Posts Tagged ‘performance management’

The talent obsessed are companies like GE, IBM, and Procter and Gamble who really know their people: what strengths they have, what they value as an individual, their personalities, and what drove them to their achievements. Their obsession in understanding and developing their people has brought their organizations a higher level of success than many of their competitors.

Many of you reading this are thinking, “I don’t have the resources that an IBM has”.  ”How can our company manage our talent like a Fortune 500 company?” The answer is by focusing on the important and not the urgent and taking a longer term view of your company’s human capital resources.

Here are four steps to starting on the road to becoming talent obsessed:

1. As a leader, take ownership for the development of your employees. Incorporate learning into your regular staff meetings. Delegate the learning process to your team members so that everyone is involved in the process. Be on the look out for best practices that individuals possess and have them share with their team mates. This is a great development opportunity for both the presenter and other team members.

2. Make development of employees a critical success factor for all managers within your company.  Employee development should be a significant factor in performance reviews for managers.  One great way for managers to develop others is through coaching. And if managers don’t have the coaching skills, provide them with training and become a coaching role model to them.

3. Peel back the onion and ask a lot of  quality questions to understand how a person achieved their results. The more questions you ask, the clearer you will understand the skills and talent an employee possesses.  If you identify a skill the employee has that you weren’t aware of, figure out ways that the employee can build on this skill.  This may include delegating something on your plate, or assigning her to a new project.

4. Ask others who were working with or around the individual for their feedback. Structure the questions based on what you learned in step 3, while also asking questions that can broaden your knowledge of the employee’s core talent.

Once you have gained enough knowledge of the employee’s core skills and strengths, start looking at your organization’s needs in the next 12-18 months.  Are there upcoming projects in other parts of the organization, where this employee’s talents can shine? Is there an opportunity that will stretch the person to a higher level of mastery in that talent, or will it be too much of a stretch that could frustrate him?

To become talent obsessed, the focus needs to come from the top.  Those companies who have a long term commitment to the talent inside their company will see greater long term business results because their employees will have reached their true potential and be fully engaged.

Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of leaders many who have displayed specific leadership shortfalls, that when improved, have had a positive impact on the effectiveness and profitability of the organization. Both new and experienced manager/leaders can make these top five mistakes, which one is your Achilles heel? And what is your plan to improve?

1. Focusing on the Urgent and not the Important

How much time are you spending on activities that lead to your goals versus those that are urgent and unexpected?  You would be surprised how many leaders fall into this trap. And it is a trap. In fact, I have worked with some leaders who get their “energy” from working in crisis mode.

The key is to set aside time on the calendar that is only for the important activities, and have the activities clearly prioritized so that when an urgent item is screaming at you, you can logically decide what important task can be set aside.

We all have crises, yet more often than not we move right into crisis mode before thinking through what can be moved off our plate of “importants”. Create a process that works for you in which you can smoothly move from the urgent and then back to the important.  Don’t get stuck in the urgent.

2. Lack of Consistent Communication

As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as over communication in the work place. If I had a nickel for every time a leader said to me “I told the company our (project, goal, etc), yet two weeks later they have totally forgotten the conversation”, I’d be a very wealthy person.

In this age of information overload, employees have a lot to file away and process. Communications should be implemented frequently and consistently using a variety of methods since people have different learning styles.  With the huge menu of communication technologies available to companies, messages should be delivered in person, electronically in written, audio, and video, as well as the old fashioned way, printed hard copy. For more on this topic from Harvard Business Review http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6629.html

3. Ineffective Feedback

This is a result of providing delayed and unclear feedback. It often starts by ignoring the “small stuff” with the hope that the behavior won’t happen again. More often than not, the behavior is repeated, and becomes tolerated. And it can lead to conflict avoidance by a manager.

The best time to provide feedback is immediately after the behavior is observed. Be clear about what you observed, how it impacted you, and ask for ideas from your employee about how they could approach it in the future. And then get their commitment to make the change. This process focuses more on the future as the past can’t be changed, only the future. For more thoughts on this visit http://www.executivevelocityblog.com/feedback-is-not-a-help/

And for innovative ideas on moving away from the traditional performance review feedback, read an article from Daniel Pink http://bit.ly/lJdmJk

4. Failing to Define Clear Goals

Employees need to understand how they will be measured and evaluated. Defining clear goals provides a roadmap for the employee. And more importantly, when an employee is part of her goal setting process, she has more ownership in successfully attaining her goals. Without goals, employees will not meet your performance expectations because they don’t know what they are.

For additional information on creating clear goals visit http://www.executive-velocity.com/free-tools/

5. Misunderstanding Motivation

After reading, Daniel Pink’s recent book Drive, I am convinced that leaders really need to rethink how they operate and create an environment that provides the foundation for employees to be intrinsically motivated. Too often managers think that changing the extrinsic motivators will lead to a change in behavior, and they can.  The problem is that the change is not long term and sustainable.

