Leading people — Page 15

The Performance Pie

What is the Performance Pie?

The Performance Pie is a diagnostic tool that can help you analyze why a performance problem may exist. It does not offer specific solutions to performance problems but it does help you zero in on some of the more common reasons as to why performance may be suffering on a particular task, duty or responsibility. Then you can target your solutions in the areas most likely to impact performance.

How Does it Work?

The performance analysis design primarily emphasized the individual, the job or process, the work environment and incentives or consequences. In other words, the design of the Performance Pie focuses on the following seven factors of performance:

Knowledge and Skill
Capacity
Standards
Measurement
Feedback
Conditions
Incentives

The Seven Factors of Performance

1. Knowledge and Skill

This means that the individuals performing the task must have the knowledge and skills necessary

2. Capacity

The right persons are to be selected for the right jobs and tasks. This means, for example, that the individuals are capable—physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally.

3. Standards

Individuals must be clearly informed about what is expected of them. Supervisors, job descriptions, and performance appraisal objectives should clearly dictate the standards of performance, and these standards ought to be congruent with the expectations of the, supervisors, department and organization.

4. Measurement

Measurement clarifies standards, initiates goal orientation, provides data or information with which to give feedback and signals opportunities for rewards and recognition. What gets measured gets done is not only a cliché but a truism as well.

5. Feedback

Individuals need to know how well they are doing in accordance with the standards and measures and how they can improve their performance. They must receive regular feedback on their performance from supervisors.

6. Conditions

Individuals need the resources necessary to perform their jobs according to expectation, standard, and measure. They require the right facilities, equipment, tools, materials, supplies, time, and organizational climate—unhindered by conflicting goals or obstacles in work procedures—to perform effectively and efficiently.

7. Incentives/Consequences

Individuals do the things they are rewarded for doing and avoid negative consequences. Also, they must value the rewards and incentives.

High Potential Leadership – Accelerated Development Programs

So it’s time to select who will participate in your Accelerated Development Program and your thinking about your team and who might be the best of the best to put forward, who deserves the opportunity. You start looking through your teams performance reviews and 360 results, you start planning for the talent review meetings … HOLD ON! I love the enthusiasm you have for developing people but I need to ask you to back it up.

Contrary to common practice, do not start with a process aimed at identifying the high potential talent in your organization. Start by determining the leadership requirements that exist for the organization; start with the identifying your Business Requirements.

What competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors) are going to be required in order to successfully execute your strategy over the next 3–5 years?
Where is your bench weaker/stronger?
Where is the company growth going to come from that will require new leadership?
Where are the likely future vacancies going to be?

When you are considering who will be selected to participate in your Accelerated Development Program ….. start with an organizational assessment rather than a talent assessment.

If you’re like most companies there is a limited amount of resources of time and money that you can spend on Accelerated Development Programs. In a larger organization leveraging traditional identification process will still likely lead to a large number of candidates who are labeled as High Potential. Don’t misunderstand, everyone should have development plans and be supported in their development, however the truth of the matter is that organizations should be proactive in allocating additional development resources against those individuals who are most likely to meet the leadership requirements of the organization. You need to make sure you are getting the biggest benefit from your development efforts.

Leverage your organizational analysis in determining some of the criteria for selection. If your bench strength is weak in the sales department and really strong in operations then concentrate your selection to the program by choosing individuals interested in building a career in sales. YES, even at the expense of not including a high potential individual from Operations. If your business requirements for leadership are heavily weighted in a specific geography you may consider not including some individuals that have indicate that they are not willing to relocate, in favour of some who are. The goal of accelerated development programs is to accelerate the development of selected individuals to meet the needs of the business. Don’t invest more money and time where it’s not needed at the expense of where it is needed.

Dealing with Difficult Behavior

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For most managers, ‘people issues’ consume the largest portion of time and effort. No employee is more time consuming than one exhibiting difficult behaviour. For this reason, building skills to cope with difficult people has an immediate and measureable return.

