The PIP Playbook

On a Tuesday morning, Anna's manager opened a blank Performance Improvement Plan template for the first time. Annawas a strong marketing manager who had started missing deadlines. He wanted to help her, not fire her. He had no ideawhat to write.

That moment decides everything. Written as a formality, a PIP becomes a firing letter with a deadline attached - which iswhy 60% of them fail. Written as a diagnosis and a plan, it becomes the most honest tool a company has.

This book teaches the second version. At its core is the Turnaround PIP - diagnose first (skill, will, or system), convert thatinto measurable 60-day goals, then use the exact words for the three conversations that matter: handing the plan over, checking in, closing it out. It is the system behind 18 turnarounds out of 41 plans, zero legal claims.

Every document Anna's manager needed that Tuesday is inside this book - the readiness checklist, the template, thescripts, the goals library. 66 templates in total, all on the page. No downloads, no email walls.

A one-hour session with an employment attorney to review a shaky termination costs more than this book. This one costsless than dinner.

Open it before your next difficult conversation. Run the plan properly.