The Made Leader
The Made Leader
Jen Arnold, Leadership Consultant & Coach
The Steps Most Managers Skip Before a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
11 minutes Posted Apr 29, 2026 at 10:30 am.
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Before you put an employee on a performance improvement plan, there are a few leadership steps most managers skip.

In this episode, I break down how to tell the difference between real support and over-functioning, what to do before formal corrective action, and when poor performance becomes an accountability issue instead of just a coaching issue.

If you're a new manager dealing with defensiveness, repeated underperformance, or hard feedback conversations, this is the framework for what should happen first.

Connect with Jen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenparnold/

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