performance improvement plan

When a company has a direct report that isn’t necessarily meeting expectations, its managers generally take action. This is not an unreasonable process, since a direct report that isn’t performing can cause complications for the rest of the team members. One of the most frequent actions taken by a manager, or potentially even Human Resources, is what is known as a Performance Improvement Plan, or a PIP. 

               The main goal of a Performance Improvement Plan is to correct an employee’s issues that management has grievances with. At least, that’s how they are perceived on paper. In actuality, PIPs are often used as a way to either remove responsibilities from a direct report or as a way to force an employee to quit of their own volition, thereby attempting to negate the need for unemployment. According to Lawyer Mike Carey, a Connecticut-based employment law attorney, only 5% to 10% of employees stay with a company after starting a PIP. 

               In many workplaces, leaders view a PIP as a “gateway” to getting that person off the team.

               There are several problems with PIPs:

·        PIPs provide no formal legal protection- Employees under a PIP can still choose to go to litigation for wrongful termination or a hostile work environment. 

·        PIPs often cause additional work for team members- PIPs often mean that employees have reduced responsibilities to display improvement and competence, which often means that their removed responsibilities are passed along to their peers.

·        PIPs require a large amount of maintenance and supervision- A properly set up PIP with a responsible and empathetic manager requires near-constant communication and monitoring, which not only burns time but also can be overwhelming for the employee.

               The modern-day definition of the Performance Improvement Plan, as stated above, is not sustainable, and overall, just doesn’t benefit employees or employers in any way.  However, a modified format of this plan can work but will be strongly dependent on how willing a manager is to assist the employee. 

               The first step of a PIP should be to determine if it is even a good idea to implement or attempt to start. 

1)      Is termination the end goal? Or is the employee too good of a potential asset to consider terminating? Depending on a manager’s answers to these questions, a PIP may not be appropriate. The goal of a Performance Improvement Plan is to Improve employee performance, not intimidate them out of a position. If a manager is already dead-set on terminating an employee, it is better to do so than to attempt to not only patch this relationship and try to repair preconceived opinions. 

2)      Certain issues are better handled with a formal structured plan, while others will not benefit from that. If a direct report is having trouble with meeting deadlines, or similar performance issues, a performance improvement plan will be a good option. However, if they are encountering disciplinary issues, such as fighting with other staff, or insubordination, an improvement plan would not be the best option.

3)      Empathy can go a long way in regard to staff not necessarily meeting expectations. If a manager notices that one of their direct reports undergoes a sudden change in attitude, while also displaying signs of anxiety or depression, it may be best to have a 1:1 with them. Employees have personal lives as well, and issues can easily trickle over from the personal to professional realms. Managers should use this 1:1 to see if there are any underlying factors or circumstances that may have caused this decrease in quality from their subordinates.

               When setting up a performance improvement plan, a manager should be straight to the point with their direct reports. This conversation should include the following aspects:

·        Who- This refers to not only who will be undergoing this performance improvement plan, but also to whom they will report, as well as a contact for them within Human Resources.

·        What- This will include information such as what a performance improvement plan is since most direct reports will have a different outlook on PIPs in comparison to management.

·        Why- This will generally entail an explanation as to why the employee is being forced to undergo this PIP.  This explanation should include quantitative data, such as how often work was handed in after a deadline or a percentage of tasks that they have done that were deemed incomplete or lacking.

·        How- This would include what would be known as the “Terms and Conditions.” This will be further expanded on, but in short, the Terms and Conditions include what an employee will be required to do as part of their improvement plan. In addition to this, the terms should explicitly go into detail about what will happen if further expectations aren’t met. This is most often termination. While termination is not the desired outcome of a PIP, it is still a potential outcome, and often an option after this process.

               The goal of a PIP is once again, to improve an employee’s performance, and help them either learn new skills or rectify previously known misconstructions. Therefore, a set of goals should be set for this employee to attempt. Similar to the goals that a manager should have, these should all be SMART Goals. As a note of reference, SMART Goals are designated as Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

·        Specific allows a manager to put more explicit details on their goals, such as what they may pertain to.

·        Measurable means that there is a quantitative element to the goal

·        Attainable means that these goals are actually possible to do

·        Relevant refers to how the goal relates to company goals and mindsets

·        Time-Bound means that there is a chronological element to the goal

Here are some examples of goals that can be proposed to prospective PIP targets.

·        Employee A must have a task competition rate of at least 75% over the next three weeks

·        Employee F must conclude 85% of their training modules within the next 2 weeks

·        Employee must increase their customer conversion rate to at least 5 customers per week by the start of next month. 

One great way to measure and track these goals you are measuring with an employee you have put on a performance improvement plan is with AIM Insights.

