Thank you for surfacing this consideration. As a manger, I have to constantly ask myself if my direct report is doing it wrong, or simply differently than I would. There is nothing wrong with different, assuming results still follow. I like your management approach in this case. Thank you.

So I agree with everything you’ve said–but I also see one additional consideration for the manager to explore. Could this be a case of different working styles or neurodiversity? Some workers with ADHD, for example, may struggle to focus when expected to fit into the mold of what someone else thinks is “organized,” but can still be effective workers if they find their own strategies for managing their work.

It’s possible that this employee truly is unproductive, but if the manager truly wants to help, they will need to be clear on the difference between the required standards for the work, from an objective point of view, and “how I would have done it.” Perhaps it would help, somewhere along the line, to ask the employee something like “What can I do as a supervisor to help you do your best work?”