Handling Underperformers
How to answer questions about addressing a performance gap in a peer or report: raise it early and specifically, listen, agree a plan, follow up, and act with dignity if it does not improve.
Overview
Handling underperformance is uncomfortable, which is why interviewers ask about it. It shows how you lead when the easy option is to say nothing. The question comes up for managers and for senior individual contributors, who often notice a teammate struggling before anyone else does.
Many people handle it badly in one of three ways. They ignore it, and the rest of the team quietly carries the extra load. They soften it until the message is lost ('you are doing fine, maybe a bit faster?'). Or they go straight to a manager without ever talking to the person. Interviewers listen for the opposite: you raised it early, you were specific about the behavior and its impact, you listened for causes you did not know, and you agreed a clear plan and followed up.
For a peer, your role is to give direct feedback and offer help, and to involve their manager only if that does not work. For a direct report, you own the whole path, including the formal steps your company requires. The skill underneath is the same: name the specific behavior, explain the impact, listen, and agree what changes.
What you will be able to do
- Tell a STAR story where you raised a performance gap early and specifically.
- Give feedback in the situation, behavior, impact form, followed by a question.
- Explain how you tell a fixable struggle from a wrong fit for the role.
- Describe, if you have managed people, how you handled a person leaving with dignity.
Interview questions
- Tell me about a time you had to address underperformance on your team.
- How do you give difficult feedback without damaging the relationship?
- How do you tell someone who is struggling from someone who is the wrong fit?
- Have you ever had to manage someone out? How did you handle it?
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