Dealing with a Non-Performer

In any company, you will come across non-performers. It is very important to deal with them and take actions on it. Otherwise, it may lead to lower moral among other team members and of course, not to mention, question mark on your leadership ability.

We recommend the following approach.

1. Identify and understand
2. If reason is genuine, then train
3. After the training, reassign
4. If can not perform up-to the mark, relocate or transfer
5. If nothing works out, then terminate


Step -1: A face-to-face discussion is the best possible way to know the reason. It may happen you would not have recognized his contribution (might get taken by someone else) or it may be a training case.

Also, as a PM, you must aware of the Pygmalion Side Effects. It means if you leave out a person, who is in trouble, other team members may also have the same attitude towards him. And it leads to a low morale, and hence low productivity.

Step – 2: If the concern is with respect to training or for specific skills, let him/her know and provide some time-line for it.

(S)He may pursue some certifications or corporate training programs.

There are normally 4 categories of professionals:

1. Can Do, Will Do = Performers
2. Can Do, Will Not Do = Lacking Motivation
3. Can Not Do, Will Do = Need Training
4. Can Not Do, Will Not Do = For this category quickly go for Step-4 and Step-5.


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However, most of the time they belong Category 2 and 3.

For category 2, the person may requiring some professional courses which the company can offer, or the person may want to be more involved in the decision process for the work he is performing.

Category-3 types of persons normally fall under more training category.

Step – 3: Now it is time to reassign. And assess the performance.

A team lead can act as someone who can check for the performance.

Step – 4: If Step-3 does not work out, then you must plan for relocation to another project with less intensive activities or transfer.

Sometimes, it may happen that, there are no alternatives. Hence, give a warning and period in which (s)he has to perform.

Step – 5: If nothing works out, then it is time to terminate.


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