hardBehaviouralScenarioLead
One of your engineers is underperforming. How do you handle it?
6 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
Diagnose the cause before acting — skill, will, unclear expectations, or an environment or health problem you can remove — then give specific behavioural feedback, write down one expectation with a date, and make sure a formal performance plan, if it becomes necessary, is never a surprise.
Was this answer helpful?
Likely follow-ups
- You discover the engineer had no idea their performance was a concern. What does that tell you about your own management?
- The engineer's peers have started routing work around them. How do you handle the team-level damage?
- Six weeks into a written plan there is partial improvement. Do you extend, close, or exit?
- How would you handle this differently if the engineer had recently disclosed a health issue or a bereavement?
Related questions
- What do you use one-to-ones for, how do you give feedback that lands, and where does your responsibility for someone's growth end?mediumAlso on feedback and people-management5 min
- Calibration has landed one of your engineers a lower rating than you argued for. How do you deliver it to them?hardAlso on feedback6 min
- One of your engineers is working most evenings, has become short with people in code review, and the date has not moved. They tell you they are fine. What do you do?hardAlso on people-management6 min
- One of your strongest engineers tells you they are thinking about leaving. What do you do?hardAlso on people-management6 min