Everyone displays difficult behaviour at one time or another. People often engage in difficult behavior because such action has worked for them in the past. There are very specific techniques that managers can use to address difficult behaviour. Some specific behaviours require certain responses, but for all difficult behaviours:

Focus on the specific behaviour, not the person or personalities
Identify the type of behaviour, and strategize a response before reacting
Attempt to understand the root cause of the behavior
Avoid public showdowns
Determine if the conversation can continue at that time, and postpone it if emotions are running high
Be aware of the impact of the behavior is having on you
Don’t make excuses for the person
Choose to do something about the behavior

Not all the Turtles make it to the Sea

In some cases a difficult person will not respond to reasonable attempts to assist them in correcting their behavior, and organizational health can be at stake. In such a case, high integrity leaders must make the unpleasant choice to part company with that person.

Get the Complete ‘Dealing with Difficult Employees’ Topic Bundle

The Dealing with Difficult Employees topic bundle includes:

Dealing with Difficult Employees Cheat Sheet (pdf)
Dealing with Difficult Employees Booklet (pdf) containing:
- In-Depth Topic Overview
- How to Deal with People Who Love to ARGUE
- How to Deal with People Who Feel Unreasonably ENTITLED
- How to Deal with People Who Think They KNOW IT ALL
- How to Deal with Chronic PESSIMISTS or BLAMERS
- How to Deal with People Who DON’T WANT TO WORK
- How to Deal with the UNMOTIVATED
- How to Deal with a BULLY
- How to Deal with People Who ALWAYS ARGUE and people Who Can NEVER MAKE A DECISION
- Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about Dealing with Difficult Employees

Dealing with Difficult Employees Podcast (mp3)
Dealing with Difficult Employees Podcast slides (Powerpoint)

Book Review: ‘How the Mighty Fall’, by Jim Collins

Why we like this book:

Jim Collins always writes his books based on quality research as opposed to the cheerleading that we see in many management books. He also has a very conversational tone, which makes it very easy to read and retain his key ideas. How the Mighty Fall is not a book about the Global Financial Collapse, although its timing was almost perfect, and the lessons to be learned from the book and the research certainly may have helped some of the organizations. Probably those who need to read this book most are those that are running companies (or departments within companies) that are doing particularly well. As Collins points out, organizations that convince themselves they are doing very well often self-delude themselves into ignoring blind spots that become all too evident after the fact.

We think this is an easy, informative read, and worth the time to do so. What about you – what do you think?

Jed & Bob

How to Build a Communication Plan

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You should never hesitate to initiate a communication plan even if you are a lower-level manager. Think about it – if your organization is undergoing a significant change but has not communicated it well, you can still create a communication plan for your direct reports so that they have a better idea of what is going on.

The techniques of effective communication are not difficult, but require discipline to execute. A written communication plan will assist in establishing and maintaining the required discipline. In some cases, a communications plan can be written on one sheet of paper. In other circumstances, the plan may be significantly longer.

This topic bundle is intended to assist managers when they have a specific event or decision to communicate. Ongoing communication between organizations and employees is better covered in the Communicating for Results Cheat Sheet (coming soon).

Elements of a Good Communication Plan:

Guiding Principles – What are the parameters under which this communication will take place?
Context – What events or conditions staged the necessity for this communication? What definitions and terms of reference are there?
Purpose or Objectives – What is the communication intended to achieve?
Risk Analysis – What could go wrong with this communication? What happens if you don’t do it?
Stakeholders Analysis – Who are all concerned parties, and what is the importance of each of them?
Targeting – How will you most effectively reach each stakeholder?
Media – What is the most effective method of communication for each stakeholder?
Budget – What budgetary and other resources will be required to effectively roll out the message?
Assessment – How will you know if the communicationsplan has been successful?

Tips to build an effective communication plan:

Consider an effective communication campaign to be very similar to a marketing initiative.
Use electronic media such as email and website. These are usually inexpensive, and can be highly effective
Always target your audience properly, and remember that the same message can be communicated differently to different target groups
Only ask people for their opinions or feedback if you are prepared to consider their input
Prepare an ‘elevator speech’ for what you are communicating. Be prepared to condense your message into small, easy to understand segments
When soliciting feedback or two-way communication, ensure there is media available to support this. It is not enough to say, “We’d like to hear from you”; there must be infrastructure in place to gather opinions
Be very clear on exactly what action, or change in behaviors the communication is intended to address

Get the Complete ‘How to Build a Communication Plan’ Topic Bundle

The How to Build a Communication Plan topic bundle includes:

