Firing people is really under rated as a motivation tool – hear me out.

It’s not about punishment and intimidation – those things only work for short periods of time.  AND — as soon as you turn your back, people go back to what they were doing before.  It’s also not very nice.

Rather – by removing a consistent poor performer, you do that person’s peers (the rest of your team) a tremendous service.  If there are six people working on a team, and I am consistently not pulling my weight, then the impact of my non-performance is far more tangible on my peers than it would be to my boss.

This lesson was delivered home to me back when I had a real job as a manager – one that required me to occasionally fire people.  One member of our team constantly called in sick on short notice – a behavior that significantly, and negatively impacted his co-workers.  A bunch of us ended up working late because this person had called in sick, and we decided to go for a beer after work.\

We walked in to a local pub about 9pm, and saw our absent co-worker dancing on top of speaker.  It was quite obvious he’d been there for some time.  Apparently this fellow wasn’t very smart either – he chose to go partying at a place a block from work.

It was an easy decision to fire him, but what happened next surprised me.  Several of his peers thanked me getting rid of the guy, and one even challenged me on what took me so long!

I’m not suggesting you fire the bottom 10% of performers every month.  I am suggesting you provide crystal-clear expectations, do everything you can to help people be successful, and when the occasional person chooses to consistently betray his team and not perform, that you do not hesitate to remove that person.

Channel your “inner-Trump”.  Your team will thank you for it.

In the past fifteen years, I’ve been in and out of dozens of organizations, all of which had some process for conducting Performance Reviews.  Of all of them, only one organization did them consistently, and did them well.  The rest of them conducted performance reviews that ranged between ineffective, and highly offensive.

This got me to thinking what all these organizations have in common when it comes to Performance Reviews, so here are the top five (of several dozen) reasons why Performance Reviews usually suck:

1)   Everybody wants more feedback – as long as it’s good. Yep… as much as your Gen Y types tell you they crave feedback, they really only want it if it confirms their worldview that they are beyond fantastic.  Any suggestions for improvement are usually met with a thud.  It is only the most elite of corporate cultures that have overcome this aspect of human nature.  These organizations train and encourage people to constantly seek out feedback that will make them better – which sometimes requires facing up to the fact you don’t do some things well.

2)   Performance Reviews are non-specific. They often contain broad sweeping statements about someone being “good with customers”, or “needing improvement on follow through”.  These observations are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.  If it’s not specific, don’t bother.  Bring data or specific behavioral observations.

3)   People are too polite.  Most supervisors hate performance reviews more than the employees.  So they try to get through them as quickly as possible, without hurting anyone’s feelings.  Great organizations, and great leaders use performance appraisals as catalyst for improvement.  This actually requires giving people feedback on how they can improve – rather than just trying to keep the peace.

4)   Performance reviews are structured too much like report cards. If the performance review is simply “the year in review” without any mention of the future, or developmental opportunities, then it is a waste of time.  Even more of a waste of time is a 4 or 5 point rating system that employees are graded on with little thought or explanation.  No wonder people hate them.

5)   They are disconnected with what people do every day. The big problem with performance reviews is that they are designed by HR people, or external consultants who have absolutely no idea what people in a particular role do everyday.  Hence people are assessed on things they rarely or never do, and the bulk of their efforts are not captured by the criteria or format used.

Employees don’t have any accountability for the Performance Review process.  OK… I said five reasons, so this one is a bonus.  In most organizations, the employee merely shows up for a performance review meeting, having lent no thought or effort to outcome.  Great organizations and great managers insist that employees complete some form of self-assessment in advance of the meeting so that the success of the process is shared.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Conducting a Mid Year Performance Review.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Conducting a Mid Year Performance Review.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss why you’d bother with a Mid-Year review, and how it’s different than a regular Performance Review.  Also learn how to manage the mid-year performance review discussion to ensure it’s effective.

Watch ‘The Mid Year Performance Review’ Video (15 mins 17 sec):

So if I read all the management literature correctly, then to improve employee morale, I should hire a concierge, allow people to bring their pets to work, and every day at 3.00pm we should join hands in a circle and sing campfire songs.  Personally, I can’t think of anything that would make me start looking for alternative employment faster.

So what does impact morale, and should managers care?

First of all, they should care – just not about concierges and employee sing-alongs.  Morale is a key driver of attendance and retention both of which have a clear and immediate impact on costs.  Morale also creates and maintains employee discretionary effort — which has a clear and immediate impact on productivity, quality and safety.  Besides all of that, it’s just way more fun to work at a place where people are engaged.

There are several ways for leaders to impact morale.  Perhaps one of the most important is a consistent, fair, and well thought out progressive discipline process.  Yep, that’s right… I’m suggesting that progressive discipline and higher employee morale are highly correlated.  Here’s why:

When one member of a team consistently doesn’t pull his weight, it is rarely the boss that feels the impact of this.  Most often it is that laggard’s peers.  By addressing one person’s poor performance, others are both relieved and validated.  They are relieved that the discipline will either lead to the person beginning to pull their weight, or that the person will be replaced by someone who will.  They are validated by the demonstration that their effort is superior to that of the person receiving the discipline.

The most highly effective workplaces have predictable and clear consequences for both good and poor performance, so it is not good enough for a leader simply to focus on discipline.  However, many managers put off uncomfortable discussions about poor performance using the excuse that any intervention will harm morale.  In fact, the opposite it true.

Oh No.  Now you’ve got to go do it.

Go ahead… discipline someone for poor performance, and improve your team’s morale.

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss why and how progressive discipline should be undertaken in an organization.

Watch the ‘Progressive Discipline’ Video (15 mins 36 sec):

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Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Employee Discipline Procedures.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

This Generation X cohort is a real piece of work, isn’t it?  Is it possible to have a whole generation stuck in a massive inferiority complex?  It’s kind of like meeting a Canadian backpacking across Europe.  Yeah we get it – those 500 Maple Leafs you’re wearing mean you come from Canada.  The rest of us don’t really care that much, but you go ahead and dress up like a Mountie.

Gen X is not unlike when Jan Brady got completely bent out of shape because everything was “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.”  (You have to be a Gen Xer to get that reference).  Grow up Jan, and stop being so annoying.

Actually all this generation talk is getting a bit boring.

In 1994, I suffered through a breakfast seminar where the guest speaker was telling us how this new generation of worker was completely different than anything that had every come before it.  These Generation X types were not loyal to any employer, didn’t care too much about their jobs, and were just generally hard to get along with.

Remembering back on this particular breakfast seminar now, it was particularly offensive on at least three levels:

1. About 2500 years ago, some guy named “Socrates” made the same observation.  I’m more familiar with the published works of Socrates than I am with the guest speaker (whose name I’ve forgotten) that morning, so I’m going to assume it wasn’t an original talk.  Although the flashy Powerpoint slides were something that Socrates never pulled off.
2. Those entering the workforce in the early 1990s had just watched their parents be laid-off en masse after a lifetime of loyalty to their companies to take on a new role as an unemployed middle-aged former corporate drone with no real marketable skills.  Add to this, the fact that Generation X – to date the most educated generation in history – walked into a job market with very few prospects, and you may begin to understand some of their crankiness.
3. These Gen Xers did finally manage to find jobs — though not the cool, self-fulfilling ones they were promised.  Fast forward in time twenty years and these Gen Xers are now lamenting the fact that the generation that came after them has no loyalty to their organizations, and don’t care too much about their jobs.  It really does come fully circle, doesn’t it?

We need to quit trying to rationalize and explain the fact it is each generations’ express mission to drive the generation immediately preceding it crazy.  How else can you explain the music of the devil (also known as Jazz) that today’s older retirees used to make their parents foam at the mouth with anger.

Your job as a leader is to get other people to do what you want them to do, because they want to do it (with credit to Dwight Eisenhower).  Spending a whole bunch of time trying to label and define different generations won’t help you with that.

Finally, just to prove there’s no hard feelings about the crack about Canadians above, this week’s video is dedicated to those viewing from Canada:

What the hell is a mentor anyway?  I hear the word, and I always think of Captain Marvel’s alter ego, Billy Batson, and his nameless Mentor.  As best I can tell, Mentor’s job was to drive a Winnebago around the United States with no particular destination in mind, and to give clichéd advice to Billy, all while giving any casual observers the creepy feeling they might be witnesses some form of pedophilia in progress.

The Management Gurus will tell you that when mentoring works well, it is a relationship of high trust, where the Mentor knows and understands the technical, political and social ramifications of a particular organization, but does not have organizational power or control over a person.  Some organizations even assign two people to each other for a mentor-mentee arrangement.

