees are performing holds no relation to where they are going.By clearly setting out a set of objectives and aligning them with the work that employees are doing, along with the usual motivations and rewards, you can get your team on track and organised.

Missing skills – Sometimes a workforce is unable to work more effectively because they are being held back by missing skills. A workforce that isn’t appropriately trained will not perform at its best. A good personal development plan can help to identify where skills might be missing and what training they need.

The office – We have talked recently about how it can be difficult to get work done in the office. This can be down to a number of reasons, which you can read in the link above, but it can also be something as simple as employees being too hot or too cold. Ask your employees if they find the office a comfortable place to work.

Unrealistic goals or expectations – If unrealistic goals or expectations are set, this can really demotivate your team and also cause an undeserved reputation for under performance.

A hidden Darth Vader – Sometimes one bad employee can impact a whole team. This can be a bit trickier to address and may require a good exit strategy.If you have regular performance appraisals, you can easily keep track of all of the above and nip the big issues in the bud before they bloom into a much bigger issue.

from Reality HR Limited http://www.realityhr.co.uk/blog/what-to-do-about-poor-performance/