Case guides · Hard conversations · HC-02

What do I say when someone on my team is underperforming and it's time for a PIP?

A PIP should never be the first time they hear it. Run one only if a pass is a real outcome you would welcome. Make the bar observable, with expectations a third person could check, match support to the gap, and follow your company's documented process, checked with HR before the meeting.

The situation

You have given the feedback. More than once, clearly, with examples. You agreed a plan, checked in, and the gap is still there. HR has said the next step is a performance improvement plan (PIP). You now have to sit down with someone you like, tell them it's formal, and mean it when you say you want them to pass. What you say in the first ten minutes will decide whether they try or start job hunting.

This is coaching, not legal, HR or medical advice. Employment and health rules differ by country and by company. Check local law and your HR team before you act on anything here.

What matters most

  1. A PIP should never be the first time they hear it. If this is a surprise, you skipped a step. Go back to HC-01 first. A PIP confirms a gap you have already named; it doesn't open the topic.
  2. Decide honestly what the PIP is for. If you already know you want them gone, a PIP is theatre and they will feel it. Only run one if a pass is a real outcome you would welcome. If it isn't, talk to HR about the other route, and don't pretend.
  3. Make the bar observable, not a mood. Two to four expectations, each one something a third person could check: "ships the two assigned tickets per sprint with review comments addressed inside two days", not "shows more ownership". Julie Zhuo's The Making of a Manager is good on turning "be better" into something a person can actually hit.
  4. Match support to the gap. Andy Grove's idea of task-relevant maturity in High Output Management: someone struggling with a task needs more structure and closer contact, not less. Weekly check-ins, a named buddy, and clear written examples of "good".
  5. Process is HR's and the lawyer's, not yours to invent. Length, format, what goes on file and what happens at the end differ by company and by country. Follow your company's documented process and check it with HR before the meeting. This is not legal advice.

How this lands in teams across Asia

This is where a PIP stops being "a structured improvement tool" and becomes something heavier.

  • The word itself is a verdict. In many teams across the region, a formal performance document is read as "they have decided to fire me", whatever the paperwork says. Some people will quietly resign rather than live through it, because leaving on their own terms protects face. If you want them to stay and pass, say so plainly and more than once: "I'm doing this in writing because I want it to be fair, not because the decision is made."
  • Family and visa stakes sit behind the conversation. A reporter on an employment pass may be thinking about their right to stay in the country, their children's school, or parents they support, long before they think about the tickets. You don't need to raise it, but don't be surprised if a very calm face hides a lot of fear. Give them the written plan so they can think in private.
  • Check local rules on documented performance steps. Employment law and norms on warnings, notice and dismissal vary a lot between countries in the same regional team. What is routine in one office may carry legal weight in another. Ask HR for the country-specific process for this person's contract, not the headquarters default. In Singapore, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the tripartite fair-employment guidance are where HR will look; confirm the current position with them. This is not legal advice.
  • Silence and "yes" are not agreement to the plan. Many people will accept every line of the PIP in the room because arguing with the boss feels wrong. That's not buy-in. Ask them to come back in two days with anything they see differently, and make it safe to disagree in writing.
  • Keep it invisible to the team. Don't change their seat, their meetings or their visible work in ways others can read. In close teams, people notice fast, and the shame of being seen is often worse than the plan itself.

A way to open

“I want to talk about something serious, and I'll be direct because I think you'd want that.”

The rest of the script is in the app.

Rehearse it

Paste this into any AI assistant:

Play the other side of a hard conversation with me. The situation: Someone on my team is underperforming and it's time for a PIP. A PIP can read as the exit door, so people stop listening just when clarity matters most. You are the person across the table and I am their manager. Invent a believable person and keep what is really on your mind to yourself until I ask well. After eight exchanges, tell me what I missed.

Rehearse in the app

Sources

  • Andy Grove, High Output Management (1983): "task-relevant maturity", matching how closely you manage to how experienced someone is with the task.
  • Julie Zhuo, The Making of a Manager (2019): setting clear expectations and handling a report who isn't meeting them.
  • Erin Meyer, The Culture Map (2014): the "Evaluating" scale, why formal negative feedback lands harder in more indirect cultures.
  • Your country's employment regulator and your HR team's process for performance plans and dismissal (verify the current rules with HR or a lawyer).

Published by Polanyi Works · Updated