Once you have met an employee’s baseline extrinsic motivators, salary and benefits, you should focus on creating a foundation that encourages, autonomy, mastery, and purpose. As Pink describes in his book, all humans are driven by these three attributes.

Autonomy is all about control of tasks, time, technique, and team. Mastery is providing an opportunity to get very good at something and to continue the process and understanding that you will never be perfect.  It is the pursuit of perfection that motivates. And finally purpose, working for some greater good and not just profit.  Profit provides a means for a company’s purpose.  It is this final attribute that is found more often in smaller, entrepreneurial companies who are lead by younger leaders.

So which of these leadership mistakes would your team members say you exhibit?  And what is your plan of action to develop a way of avoiding these mistakes in the future?

More often than not, a leader is told that they are getting an executive coach without being part of the decision process. As a coach, it can create a variety of reactions from the coachee. Depending on the situation and events leading up to the decision, the continuum of reactions can be from enthusiasm to apprehension, fear, and even anger.

Variables that can influence the reaction to being coached can include but are not limited to: coaching history within the organization-positive or negative, performance feedback from the leader, leadership development plans, recent 360 degree surveys, and relationship with the leader.

So where are you on this continuum?  My experience is that if you are at the anger or fear side of the spectrum and you remain there, your opportunity to grow and learn will be a missed opportunity.

All too often, a successful leader’s initial reaction to a coaching assignment is as one of being penalized rather than one of being rewarded. And yet, once they understand the motive of their leader, more often than not it changes their perception of the coaching opportunity. Those that do make the transition from negative feelings and emotions over to a positive place can actually take advantage of the opportunity to work with an executive coach and perform to their best. The rate of this transition differs by individual and those who remain firm to their negative beliefs longer will benefit the least from coaching.  Often they move into apathy and just go through the motions.  They make changes but they aren’t developed into habits and thus the changes may dissipate after the coaching assignment has concluded.

How can you move up the continuum so that your mind opens to new ideas and perspectives and you can take full advantage of your coaching opportunity?

The first step is to understand how your manager made the decision to provide you with a coach and what her goals are for you. Often your executive coach will be involved in this discussion. Was it in a place of caring for you and a desire to see you develop to a higher level of performance? Or was she looking for one more way to try and “fix” you? And then you need to understand what she is looking for as an end result in the process.  What will she observe or measure that proves you have progressed?

Once you understand what his reasoning is and the goals he has for you then you are ready to start the coaching process by talking to several coaches. Since you will be working closely with this individual over a 6-12 month period of time, it will be important that there is a good “chemistry” between the two of you.

As you work with your coach, he will provide you with opportunities to raise your awareness of the environment and people around you as well as your self-awareness. A high level of awareness drives a high performance levels. The other necessary step in the coaching process is an acceptance of responsibility in your own thoughts, feelings, and actions. No one controls any of these personal aspects of your person. Learning to manage these parts of your persona can have a powerful impact on your performance and relationships.

The opportunity to have an executive coach is just that, an opportunity not a penalty.  An executive coach can assist you in learning more about your strengths and challenges, as well as develop into a better, higher performing leader and individual.

So after several years of proving yourself, your company finally recognizes your potential as a future leader. The opportunity for promotion, however, comes with a risk.  You have made a number of friends at work during the past few years and now you will have to manage them. I was recently reminded of this dilemma when working with a leader who had recently been promoted from an individual contributor as a lead programmer to a manager of a team of eight technicians. She was struggling with her transition from friend to manager since three of her employees were friends.

How can you make a transition from friend to manager and at the same time not loose your friends? Here are seven tips on making this transition a success:

1. Once your promotion has been announced, schedule time with each of your friends at work and outline the future guidelines for your relationship with them. No longer will you be equals in the workplace. Define what will change in your relationship with them and what won’t change.

Some of the changes should include: no coffees, breaks, or lunches with work friends unless other team members are included. Potential disciplinary action if policies, procedures, or standards aren’t adhered to at work. And, you will be asking for their feedback of you as a leader, not as a friend.

Things that should remain the same will include: respect for each other and what you bring to the team, and caring about each other as an employee and a friend.

2. Schedule a meeting with your new team and be transparent and honest about your friendships with co-workers.  Share with the team that your work friends understand their relationship with you at work has changed and that they will be treated just like the rest of the team members

3. It will be important to demonstrate fairness and equality for all who report to you. All policies and procedures, as well as work standards, will be adhered to by all employees and the consequences for non conformity will be the same for all. Be careful with this and don’t over compensate by interpreting the guidelines more strictly for your friends than for others on your team. This can lead to your friend quitting or asking for a transfer.

4. There will be situations such as new policies and guidelines that will cause frustration for you in your new role.  You should not share your frustrations with your employee friend.  Your company has seen potential in you as a leader and leaders don’t gripe to employees about company policy or direction. Leaders do bring their concerns to their managers by communicating the potential implications changes could have for the company.

5. Confidential company situations must stay confidential even if it impacts your friends at work. The ability to keep confidences is important in building trust and respect in an organization. How do you think team members will view you if you’re breaking company confidences? It certainly won’t make them feel comfortable in bringing their own confidential situations to you in fear that you will share them with others.

