Tell me about a person you managed whose performance stayed low despite your efforts. Walk me through what you tried, in order.

One good feedback conversation is rehearsable; a months-long marginal performer tests the whole toolkit — diagnosis, explicit expectations, real support, and the honesty to conclude it isn't working. The order of what they tried reveals whether there was a plan or just accumulating frustration.

• What did you check first — expectations, skills, or workload?
• What did you put in writing, and when?
• Where did it end up, and was that the right outcome?

A work-focused diagnosis before any judgment, expectations made explicit and documented early, genuine support given a fair window, and a clear endpoint reached — improvement, a role change, or a managed exit — rather than years of drift.

Straight to formal process with no real coaching attempt, the mirror case — low performance absorbed by the rest of the team while the conversation never happened — or a diagnosis that never got past "they just weren't motivated".