Onboarding a struggling new hire

You are an HR Business Partner at Cobalt Manufacturing — 1,200 employees, industrial equipment, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

It is Wednesday afternoon. Dana Chen, Director of Enterprise Sales, pulls you into a conference room.

"I need your help with Marcus. He joined us eight weeks ago from Hartline Industries — direct competitor, top performer there by all accounts, knows the product cold. But he's not adapting. He skips our Monday stand-ups saying they're a waste of time. He sent two proposals to clients last week without going through internal review — one had a pricing error that almost caused a contract dispute. And I've heard from two clients that his communication style is too aggressive, almost combative. He's clearly talented but I'm not sure he's a cultural fit. I want to start a PIP."

You ask Dana for specifics. She provides: - Stand-ups missed: 4 of 8 in his first two months - Proposal sent without review: 2 incidents (the second after being warned) - Client complaints: 2 written, both from new accounts he is handling solo - Performance vs quota: 62% of pipeline target (team average is 71%)

You schedule a meeting with Marcus. Before it, you check with two of his peers who describe him as "smart but impatient" and "acts like we're slowing him down."

In your meeting, Marcus says:

"I came here to sell, not to sit in meetings. At Hartline I was top rep three years running — I know how to manage clients. The review process here adds five days to every proposal and half the time my manager's changes make it worse. I'm trying to do my job."