You’ve probably had this conversation in your head a dozen times. You just haven’t had it with them yet.
There's a performance issue you know you need to address. And it has been easier to let it ride one more week than to risk saying it wrong, making it worse, or watching it go sideways. This helps you think it through first, so you walk in steady and walk out knowing you were fair and clear.
Your first conversation is free.
Start your free conversation
Enter your information and check your inbox for your Pickaxe invitation.
You already know something needs to be addressed.
What has kept you from it probably isn’t the facts. It’s the part of you that doesn’t want to get it wrong, make it worse, or hurt someone you actually want to see succeed.
That isn’t avoidance. It’s care without a plan yet.
Performance Conversation Prep helps you turn the care into a conversation you can lead, so you’re not working it out for the first time in the room.
Think it through before you walk into the room.
The tool guides you through the parts of the conversation that matter without taking the judgment away from you.
Describe what's happening
Tell the tool what is going on in your own words. No HR language required.
Prepare the message
Sort out what matters, what needs to change, and how to say it in a way that fits the conversation.
You still make the call
The tool helps you prepare for questions, reactions, follow-up, and documentation. You still lead.
Before you walk in.
- The message you need to communicate
- The performance issue you’re addressing
- Questions worth asking
- How to explain the impact
- How to respond if the employee disagrees
- What needs to happen next
- What to document afterward
The tool helps you prepare. It doesn’t make the call for you.
What matters here is the HR judgment built into the questions it asks. Performance Conversation Prep was built from more than 30 years of HR experience helping leaders navigate difficult employee situations, performance concerns, and the gray areas where generic scripts tend to fall apart.
You know the employee and the business. You make the decision and lead the conversation. The tool is there to help you walk in better prepared.
Some situations need more than a preparation tool.
If the situation involves potential discrimination, harassment, retaliation, a medical condition, protected leave, workplace safety, threats, or another significant legal or employee-relations concern, the tool should stop and direct you toward appropriate HR or legal support.
You don’t need the perfect words.
You just need to walk in prepared.