Chris Devany
"Managing Struggling Employees: PIPs and Coaching Made Simple"
Every manager eventually faces the challenge of leading an under performing employee-but few are ever trained on how to do it effectively. What begins as small performance issues can quickly escalate into missed deadlines, disengagement, low team morale, and even turnover if not addressed properly. For many leaders, the most difficult part isn’t recognizing the problem-it’s knowing what to do about it.
This webinar training, Managing Struggling Employees: PIPs and Coaching Made Simple, is designed to eliminate the uncertainty and stress that managers often feel when handling performance issues. Whether it’s difficulty starting the conversation, fear of employee backlash, or confusion about how to write a legally sound and results-driven Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), this session provides a clear, structured approach that any manager can use.
You’ll learn how to:
This training goes beyond compliance-it’s about coaching with integrity and creating accountability. You’ll explore real-world examples, receive scripts and templates, and walk away with actionable tools that make a difference. It’s not about punishment or "writing someone up"-it’s about helping managers shift from reactive to proactive, and from uncomfortable to confident.
If you’ve ever avoided addressing poor performance, struggled to document improvement efforts, or felt unsure how to support an employee while still protecting your team’s productivity, this training will change the way you lead. It’s a practical, supportive, and empowering session that equips you to lead through one of the most challenging aspects of management-with clarity, structure, and results.
This isn’t just training-it’s your leadership toolkit for real-world employee challenges.
Why you should Attend:
Why Managers Should Attend This Webinar Training
"Managing Struggling Employees: PIPs and Coaching Made Simple"
If you’re a manager who dreads difficult conversations or feels stuck when dealing with an underperforming employee, you’re not alone. Many leaders silently struggle with knowing when to take action, what to say, and how to follow through without causing tension, risking legal trouble, or damaging team morale. The fear of saying the wrong thing or being perceived as unfair often leads to avoidance, vague expectations, and inconsistent outcomes. And when the situation isn’t handled correctly, the entire team can suffer.
This webinar is designed to tackle those exact pain points.
You’ll no longer have to guess your way through performance challenges. This training provides clear structure, language, and strategies to help you respond with confidence, not confusion. We’ll teach you how to craft performance improvement plans that are fair, measurable, and motivating-not punitive. You’ll gain practical tools to coach struggling employees with empathy while still holding them accountable for results.
Most importantly, you’ll learn how to turn these moments into opportunities-either for growth and improvement or for making well-documented, professional decisions to transition the employee out. You’ll also discover how to maintain team morale and unity, even while managing underperformance in the background.
This training is more than just checking an HR box-it’s about transforming how you lead during one of the most uncomfortable parts of management. If you’ve ever felt unprepared, overwhelmed, or unsupported in these situations, this session is the leadership development you’ve been waiting for. Walk away with the tools, confidence, and clarity to take action-fairly, legally, and effectively.
Areas Covered in the Session:
Who Will Benefit:
Chris DeVany is the founder and president of Pinnacle Performance Improvement Worldwide, a firm that focuses on management and organization development. Pinnacle’s clients include global organizations such as Visa International, Cadence Design Systems, Coca-Cola, Sprint, Microsoft, Aviva Insurance, Schlumberger, and over 500 other organizations in 22 countries. He also has consulted with government agencies from the United States, the Royal Government of Saudi Arabia, Canada, the Cayman Islands, and the United Kingdom. He has published numerous articles in the fields of surviving mergers and acquisitions, surviving change, project management, management, sales, team-building, leadership, ethics, customer service, diversity, and work-life balance, in publications ranging from ASTD/Performance In Practice to Customer Service Management. His book, “90 Days to a High-Performance Team”, published by McGraw Hill and often accompanied by in-person, facilitated instruction, has helped and continues to help thousands of executives, managers, and team leaders improve performance. He has appeared hundreds of times on radio and television interview programs to discuss mergers and acquisitions (how to manage and survive them), project management, sales, customer service, effective workplace communication, management, handling rapid personal and organizational change, and other topical business issues. He has served or is currently serving as a board member of the International Association of Facilitators, Sales and Marketing Executives International, American Management Association, American Society of Training and Development, Institute of Management Consultants, American Society of Association Executives, Meeting Professionals International, and National Speakers Association. Chris is an award-winning Toastmasters International Competition speaker. He recently participated in the Fortune 500 Annual Management Forum as a speaker, panelist, and seminar leader. Chris has distinguished himself professionally by serving multiple corporations as a manager and trainer of sales, operations, project management, IT, customer service, and marketing professionals. Included among those business leaders are Prudential Insurance, Sprint, BayBank (now part of Bank of America), US Health Care, and Marriott Corporation. He has assisted these organizations in mergers and acquisitions, facilitating post-merger and acquisition integration, developing project management, sales, customer service, and marketing strategies, organizing inbound and outbound call center programs, training and developing management and new hires, and fostering corporate growth through creative change and innovation initiatives. Chris holds degrees in management studies and organizational behavior from Boston University. He has traveled to 22 countries and 47 states throughout his career.
