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When managers take a disciplinary approach to the first signs of poor performance, they set an unnecessarily adversarial tone that can lead to "all sorts of messes", an HR consultant warns.

But this approach – instead of having a conversation and offering support – is all too common, says Simply Human Resources founder Karen Conrades.

Many managers still use disciplinary processes "without really understanding what they're doing", and start performance improvement plans (PIPs) prematurely, she tells HR Daily.

Therefore, she believes that giving managers the tools and understanding they need, to keep disciplinary processes separate from performance management, is one of the most useful things HR can do in an organisation...