Log in or become a subscriber

It's natural to find managing underperforming employees difficult, but in some cases leaders start to let their emotions "tinge" their interactions with revenge, a psychologist warns.

According to Global Leadership Wellbeing Solutions (GLWS) cofounder Audrey McGibbon, the importance of schooling leaders to manage underperformance and have difficult conversations is widely recognised and attended to, but the impact on the leader of having to do this repeatedly in the case of chronic underperformers is not well-investigated at all.

The fact leaders are known to have a significant influence on employee engagement and wellbeing can "add insult to injury", by making them feel additional pressure to "lift their leadership game" to help an underperforming employee, even when that employee seems unwilling to make efforts to improve, she says.

And it means that while the leader's impact on a struggling employee might be closely monitored, a struggling employee's impact on their leader might be completely overlooked...