Joe Fier argues that blanket performance improvement plans don't work because headaches have different causes. Managers need to diagnose the root problem, offer real accommodations when possible, or help someone move to a better fit.
Chapters
The performance improvement plan is like giving a Tylenol to everyone has a headache when, like, one person might be dehydrated, one might be allergic to gluten, and one might have a brain tumor. Right. There are different source reasons that they have a headache. So in this first one, I figured out an external thing. That's the problem. We worked on it. The second one is an internal. Or Joe might say, look, I miss an office and this is a remote only company. And I might say, joe, we're not opening offices anytime soon, so why don't we help you go work at a company that has offices? So Joe's missed performance was showing up in the results. And you'd be surprised how many times a real conversation someone's like, look, I just don't want to be in client service anymore. And you're like, that's okay. So why don't you start going and looking for a job elsewhere and we'll start looking for your replacement.