How to Build a Communication Plan Cheat Sheet (pdf)
How to Build a Communication Plan Booklet (pdf) containing:
- In-Depth Topic Overview
- When to Create a Communication Plan
- 9 Critical Elements of a Communication Plan
- Communication Plan Template
- Example of a Communication Plan for an Organizational Change
- Media Decision Worksheet
- Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about How to Build a Communication Plan

Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the How to Build a Communication Plan Booklet (pdf)
How to Build a Communication Plan Podcast (mp3)
How to Build a Communication Plan Podcast Slides (Powerpoint)

Handling Emotional Behavior

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Nothing changes your day so quickly as unexpected emotional behaviour. It is primal in its delivery, and a manager’s response is also often primal. By identifying it for what it is, and developing coping strategies in advance, a leader is less likely to blindsided by emotional behavior, and can salvage the situation at hand.

When you are confronted by emotional behavior there are 3 things to manage simultaneously:

The behavior itself
The content or root cause of the behavior which may be a serious issue requiring attention
The impact the negative behavior is having on you

Different types of emotional behavior require different responses, but here are some universal rules to help cope with highly emotive situations:

Determine if the conversation can proceed in a constructive way. In cases where emotions are running extremely high, the very best course of action, may be to adjourn the conversation until cooler heads prevail.

Be aware of the impact the behavior is having on you. It is important to quickly analyze your own state of mind before reacting. If you find yourself extremely agitated or otherwise emotionally compromised, you need to quickly determine how that will impact the quality and outcome of the conversation.

Articulate to the other person how you are being affected by the behavior. Often people become angry or otherwise emotional, and do not realize the impact they are having upon others. Many times the situation can be partially diffused by describing the impact of the behavior. For example, “I have to be honest and let you know that this conversation is making me feel quite defensive, and I don’t like feeling that way.” Note that you should not say, “YOU are making me defensive”, but rather focus on the situation.

Ensure the other person knows s/he has been heard. It is not necessary to agree with the other person, but it is important to let them know that you have heard and understand their message. Again, just by acknowledging their viewpoint, the situation may be largely defused.

Propose a path to resolution. It is important to redirect the energy of the emotional behavior into some form of resolution. If the other person is just venting, then you need to decide to what degree you will indulge this before terminating the conversation. Otherwise, you should engage the other person in determining a path forward and moving towards resolution of their issue.

Dealing with emotional behavior is something every manager will face at one point or other. It is never easy, but by keeping in mind the things above, a tense situation can be made easier.

Difficult Conversations – You Smell and People Don’t Like You

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Unless you’ve been living alone in a cave most of your life, you will have had to conduct a difficult conversation with someone. If you’re a leader of people, tough talks are a job requirement. You can avoid them, but it will be at your own peril. Sooner or later you’ll need to address that difficult situation.

How to conduct a Difficult Conversation:

Step 1 – Prepare and Anticipate

Prepare in advance – anticipate responses. Make sure you are dealing with complete information
Explain but don’t defend
Make sure any issue you are dealing with does not have legal ramifications (termination, harassment, violence in the workplace etc.)
Don’t think it’s not going to be uncomfortable. Mentally prepare for the discomfort the situation may cause you.

Step 2 – Focus on Facts and Observable Behaviors

Focus on observable behaviors and facts, not the person. “People don’t like you”, is much different than “People don’t like it when talk loud on the phone.”
Focus on the issue at hand – don’t get dragged into irrelevant parallel issues.

Step 3 – Showtime: Manage the Confrontation

Get to the point – eliminate the small talk, and move to your point quickly. Often the best course of action is to make it clear in your first sentence what the other person should expect.
Do not engage in any tough talk if you are emotionally compromised at the moment. Adjourning the conversation is a legitimate course of action if either party is excessively emotional, but keep in mind that by deferring the conversation you are prolonging an unpleasant event.
Stick to your guns unless emergent facts cause you to want to reconsider. If the recipient is feeling badly, that does not count as an emergent fact.
If there are specific behaviors required of the other person, ensure those are well understood.

The Skip-Level Meeting

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A Skip-Level Meeting is a meeting between managers and team members who are one or more levels below them. The purpose of a skip-level meeting is for managers to get to know their team members, build trust with them, and understand their problems. Skip-level meetings can never take the place of direct communications within teams, but it can be a powerful adjunct to these efforts.

