Performance Issue

I had one of my project managers join from another company with two years of experience. He was a brilliant chap and full of beans, let's call him Deepan. He was so young however by looking at his enthusiasm our expectations ramped up. He was instantaneously allocated two of the Research projects.

However, lacking experience and in the complex real-world scenario, Deepan was unable to manage the project successfully. There were several issues that managers needed to intervene and solve. It was the year-end appraisal time and he became an obvious candidate to fit into the extreme left side of the bell curve.

As a result, he got a meager increment, in the organization, this is considered to be ‘showing the exit door’. He wanted to set up 1 on 1 with me. In the meeting, he broke down and cried. He was unable to comprehend this.

This guy had huge potential but to convert potential into performance there is some gap. I assured him my support with a performance improvement program. In due course, we realized that he needed to break down large goals as quick wins and adjustments in the way he manage people, particularly seniors. We have consistently reviewed his progress month-on-month basis.

In the next year, he becomes a star performer. He was traveling with me to participate in a project management conference in London where he was recollecting this event.

But the twist is, after a year he resigned and moved on to another organization.

While it was a disappointment for me at that moment, Now I am glad to have coached him and feel very happy to see him grow and become an exceptional project manager.