With this advice, a manager should be able to start, create, and implement a PIP. These can be difficult to follow through with but will help not only the company but also the employee. 

 

For many teams and managers, one of the greatest hurdles that they face is what happens in the absence of their current manager. After all, a manager is often able to unify the team, set common goals, and manage morale. However, another responsibility that managers should have is to develop leaders. Managers are often the first reference a direct report has towards promotion, especially if the report is interested in leadership. But how does a manager know who could be a good leader?

Not every worker is cut out to be a manager. A common fallacy within the professional world is to promote high-performing employees to positions of leadership. This oftentimes has resulted in poorly-performing managers, since they generally lack the skills associated with leadership. What brought them success might not necessarily be able to have the same result for other coworkers. In fact, Google conducted internal research and found that this was the number one overall pitfall with managers.

 Once a member of a team turns into a leader of a team, their selling point- which was the ability to complete their tasks- becomes somewhat irrelevant. They still may be asked to perform previously held duties, but their most important task is now leading and empowering their teams.

 The best leaders often have a skillset specializing in soft skills, such as communication, empathy, people skills, and being a team leader. While some individuals happen to have these qualities, there is a difference between utilizing these from a peer-to-peer perspective versus that of a leader to subordinate perspective.  

 In addition to this, good managerial candidates are those who often try to improve circumstances for their peers and clients at the same time. This means that they strive for overall quality, as opposed to just making sure that their own component is satisfactory. A good leader should be able to also adapt with change. Throughout the past ten years, there have been many different phenomena such as COVID, The Great Recession, and a complete overhaul of how mental health is viewed in the workplace.  Managers have been forced to adapt how they handle both their work as well as personnel as a result of this.

 Emotional intelligence is also a quintessential part of a good manager. Professor John D. Mayer of the Harvard Business Review defined it as follows.

“From a scientific (rather than a popular) standpoint, emotional intelligence is the ability to accurately perceive your own and others’ emotions; to understand the signals that emotions send about relationships; and to manage your own and others’ emotions. It doesn’t necessarily include the qualities (like optimism, initiative, and self-confidence) that some popular definitions ascribe to it.”

 Managers are in a position of power over other workers, and often hold a significant amount of sway in how they will affect their direct reports. Managers are often the unifying cog within a team as well, and if they are insecure, their team often follows suit. Therefore, they also must be able to recognize how their actions and emotions may affect others, and how they can influence their teammates.

 The first thing to take note of is how hard a direct report works to ensure that their work is satisfactory. While it is indeed true as mentioned above that the best workers don’t always make the best manager, someone who is personally sloppy or constantly turning in unsatisfactory work may not necessarily be the best manager. Utilize tools such as AIM Insights to determine how their work is in terms of satisfaction and punctuality.

 AIM Insights can also tell you about the results of Direct Report 1:1s. A good manager should be holding regular 1:1s with their staff in addition to performance reviews. During these, you can find out how direct reports feel about each other. Is there a specific individual who all of their peers appear to look up to? Do they serve as a point of contact before the manager is contacted? Is there a sense of mutual respect? If so, consider looking at this person for managerial potential. Their individual 1:1s should also lend a lot of information. Someone who is willing to take credit for their work, but also split credit shows promise. Humility is a good value, since hubris can result in a negative impression with other coworkers.

 Ambition is also a good quality for a manager. Managers are often planning for the future, especially for organization-wide success. However, without the sense of delegation, they may face burnout, so prioritize that as well. 

 In order to help candidates achieve their potential, there are a few things to consider:

Creating a manager doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long and tedious process and starts with identifying a good candidate. After that, with some empathy and education, a team can be much better equipped for the future, with both an in-house managerial candidate, and one that knows them very well. 

Daniel, an executive at a respected mid-sized tech firm, had weathered many challenges, but nothing like the slow burnout caused by one role. Stacy was hired to fill a critical operations position that had become a revolving door. The role focused on cross-functional communication and client delivery, yet no one had succeeded in it for years.

Daniel wasn’t hands-on in the hiring, but he knew the vacancy was a strain. When Stacy came on board, there was hope. She started strong, organized and responsive. She got 80% of her work accomplished successfully, which was great compared to the previous people in this role, but never improved beyond the eighty percent mark. Over time, that slipped. Tasks dragged, follow-ups were missed, and client issues grew.

By month sixteen, her performance was down to sixty percent successfully completed. The team was quietly covering for her, morale was dropping, and productivity suffered. It wasn’t until complaints bubbled up that Daniel fully realized the problem.

