The Performance Concern 1-on-1 Template

Published on August 7, 2026

The difference between coaching someone through a rough patch and formally documenting a performance issue is mostly about timing and tone, not paperwork. Say something specific and early enough, and it reads as exactly what it is: a manager who's paying attention and wants to help someone get back on track. Wait too long, or let the concern build in private until it has to come out as a formal process, and the same underlying issue reads as something closer to an ambush.

This is the structure for that earlier conversation. It only works if it actually happens before the pattern has calcified into something that needs HR in the room, which means it depends on you having it instead of continuing to wait for more certainty. What follows is what to actually cover, and why each part matters. Talking to an Underperforming Employee covers the reasoning behind this approach in more depth.

1. Separate the Pattern From the Bad Week

Reacting to a single rough sprint teaches someone to hide the next one instead of mentioning it, so this conversation should never start from a hunch or a mood. It starts from being able to name two or three specific instances across a real stretch of time. If you can only describe a general feeling that something's off, you're not ready to have this conversation yet.

What to actually cover:

• Name the actual pattern you're seeing, specific enough to attach real examples to, not a general impression.
• Check it against a real timeframe. A single instance is a data point, not a pattern.
• If you're not confident it's a pattern yet, say so honestly, to yourself, before the meeting starts. This conversation can wait a little longer if it needs to.

2. Name It Plainly, Early, and Privately

Softening a real concern until it's buried under compliments and hedging doesn't make it kinder, it just makes it possible for the other person to walk away without having actually heard it. Saying it plainly, as an observation you want to understand rather than a verdict you've already reached, is what keeps the door open in both directions.

What to actually cover:

• State the specific pattern you've noticed in one direct sentence, before any context or softening.
• Frame it as something you want to understand, not a conclusion you've already reached.
• Keep it private. This conversation doesn't need an audience, a paper trail, or anyone else in the room yet.

3. Ask Before You Assume

There's almost always a reason behind a real pattern, and it's rarely the first one you'd guess. Assuming it's a capability problem before asking closes off the answers that would actually tell you what to do next, whether that's a workload issue, an unclear handoff, or something happening outside work entirely.

What to actually cover:

• Ask directly what they think is behind it, and actually wait for the answer instead of filling the silence yourself.
• Take what they say at face value in the room. You can weigh how much it explains on your own time, afterward.
• Listen for whether this sounds like a skill gap, a workload problem, unclear expectations, or something else. Each one leads somewhere different.

4. Agree on What Changes and By When

An informal conversation still needs a concrete outcome, or it's just a conversation that happened once and then quietly stopped mattering. Both people need to be able to check, later, whether the thing that was agreed to actually happened.

What to actually cover:

• Write down specifically what needs to change, observable enough that neither of you could reasonably disagree later about whether it happened.
• Set an actual date to check back in, not a vague "let's see how the next few weeks go."
• Say plainly what you're going to do differently too, if anything on your side, like clarifying scope or checking in more often, is part of the fix.

5. Decide Together Whether This Needs to Become Formal

The point of the check-in date isn't just to see how things are going, it's to make an honest call about whether this stays informal or needs to become a documented process. Making that decision explicitly, instead of letting it drift, is what keeps a future PIP, if it comes to that, from feeling like it appeared out of nowhere.

What to actually cover:

• State plainly where things stand at the check-in date: resolved, improving, or not improving.
• If it's resolved or improving, say so and agree on whether you need another check-in or can consider this closed.
• If it's not improving, say that directly too, and treat the next step as moving to a formal process rather than repeating this same informal conversation indefinitely.