The unfortunate reality is that not every member of your team is going to be a rock star. For every top-rated employee, you’re going to have an underperformer. While it might be easy to write off these folks as being lazy or not up to the challenge, that’s rarely the case. It’s up to the team’s leader to turn things around with compassion and understanding. The first task is getting to the root of the problem. Almost everyone wants to do a good job, so performance friction is usually rooted in either a lack of skills or a lack of motivation. If it’s a skills gap, training can help. If it’s a motivation problem, it’s time to have a conversation about the breakdown. Once the problem is uncovered, it’s important to be explicit regarding expectations moving forward. Set goals and stick to them. During this time, it’s crucial to give the underperforming employee a lot of feedback. Let them know what they’re getting right and what they’re getting wrong as well as celebrate their wins. Underperformance is rarely an indication that a person doesn’t want to succeed, and with a little digging, managers can usually get the wayward employee back on track.