I don’t think this type of relationship is really possible in most organizations, and here’s why:

• We fired most of the middle-managers that could have served in such a role several years ago.  Now, outside of the occasional peer, there is no one to act in this capacity.
• Mentoring relationships take time – years in some cases.  Most people don’t stay in one job, or at one location that long anymore.
• Workplaces are generally lower trust environments than they were a decade or two ago.  Employees don’t trust the employer to act in their individual best interests, and employers see their people as disloyal.

Many organizations start these well-intentioned, but misguided attempts at mentorship programs.  Mentoring relationships, by definition, must occur organically, so drawing up a schedule to pair one person with another is a waste of paper.  Not to mention the awkward situation this puts the participants in:

“I’d like to introduce you to your new mentor!  Now run along and share your deepest fears and aspirations with this person.”

So here’s my alternative:  a personal Board of Directors.  Don’t be put-off by how badly publically traded companies have bastardized this good idea.  It is their implementation that is suspect, not the idea.  There are a variety of aspects of your professional life (and maybe your personal life, too) that could benefit from the external feedback of a Board of Directors.

If you’ve found a great mentor, then that person, may provide adequate direction for all axes of your professional life.  If you don’t have a mentoring relationship in place, you may want to consider a different person for each of the following areas:

• Technical – how can you better execute the core skills of your job?
• Political – how do you negotiate the politics?
• Organizational/Social  — who are the true leaders of the organization, and who defers to whom?
• Networking – Who do you need to know?  Who knows them?
• Community involvement — What causes or initiatives should you be involved in.
• Self-promotion – How do you raise your profile, without coming across as a bootlicker?

There are undoubtedly other categories unique to your situation too.  Perhaps you have people who can serve in more than one role, or maybe you have someone for each different aspect.

Just make sure you use their real name, and don’t address them as “Political Director”, otherwise you may leave people with that creepy impression like Billy Batson and Mentor did.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about How to Mentor Someone.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about How to Mentor Someone.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Join Jed & Bob as they discuss why you would want to be a mentor, and what the roles of mentor and mentee entail.  Also learn about the Mentoring Agreement.

Watch the ‘Now I’m a Mentor: Being Yoda’ Video (13 mins 26 sec):

Download the  ”How to Mentor Someone” Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

I worked with a client, who confided in me that he was about to quit his job in a senior leadership role within the organization.  Mike was really smart, and hard working, but had a bit of a blind-spot when it came to political considerations within the workplace.  He always insisted that he didn’t play politics.  What he failed to realize is that you can’t choose whether to play workplace politics or not.  You play, or you get played.

Mike and I role-played his resignation conversation a bit, and it became clear to me very early that this was going to be a disaster of epic proportions.  Mike was determined to teach his boss, and the organization a lesson on his way out.  No one was safe – his boss, his peers, and his direct reports were all targets of his wrath.

In completely unrelated news, Mike was a smoker.  Putting the addictive nature of tobacco use aside, people smoke because the short-term consequences of smoking are immediate, certain and generally positive.  How else can you look cool, get a nicotine high and relax yourself?  It feels good.  The longer-term death and illness are problems for another day.

Mike’s choice in how he chose to leave the organization was parallel reasoning, and equally as stupid.  He had watched too many crap-TV shows that erroneously illustrate people quitting their jobs by sticking it to their boss and the organization, feeling a huge sense of relief and a temporary euphoria before moving on to bigger and better things.

The reality of a grand-mal resignation is more like the eventual cancer and emphysema that smokers get.  It feels good for a few minutes, but ultimately sabotages the quitter’s longer-term career prospects.

Before Mike chose to light his future with the glow of the bridges he’d burned behind him, he may have wanted to consider how and when he might run into some of these people again.

Mike didn’t know which one of the peers he burned on his way out might be a hiring manager at another organization five years from now.  He also had no way to know that the boss he called everything short of illegitimate would also be submitting his notice shortly because he was taking on a new role at the same firm Mike was moving to.

Oh, that’s going to be awkward.  But they never talk about that on the sitcoms.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Best Way to Quit Your Job.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Best Way to Quit Your Job.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Learn how to quit your job without completely derailing your career.

Watch the ‘How To Quit Your Job Gracefully’ Video (14 mins 34 sec):

Download ‘The Best Way to Quit Your Job’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

How did this happen?  When you were a teenager, you were very clearly smarter than your parents.  Then you went on, and got yourself a whole bunch of education, worked hard, and are now leading a team of people.  Half of them are old enough to be your parents.

Managing your mom?  You didn’t sign up for this.

Oh to be a Baby Boomer — The single most important demographic cohort in the history of the planet.  The baby boomers have absolutely dominated the workplace since the 1960s, and are only slowly giving up their grip now.  If you were born after about 1965, then it is a good news/bad news story for you.

The bad news is the Boomers racked up your “societal credit card debt”, that will take several generations to pay off.  The good news is they’ve already cured erectile dysfunction, and they are bound and determined to stay youthful forever, which bodes well for all those that follow.

In the workplace, this has a number of ramifications.  If you’ve got a boomer working for you, you might have to put up with the occasional tardy arrival, if you are to believe the Cialis commercials.  It also means when you start talking about ISPs, ASPs and HTML, their eyes will glaze over faster than Paris Hilton’s would on Jeopardy.

Keep in mind that there is something to be learned from this generation.  Yes they were financially reckless with your future, and made the planet into an environmental disaster, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know a thing or two about whatever business you are in.

The Boomers have seen several business cycles come and go, and will tell you (with certain credibility) that they’ve seen it all previously.  Everything in business comes full circle – just the details are marginally different.  If you listen carefully to the Boomers working for you, you just might get a jump on whatever is going to happen next.

They can’t manage email to save their life, and they think microwaves and fax machines are high tech, but if you discount their input and feedback, it is at your peril.

Learn how to lead and manage the balding and grey.

Watch the ‘Baby Boomers in the Workforce’ Video (13 mins 46 sec):

Download the ‘Managing Baby Boomers in the Workforce’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Managing Baby Boomers in the Workforce.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Baby Boomers in the Workforce.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

You’re out on a limb when you ask for a raise.  It’s kind of like being a teenager again, and asking someone out on a date for the first time.  The stakes are high – if you’re successful, you’ll feel good, and look like a hero to your peers.  If you’re not successful, you’ll look and feel like an idiot.

The reactions to success and rejection are similar too.  If you get the raise (or the date), you become the cock of the walk.  If you get rejected, you try to keep it quiet, or if asked, you say you really didn’t want it anyway.

The outcome of a raise request is highly personal – people equate it with their personal value.  It’s a bad idea to attach your perception of personal value to someone else’s assessment of you.  It is a good idea, however to attach your professional value to the goals of the organization.

Several years ago I did quite a bit of work with a company that conducted employee satisfaction surveys.  In addition to many questions about their leadership and work environment, we asked employees about compensation.  We discovered that there is almost no way that compensation can be a driver of employee satisfaction.

People are either neutral or dissatisfied with their compensation level.  No one is ever actually satisfied with the money they make, presumably because more is always better.

People become dissatisfied with their compensation for a variety of reasons, but one of the most prevalent is because they find out someone else is making more than them.  This judgmental itch often extends beyond our immediate peers, causing anger because of how much the CEO makes, or others far removed from our own circle.

There seems to be a disproportionate amount of anger addressed at CEOs and politicians; while we have a collective blind spot for sports and movie stars.  The CEOs have successfully equated their action and leadership with value for the organization (or they bribed the Board of Directors), and politicians, for the most part are underpaid.

If we should be angry at anything, it should probably be at overpaid movie stars who have done little else than won the genetic lottery for meeting our narrowly defined societal version of what is good looking.  However, many movie stars have a good argument that if a movie is going to make $300 million dollars, then $20 million for a pretty face has certainly contributed to its success.

And that’s the lesson for the rest of us.  We should spent no time being angry or bitter about what other people are getting paid, and channeling our energy into clearly demonstrating the value that we add to our organizations.

Either that, or ask the boss’s daughter out on a date.

Learn how to ask for a raise … and get it.

Watch the ‘Asking Your Boss for a Raise’ Video (14 mins 25 sec):

Download the ‘Asking Your Boss For a Raise’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Asking Your Boss For A Raise.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Asking Your Boss for a Raise.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Learn what you (as an individual manager) can do to retain employees and reduce turnover.

Watch the ‘Employee Retention Strategies for Individual Managers’ Video (14 mins 54 sec):

Download the ‘Retention of Employees’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Retention of Employees. And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Retention of Employees. And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

OK… maybe they are created equal, but after their first day of work, they are no longer on an equal footing.

So before the letters start, let me be clear that I would never suggest inequality due to gender, race, sexual orientation or any of the other usual culprits.  I am a firm believer that once you take the time to get to know a person, there are so many other reasons to dislike them, that normally defined prejudices need not apply.

