Performance Management

---
name: performance-management
description: Use when dealing with underperformance, considering a PIP, navigating a brilliant-jerk pattern, documenting concerns, or preparing a hard performance conversation. Trigger phrases include "I have a report who's underperforming", "should I PIP X", "I need to document this", "how do I have the hard conversation", "I'm worried about [report]'s trajectory". Guides the ladder: coaching, formal feedback, improvement plan, termination.
---

# Performance Management

Managers avoid too long, then escalate too fast. **Not** for healthy feedback loops — that's `feedback-frameworks`.

## Zeroth: read the documentation trail

If the report is a registered stakeholder, read their `~/haku-work-reflections/<category>/<slug>.md` first:

- **Corrects the recency story:** recent dip vs. long pattern changes the diagnosis.
- **Is the contemporaneous record:** months of *noticing* without feedback → the ladder starts at Stage 1/2 regardless.
- **Feeds HR-grade documentation:** from Stage 2, dated observations supply specifics.

**Write-back:** from Stage 2 on, every formal step gets a dated entry same day.

## First: diagnose the stage

| Stage | Pattern | Intervention |
|---|---|---|
| 1. **Coachable gap** | Skill gap; engaged | Coaching + stretch |
| 2. **Persistent feedback gap** | Feedback repeated, not acted on | Formal feedback + bar |
| 3. **Genuine underperformance** | Output/behavior below level | PIP |
| 4. **Brilliant jerk** | High output; toxic behavior | Stage 2 minimum; behavior = output bar |
| 5. **Mismatch** | Role wrong for person | Role change or exit |
| 6. **Termination** | Stage 3 failed; or disqualifying | Formal exit with HR/legal |

Push the user to name the stage; most dress Stage 3 up as Stage 1.

## Stage 1: Coachable gap

- **Don't escalate.** Hand the conversation to `coaching-mode`.
- **Define "closed."** *"In 6 weeks you lead the migration design review."*
- **Set a cadence:** weekly 15-min check-ins on the gap.
- **Document lightly** via `stakeholder-reflect`.

## Stage 2: Persistent feedback gap

Same feedback ≥2 times, unchanged. Most dangerous stage: too soft becomes Stage 3; too hard kills a recoverable relationship.

> *"I've raised [behavior] twice ([date 1], [date 2]) and I'm not seeing change. How are you thinking about it?"*

Then *listen*: didn't realize it mattered (restate the bar; set a specific change with deadline); tried, strategy failed (`coaching-mode`); disagrees (surface evidence).

Document a follow-up email: conversation, changes, timeline — HR's paper trail.

## Stage 3: The PIP

Most PIPs are setup-to-fail; a real one is a fair shot at success:

1. **Specific behaviors/outcomes**, not adjectives. *"Fridays by EOD: written status, blockers, decisions, asks."*
2. **A reasonable timeline.** 60–90 days; under 30 is a setup.
3. **A measurable bar** both can judge at week 8.
4. **Real support:** weekly PIP 1:1s.
5. **Honest stakes:** missing the bar = termination — hiding it makes it surveillance.

> *"Based on [evidence], you're not at the level your role requires. I'm putting us on a Performance Improvement Plan — a clear shot at closing the gap. Honest stakes: no change in 60 days, we part ways."*

Surprised? **Stage 2 was skipped** — go back.

## Stage 4: The brilliant jerk

High output, toxic behavior; the team pays.

- **Treat behavior like output failure:** "ship and don't make the team worse" is one bar.
- **Document behaviors and effects.** *"On [date] you called Priya's design 'amateur'; she stopped contributing for 3 weeks."*
- **Run the cost-benefit honestly** — velocity, attrition.
- **Be direct.** *"Your output is excellent. Your behavior is corroding the team. I need both."*
- **Be willing to lose them:** a jerk who won't change is a strong-no.

## Stage 5: Mismatch

The role is wrong, not the person — the kindest stage. *"Not a performance conversation; the role is the wrong fit."* Outcomes: internal transfer, honest external move, or role redesign. Grace builds reputation.

## Stage 6: Termination

- **Loop in HR and legal early.**
- **Keep it short.** *"We didn't see the changes. Today is your last day."*
- **Be human.** Acknowledge it; thank them.
- **Tell the team that day** — no details, a coverage plan.
- **Audit yourself afterward.** Could this have been caught earlier?

## Operating principles

- **Avoidance is its own decision.**
- **Documentation is kindness** — protects both parties.
- **Clarity beats speed.** Fuzzy Stage 1 becomes Stage 3.
- **The reports you don't manage out are your message to the team.**
- **After a fair PIP, no manager wishes they'd held on longer.**
- **Calibrate with peers** — bars drift alone.

## Anti-patterns to flag

- **Stage 3 as a Stage 1 conversation:** "more feedback" after five rounds is avoidance.
- **The PIP that's a fire date:** cruel, legally risky — go to separation with HR.
- **Withholding information:** they deserve to know they're on a PIP and what success means.
- **Tolerating the jerk because they ship.**
- **Talking to the report's peers** — that's gossip.
- **Letting comp replace performance conversations.**

## Composition with other skills

- **`feedback-frameworks`** — COIN delivery, SOLID drafting.
- **`coaching-mode`** — Stage 1.
- **`one-on-one-prep`** — PIP check-in and regular 1:1.
- **`decision-log`** — log PIP/termination calls.
- **`stakeholder-reflect`** — its entries are the documentation.
- **`leadership-os` (Mirror)** — hard feedback with care.