Daniel scheduled a one-on-one with Stacy to address the concerns directly. The conversation was professional but firm, but he explained the gaps in her follow-through, the ripple effect it was having on the team, and the need for a reset in expectations. For a couple weeks after that meeting, her performance noticeably improved. Deadlines were met. Communication became more consistent. The team began to breathe a bit easier.

But soon enough, the old patterns returned. Delays crept back in. Priorities slipped through the cracks. And worse, the temporary improvement made it even harder for Daniel to escalate the issue again without sounding reactionary. Now, he faced a difficult choice: fire Stacy and restart the long hiring process or keep her and accept the growing cost to the team. Neither option felt like a solution.

Across industries and organizational sizes, leaders face a frustrating and familiar scenario:

They hire someone who seems “good enough” for a critical role. But over time, that efficiency significantly deteriorates. Performance declines. Deadlines slip. Accountability fades.

At this point, managers are left with three options:

Each option comes with consequences. Many managers hold out hope that an initial performance boost after a tough conversation will lead to lasting progress. But when that progress fades, as it did with Stacy, they’re right back at the crossroads, only now with more frustration and less clarity on what to do next. Firing risks leaving the role unfilled for months, especially when leadership is hesitant to rehire. Taking on the extra work yourself can signal that a backfill isn’t needed, leaving you permanently overloaded. 

This isn’t just a personnel issue, it’s a structural and systemic problem. And it’s costing companies in time, productivity, and long-term engagement.

Across industries and organizations, leaders face a frustrating cycle: a “good enough” hire under delivers, managers step in to fill the gap, and organizational systems quietly reinforce the status quo. The following structural problems are what allow this cycle to persist:

Hiring someone who seems mostly capable often feels like a win especially after a long search. But without clear benchmarks, coaching, and accountability, that 80% performance tends to slide downward. When the manager fills in the remaining 20% quietly, it masks the problem and leads others to believe the role is being handled, permanently overloading the leader and normalizing subpar output.

Many managers avoid addressing underperformance because they fear it will trigger months of HR procedures or worse, that the role won’t be refilled at all. Instead of initiating formal improvement plans or escalating concerns, they tolerate the problem just to avoid vacancy, creating a dangerous incentive to retain poor performers.

Feedback often travels too slowly or not at all; learning is uncomfortable and rarely leads to action. Over time, top performers disengage, while others reduce their efforts to match the lowest tolerated standard. The longer this goes unchecked, the more deeply mediocrity becomes embedded in the culture.

When underperformance lingers and roles erode from within, the instinct is often to focus on the individual: coach harder, manage tighter, or let go. But as Daniel’s experience shows, what often fails isn’t just the person, it's the system around them.

To prevent the next “Stacy,” organizations need to rethink how they define success, intervene early, and build safeguards that don’t rely on heroic management. Here’s a five-part framework leaders can use to protect team performance and rebuild accountability from the ground up:

2. Create Protected Channels for Early Feedback:  Feedback should flow freely, not just upward, but across and down:

3. Guarantee Role Backfills for Business-Critical Positions: Leaders will avoid letting go of underperformers if they fear losing the headcount. 

4. Recognize Impact Without Penalizing Initiative: Too often, high performers or managers who quietly carry failing roles get punished with bearing the burden of that role. 

Underperformance is rarely just about one person. It’s a slow, systemic leak that if ignored can rot a team from the inside out. But with the right frameworks, leaders can catch the signs earlier, act with clarity, and prevent culture decay before it takes hold. Daniel’s story isn’t rare. Most companies fall into this trap, and being able to resurrect this dilemma is the rate. 

In today's dynamic business landscape, effective communication isn't just a desirable trait; it's essential for any organization. For managers, this often boils down to the quality of their one-on-one meetings with direct reports. These sessions foster connection, drive alignment, and empower employees. They are the key to team health, providing a forum for nuanced discussions that simply can't happen in group settings. However, many managers find themselves juggling numerous responsibilities, from strategic planning and client management to daily operational hurdles, making it challenging to consistently deliver personalized and impactful feedback. This is where innovative tools like AIM Insights step in, offering a data-driven approach to enhance these crucial interactions and transform them from mere check-ins into catalysts for growth.

Applying AIM Insights

Consider a busy marketing manager, Emily, who oversaw a team of five. Before adopting AIM Insights, her weekly one-on-ones sometimes felt reactive and, frankly, a bit superficial. She would address immediate concerns and touch upon project updates, but often struggled to provide truly insightful and personalized feedback. The preparation for each meeting felt like another tedious task on an already overflowing to-do list. Emily, like many managers, understood the immense importance of connecting with her team, delving into their individual progress, and offering tailored guidance. Yet, the sheer volume of information she had to process—project deadlines, individual performance metrics, team dynamics, and overarching company goals—coupled with the pressure of her own daily tasks, often left her feeling like she was just scratching the surface in these meetings.

