Needed: A Self-Assessment Culture
The word assessment triggers a lot of emotional responses in people. Self-assessment often “feels” okay because we have a great relationship with the evaluator. But having someone else assess how I’m doing? I’m not so sure about that. They may tell me some things that hurt, or that I don’t want to hear, or are just plain wrong. How do the two sides (evaluator and evaluatee) of assessment work together? Should both be included in an evaluation? Or at all? There continues to be much talk about abandoning performance reviews or at least having reviews without ratings. Companies like Deloitte, Adobe, and Accenture caused a stir and swung the pendulum wide by throwing out performance reviews altogether. But many are swinging back to the middle again [1], recognizing there was a baby in that dirty bath water. That “baby” is a complex organism by the way, representing both sides of evaluation – that from a manager’s perspective and of an employee’s. At Performance Culture, we embrace authors Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen’s research in Thanks for the Feedback citing that there are three types of feedback: coaching, appreciation, and evaluation. All three are necessary for the receiver. One of my personal beliefs for why performance reviews have been loathed for so long is because we have completely skipped over coaching and appreciation and gone right to the evaluation. Well, no wonder we hate them. Who likes to have someone whom they’ve barely talked to in an authentic manner, who doesn’t seem invested in your personal growth or vision, or who hasn’t helped you along the way get better tell you where you fall short? To me, that would feel like being hit in the head with a 2 x 4. Ouch! Performance Culture’s coaching process trains managers and leaders how to live out these three feedback loops effectively, but today I want to focus on the evaluation component. Allow me to start by profiling a few cases we’ve had with various clients. I recall one case where time was of the essence to have employee reviews completed. After purchasing the Performance Culture System™ the client hastily created the reviews and chose NOT to allow the employees a chance to use our self-assessment ratings and comments feature. This had not been part of their process before, so they wanted to proceed without it. We strongly warned them against this practice, explaining the pitfalls this could create. I’ll sum it up this way: think of every Dilbert cartoon you’ve ever read. Yep. It’s like that. Unfortunately, those reviews did not go well, as we suspected. The employees did not feel like their voice was heard, or that this was a conversation. And of course, it wasn’t. Yeah, I’d throw out a performance review like that, too. What’s happened since then? They’ve instituted the self-assessment. I’ve been asked if managers could rate the employee using our Performance Values Matrix, but not let it be visible to the employee. No sir, you can’t. Secret ratings and not communicating where one stands never works out in the long run. We’ve had multiple cases where clients did not want to allow managers to provide any ratings, and instead just comments, about their employees. To use our Performance-Values Matrix, ratings are necessary, so the power of this visualization[2] is lost when you abandon ratings. However, our background in organizational development tells us that every organization is at different stages culturally, and change has to be managed. Therefore, we’ve allowed Administrators the ability to disable manager ratings and the Performance-Values Matrix while they start on the path towards a coaching culture. But so far all paths have led to the ratings being turned back on eventually. Why do you think this is? I’ll share my thoughts, but I’d love to hear your theories and experiences why evaluations go better with ratings. Here’s what I know: all of us desperately need to know the answer to the critical question, “How am I doing?” In the absence of information, we tell ourselves a story. That story could be true, but most often it’s a twisted version of the truth and sometimes downright wrong. I also know that in order to grow, I need to equally self-assess and be self-aware. I know that a first step for managers and employees to enter into the murky waters of evaluation is to have had authentic conversations prior; for that manager to have led well, and provided coaching along the way. I know that Leaders most go first, and must be hyper self-aware, frequently self-assess, and invite others to provide feedback on themselves. Our 360 Degree Feedback tool easily allows users to accomplish this. And I know that authentic encounters require authentic people. There are some great techniques that we provide for managers and leaders when it comes to providing feedback, such as the use of behavioral profiles and Coach the Coach sessions, but the technique with the biggest correlation to a successful evaluation is the easiest and yet the hardest: genuine care. If you really care about someone, you’re thoughtful about how you interact with him or her on a daily basis. You don’t leave them guessing how they’re doing, and you coach them along the way on how they can be the best they can be. And you listen to them when they have feedback for you! Having specific performance objectives and behaviors sets the stage for a detailed, less subjective conversation. Not being afraid to have crucial conversations and addressing conflict as soon as possible creates a positive, healthy culture. Developing a Coaching Culture involves coaching[3], appreciation, and evaluation. Evaluation is critical for the employee’s growth and for leadership’s awareness of the state of their organization. It is not a thing to be feared, but to be embraced with proper training and guidance. Let’s wash that
Storytelling Your Team Into Good Behaviors
It was the height of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Working at a bank “too big to fail” we finally accepted TARP federal money and expenses had to be slashed. The ax was falling on jobs everywhere and all of us were nervous. A look at performance through a measurement system, that was frankly easy to game, held a large determining factor for who stayed and who went. I watched in shock as some banker friends, who had worked for the bank for years consistently doing the right thing for the client and the bank, were dismissed. Among those retained were employees all of us knew were just better at “playing the game.” Not unique to my employer was the same decision making at other financial institutions. With no one hiring, these friends were left to deplete their life savings, some losing their homes, and one even lost all hope. This was a shaping time for me and began stirring in my heart the need to measure behaviors, as well as performance, when it came to evaluating an employee. There had to be a better way to reward adherence to core values, in turn creating sustainability and a competitive advantage over the long term. And then I read the book, Performance Culture, and knew immediately that the simple, yet profound use of the Performance Values Matrix could have saved so many of my friends’ jobs, and was the answer to prevent disasters like this from happening again. The author of Performance Culture, Dallas Romanowski, is now my business partner and co-founder. Along with our team, we are helping organizations across the globe achieve the performance they want in a healthy, core-values focused way. That’s my story. What’s yours? I began with a story because stories inspire us, challenge us, and motivate