Skip Level Meeting Key Concepts:

Group round-table meetings are more efficient than one-on-one meetings for skip-level meetings.
Leading organizations plan a skip-level meeting with every team or workgroup at least once per year.
Don’t wait for your boss or the HR department to arrange skip-level meetings for your direct reports.
There are five key steps to conducting an effective skip-level meeting:

Plan the skip level meeting
Conduct the skip level meeting and record the feedback
Analyze the information collected at the skip level meeting
Create an action plan based on the feedback
Follow up and report progress

Skip Level Meeting Planning Questions:

When is the last time a skip-level meeting was conducted with this group?
Has the feedback from last skip level meeting been acted upon?
Have skip-level meetings been conducted in parallel business areas?
Will the skip level meeting be used to ‘build a file’ for disciplinary action on the leader of the group?
Have I followed the five-point planning process for skip-level meetings?
Do I need to improve my skills in any of the related areas, for which information is available?

Skip Level Meeting Potential Pitfalls:

Do not use skip-level meetings to ‘build a file’ on a leader you want to fire.
Tell all managers what you are doing and why.
Don’t include the manager in the skip level meeting if your goal is to get back honest feedback.
Don’t ask about topics about which you are unable or unwilling to do anything.
Provide some level of feedback to the manager about the feedback received from his/her direct reports during the skip level meeting.
It is more damaging to do a skip-level meeting poorly than it is to not do it at all.

Get the Complete ‘Skip-Level Meeting’ Topic Bundle

The Skip Level Meeting topic bundle includes:

Skip Level Meeting Cheat Sheet (pdf)
Skip Level Meeting Booklet (pdf) containing:
- In-Depth Topic Overview
- Skip-Level Meeting Readiness Self-Assessment
- Skip-Level Meeting Communication Timeline
- Sample Skip-Level Meeting Invitation Letter
- Sample Skip-Level Meeting Follow-up Letters
- Skip-Level Meeting Discussion Guide
- Suggested Skip-Level Meeting Questions
- Skip Level Meeting Action Planner
- Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about skip-level meetings

Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the Skip Level Meeting Booklet (pdf)
Skip Level Meeting Podcast (mp3)
Skip Level Meeting Podcast slides (Powerpoint)

How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert

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Coaching has become a very popular business trend in the past several years. As organizations get flatter and as you progress in your career to take on roles of increasing responsibility you will more often find yourself in a leadership or coaching role where you are not the ‘expert’.

How Coaching Conversations are Different:

There is an articulated focus and purpose for coaching conversations
Accountability mechanisms are built in to the coaching conversation
Feedback and reinforcement are part of the conversation structure

A Brief Introduction to the Wily Manager Five Step Coaching Model:

Step 1 – Context: Decide what is to be worked on, and why it is important. Also identify the conditions and constraints.

Step 2 – Clarify: Articulate the desired outcomes and goals of the coaching. Contrast these against the current reality.

Step 3 – Create: The coach and a team member now explore potential avenues forward, taking into account what has been learned in the first two steps. Decide upon a preferred path.

Step 4 – Commit: Agree upon specific action plans to reach the desired destination. Write down and agree upon ‘who does what by when’. Where possible, include measures of success as well.

Step 5 – Close: Ensure all commitments are understood and the desired behaviours are reinforced. Periodically, debrief the coaching session at this point.

Get the Complete ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Topic Bundle

The ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Topic Bundle includes:

‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
‘How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert’ Booklet (pdf) containing:
- In-Depth Topic Overview
- Benefits of Coaching
- How Coaching Conversations are Different
- The Coaching Process
- Wily Manager’s 5-Step Coaching Model
- Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about Coaching

Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Booklet (pdf)
‘The Wily Manager Coaching Model’ Podcast (mp3)
‘The Wily Manager Coaching Model’ Podcast Slides (Powerpoint)

The Performance Pie

High Potential Leadership – Accelerated Development Programs

Dealing with Difficult Behavior

Get the Complete ‘Dealing with Difficult Employees’ Topic Bundle

Book Review: ‘How the Mighty Fall’, by Jim Collins

How to Build a Communication Plan

Get the Complete ‘How to Build a Communication Plan’ Topic Bundle

Handling Emotional Behavior

Difficult Conversations – You Smell and People Don’t Like You

The Skip-Level Meeting

Get the Complete ‘Skip-Level Meeting’ Topic Bundle

How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert

Get the Complete ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Topic Bundle

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