1. Identify the most important issue — Identify the “one big thing” an employee needs to work on. People can only focus on one or two issues at a time, so even if there are several areas for development, set the employee up for success by selecting the highest payoff issue.

Ask yourself, “if the employee improved this aspect of performance would it increase overall effectiveness?” If the answer is a resounding yes, then you have uncovered the “one thing”. If the answer is “no”, or “well, maybe”, then keep looking. In Steve's case, the biggest problem with his performance is his reputation for acting like a “goof.”

2. Craft the message — Create a statement describing what you want the employee to develop by describing the opposite of the area for performance improvement.

In Steve's case the message might sound something like this, “Given that you're interested in a sales engineering role there's one aspect of your performance that you'll need some coaching on. In a customer-facing role, particularly during the pre-sales period, it is key to project a down-to-business formal persona. Would you be open to some coaching in this area?”

3. Manage the discussion — You will create a better chance that the employee will be open to hearing what you have to say when the discussion is approached in a helpful “here's what I'd like to see you develop” manner as opposed to a “here is the problem with you” and all of the examples that prove the problem.

Demonstrate your support on the developmental areas while making it clear that the employee is ultimately responsible for reaching performance objectives. Conclude performance discussions by assessing and confirming the employee's willingness to take responsibility for the area of development.

4. Next steps — Once (and only once) the employee has acknowledged the area of development and has stated a willingness to act, discuss solutions and co-create SMART goals designed to help the employee achieve the new performance objectives. Work closely with the employee to reinforce progress and provide additional feedback.

For example, in Steve's case coaching would seem to be in order followed by some supervised low risk customer visits to try out his new skills, giving him the opportunity to showcase his readiness for the sales engineering role.