You have called an employee into your office to discuss his poor performance. How might you start the conversation?

A) "Nice day, don't you think?"
B) "Have you given any thought to doing some quality work here?"
C) "We have a problem here, don't we?"
D) "Your performance is below average. What do you plan to do about it?"
E) "Your output is the lowest in the department. I'm concerned."

Answer: E
Explanation: A) Incorrect. This is avoiding the actual topic of poor performance. It is better to get right to the point by describing the behavior, describing your reaction to it, and suggesting alternative behaviors.
B) Incorrect. This is evaluative and jumps right to the solution without addressing the problem.
C) Incorrect. This statement does not identify the problem and is disowned (uses "we" instead of taking ownership of the opinions and feelings).
D) Incorrect. This correctly describes the behavior according to an objective standard but incorrectly asks the employee to think of solutions. It leaves out step 2 (describing your reaction to the behavior).
E) Correct. This includes the first two steps of descriptive communication. Next, you should describe specific behaviors that might remedy the problem.