Reference no: EM133160625

Theme: Performance Review

Performance Management role-play - Manager's brief - Sarah People describe you as driven; a fair description given that you work incredibly hard. Success is important to you and you're not afraid to work hard for it. The hard work seems to be paying off as you are quickly 'rising through the ranks'. You wouldn't say it out loud, but you find John to be somewhat of a disappointment. He seems to be lacking any real drive or ambition. Although his performance is generally good, you're amazed that he never seems to be prepared to go the extra mile and really shine. You have previously tried to raise this informally with John but he hasn't changed his behaviour in any way. You work in an environment in which you need to stand out to get ahead and you really want John to have some oomph and put some effort into his personal PR. The most frustrating thing about John is that he has the capability and he seems reluctant to get off his backside and use it! You keep trying to find ways to motivate him; there are a load of projects that you would have loved to tackle yourself as they are a real chance to shine, but you've delegated them to John so that he can really shine. Not only does he seem ungrateful, but he's screwed them up completely. You've been too busy recently to tackle these problems head-on with him although it is obvious to everyone that there are problems. Instead you have focused on sorting them out for him but your patience is running out and you don't feel you should spend your evenings and weekends doing that if he isn't going to show you the same commitment. He's a good employee, but there is something missing and you're at your wits end with finding it! Two months ago, you asked him to lead a piece of strategy work and he seems reluctant to talk about it. You've asked him for updates in person and by email but he has avoided your questions and ignored your emails so far. This is worrying as it confirms your worst fears about John and it will reflect badly on you if progress hasn't been made. 

Question: 

1. You're going to ask John about it in the performance review as it seems to be typical of everything that is wrong with him. If he can't hack it you feel you will have to speak to HR about the next steps. What are some approaches you can take as a manager to solve this problem?