|

Transforming Underperformance into Accountability — A Leader’s Guide (26th August 2026) Free Online Event

Updated on

Picture this. It’s Monday morning. You walk into the office (or log into your Zoom standup) and there it is again, that report that was due Friday, still not done. The excuse this time is a new one, creative even. Last week it was “network issues.” The week before, “I was not feeling well.” You want to be understanding. You also want to run a business.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Across Kenyan workplaces from busy Nairobi offices to regional branches in Kisumu, Mombasa and Eldoret, leaders are wrestling with the same quiet crisis: how do you hold people accountable without becoming the “difficult” boss, without triggering a resignation you didn’t want, and without spending every Monday putting out fires that shouldn’t exist in the first place?

Let’s be honest about what this actually looks like day to day:

  • The employee who is technically “present” but mentally checked out — showing up late, doing the bare minimum, and somehow still expecting a good appraisal.
  • The talented team member everyone is scared to correct because “hawezi ambiwa” — they don’t take feedback well, and confrontation always ends in drama.
  • The manager who avoids the tough conversation altogether, hoping the problem resolves itself, only to find it’s now a pattern the whole team has noticed and quietly started copying.
  • The “mtu wetu” dilemma — when a relative, a referral, or someone close to leadership is underperforming, and nobody wants to be the one to raise it.
  • Performance Improvement Plans that exist only on paper, filed away and never followed up on, because nobody has time until the underperformance becomes a full-blown crisis and HR gets pulled in for a messy exit.
  • The cost of silence: deadlines missed, clients frustrated, high performers burning out picking up the slack, and morale slowly eroding because everyone can see that mediocrity is being tolerated.

None of this makes anyone a bad leader. It makes them human. Most managers were promoted because they were good at their job not because someone taught them how to have hard conversations, set clear expectations, or build a culture where accountability feels fair rather than punitive.

Why “just be strict” doesn’t work

The instinct, when underperformance piles up, is to swing the pendulum, tighten the rules, threaten disciplinary action, start every meeting with a warning. But fear-based management has a short shelf life. It might produce compliance for a few weeks, but it rarely produces ownership. And in a job market where your best people always have somewhere else to go, a culture of fear is often the fastest way to lose your top talent while keeping your underperformers because the people with the most options leave first.

The real shift leaders need isn’t from “lenient” to “strict.” It’s from avoidance to accountability — building a culture where expectations are clear from day one, feedback is a regular habit rather than a crisis response, and consequences (positive and negative) are consistent and fair.

This is exactly what this session is designed to help you do

Join us on 26th August 2026, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, for a live, practical, online session: Transforming Underperformance into Accountability — A Leader’s Guide.

It’s a working session facilitated by Godfrey Wakoli, our Training Manager, who brings real, on-the-ground experience helping organisations across Kenya move from tolerating underperformance to building genuine cultures of ownership.

In two hours, you’ll walk away with:

  • A practical framework for spotting underperformance early before it becomes a pattern or a crisis
  • Language and tools for having accountability conversations that are firm, fair, and don’t blow up the relationship
  • How to set expectations that stick, so “I didn’t know that was expected of me” is no longer a valid excuse
  • Ways to handle the tricky political situations — the “mtu wetu,” the star performer who’s slipping, the team member everyone’s afraid to confront
  • How to build a culture where accountability isn’t feared — it’s simply how things are done

If you are a team lead, HR practitioner, department head, or business owner who has ever sat in your office wondering how to fix a performance problem without losing a good relationship (or a good employee) in the process, this session was built with you in mind.

Register now to secure your seat: [Register Here]