But I read in the business press that I need to install a hot tub in every other office at work to make sure that no one quits.  Here’s the thing:  I desperately want a few of them to quit.  I don’t exactly have grounds to fire them, but I know that if a vacancy comes up, I can do better.  So the last thing I want to do is make it too comfortable for them… then they’ll never quit.

The HR people hate this part: some people are simply more valuable to organizations than others.  It doesn’t mean that we don’t value all people, nor does it mean that we don’t treat all people with respect.  It does mean that we will work harder to keep some people on board than others.

Many of the employee retention programs out there are horribly misguided in this regard.  They are well intentioned in so far as wanting to create a positive working environment, but these programs miss the mark by not identifying and targeting those employees that we especially want to keep.

Yes, I know it’s problematic to only put the hot tubs in some offices, but not others.  However, the very best employee retention tactic is investing in, and developing high quality leadership within an organization.  Most people that leave a company actually “quit their boss”, rather than resign from the organization.

Interestingly, a high quality leader can also raise the performance of that employee I talked about earlier that I would rather part company with.  If the employee can’t be saved, then a high quality leader will steward the employee’s departure out of the organization in a professional and respectful manner.

The bottom line is that if organizations are serious about retaining high quality employees, they should save the investment in air-hockey tables, hot tubs, and concierge services, and funnel those resources into the attraction and development of high quality leadership throughout the organization.

You’ll get better returns, retain more high quality employees, and won’t have water damage from the steam of the hot tub.

Here’s a quiz:  In my organization HR is/are:

a)    A highly professional service provider that partners with managers to maximize shareholder value through effective people management practice.

b)   The people who organize our Christmas parties and picnics

c)    Where people who couldn’t make it in the core business go to be marginalized to the point where they do a minimum of damage.

OK – maybe HR’s an easy target in many organizations, but if beating up HR is a fun way to relieve some tension mid-day at the water cooler, you really won’t like what comes next:

If your HR group truly sucks, then your organization most likely sucks, too.

Yep, that’s right.  I’m suggesting there is a direct correlation between highly effective HR, and a highly effective organization.  Furthermore, I’d suggest that organizational managers get the HR departments they deserve.  If your HR group is solely administrative in nature, and generally not very high performing, then that is exactly the quality of service you as a manager, or an organization has asked for.

You may like or hate Jack Welch, but it would pretty hard to argue that GE wasn’t a high performing organization when he was running it.  Just about any time you heard Welch speak, he would talk about what he was doing, and he’d also talk about Bill Conaty – his HR guy.  For GE, the HR portfolio was extremely important.  Some other Jack Welch quotes about HR:

“A high quality senior HR person is as critical as the CFO”

HR should “get out of the picnic business”

And his advice to HR people:  “Don’t be a victim”

Every organization has its version of the “People are our most important asset” speech, but Welch actually lived it.  People will jump all over this, because Welch had an impressive record of firing people.  But valuing people necessarily means that you remove barriers to a team’s success, and sometimes this means removing people.

The strongest organizations I have worked with have highly-competent, business-focused HR people.  They also insist that every manager in the company is an HR manager.  HR is not something that is delegated to a central group – it is actively managed by every leader, every day.  The HR group’s role in these high-performing organizations is to set organizational leaders up to be outstanding managers of the human asset.

Picnics and Christmas parties need to be assigned elsewhere – perhaps the marketing department isn’t busy.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about HR as a Strategic Partner.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Why Care about HR?

Why should organizations care about having an HR strategic partner?  In many cases HR is viewed a necessary evil in a company, and is simply part of the overhead cost of doing business.  This is the case in poorly run companies that do not have HR as a strategic partner.  There are no world-class companies with weak HR departments.  Excellence requires great HR, or an HR strategic partner.

Here are some other reasons to strive create an organization that has an HR strategic partner:

• Employees are expensive, and good leadership/management maximizes the value of organization’s investment in people.
• Great HR has better firm performance*
  • 63% less unwanted turnover
  • 400% greater sales per employee
  • Over 3 times greater Market Value:Book Value

*Becker, Brian E., Mark A. Huselid and Dave Ulrich, The HR Scorecard – Linking People, Strategy and Performance (Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass. 2001)

Top 10 Reasons HR Often Sucks

There are a variety of reasons that people become frustrated with their HR departments.  Here are our Top 10 reasons why organizations end up without an HR Strategic Partner:

1. Organizations don’t know what they want/need from HR. As companies evolve and grow, the focus of HR and what management needs them to do changes.  Often, there is no thought given to what are the key drivers of human performance.  Being an HR strategic partner requires a clear understanding of what the HR group will do, and what they will not do.
2. In the absence of clear direction, HR is reduced to arranging picnics and Christmas parties.  Because there is no direction from the organization, the HR group ends up becoming a “catch-all” where all the administrative jobs fall into.  Once the HR group becomes overwhelmed with useless trivia, they do not have the time or talent to conduct more vital and valuable work.  Being an HR strategic partner requires elevating above mere administration.
3. We make HR the policy-cops. There is no doubt that HR should be involved in the drafting of policy, but their role in enforcement should be that of an advisor, not an enforcer.  It is the job of individual managers to enforce policy.  An HR strategic partner coaches, supports and advises managers through the enforcement of policy issues.
4. There is no HR business plan. HR needs to have clear deliverables and measures just like any other business.  The HR business plan needs roll out of the greater organizations strategic, tactical and action plans.  An HR strategic partner enables the achievement of the overall business plan through superior people practice.
5. Managers like to use HR as a scapegoat. It’s much easier for managers to tell their people unpleasant news if they can pin it on someone else.  Usually the target of such finger-pointing is either higher-level management, or the HR group.  In either case it is inappropriate.  Managers need to take responsibility for the leadership and management of their human assets.  An HR strategic partner is a trusted advisor to getting this done well.
6. HR is not properly staffed.  If your HR group is filled with able administrators, but not people with any real business training or experience, you will not have an HR strategic partner (although your staff picnics will probably be great).
7. HR reports through finance. The practice of having HR report through Finance is far too common.  If you want an HR strategic partner, HR needs to report to the people responsible for executing the strategy.  If HR isn’t at the senior leadership table, then it is highly hypocritical to claim that “employees are our most important asset.”
8. HR people do not know the core business. In order to provide quality, professional advice to managers in the core business, an HR strategic partner needs to understand that core business.  It is not necessary to be expert, but there are many organizations where the HR people do not fully understand how the company operates, or how it manages and measures its success.
9. HR should be a place for high performers, not the company ghetto. If an organization expects outstanding performance from its HR group, it needs to staff it with outstanding people.  If HR becomes the ghetto of the organization where we put people who couldn’t make it in the core business, or a place where we hire less than the best to try to meet diversity requirements, you won’t have an HR strategic partner.
10. HR needs to be better at selling itself, and influencing others in the organization.  An HR strategic partner is an influencer more so that s/he is a decision-maker.  As such HR needs to become much better at “selling” its viewpoint.  Moreover, for organizations that don’t’ know how they should best use HR, it is up to the HR people to define and sell its role in the company.

What’s to be done?

If you find that your organization has an HR department that sucks for any or all of the reasons above then action needs to be taken right away.  As a starter:

1. Have an HR business plan that is attached to the organization’s strategic plan. Without a clear focus, there is no chance of having an HR strategic partner.
2. Get skilled business people into HR. If you staff your HR department like an organizational ghetto, your results will match.  An HR strategic partner is a highly skilled, high-potential human asset.
3. Get HR to the table. An HR strategic partner needs to be included in all important discussions.  If HR’s not at the table when those discussions take place, there is no change of maximizing the value of the human asset, and no change of truly being a high performing organization.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about HR as a Strategic Partner.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Bob and Jed discuss the Top 10 reasons why HR often sucks, and what you can do to begin to fix it.

Watch the ‘Why HR Often Sucks’ Video (14 mins 59 sec):

Download the ‘Why HR Often Sucks’ Video (mp4)

Download the ‘Why HR Often Sucks’ Audio (mp3)

Why HR Often Sucks Podcast Slides (.ppt)

Check out the ‘HR as a Strategic Partner: Why HR Often Sucks’ Cheat Sheet

The first day on a new job is a harrowing experience.  It creates impressions on all those you work with, and sets the stage for your success (or failure) with that employer.

Probably my most memorable first day on the job was literally my first day on the job – any job.  I was fifteen years old, and I got a job bagging groceries at the local supermarket.  Ron Grant was the manager on duty, and he met me at the door.  Ron was never one to smile much, but he was a good guy, and he knew his job very well.

What he didn’t do as well, was to remember people’s names.  From my first day onwards, my name was always “Brad” – the curse of having a last name that is many others’ first name.  In the months to come, I’d hear him paging Brad time after time, and then wonder why Brad (whoever that was) never answered.

