Don’t Wait Until You’re Ready to Terminate Someone to Call HR
I’ve been thinking about how HR can better support leaders. One thing I see often is a manager reaching out when they’re already at the end of their rope. They’ve spent months dealing with an employee’s behavior or performance, and by the time we talk, they’re ready to make a change.
I understand the frustration. Managers have a lot on their plates, and it can be tempting to hope a problem will work itself out. But those first signs of trouble are exactly when a conversation with HR can help most.
Recently, a manager came to me wanting to terminate an employee. They described several months of performance and behavior concerns. My first questions were: What expectations had been communicated? What had the employee been told about the concerns? And what opportunity had they been given to improve?
The manager had documented some of the problems, but hadn’t discussed each one with the employee. That distinction matters. A note in a manager’s file may help us understand what happened, but it doesn’t give an employee a chance to understand what’s wrong or correct it.
There was more to the story. The employee’s reviews over the previous six years had said they met or exceeded expectations. A new leadership team had identified concerns, but its expectations hadn’t been fully explained to the employee. From the employee’s perspective, they were doing the same job they’d been doing for years. From the manager’s perspective, they were falling short. We needed to understand where those views had stopped lining up.
I asked the manager:
● What does success in this role look like under the new leadership team, and have you said that clearly to the employee?
● Which concerns have you discussed with them, and when?
● What support or resources might help them meet expectations?
● What outcome are you hoping for?
As we talked, it became clear that the manager and employee were working from different understandings of the job. The manager was understandably frustrated, but the employee couldn’t respond to expectations they didn’t know had changed.
So we reset the conversation.
The manager put the current role expectations in writing. We made them specific and measurable, with clear actions and a reasonable timeline. Then the manager met with the employee to explain what needed to improve, hear their perspective, and make sure they had the resources to succeed. The employee was receptive and seemed surprised by some of the concerns.
That didn’t mean ignoring what had happened. The earlier issues helped us understand the pattern. But moving forward, the manager needed to give timely feedback and hold the employee accountable to expectations that had actually been communicated. We also agreed on follow-up conversations so the employee wouldn’t have to guess how things were going.
Managers don’t have to wait until they have a termination decision in mind to call HR. Call when you first notice a pattern. We can help you sort out what has changed, prepare for a direct conversation, check for consistency, and give someone a fair opportunity to improve. And if improvement doesn’t happen, you will have a clearer basis for the next decision.
The goal is not to avoid accountability. It’s to make accountability clear enough that people have a real chance to meet it.
Have you ever seen a performance issue improve once the manager and employee got on the same page about expectations?