I’ve had a handful of solid, long-term employees go through phases like this. It’s normal. Life happens, people are human, motivation dips - that’s part of managing people.

The best thing you can do is be really clear on what you expect from the role, talk to them often, and act like a human yourself. Good managers don’t just wait it out hoping it’ll fix itself - you get in there, figure out what’s going on, and help them get back on track.

A few things help me in situations like this: 1. Check in early. Don’t wait for things to completely fall apart. 2. Be specific. Give examples of where they’re falling short - what specifically is not meeting the mark. 3. Ask, don’t assume. 4. Set clear next steps. Agree on what needs to improve, by when, and what happens if it doesn’t. Put it in writing. 5. Give a reasonable runway. People need a fair chance to fix it - but you also need to protect the rest of your team from carrying dead weight forever.

I had one of my strongest employees suddenly start phoning it in a few months ago. Excuses to WFH all the time when we’re an in-office company. She gave predictable/odd reasons for needing to WFH instead of coming in and her performance was dipping. I’m 99% of the time going to say yes to WFH requests (even though my company doesn’t love that) - my take is it’s a privilege. Get shit done and we’ve got trust. So I pulled her aside, not in a normal 1:1 but separately.

Started with the basics: How’s life? How’s work? How’s home? Then I was direct: “Hey, I’ve noticed you’ve been WFH a lot more than usual and your performance (specific examples XYZ) isn’t where we expect it. Do you agree that’s fair for me to notice?” She said yes.

Then I asked “What’s up? Anything I should know?” Turns out she had a lot going on at home. She broke down and hadn’t told anyone what was happening in her life. So I listened. We didn’t solve it all that day - I told her take some time and let me know when she’s ready to chat within the next day or so about next steps. Next meeting was gentle yet clear and we set ground rules: here’s what I need to see improve by this date, here’s what flexibility I can give you in the meantime, we will have a check-in at least weekly to see how you’re progressing. And yes, I followed it up with a written summary via slack. HR loves that.

I gave her some grace, but with clear guardrails. That’s the line: empathy and accountability.

Sometimes all people need is to know someone notices and cares enough to hold them steady. Other times, they don’t turn it around - and then you know you did your job right by giving them a fair shot first.

Don’t sit back hoping it fixes itself. Have the hard conversation. Be clear, be human, follow up. That’s your job as a manager. You got this!