Ron toured me through the whole store, stopping along the way to introduce me to everyone on staff that we met, and to point out the things I might need to know for my new career wrapping groceries.  He also doled out advice that was very useful and well intentioned, but easily could have been included in the best-seller, “Sh*t My Dad Says.”  Needless to say, I learned some new words and expressions that day, that came in very handy when I recycled them back at high school.

I learned in the months and years to come, that Ron oriented me to my new workplace completely of his own initiative.  The organization really had no process for bringing people on besides the requisite signing of the official paperwork.

At the end of this orientation, he returned me to the front of the store, where I’d spend the next several years bagging groceries.

“Any questions?” asked Ron.

“Nope… I’m ready to go.” I replied.

“Great”, he said, as I turned to get started.  “Hey Brad,”

“Yep?”

“Your fly’s open”, he said without cracking a smile.

Presumably, he’d noticed this before he’d toured me through the whole place, but had waited until now to share this news with me.  It’s been a while since I’ve been teenage boy, but I’m assuming at the time I would have had checklist of basic hygiene items – such as making sure one’s zipper was properly secured.  Apparently, first day job jitters successfully eclipsed basic personal maintenance items.

Walking around in a public place with your fly open — I suppose that’s one way to make a first impression on when starting a new job.

“Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses”

If that is the opening line at an employment interview, you may want to run away so fast that there is a “you-shaped” hole in the door.  If you hear those words come out of your own mouth as a hiring manager, you need to do some work to up your game for this important managerial function.

Let’s examine why this is a useless question that shows a startling lack of imagination:

• First of all, this is a question that invites insincere answers.  You might as well ask, “could you dust off some lies and embellishments, and trot them out now?”

• Second, you are not really testing the validity of the match between the competencies required for a position, and the profile of a candidate.  Your questions need to be far more specific than this.

• Third, this question invites the most rehearsed, least spontaneous answers.  It is possible as the hiring manager, you hear something in the syndicated response that you can follow up on, but that would be pure good luck.

I know that many managers and recruiters will disagree with my viewpoint on this, so to encourage you to abandon this useless question, here are some typical responses, and the literal translation.  You can cut and paste these ones into your interview notes, and spare the candidate the pain of the question:

What are your strengths?

• I’m a hard worker. I don’t have any other interests or hobbies, and like to spend upwards to 80 hours a week at the office.
• I’m a people person. I really like people, and even the few I don’t like I will treat with mock civility.
• I’m detail oriented. I’d much rather lose myself in a spreadsheet than deal with people.

What are your weaknesses?

• I’m a perfectionist. Not only am I perfect, but I demand the same of everyone around me.  I’m a delight at the water-cooler.
• I’m impatient. If my paycheque is an hour late, I will launch a class-action suit on behalf of everyone who works here.
• I work too hard. I’m not quite sure what I’m doing, so I’ll compensate by being in the office at 6am, and not leave until 9pm.  I’ll probably be on stress leave before the end of my first month.

In an interview, either as the hiring manager, or the candidate, you want some indication that the person you are dealing with is semi-intelligent.  You also hope that you are portraying yourself similarly.  Otherwise, you might as well audition for a reality-based TV show with the other mentally impaired contestants.

I had trouble choosing just one video clip this week, so I gave up, and embedded both of them.

If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you’ll know we like The Office, Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live, and 30 Rock.  With only a few other exceptions, broadcast television is an incredible waste of time, and like other recreational drugs, should be used only occasionally and sparingly.

Interestingly, life on the corporate food-chain is not unlike a poorly written sitcom.  Perhaps that is why so many of them are set in the workplace.  Both the workplace and the crappy sitcoms have protagonists, antagonists, and usually some version of the mentally unbalanced.  Bad writing and poor acting are part of both as well.  Perhaps the only significant difference is that on a sitcom, big problems can neatly be wrapped up in 22 minutes, so there’s time to sell soap and give you a preview to next week’s silliness.

I decided to do some research for this post, so I sat for an evening to watch some sitcoms to make sure I hadn’t misplaced my contempt, and to bring myself up to date on some of the blubber being offered up on TV.

Apparently prime-time comedy is getting worse.  It is also apparent that one doesn’t need an abundance of talent to write this stuff, so Wily Manager proudly presents:

Manager in the Middle

Manager in the Middle is an innovative new sitcom from the people who bring you the Wily Manager weekly podcasts.  The primary character (yet to be named, pending focus group results) is a smart, but cheeky manager constantly being offset by his sadistic immediate supervisor.

The supervisor, Cruela (played by Jane Lynch) loves to pit one manager off against another believing this “healthy” competition will better help her run her business.  Our protagonist is also matrix-managed by a kind, cautious human-resource manager who always knows the right thing to do, but is unwilling to make a decision, and is incredibly conflict-adverse.

Our hero (played by Frankie Muniz (he’s all grown up now)) has four peer managers who all report to Cruella.  Rounding out the cast is:

• Vlad: The hard-working, smart, reliable foreigner who is easily pushed around for fear of losing his work visa (played by Fez from That 70s Show)
• Dianne: The single mom who is just trying to make it through the day, but is in constant conflict with Cruela, as she struggles to make it to the daycare on time to pick up her two kids.  Cruela would like to fire her for not working insane hours, but unfortunately (for Cruela) the work she does is outstanding.
• Don: The smarmy, but oddly likeable young single guy who doesn’t know near as much as he thinks he does.  He also loves to take credit for other people’s work.
• Vera: The jaded, cynical, sharp-tongued middle aged woman who has over ten years until retirement, but can tell you how many days are left in her working career.

Join us in the first episode when Cruela asks her team to stay late to meet a useless last minute request that everyone knows will go nowhere… and hilarity ensues.

Think we could get Fox to air it after Glee?

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1. Firing people
2. Disciplining people
3. Showdown with the boss
4. Being caught in the middle
5. Peer conflicts
6. Constant Change
7. Baby-sitting
8. Overload
9. Red Tape – Needless Administration
10. Personal fulfillment

• Only the perverse enjoy this part of the job
• Have a solid paper trail.  If you don’t have one – postpone the firing until you do*
• Get good advice – HR or legal
• Make the meeting short and to the point
• Never fire someone in anger or on the spot
• Do not put this off because it’s uncomfortable

Employee Discipline:

• Have a process
• Document every meeting
  • Formal or informal
  • Written or verbal
• Make consequences clear in advance of disciplinary action
• Have all the information at your disposal
• Have a witness – preferably someone from HR or legal

Showdown with the Boss:

• Insist on dealing with it in private
• Never bad-mouth the boss
• Consider whether s/he has a point
• Don’t make idle threats
• Reinforce that s/he is the boss, and you will ultimately do as they ask*
• Choose your battles carefully
• Move to resolution, not to perpetuate conflict

Being Caught in the Middle:

• Tow the party line – even when you don’t agree
• Explain the rationale as best you understand it
• Do not blame by pointing up the hierarchy
• Where appropriate act as a facilitator for a more favourable outcome
• Be very clear with your people as to what is negotiable and what is not

Peer Conflicts:

• Determine how important a peer relationship is to you, your department and your ability to be successful
• Figure out what they need/want from you
• Help them understand what you need/want from them, and why it is important
• Escalate the problem only as a last resort

Learn Even More About ‘Managing Conflict’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Watch the full length ‘Managing Conflict’ Video (15 minutes)
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• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • Handling Emotional Behavior
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee
  • Effective Interpersonal Communication
  • Top 10 Manager Challenges: Part B (Managing Stress)
  • How to Manage Conflict

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Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Managing Conflict.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Of the top 10 things that make managers crazy, the first five all involve some kind of conflict.

Watch the ‘Top 10 Manager Challenges (Part A)’ video (21 mins 9 sec):

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Top10ChallengesPartA.ppt

Take a look at the ‘Top 10 Manager Challenges Part A’ Cheat Sheet

What are YOUR Conflict ‘Hot Buttons’? Take the online Conflict Dynamics Profile and get personalized feedback and a development guide.

OK… we’ll start this week by talking in code.  Even though the inappropriate word above is now widely used on network television, and even Bill Cosby has uttered it from his lips, I’m pretty sure if I repeat the word several times in one post, a number of firewalls will catch it, and I won’t be able to spread the gospel this week.

For our purposes, the code word will be “O-ring”.

I was once told that in this world there are two types of people:  Idiots and O-rings.  Your label is determined by your behaviour, and everyone has acted as both an idiot and an O-ring at various points in their lives.  Some particularly talented people have managed to be both simultaneously, earning the title “idiot-hole”.

When asked if I thought I was an idiot or an O-ring, I struggled for which term I found less offensive, and more importantly what sort of behaviour qualifies one for membership in each category.  The definition of “idiot” is reasonably clear.  Anytime you’ve made an unbelievably stupid choice, you qualify as an idiot.  In my case, I was clearly an idiot when I agreed to sit through a “short video presentation”  (with a complementary cocktail) when I was on vacation in Mexico many years ago.

