I used to spend a lot of time—too much time—having conversations with employees who needed to improve their behavior or performance. What I’ve come to learn about all that time is that I was hurting the overall performance of the company by wasting my time on these conversations that yielded little growth. 

If you’re figuring out the balance of how to develop employees whose behavior or performance is heading in the wrong direction, and when it’s time to call it a day with them, you may want to consider this approach. I call it the 2 chances method. This means that I give employees 2 chances for me to explain what they need to change and why. I’m exposing them to how I need them to think about their role in this problem and the imperative for change. I will try to explain it or approach the situation differently the second time around. After that, if their behavior or performance does not improve, I move it along the disciplinary track. 

As a manager, your salary is probably higher, and therefore, each hour that you spend re-explaining yourself to an employee who is not getting it is a loss for the company. This should not be confused with the truly valuable time of developing staff members who get it. The time is wasted when an employee has demonstrated an unwillingness or an inability to make positive changes, and you still spend time trying to bring them around. 

How do you know when it’s time to part ways with an employee? How many chances do you give? Share your experiences in the comments below.