While she deeply cared about her team's growth and development, finding the dedicated time to synthesize everything and tailor her feedback to each person felt too complex for her busy schedule. There were weeks when she would leave a one-on-one feeling dissatisfied with the feedback she gave, knowing she hadn't truly connected or provided the depth of support her team members needed to thrive. This struggle is not unique; it's a common struggle in organizations where existing performance management systems might be inefficient, relying on outdated methods or lacking the actionable insights managers need. Without a streamlined, intelligent way to track and understand individual contributions, managers are left to piece together information from fragmented sources, often leading to generic feedback sessions rather than truly impactful ones that resonate with an employee's specific experiences.

Then, a pivotal moment arrived when her company introduced AIM Insights. Initially, Emily was skeptical; another new tool promising to solve all her problems? But as she began to integrate it into her routine, Emily soon discovered the transformative power of these insights. AIM Insights was designed to integrate with their existing communication channels and project management tools. It didn't require manual data entry; instead, it gathered data points related to individual and team activities, conversations, and progress. The key benefit, however, wasn't just the data collection itself, but how this vast amount of information was synthesized and presented – moving far beyond a complicated, dull, dashboard to offer truly dynamic and actionable feedback that was easy to understand.

Each week, Emily received an automated email recap from AIM Insights. This was not a dry list of completed tasks or generic KPIs. Instead, it offered concise, data-driven feedback based on each team member's current projects, their future goals, and their historical performance trends. This automated yet personalized summary was a game-changer. Emily was able to see this feedback for all of her employees at a glance, making it incredibly easier for her to prepare and deliver personalized feedback in her one-on-ones. This feature alone drastically improved her proper planning for each meeting, allowing her to walk into every one-on-one feeling confident, prepared, and genuinely informed about each team member's week. She could now dedicate her limited time in the meeting to deeper coaching and connection, rather than information gathering.

This monthly recap proved to be a significant improvement in her workflow. Suddenly, Emily had a concise, insightful, and actionable summary of each team member's month delivered directly to her inbox. Highlighting their achievements, flagging potential challenges she might not have been aware of, and giving an overall better insight into their work performance and engagement patterns. It was as if she had a dedicated assistant helping her prepare for each individual meeting. The days of frantically sifting through project management tools and email threads before a meeting were over.

The immediate impact on Emily's team was clear. Employees felt more seen and understood. The feedback they received was no longer generic or vague but felt directly relevant to their specific contributions, efforts, and challenges. This fostered a significantly greater sense of connection, trust, and transparency within the team. They recognized that Emily wasn't just "checking boxes"; she genuinely understood their work.

AIM Insights Impact

The profound impact of using a tool like AIM Insights on team engagement became abundantly evident. Employees often feel more understood and are consequently more willing to openly discuss challenges and roadblocks when they sense their manager has a clearer, data-backed grasp of their month. Feedback became noticeably more targeted, and individuals could readily see how it related directly to their day-to-day work and their broader professional development goals. 

Furthermore, the data-driven nature of AIM Insights played a critical role in ensuring better team alignment. By providing managers with a holistic understanding of individual contributions within the broader context of team objectives, managers could provide feedback that strategically reinforced the larger vision and company goals. Consequently, employees gained a much clearer understanding of how their specific work, even seemingly small tasks, contributed directly to the company's overarching objectives. This fostered a stronger sense of shared purpose and collective responsibility. AIM Insights facilitated the connection between individual efforts and overarching team goals. Managers could effectively highlight how a specific contribution directly impacted key targets, therefore strengthening alignment and instilling a deeper sense of value in each team member's role. 

Ultimately, AIM Insights can serve as a powerful catalyst for stronger relationships and more effective leadership. It transforms one-on-ones from routine, sometimes obligatory check-ins into truly valuable opportunities for genuine connection, deeply personalized feedback, and the cultivation of a workplace culture characterized by transparency, trust, and strategic alignment.

Managers who wisely utilize such tools often find they become significantly more effective leaders. It can free up their time, previously consumed by manual data compilation, to focus on higher-level strategic thinking and genuine mentorship. It provides invaluable insights that might otherwise be missed, and most importantly, it helps them build stronger, more meaningful relationships with their team members. The focus shifts from merely managing tasks to truly leading and supporting their people's growth and well-being. 

AIM Insights, by equipping managers with personalized insights and actionable communication guidance, empowers them to move beyond superficial interactions and cultivate a more engaged, aligned, and ultimately more successful team. For managers seeking to elevate their one-on-ones and foster stronger, more productive relationships with their direct reports, AIM Insights offers a compelling and practical path forward in the complex landscape of modern leadership.