The definition of O-ring is somewhat more illusive.  I canvassed a number of people to try to determine exactly what would qualify someone to be labeled an O-ring.  As it turns out whenever someone else does something we don’t like, they are an O-ring.  Case in point: traffic.  Of all the people driving within a 100km radius of your vehicle, there is you, and all the other O-rings on the road.

This revelation naturally led me to examine my own behaviour when I was an Operations Manager with many direct reports.  I arrived at the unmistakable conclusion that I was a tremendous O-ring.  I’m not talking about an occasional O-ring maneuver, but rather a full-time job of simply being an O-ring.  My entire work world was an infinite series of actions and decisions that at other people didn’t like.  If I could go back in time, I’d change my title to AC (O-ring in charge).

So, is it possible to be a manager without being an O-ring?  Probably not.  Would you want to be a manager that’s not an O-ring?  Only if you want to be an idiot.

This week we talk about how improving your ability to communicate constructively, you might avoid being labeled an O-ring.

In January of 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded on take-off killing all seven crew, and grounding the American space program for two years.  Of the exhaustive investigations that took place (that led to a significant number of changes for NASA, and how they conducted their business), perhaps the most important change was that for the first time, talking about changing corporate culture was fair game.

The engineers and investigators determined the technical causes of the explosion, but when they dug deeper to understand why those technical issues were not addressed in advance, they ended up in the uncomfortable place of changing corporate culture.  It turns out NASA had a culture whereby many qualified people knew there was a significant risk of disaster, but none chose to voice those concerns, even if they would have been listened to.

I call this an “uncomfortable” conclusion because highly technical people in any organization want to discuss things they can see, touch and/or count.  Changing corporate culture is something that nebulous and messy.  It’s difficult to define, impossible to measure, and probably the most important element of performance in an organization — as NASA found out the hard way.

So how do you go about changing corporate culture?

You don’t.

Much like Jerry Seinfeld dominated television with a show about nothing, organizations need to get about doing what they do.  I was recently in the NBC store in New York, more than a decade after Seinfeld left the air, and discovered that a significant portion of the wares were dedicated to Seinfeld’s “nothing”.  The Soup Nazi, Vandalay Industries, and Kramer’s hair all testify to the enduring quality of Seinfeld’s “nothing”.

Changing corporate culture is a lot like the show about nothing.  What people do, how they interact with each other, how they manage conflict, what gets rewarded, who gets promoted, how success is measured and a score of other things all add up to your corporate culture.

The silliest thing you can do is to declare a change in corporate culture to some virtue you read about at some other company.  The culture you have now is a product of the things above.  If you want to change your corporate culture, you need to address those things.

And don’t think it will happen in a hurry.  It will be a decade more before Seinfeld is replaced at the NBC store.

What can you do if you’re looking to change or strengthen your corporate culture?

Listen to the ‘Corporate Culture’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Corporate Culture Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Corporate Culture’ Cheat Sheet

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Why do things go wrong with Performance Appraisals?  Learn how to manage perceptions all year long, and what to do if discrepancies occur.

Listen to the ‘Ace Your Annual Performance Review’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Ace Your Performance Review Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Ace Your Annual Performance Review’ Cheat Sheet

In many organizations, Annual Performance Reviews are about as popular as Ike at the Tina Turner Fan Club meeting.  They are done sporadically, if at all, and they typically have very little impact on organizational performance.

The last big multi-national corporate organization I worked for as an employee had a fascinating “system” for the annual performance review.  I would suggest it’s very typical to what is seen in other companies, so in the interests of demystifying the whole process, here is a list of definitions and translations to sort out some of the vernacular that accompanies the annual performance review:

Annual: In the case of the annual performance review, “annual” means maybe once every 18 to 24 months, or maybe never at all.

Performance Review Meeting: This is where both manager and employee avoid eye contact and share some awkward small talk before the boss launches into his/her diatribe of the last year in review.  Similar to a bad sitcom in format.

Coaching: This is the organizational equivalent of Batman.  You might see it late at night after a signal (usually a corporate memo) has been flashed, but if you see it at all, it will be in a poor light, and you’ll never be sure if it happened or not.

Developmental Opportunities: These are the things you will get fired for, if you don’t fix them.  If there were no employment laws, they would revert to what they used to be called: threats.

Pay for Performance: Managers who get along well with people, take the amount of discretionary salary dollars they have, and divide by the number of direct reports they have.  Managers who don’t care how well they get along with people give it to the people they like the most.  In the rarest of cases, there is a good measurement system in place that everyone understands, and it truly is pay for performance.  It is about as common as spotting a unicorn at the fall carnival.

Performance Appraisal Documents: This is a template that bears little resemblance to your actual job, written by someone in HR who has never worked in the core business.

Performance Review Meeting Preparation: This describes the immediate 30 seconds prior to the meeting starting

The Sandwich Method of Feedback: This is where poorly trained managers slip some “constructive” feedback in between two compliments.  For example, “Nice shoes; you’ve got some significant improvement to make on your analytical skills, but I like your socks.  Also known as the “Sh*t Filled Twinkie” method.

Performance Management Philosophy: This is the same affliction that causes writers of annual reports to declare, “Employees are our most important asset” without the implied disclaimer, “unless they cost us money, or otherwise inconvenience us.”

Seek the Employees View: This is the final 30 seconds of the meeting where the employee is expected to thank the supervisor for the constructive feedback, and declare his/her intentions to act on it.  Only trouble-makers would disagree with the feedback.  Under no circumstances should an employee ever speak his mind here.

I hope this translation helps.  For ideas on how to cope with, and ultimately succeed at your Annual Performance Review, download this week’s podcast.

Larry was my boss back when I had a real job – the kind of job where you show up every day (in body, at least), work as part of a cog in a huge corporate wheel, and try to attach meaning to mundane tasks.

The world was black and white for Larry:  if he thought you were a hard worker, he could be charming and funny.  If he didn’t like the way you worked, your life at work quickly descended into a living hell.  In the core skills and talents of the business we were in, there was probably no one stronger than Larry.

Larry did many things right as a leader;  he was not burdened by the need to have people like him, he got lots done, he was an excellent teacher, and he consistently produced the desired results.

As you can imagine, he also did a number of things wrong.  His treatment of people he didn’t like would clearly fall under the definition of harassment if it happened today.  I still remember the day when he repeatedly shouted at one of his direct reports (in front of many others), “You’re stupid!  You’re a stupid, stupid man!”

No one knows how many potentially good people he chased out of the business because his first impression of them wasn’t good.  And his volatile demeanor often took a minor incident and exaggerated it into a major crisis that required more time and energy by all involved to finally get resolved.

The company did invest in Larry by sending him off to corporate charm school, where he learned to soften his feedback:

“Not to criticize, but you’re stupid”

When I went on to leadership roles, Larry was a role model for me – both for what he did well, and by serving as a warning beacon for things he didn’t get right.  Here are some lessons I learned from Larry, that still guide me today:

• If you want a lot of friends, or have a high need for the approval of others, you need to stay in an individual contributor’s role.
• You always need to treat people with respect.  It doesn’t mean, however, that you don’t hold them accountable.
• You need to be absolutely clear about your expectations, and then dole out both positive and negative consequences when things go right/wrong.  Leaders who think they can over-acknowledge good performance, and not deal with poor performance, are weak and will fail.
• What you do is far more powerful than what you say.
• Leadership is hard work

Larry retired many years ago, yet his impact on me (and a great many others) is still felt.  I’m sure if I asked Larry, he would have absolutely no idea how profound his influence was on me or anyone else.

So one final lesson from Larry: As a leader, you have a significant impact on people’s lives… perhaps for decades to come.

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Why care about Leadership?

• Retention – Unwanted turnover = 1.5 – 2.5 annual salary
• Capturing Discretionary Effort  – What the value of 10% more productivity?  How about 100% more?
• Less stress

Realities of being the Boss

• You are under a microscope
• The blame you get, and the credit you get are both exaggerated
• Most people land in leadership roles because they were good technicians or practicioners of their work
• Leaders underestimate the impact they have on others

5 Things you can do right now to be a better Boss

1. Be a better listener

• Take the time
• Don’t multitask (especially PDAs)
• Seek to understand… not to plan your response
• Paraphrase without being a parrot

2. Be a Teacher

• It may take more time in the short-run
• Don’t micro-manage
• Tell people why
• Connect them to something bigger

3. Give and receive feedback in abundance

• Look for opportunities to offer feedback on a daily basis
• Ask your direct reports for feedback frequently – and act on it
• Offer both positive feedback, and corrective feedback

4. Be crystal-clear in your expectations

• Write important expectations down formally at least once per year
• Constantly reinforce expectations
• Use several different media to describe important expectations
• Practice what you preach at all times

5. Provide consequences for both good and poor performance

• People will do what gets reinforced
• You are currently getting the performance you are asking for
• Be absolutely consistent with consequences
• Apply consequences to reinforce both good and poor performance

Learn Even More About ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ Podcast (15 minutes)
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• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Conducting Effective Meetings
  • How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert
  • The One on One Meeting
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • Delegation
  • High Impact Development
  • ABC’s of Performance Management
  • The Situational Leadership Model
  • Giving Quality Feedback
  • Help! I’m a Micro Manager
  • Millennials in the Workplace: How to Lead and Motivate Generation Y
  • Retention of Employees

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Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Being a Better Boss.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

5 things you can do right now to be a better boss.

