Top performer is no longer performing

[Anonymous]

He's going around you, since you are incompetent, as evidenced by you claiming to be a super senior senior manager asking DCUM for help micromanaging someone several levels below you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really never heard of quiet quitting? He gone, dawg.

Yes, but he still shows up to meetings and our 1:1s with big ideas and goals. So he can’t be totally gone. We’ve worked together for awhile and I hope he would respect me enough to tell me he’s looking.

I don’t know a single person who shares that they are interviewing with their boss. Why would you think that’s the norm?

He sounds burned out to me.

+1. Never heard of someone telling their boss in advance that they’re going to start interviewing.

[Anonymous]

He seems ambitious and very motivated. Unfortunately (for you) he figured out how to get to the next step of his career (internal or external) and his strategy to get there no longer requires your support. Hence, he allocates his time differently now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really never heard of quiet quitting? He gone, dawg.

Yes, but he still shows up to meetings and our 1:1s with big ideas and goals. So he can’t be totally gone. We’ve worked together for awhile and I hope he would respect me enough to tell me he’s looking.

I don’t know a single person who shares that they are interviewing with their boss. Why would you think that’s the norm?

He sounds burned out to me.

+1. Never heard of someone telling their boss in advance that they’re going to start interviewing.

I made the mistake, in my first job, of telling my boss I was interviewing with another department. Three days later my job was deemed redundant and I was laid off. Huge unforced error on my part and a tough lesson learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He seems ambitious and very motivated. Unfortunately (for you) he figured out how to get to the next step of his career (internal or external) and his strategy to get there no longer requires your support. Hence, he allocates his time differently now.

PIP time. Don’t let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He seems ambitious and very motivated. Unfortunately (for you) he figured out how to get to the next step of his career (internal or external) and his strategy to get there no longer requires your support. Hence, he allocates his time differently now.

PIP time. Don’t let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya.

So rather than try to connect with this person and see if there’s an opportunity to help, go right to a PIP? How motivating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He seems ambitious and very motivated. Unfortunately (for you) he figured out how to get to the next step of his career (internal or external) and his strategy to get there no longer requires your support. Hence, he allocates his time differently now.

PIP time. Don’t let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya.

So rather than try to connect with this person and see if there’s an opportunity to help, go right to a PIP? How motivating.

Is that what I said? I responded to a PP who implied the employee is not performing because he is focused elsewhere and doesn’t want to stay. Meanwhile, work isn’t getting done. See ya. I work my ass off for my team alway try to find ways to engage them. The kind of person above is dead weight and makes the whole team suffer, and specially if they’re cutting management out of reviews etc. not good.

[Anonymous]

How long has this been going on? A few weeks or a few months? Employees are not machines. If you want to "troubleshoot" maybe just ask the person how they're doing...

[Anonymous]

I do this when I’m either bored or burned out lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like me. My 87 year old Dad is declining; lives alone and refuses to move. I go from work to his condo every night. My teen son is struggling with school and mental health issues and my DH was diagnosed a month ago with cancer. My supervisor, of 10+ years, said he noticed a decline in my performance and asked “if I was trying to get fired”. I did not go into details but did say I was struggling with family issues and was told “that is not the firm’s problem”. It could be quiet quitting but it could be overwhelm with other issues.

As soon as you can, find another job, your boss is terrible

[Anonymous]

If you have a super star employee for years and then they disengage--it sounds like it could be you. Did you say something inappropriate that they are avoiding you? Did you make them uncomfortable? Do they only avoid one-on-one meetings or every meeting you are in?

My other vote is burn out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really never heard of quiet quitting? He gone, dawg.

Yes, but he still shows up to meetings and our 1:1s with big ideas and goals. So he can’t be totally gone. We’ve worked together for awhile and I hope he would respect me enough to tell me he’s looking.

Why would he tell you that? He doesn’t owe you that even if you’ve worked together a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My always-reliable direct report is starting to lose some credibility: forgetting to include me in review processes, not responding to requests in a timely manner, etc. and it’s making me look bad in the eyes of our CEO.

How do you bring a top performer back? He was promoted 2 years ago. He’s not able to be promoted again since he’s at the top of his job level (senior manager). He has to apply for the next level up (director) and can’t do that until the job is available, which probably won’t be until next year.

Have you talked to him?

+1 he probably has something going on in his personal life and may just need some support temporarily. Sometimes the question is what can you do as a manager for your team and not just what can they do to make you look good.

I’ve talked to him and he said he’s fine personally, but that there’s a lot of stress and ambiguity in our organization resulting from new leadership. I can’t do anything to fix that.

Wow, with such a tenacious, inspiring manager as you, I wonder how he could possibly be unhappy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My always-reliable direct report is starting to lose some credibility: forgetting to include me in review processes, not responding to requests in a timely manner, etc. and it’s making me look bad in the eyes of our CEO.

How do you bring a top performer back? He was promoted 2 years ago. He’s not able to be promoted again since he’s at the top of his job level (senior manager). He has to apply for the next level up (director) and can’t do that until the job is available, which probably won’t be until next year.

He's acting 100 pct rationally. Why do you expect him to continue to outperform when there isn't immediate impact to his comp/title etc?