In one line: A performance problem everyone sees and nobody addresses hurts the whole team. Deal with it early, privately, specifically, and with genuine intent to help.
Core idea
Surveys of workplace frustration repeatedly point to one situation: someone is underperforming, everyone knows it, and nothing happens. Leaders avoid it because it is awkward, because they lack the skills, or because they hope it will fix itself. Meanwhile teammates absorb the extra work and draw their own conclusions about whether standards matter.
How it works
- Start with curiosity, not a verdict. Is the cause skill, motivation, resources, unclear expectations, or something outside work? The fix depends on which (see Accountability).
- Raise it early and privately. Small, timely conversations prevent large, formal ones.
- Be specific. Describe observable behavior and its impact, not character (the measurement was repeated three times this week, not you’re careless).
- Avoid common feedback mistakes:
- softening the message until it is lost
- stacking up issues and delivering them all at once
- making it personal
- not listening to the response
- failing to agree on next steps
- Agree on a plan with checkpoints, and follow up on schedule.
- Escalate when coaching fails. Empathy and support come first, but continuing to carry someone indefinitely is unfair to the team and, often, to the person.
In practice
A typical engineering pattern: a teammate repeatedly needs help with a task they were already trained on, and the team keeps quietly covering. Encouraging them to use their own notes and work independently is the right first move, but if nothing changes, the issue has to be raised formally before it turns into something costly, such as damaged equipment, a missed delivery, or a safety incident. The team’s frustration usually stems as much from leadership’s inaction as from the individual.
Questions to ask yourself
- Is there a performance issue on my team that everyone sees and no one has named?
- Have I described the problem to the person in specific, observable terms?
- What would it cost the team if this continues another three months?
Connections
- Prevention: Accountability. The conversation itself: Conflict Resolution Competencies.
- Calibration: Situational Leadership, since some underperformance is a readiness mismatch.
- Self-management: Emotional Intelligence.
- Capabilities exercised: Courage, Interpersonal Skills, Responsibility and Urgency to Deliver.
Sources
- Course discussion and HBR reading on negative feedback (2025); no source note.