6. Be careful about your behavior in social situations where other employees are observing your behavior.  Remember you are no longer an equal but a role model. You are now a leader and having executive presence will be important to your success.

7. Ask for feedback from your friends about your ability as a leader.  The questions you should ask them should be focused on your behaviors as a leader such as communications, fairness, motivation, praise and recognition, listening etc.

All these steps require great communication skills. Focus your efforts on honing your skills in the following areas: listening, questioning, and story telling.  All of these must be performed skillfully and in a timely manner for a leader to be successful especially when managing friends.

A recent interview with Tiger Wood’s new coach provides smoe great tips for changing behavior.  The specifics of golf, for someone who is not a golfer, is not the important message in this article. As an executive coach to many business owners, what I found to be important in this article was the idea of keeping things simple and teaching/coaching in a minimalist way.  It also reminded me of the importance of your emotions and thoughts when dealing with change.

When trying to make adjustments to your leadership style, how are your emotions impacting your ability to make the necessary adjustments to enhance your leadership performance?

You can read the whole interview here. http://bit.ly/fQpaBi

We’ve all been there.  An annual sit down with our boss who proceeds to give us feedback on what we have done right and wrong over the past months or worse years! It is an exercise that never brings positive results unless it is paired with feedforward.  Feedforward is a term I first heard from Marshall Goldsmith the guru in executive coaching and author of “What got you here, Won’t get you there”.

Marshall’s point is that feedback focuses on the past which can’t be changed.  Why not focus on the future and what changes you can make that can alter future results for you both personally and professionally?

Here are some questions I use with my coaching clients that focus on the future that you can use the next time you are leading managing a person or team after identifying the past problem.  The example I am going to use is a case where the manager didn’t like to have meetings because they frustrated him. As we explored his frustration it was brought out that the meetings were focused on past results and many of the items reviewed could have been done by email or phone.

So here are some of the questions I asked:

How can the meeting be structured so that the discussions are focused on the future? What can you do before the meeting to keep it focused on the future? What behaviors do you have that can derail the process? How do you keep these behaviors in check during the meeting? How will you feel when you have a successful meeting? If you are unable to make this happen, what will be the impact to you and the organization moving forward?

So next time you are stuck in the past, switch gears and feedforward!

Have you recently delivered a performance review to an employee who was surprised at your feedback? And in turn you were surprised at their reaction?

Mind the Gap, reports that on average managers rate their employees performance and contribution by almost a half point less than employees self-ratings.

There are five known biases that attribute to rating discrepancies between managers and employees

• Two Self-rater biases: the need for self-esteem and the lack of self-awareness
• Three Manager biases: lack of awareness of an employee’s contributions, justification of their role as a manager,  and budget justifications relating to pay increases

So if the gap is widening, what steps can be taken to decrease the effect of these biases and narrow the gap in performance ratings?

I would suggest that increasing an employee’s self awareness and increasing a manager’s awareness of employee contributions are two biases that can be decreased.

Decreasing Bias in Performance Reviews

Let’s start with the employee. Self-awareness can be improved through assessment tools such as Myers Briggs, 360º degree feedback, etc. Assessment tools should be used in conjunction with coaching.  It is important that employees have their assessments explained in detail to them so they can relate the results back to their workplace and position within the organization. Learning for the assessments is critical to actually increasing self-awareness. Results of the assessment as they relate to changes in performance should be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

On the management side of the equation, increasing the awareness of employees’ contributions can be addressed by:

• incorporating a team review into performance reviews.
• performance goals should be jointly developed with the employee
• separate performance reviews from salary reviews

Team Reviews

When I ran a consulting company, we instituted a team review process. Because the consultants often worked on multiple engagements for multiple leaders, it was a necessary step to get a true sense of an employee’s contributions. Your company may not have this specific organizational dynamic but there are other employees who interact with the employee being reviewed whether it be a cross functional project, or department team members as a manager it is imperative to get a wide input on an employee’s performance.

Goal Collaboration

When putting together performance goals, the employee should be part of the process. Including the employee in the process provides both manager and employee to clearly define what constitutes specific levels of contributions and the employee’s ownership and commitment to the goals are strengthened.

Separate Performance and Pay

When performance and salary reviews are linked together something interesting happens, the employee forgets all the feedback and only remembers how much money she will be making in the future. So of course an employee is going to rate themselves higher in performance than the manager, their pay increase depends on it!

Many companies have moved to a process of performance reviews done more than once a year and the salary review is completed outside of any performance review.Multiple reviews provide consistent feedback and the opportunity for the employee to make adjustments to their contributions.

In short, providing employees with assessment tools to elevate their self awareness and incorporating team reviews, goal collaboration, and separating performance and salary reviews will help to narrow the performance gap ratings. Ultimately if these gaps are closed or narrowed, your employees will be happier and more engaged in their work. And as a manager, you will have more time to manage and lead.