Putting an employee on a formal coaching plan next week. How do I open and close the conversation and handle things with the larger team afterward?
I have managed a remote employee for the last 18 months. She has consistently missed deadlines, turned in incomplete work and dropped entire assignments. She often non communicative and will be offline all day, often responding to emails and Teams messages days later. I’ve documented all of it, worked with HR and my boss, and next week we’re putting her on a formal coaching plan, what most people call a PIP. The plan is clear with weekly deliverables, firm deadlines, and weekly check-in.
I’m anxious about the conversation itself. She can be very antagonistic. And she doesn’t seem to think there’s a problem with her performance, so I expect her to be caught off guard and possibly defensive. In past conversation conversations about her work, she has raised her voice, blamed other people, etc.
What I’m hoping for advice on is:
How do you open a meeting like this? I don’t want to bury the point, but I also don’t want it to feel like an ambush.
How do you close it, especially if she gets upset or starts arguing?
How do you keep every day work/calls from feeling awkward afterward? We’ll still have to meet weekly for our one-on-one check-in and on other calls.
She’s close to a few people on a partner team we work with and one of them has taken her under her wing. I’m worried she’ll vent about me and I’ll lose credibility with those people. We’re all fully remote and spread across the country. Additionally, the culture is also very forgiving and conflict averse, so holding anyone accountable at any time can make you feel like the bad guy.
Scripts, phrases or lesson learned would all be very helpful. Thank you in advance.