Listen to the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Good Boss, Bad Boss Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ Cheat Sheet

Find out all about the Wily Manager Leadership Boot Camp:

• Why bother?
• What it’s about
• Who should participate
• How it works
• What’s covered

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Leadership Boot Camp Podcast Slides

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It all starts off with noble intentions and great expectations.  Organizations invest thousands to send a manager off to some Leadership Development Training, with high hopes of getting a return on their investment, and of seeing some measurable change in managerial performance.

The normal result is a large invoice for the training and related costs, and a new PowerPoint slide hung on the wall, with some convoluted model or diagram that’s supposed to change our lives, and solve all organizational ills.

How do managers and organizations get is so wrong?

They have the right idea, but they make the same mistake that any of us that has ever been on a diet before has made.  We think that some temporary action, and new package on an old bit of knowledge will make a difference.  Here’s a blinding flash of the obvious:  if you want to lose weight, eat more veggies, eat less of everything else, and try to exercise more.  Most importantly, make these changes habits rather than a temporary intervention.

Organizational and Leadership Development is no different.  Figure out what behaviours you want your managers to display, and take action to make those behaviours into habits.  This is incredibly easy conceptually, but much harder in practice.  You need to look at your reward systems, development systems and processes.  Part of your answer may include training, but only then as part of the solution.

We did some work with PepsiCo, who are generally well recognized as very competent at Leadership Development Activity.  Their development model calls for 10% Leadership Training, with the balance of development activities taking other forms such as coaching, job-shadowing, special assignments, and secondments.

Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely believe that quality leadership is the stargate to better production, increased quality, improved safety, and better cost control.  I just think that organizations that attempt to bridge their leadership quality gaps via training are taking the easy way out, and burning shareholder money to boot.

Just like most of us don’t need another diet book, but rather the discipline to use one of the 44 we already own, leaders don’t need another day in a classroom – they need help making habits out of the things they learned last time.

We’ve heard many managers compare their jobs to that of baby-sitter.  The only difference being when the kids upset you, you can send them to their room, and the snacks and TV-watching options are better for the baby-sitter.

It is true that managers of people get dragged into all kinds of trivia, and much of it should be ignored.  There seems to be no more emotional issue than that of the office layout.  Several years ago, people were mourning the loss of office walls, as many organizations transitioned to cube-farms.  Now people fight over the size and location of their workstation.

Unfortunately, most managers have very little time/patience/control over the office configuration, so the best they might be able to do is offer some advice to disgruntled cube-dwellers as to how to cope with the physical office reality.  Here are some ideas:

Define Your Office Boundaries. This worked for Les Nessman at WKRP, and it can work for you.  Don’t acknowledge anyone unless they knock at your pretend door, and certainly don’t put up with people walking through your pretend walls.  You might even want to suspend wall paintings from the ceiling to line up with your pretend walls.

Engage in Closed Office Behaviour.  Make loud personal telephone calls.  If you feel the need for a nap, close your pretend door and sleep like you would at home (unless you sleep in the nude).  Need to pick your nose?  You’re in the privacy of your own office – go for it.  If someone tries to talk to you through a pretend wall, look towards the pretend door, and shout, “I can’t hear you.  Would you like to come in here?”

There’s No Place Like Home. Most people spend more conscious hours in their workplace than they do in their homes.  You need to make the place comfortable.  Buy a portable fridge to put under your desk, as well as some small kitchen appliances (start with a toaster, blender, and espresso machine).  You probably don’t control much in your work-place, so make your 8 X 8 part of the empire a castle.

Of course with this new-found freedom, you will also have to respect and ignore others engaging in the same behaviour if the illusion is to be complete.  Here’s a YouTube clip on office layout that outlines the perils of being too interested in what’s happening one row over on the cubefarm.

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Office Types:

• Enclosed Offices
• Open Space Concept
• Cubicle Farms
• Alternative

Why Getting Out of Offices is Great:

• More and better communication amongst team members
• More direct contact – you end up knowing people better
• Space can be modified quickly and easily
• Usually people have more access to natural light
• Some companies have found it reduces cost because you can put more cubes per floor than offices. (Cisco reduced costs by 37%)
• It’s harder for employees to slack off

Why it Sucks:

• Over communicate any office-space change.  This is a very big deal to people
• Be very clear about your reasons for making a change, and make sure you consider the pro’s and con’s
• You need much more meeting space in an open concept than with offices
• Hire someone to help you through the transition
• Ensure white-noise
• If you go open – everyone must go, from the CEO on down
• Research it well – there is no shortage of information arguing both for and against open office space

One Solution:

• If employees spend the majority of their time working individually, put them in offices
• If employees spend a great deal of time collaborating, put them in an open office configuration.  Perhaps in offices of four to eight people.
• If you want you employees to spend most of their time reading Dilbert, put them in cubicles.

Last Word from Robert Probst:

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What’s the best type of office design?  Enclosed offices?  Open space concept?  Cube farms?

Listen to the ‘Office Design’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

'Open Office Concepts' Podcast Slides

Take a look at the Office Design Cheat Sheet

How do you tell someone they smell? Or that they need to stop handing out religious pamphlets at work?  Maybe an employee dresses inappropriately at work.  Perhaps an employee’s spouse calls the workplace several times per day.  What about your assistant’s drinking problem?

You could do what some managers do:  ignore the behaviour and hope it goes away.  Now, hope rarely works as a strategy to solve a problem, but let’s give it a try and see what happens:

They Smell:  If you don’t act they’ll keep smelling.  If you’re in a retail business, you’ll almost certainly lose customers.  If the aroma is only affecting co-workers who have brought the problem to your attention, they will know for sure that you don’t care and/or that you lack the courage to deal with a relatively simple problem.

An employee is pushing an opinion or unwanted material on co-workers.  This one is a bit more tricky  — you need to balance an individual’s right to speak freely with his coworker’s right to not be harassed at work.  This one is a level of degrees, but suffice it to say that if you’ve received complaints, the behaviour is probably already perceived as being too aggressive.

An employee is dressed inappropriately.  When I was in university, I worked for a retailer who had a strict dress code.  This included a ban on earrings for male employees.  This was fine until one of the senior executive’s sons showed up with an earring, and the facility manager would not address it for fear of reprisal.  Now, there are a whole bunch of things wrong with this scenario, but needless to say, when the manager displayed his cowardice in this regard, he had a facility full of male employees wearing earrings out of protest within a month.  Rightly or wrongly, the dress code fell apart, and the manager lost all credibility.

In these, and in perhaps most cases, it can look (at least at the outset) that it is easier to NOT engage in these difficult conversations.  In the short term, it probably is easier.  Longer term, you create all kinds of problems for yourself as a manager if you don’t tackle difficult conversations.  You erode trust, you lose credibility, and frankly you’re not doing your job as a leader.  Consider this one of the “burdens of leadership”.

If you want help with this difficult part of the job, listen to our podcast, and visit our page on Difficult Conversations.

How do you tell someone that they have bad breath or that they didn’t get the promotion?

Listen to the ‘Difficult Conversations’ podcast:

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Tough Talks Podcast Slides

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Do you have a job description?  Have you seen it since you were hired into your current position?  Does it bear any resemblance to what you actually do every day?  If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions (much less all 3 of them), you are in the minority.  Most organizations either don’t have job descriptions, or have ones that are useless.

There is a good argument to be made that job descriptions are a relic from a time gone by, and that many jobs defy a linear description that is normally seen on a job description.  I would argue that the majority of jobs can, and should have job descriptions, but not in the way they are normally done.

If your job description articulates in painstaking detail the activities that you will undertake on a “normal” day, then it officially sucks.  Sorry to be the one to bring it up but:

a)    Nobody cares how busy you are.

b)   Nobody cares what you do.

Of course there are some highly bureaucratic organizations (often governmental organizations) where they do care about these things, but they are the minority.

Well run organizations care what you get done.  What did you produce?  What are your results?  How much value did you create?  A good job description will articulate these things – not how many paper clips you will use to file a report.

