Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Radical Canter Podcast. I'm Kim Scott. I'm Jason Rosoff.

And I'm Amy Sandler. Today, we are answering a listener's question about a challenging situation

that touches on several important aspects of radical candor. So we'll jump right in.

This person writes, quote,

hello, I'm a middle manager on a small team and I have one report. My manager, who is the director

of our department, had my role previously. So my report used to report to my manager.

My manager asked me to put my report on a performance improvement plan, PIP.

I met with the HR director individually and along with my manager, and we began the informal stage

of the PIP in order to give my report the opportunity to meet the expectations for the role

while documenting everything

to provide to central HR for formal PIP approval. After three months of my report, continuing to

not meet role expectations, our HR director filed for the formal PIP, which we expect to eventually lead

to my report's termination if they do not leave on their own accord before termination.

I'm going to turn it over to Jason.

It's a long one.

It's a long one.

The PIP process that my, they continue.

The PIP process that my company follows feels a bit like managing out to me.

And I'm struggling to find the best way to lean into the radical candor values while complying with HR directors.

At this stage, my manager and our HR director and I agree that my report is not the right fit for the role, but I

have to wait until formal PEP conversation to express it. Every interaction I have my report

leading up to that conversation feels disingenuous. Also following HR directives around resetting

...