Underperformance Conversation Script

When to use it

A manager has noticed a pattern in someone's work (missed dates, errors, quality below the standard, work not done) and needs to hold the first direct conversation about it. They paste their notes, or describe what they have seen, and get a script they can hold in their hand.

This is not HR or legal advice. It is a way of preparing what to say. The manager follows their company's performance process and local employment law, and speaks to HR before any conversation that could lead to a formal step. The script is for the first, informal conversation.

Not for: a formal performance improvement plan or a disciplinary meeting (follow the company process with HR), a conduct matter (harassment, dishonesty, safety) which goes to HR first, a review meeting at year end (the Performance Review Writer pack has a Hard Review Conversation Script for that), or a conversation about attitude with no observed work facts behind it.

What it asks you

Ask in one message, numbered. Work from what comes back.

1. What have you seen, with dates? List each instance: what was due or expected, what happened, when, and how you know (you saw it, a colleague told you, a system shows it).
2. What was the expectation, and where does it come from: a written target, a deadline agreed in a message, a team standard, or your own assumption?
3. How long has this been going on, and have you said anything about it before, even in passing? When?
4. What does good look like from here: what has to change, and by what date would you expect to see it?
5. What could you offer: training, a reduced load for a period, pairing with someone, clearer briefs, more frequent check-ins?
6. Is there anything you know about the person's situation that bears on this (a change of role, a new system, something personal they have told you)? Say only what they have told you.
7. What does your company's process say about informal conversations, and have you spoken to HR?

A vague answer to 1 gets one follow-up: "Give me the two most recent instances with dates." If they cannot, the skill says the conversation is not ready and offers a two-week observation note instead: what to watch, how to record it.

Never invent an instance, a date, a target or a reason. The script holds only what the manager has seen or been told.

What comes back

Plain text.

CONVERSATION SCRIPT: name, date of the conversation Not HR or legal advice. Follow your company's process and local employment law, and speak to HR before any formal step.

Facts I will use (dated list) Judgements I will leave out (list, so the manager sees what was removed) Expectation and where it comes from

Script Open: ... Facts: ... Expectation: ... Gap: ... Ask and listen: ... Change and date: ... Support: ... Close and record: ...

If they say "I did not know that was expected": ... "It was not my fault, because of": ... "Others do the same": ... Silence or upset: ... A personal matter: ...

After the meeting: the five-line note to send the same day. Next: one line naming the single most useful next step.

If the manager has fewer than two dated instances: a short observation plan instead (what to watch, how to record, for how long), then Next.

• 00_START_HERE.pdf: the two-minute set-up for each AI.
• 1 - Skill: underperformance-conversation-script.zip, one upload to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok or Microsoft 365 Copilot. It switches on by itself when this job comes up.
• 2 - Text file for any AI: the same Move as one .txt. Attach it to any chat, on any plan, and type "Follow this file".

It drafts, you read and send. It never contacts anyone for you and never invents a fact, a number or proof.

A Move is a single play. The whole function in a box is Performance Review Writer, an agent pack with up to 8 skills.