So I’m drawing a line in the sand today – Job Descriptions are dead.  Throw them away.  In their place, we will create POSTION OUTCOMES DESCRIPTIONS (PODs).   This is not a directive to the HR people out there – they are usually the last to come on board with such changes.  This is to every person who wants to make a difference.   A well-written POD will facilitate you making a difference at your job.

Write yours today, and get your boss to sign-off on it.  Then, when the crap-tasks start sliding across your desk, you have some mechanism by which to question it.  In your old Job Description, the crap-task would have fallen under “other duties as assigned”.

Now do you see why you need to do this?  There are lots of tools on the Wily Manager website to help you with this.  Join the revolution – and let us know how you’re making out.

What are some important things to remember before you write a job description?  What are the 4 key components of a job description?

Listen to the ‘How to Write a Job Description’ podcast:

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Job Descriptions Podcast Slides

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Things to Keep in Mind Before You Write a Job Description

• Job descriptions are not an ‘HR thing’
• Job descriptions should be focused on outcomes
• Job descriptions should be used for the entire life-cycle of an employee (recruiting, development, evaluation, discipline, succession)

Four Components of a Job Description

One: Basic Functions

• Who does this position report to?
• Who reports to this position?
• What are budgetary or statutory requirements?

• Specific outcomes required of this position (production, quality, safety, risk management, etc.) - ‘what’
• Leadership and interpersonal competencies – ‘how’
• Values and attitudes required – ‘how’

Three: Stakeholder Management

• Where does this position intersect with others?
• Who are key stakeholders, and what is the nature of the relationship with this position?

Four: Metrics used to Evaluate Performance

• Measurement must be meaningful
• Production
• Quality
• Compliance
• Customer satisfaction
• Financial
• Employee Satisfaction/retention

Learn Even More About ‘How to Write a Job Description’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘How to Write a Job Description’ Podcast (15 minutes)
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• Print or save the ‘How to Write a Job Description’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • How to Conduct a Job Interview
  • ABC’s of Performance Management
  • Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss

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I’m not really sure when it happened.  Sometime over the last few years it has become socially acceptable to have a potty-mouth at the office.  Most often I am invited into workplaces for short periods of time – usually a few months – so I normally don’t know anyone when I first show up, and have to take some time to get to know people.

I find it incredible that people who don’t know me are quite willing to use exceptionally foul language in our very first meeting.  I should clarify two things:

1)   I’m not there to fire them, or otherwise torture them… which may be construed as just-cause for an expletive or two.

2)   I’m not offended by any of this, and use my own fair-share of foul words in more familiar company.

I just find it curious that people think words your mother always told you she didn’t want to hear are now common-place in work settings.  In my experience, this transcends just about all demographic groups.  It is not just younger people, nor is it just men.  I have witnessed this in large cities, and small ones, in a wide variety of industries.  I think it’s safe to say this has become a societal thing.

So… what is to be done?  Probably nothing.  But I would caution anyone who cares that first impressions are very powerful, and if you litter your first impression with language that would make a lumberjack blush, then you will inevitably come across as insensitive and less intelligent.

As a general rule of thumb, it might be good to know someone’s last name, before asking them (in so many words) if they like sex and travel.  Likewise, don’t assume that you’re not offending anyone, just because everyone else seems to be swearing.  It’s amazing that many offices insist on no fragrances or smelly foods for fear of upsetting someone, but have no similar guidelines for certain forms of noise pollution.

Until you know who you’re talking to, you might want to channel Bill Cosby more so than Eddie Murphy.  In the mean time… check out this clip for how one office handled it.

In professional sports, considerable resources are spent scouting new prospects and eventually landing them in the organization.  Those that manage professional sports know that you truly do “win it in the draft”, and they take their recruiting process seriously enough to make it a key source of competitive advantage.

With very few exceptions, other businesses do not do nearly as well.  Many (perhaps most) organizations manage the recruiting process about as well as George Bush manages the English language.  It might be entertaining, but only for the same reason you would slow down to look at an accident scene on the side of the highway.

It seems that many organizations of all shapes and sizes improvise their way through this important process.  What makes this most surprising is that every time an organization goes to the market to hire, they put themselves at considerable risk: risk to reputation, as well as legal risk if they mismanage the recruiting process badly enough.

A meaningful discussion of this important subject would take much more space than I have here, but here are five ideas to improve the recruiting process in any organization:

1. Take it seriously — it’s very expensive to get it wrong.  The Journal of Compensation and Benefits estimates the cost of turnover at 1.5 to 2.5 the annual salary of the position.  So when your new recruit doesn’t work out, and leaves after three months, there is a real cost to the organization.
2. Know what you’re recruiting for.  If there isn’t a comprehensive job description, you need to write one – before you even place an ad.  You need to know what results the position should be achieving, and what competencies are required to do the job well.
3. Separate your needs from your wants. I recently read a job advertisement in the paper for a public sector organization that wanted 20 years of experience, and multiple university degrees for a job they were only willing to pay $45k per year.  That person does not exist.  Decide what your “minimum price of entry” requirements are, and categorize everything else as a “want”.  In other words, it would be a bonus if the person had that experience or competency.
4. Get rid of bad recruiters or hiring managers. Anyone who seems to power trip or get perverse pleasure out of making candidates squirm should be removed from the process.  If you find yourself with such a recruiter or an HR person – fire her.  If it is a hiring manager, insulate them from the process, and seriously consider firing him/her, too.
5. Make the match. Remember you are being evaluated every bit as much as you are evaluating the client.  Allow the candidate to ask questions; Tell people what to expect; follow up with everyone; always check references.

As best I can tell, most organizations recruit poorly not because they don’t know what to do, but rather because they choose not to do it.  This is at your peril.

By the way – Jed and I have done a podcast and a topic bundle on effective interviewing.  Hopefully you find it useful.

A 2009 Swedish study tracking 3,122 men for ten years found that those with bad bosses suffered 20 to 40 percent more heart attacks than those with good bosses.

Wow – glad I’m not Swedish.  I’m actually looking for the complementary study that shows how bad employees shorten a supervisor’s lifespan.  Maybe Hell really is other people.

So – is there any truth to the above study, or is it more silliness cranked out by academics looking to dabble in the real world by grabbing a headline?  I’m sure the research would speak for itself, but what is instructional about its findings?

No one would dispute that stress will kill you, but how does a bad boss equate to stress?  The obvious thing to do here is to list off all the poor qualities of a bad boss, and draw a parallel between their bad behaviour and their employees’ stress.  In reality, stress merely exists, and our reaction to it makes it unhealthy.

So I am willing to believe that a bad boss will kill me, but only if I give him/her enough control over me that I react poorly to the stress they are generating.  I can’t control their behaviour, but I most certainly can control my own behaviour, and my reaction to theirs.

Or I could move to Sweden.  I hear it’s nice.

At the risk of coming across like The Cranky Middle-Manager, I have a couple of grievances to air on how people interact with each other in the workplace.  It seems that people claiming that they work in a “toxic environment” is all the rage as of late.  In a minimum of cases, this may be truth, but in far more circumstances, it seems as though anytime someone doesn’t smile at you at the water cooler, you’re entitled to claim a horrible work situation.

The truth is that anytime you are in a workplace of more than one person, there are going to be disagreements and compromises.  And contrary to much of the hype you read in the popular media, sometimes work will be a drag.  To quote Jed’s dad, “If it was supposed to be fun, they wouldn’t call it work.”

I believe the root cause of this problem, is most people’s incompetence in dealing with conflict.  Many people believe that conflict is bad, when in fact it is neither good nor bad, but merely exists.  People’s response to conflict can make the situation bad.

Some people respond to conflict by becoming aggressive and overbearing.  Others choose to avoid conflict like it was a toilet seat at the bus station.  Both responses are destructive and will not improve or resolve whatever situation has caused the conflict to emerge.

Interestingly, in my experience I see the most common response to conflict to be one of either avoiding or yielding.  Both are poor responses to conflict in almost all cases.  If you are inclined to respond to conflict in this way, it is time to grow a pair and act like an adult.  Issues need to be confronted and dealt with.

It doesn’t mean you are always going to get your way, but at the very least you will have some confidence that you have attempted to constructively resolve workplace conflict, rather than letting it get pushed underground to fester.

I found this clip on YouTube that is a hilarious/sad commentary on many workplaces.  Happy Viewing.

