Here are three things that can cause stress on a project:

1.) Tight deadlines
2.) Long hours
3.) A struggling team member

While individually these can all lead to stress on a project team, combined they can be deadly. The first two problems mentioned above are hard to mitigate, especially when they are both occurring at the same time. However, the third one seems like an easy solution on the surface: Cut the team member loose. Unfortunately, this is a tactic that is taken much too quickly in many situations. Instead, I would counsel the following: Take the extra time to try and develop the team member. Here are a few situations in which this especially a good idea:

When the person has been on the team for awhile - Regardless of someone’s performance, the fact that they’ve been on the team for awhile should always give you a moment of hesitation about letting them go. The reason for this is that ramping up a new person to your project can be a big hassle, especially if you’re tight on time. In general, if the current team member is not completely inept at what they’re doing, you’ll spend less time developing the struggling team member than ramping up a completely new one. Experience always counts for something in my book.

When the person is honestly trying - It may sound corny, but if somebody is giving an honest effort you should definitely consider helping them out. Why? In my opinion, it’s better to have a known quantity who you know is 50% of the way there than a new person who could conceivably not give you the same level of effort and struggle. Also, maybe their problem is that they are just going about things in the wrong way. With a good work ethic and the right direction, they might even become one of your best performers.

Does this mean you should keep someone until the bitter end? Of course not. There’s always a limit to how much time you can invest in someone before you have to start clean with someone new. In fact, before you start on a course of improvement you should definitely define how this limit and also set clear performance goals and time frames for the team member. At the end, if it doesn’t work out it just doesn’t work out. However, the possible reward of taking that extra time is almost always worth not making that snap decision.