Don't Waste the Chaos
Don't Waste the Chaos is a weekly podcast for small business owners and HR professionals who want practical, no-nonsense people strategy.
Host Kerri M. Roberts is an HR strategist, consultant, and founder of Salt & Light Advisors with 20+ years of experience turning reactive HR into proactive systems.
Each Tuesday, she breaks down hiring, onboarding, compliance, culture, and leadership - the kind of strategy that typically costs thousands in consulting, delivered in under 40 minutes.
If you're managing people and want to do it better, this show is for you.
New episode every Tuesday.
Learn more about the show and Kerri at www.kerrimroberts.com.
Don't Waste the Chaos
The 5 Root Causes of Underperformance (And How to Fix Each One) | HR Systems Series Ep. 7
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Performance management isn't about reviews — it's about clarity. If your team is confused, resentful, or underperforming, it's an expectations problem, not a motivation problem. Most employees aren't failing to meet the standard; they just don't know what the standard is.
In this episode, Kerri walks through:
• The three markers every role needs — what good, great, and "not meeting" look like
• The four performance tiers and how to build tiered reviews
• The 5 root causes of underperformance — skill gap, will gap, capacity overload, misaligned role, personal life interference — and the right fix for each
• Three feedback models: SBI, COIN, and Feedforward
• A four-part performance rhythm: monthly one-on-ones, quarterly check-ins, biannual reviews, and an annual review tied to compensation
• The five-point rating scale, rating biases, and calibration
YOUR ACTION ITEM: Pick one person who isn't performing, put a conversation on the calendar this week, and go in curious — diagnose the root cause before you call it discipline.
If you've got an underperforming employee on your team right now, take the free HR Audit to see whether your people systems are actually set up to support those conversations. → saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit
Resources to keep building:
🎯 Take the free HR Audit — Score your HR systems in 5 minutes and see exactly where your gaps are.
👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit
📚 Explore the HR coursework — Self-paced courses, tools, and resources to build your HR systems step by step.
👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/resources
✉️ Get the Monday Email — One practical idea for leaders, every Monday at 5:28am. 1,000+ leaders, 50%+ open rate.
👉 saltandlight.myflodesk.com/saltandlightadvisors
Need fractional HR support or want to talk through a specific challenge?
👉 saltandlightadvisors.com/contact
Don't waste the chaos — embrace it.