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Before You Fire

• Have you done everything reasonably possible to have the employee succeed?
• Has the employee been warned that their poor behavior or performance will lead to termination if not corrected?  Are these warnings in writing?
• Consult with your legal council and HR to determine whether the termination is ‘with just cause’ or ‘without just cause’
• In cases of ‘with cause’ have you completed an investigation and got the employees side of the story?
• With the help of Legal or HR prepare the letter or ‘separation agreement’

Be Respectful

• Have the conversation as soon as possible after making the decision to terminate
• Select neutral territory, preferably where you can be as discreet as possible
• Plan to allow the employee to depart with as much dignity as possible
• Provide appropriate transitional support

Doing the Deed

• Have someone with you to witness the conversation, preferably HR or another manager
• Keep the discussion quick and to the point
• Don’t defend or debate the decision

Learn Even More About ‘You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘You’re Fired’ Podcast (15 minutes)
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• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • ABC’s of Performance Management
  • Handling Emotional Behavior
  • Top 10 Manager Challenges: Part A (Managing Conflict)
  • How to Manage Conflict

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Learn how to fire an employee in a way that preserves the dignity of everyone involved.  Find out what to do to get ready, and exactly how to do the deed.

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You're Fired Podcast Slides

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Other than questioning someone’s parentage, is there a faster way to insult someone than calling him an introvert?  Isn’t introversion something that we need to cure people of by sending them to the Dale Carnegie Course?

Many organizations have invested in some form of psychometric instrument that indicates whether people have a preference for introverted or extroverted behaviour, but that hasn’t stopped the vast majority of people from throwing around these terms without actually having a clue as to what they mean.

People hear “extrovert”, and they think: outgoing, friendly, social, capable, productive, normal.

People hear “introvert”, and they think: shy, withdrawn, anti-social, illusive, dysfunctional, wall-flower.

The problem with these descriptions is that neither is particularly accurate, and it infers that people are capable of only one set of behaviours exclusively.  There is also a connotation that Extroverts will excel in business to a much higher degree than Introverts.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins reveals the qualities that his research has shown as effective in running great organizations.  Interestingly, many of the qualities of “Level Five Leadership”, are found more naturally in people with Introverted preferences.

You might also be surprised who may be a closet-introvert:  High-profile leaders, television personalities, sports stars, maybe even one of your friends, neighbours, or family are introverted.  They’re everywhere, so beware – you never know when they’ll want to slink into the back corner of a meeting room, and silently wish everyone would stop talking at once.  Or perhaps pray that someone will listen to them for 20 seconds before interrupting them.  Worse yet, they may think about something before responding to a question creating that awkward few seconds silence.

So you may be wondering where I fit on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Grid.

As someone who spends a lot of time talking to groups of people, and a person who worked in television (for a short and spectacularly unsuccessful period of time), I am rarely accused of being an Introvert.

I prefer to label myself as a Recovering-Extrovert.  We might need to create a new scale for measurement.

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People do what gets reinforced (this is both a good news and a bad news story)!  Here’s how you can use consequences to manage performance.

The ABC’s of Performance Management

For more information, take a look at ‘Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement’, by Aubrey C. Daniels

Activator (or antecedent)

• Something that comes before a behaviour or activity which sets the occasion for that behaviour
• Most often over-used by managers
• Have only short-term effects
• Cause a behaviour to happen a limited number of times
• Must be paired with a consequence to be effective

Behavior

• What a person does
• Performance
• Action
• Event
• Decision

Consequences

• The result of a behavior
• A response to an action
• What is said or done about someone’s work or an activity
• An event that occurs after a given behavior
• What happens to the performer as a result of the given behavior

Leaders often overuse activators and underuse consequences.

Types of Consequences

There are four types of consequences:

• Positive reinforcement – Makes me feel good about something I’ve done
• Negative reinforcement – I do something because it will allow me to avoid something negative
• Punishment – Makes me feel bad about something I’ve done
• Extinction – Being ignored for something I’ve done

Positive and negative reinforcement are consequences that will increase behavior, while punishment and extinction are consequences that will decrease behavior.

Consequences That Drive Performance

Consequences can be:

• Positive  OR Negative
• Immediate  OR Future
• Certain  OR Uncertain

The consequences that will drive performance are positive, immediate, and certain.

Learn Even More About ‘ABC’s of Performance Management’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

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• Click through to Related Topics:
  • How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert
  • Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • The One on One Meeting
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • The Performance Pie
  • Giving Quality Feedback
  • You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee
  • The Situational Leadership Model

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The most significant development for managers and executives takes place ON THE JOB (i.e. not through training or coaching/mentoring).  However training is what is most commonly offered.

Why most training is useless:

• 86% of people who attend training do nothing to apply what they have learned
• Typically only 10% of non-customized course content is relevant to an organization

Don’t default to training activities for yourself or your directs when building development plans!  If you do use training, think about what you are going to do to ensure that what is taught is actually applied.

High impact development activities include:

• Special project/Task force: Discrete project assignment aimed at a specific outcome.
• Fix-it: Turn around, restructure and stabilize a failed operation, project, or organization, or customer relationships.
• Start-up: Building something from nothing or almost nothing.
• Small strategic assignment: Examples include doing a competitive analysis; writing a proposal for a new product, system, etc.; writing a speech for someone higher up; writing a policy statement or summarizing a new trend/technique and presenting it to others.
• Deepening functional skills: Changing from a generalist type assignment to a more specialized job/role that requires/builds very deep functional expertise.
• Stretch job beyond ‘hip pocket’ functional skills: Changing job/role/career to a functional discipline fundamentally different from previous work experiences; may include a cross-functional assignment.
• Significant change leadership: Leading the efforts to design and implement major change to the company’s key business processes and core capabilities.
• Mentoring: Receiving personal coaching, counsel and perspective from a valued/trusted and influential leader.  Being a mentor for someone else.
• Build a team: Assembling & aligning a team of unique talent and skill sets to achieve a stated vision and strategy.  Maybe a project team.
• Coaching assignments: Teach someone how to do something they are not expert in; design a training course.

Learn Even More About ‘High Impact Development’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

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• Click through to Related Topics:
  • How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert
  • Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss
  • The Situational Leadership Model
  • Retention of Employees

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Get our Management Cheat Sheet Collection.  Of course, it’s FREE.

Three things to remember about how to conduct a job interview:

1. Don’t underestimate the importance the importance of interviews, and the risk of doing it badly
2. Don’t wing it.  Prepare in advance, and follow up afterwards
3. Think of an interview as a way to establish a good match between an individual’s skills and the competencies required for a position

A good interview process greatly improves the chances of landing the best possible hire.  This is critical because turnover is expensive.

A bad interview is an inquisition that provides the illusion of power to the interviewer and a high level of anxiety to the candidate – “tell me about your strengths and weaknesses….”

A great interview is a mutually respectful conversation that determines the quality of the match between a candidate’s skills and the competencies required for a specific position.

Before the Interview

Know what you’re interviewing for:

• Start with an up-to-date job description.  If one doesn’t exist, create one
• Who do we want – What skills? What knowledge? What experience?
• What corporate fit – What attitudes? What outlooks?
• Do we have realistic expectations?
• Don’t chase the ‘hit the ground running’ myth

Now that you’ve got a stack of resumes:

• Score and rank all resumes and choose a limited number to telephone interview (no more than 10) – use the Wily Manager Resume and Interview Scoring Tool
• Conduct a telephone ‘mini-interview’ to wean down the list further
• Remember cultural fit and what makes people in your team successful
• Look for clues: career ADD, cover letters, relevant experience

Prepare the candidate for the interview:

• Let them know in advance who they are going to see
• Let them know in advance what the process will be
• Consider providing some or all of the questions to the candidate in advance

Prepare yourself for the interview:

• Remember you and the company are being assessed in this process as well
• Read the resume in advance
• Come with a list of questions:
  • Create questions that are based on the key needs identified in the job description
  • Design questions that build understanding
  • Use both open-ended and closed-ended questions
  • Use situational questions – “What would you do if you were given a project timeline that you knew you could not meet?”; “What would you do if you had a direct conflict with another employee?”
  • Use behavioral questions – “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer.  How did you handle it and what was the outcome?”; “Describe a time when you had to sacrifice your own goals for the good of the team”
• Answer the questions yourself.  What do you need the answers to be?  Write down what themes you would like to see in a candidate’s responses.
• Book an appropriate location for the interview
• Try to have at least one other person present in the interview

During the Interview

Attempt to keep the interview informal but professional.  Be respectful and professional.  Turn off your blackberry!

Interview format:

• Introduction
• Explain the process
• Ask your questions
• Describe the job
• Let them ask questions
• Indication of next steps and timeline
• Close

Assessing a candidate’s responses:

• Do you believe them?
• Are they just saying what they think you want to hear?
• Make sure you challenge the role they actually played and how much they were responsible as opposed to being part of a team’s success
• Challenge if you are not convinced

Bring to a close:

• Provide a realistic estimate of decision time and stick to it
• If you are keen on them, ask them to let you know if their circumstances change in the interim
• Don’t promise anything until you have seen all the candidates

After the Interview

Remember that your intuition is a powerful tool in the interviewing process but it is not the only one – you should score and rank each interview performance – use the Wily Manager Resume and Interview Scoring Tool.