us. Novelists, playwrights, and filmmakers have known this for years and the best of them cause us to act – and even think – in a different way. We know from neuroscience that the brain produces and releases certain chemicals – hormones – that are the driving force for much of what we do. This research fascinates me as I have observed for years the scientifically backed reasons for behavior in daily interactions between leader, manager, and employee. These observations formed our coaching process we now use in organizations everywhere. Our Coach the Coach series aims to train managers and leaders how to recognize these same behaviors and coach to them. These hormones – oxytocin being a major player – help motivate people towards cooperation. Team chemistry and cooperative behaviors are necessary for productive and effective work, though many HR professionals and company leaders tell us this is one of their biggest challenges. In Paul Zak’s research[1] he explains how storytelling can indeed cause the release of oxytocin and drive behaviors. So why wouldn’t we tell stories of desired behaviors as regularly as possible in our companies and organizations? In the Harvard Business Review Article “The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool”[2], Harrison Monarth states, “Two studies from the health care industry show its (storytelling’s) power: Penn State College of Medicine researchers found that medical students’ attitudes about dementia patients, who are perceived as difficult to treat, improved substantially after students participated in storytelling exercises that made them more sympathetic to their patients’ conditions. And a University of Massachusetts Medical School study found that a storytelling approach has also been effective in convincing populations at risk for hypertension to change their behavior and reduce their blood pressure.” Learn more about WorkDove’s Performance Management Software today! And think about all the leaders throughout history who inspired revolutionary change because they told a story. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that he shared as often as he could. Jesus Christ spoke primarily in parables (stories) in order to incite change and duplicate desired behaviors. Aesop taught us that slow and steady wins the race. So what can we do with this knowledge, and how can we start to use storytelling in our organizations in order to drive good behaviors? Start with telling stories at the beginning of your team meetings about how your organization made a difference in someone’s life. Allow employees to share examples through 360 Degree Feedback of how fellow workers demonstrate the core values of the company and then celebrate these stories. And repeat. Don’t let this be a rare occurrence, do it as often as you can, letting it seep into and eventually becoming part of your culture. What will result is a painted picture organizationally of what it looks like to work at your company, what is celebrated and rewarded – and on the flip side – what will not be tolerated. Here’s to a great story and a happy ending. [1] https://hbr.org/2014/10/why-your-brain-loves-good-storytelling by Paul J. Zak is the founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and a professor of economics, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University. He is the author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies [2] https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-irresistible-power-of-storytelling-as-a-strategic-business-tool by Harrison Monarth
How to Create Meaningful Touch Points Between Managers and Employees
The following is an excerpt from a letter Ken Bram, President/Ausco, Inc., wrote to his peer advisory board. It’s a great example of a company moving to adopt a Performance Culture by creating frequent touch points between managers and employees. _ Dear Board Members: Last year I read the book, The Hard Thing about Hard Things, which is possibly the best business book I have ever read. The book talks about why it is hard to be an entrepreneur and build a business like ours simply because no one has done it before. All our businesses are unique and there is no cookie cutter answer to the problems we face. In the book, Horowitz talked about the best management book he had ever read, High Output Management, by Andy Grove, the CEO of Intel. Horowitz and Grove emphasized the monthly one on one conversation that a manager should have with each of his direct reports. This is consistent with advice given to me many years ago by a management consultant who helped create AUSCO’s management system. Many large public companies are ditching their annual performance reviews for something with more frequent touches. The most famous example of this is GE, which discarded the practice of forced striation. This practice grouped employees into 3 buckets – A players (top 10%) who would get large bonuses, “B” players who got to keep their jobs, and “C” players (bottom 10%) who were fired. The intent was to prevent mediocre employees from hiding. When Microsoft tried this under Steve Ballmer, it killed their corporate culture. People no longer helped each other and, in fact, sabotaged each other’s work. At the same time, the primary purpose of these reviews was to determine how much of the bonus pool each worker would get. Managers would fight to get larger slices for their favorite workers. The benefit of setting performance and developmental goals was lost as the accountability (or lack thereof) was used as a club. The big companies now recognize that their performance management system had a detrimental effect on their people. At a recent Vistage meeting I attended in NYC, the guest speaker proposed monthly touches, which could be accomplished via email. He recommended that each direct report would submit a simple email on the 5th of the month listing 5 things that were accomplished last month and 5 goals for the current month. The manager could then reply back with any comments. The 5 things should be significant. I would rather have 3 or 4 instead of 20 small items. This would give enough information to see if the worker was doing a good job, was struggling, etc. I think that understanding the accomplishments and challenges that an employee is confronting is important. I disagree that you can manage by email. Andy Grove recommended that you go to the employee’s office for the one on one conversation. You can see the piles of work not done, the priorities that they have, etc. I prefer to have the meeting on neutral ground and usually go to lunch. Sometimes it is a nice place, sometimes it is at a pizza parlor. It doesn’t matter. You are away from the distractions that would occur in either of your offices. The most important thing for me is reviewing last year’s goals and setting the performance and developmental goals for next year. I think that waiting for a year to revisit these items is too long a period and, in 2017, I plan to touch on these goals quarterly. I have asked my direct reports to email a list of their 5 and 5 on the 5th of the month. After receiving and reviewing them, I schedule a lunch with them and our agenda is the following: What did you do? What are your goals? What challenges are you having? How can I help? This is their opportunity to bring any items to my attention that they think are important. I try to take any issues that they are having and work out potential solutions together. I don’t want them to turn their problems into my problems. I publish my 5 and 5 and am considering distributing the entire management team’s to each other. I hope this helps. Regards, Ken
3 Types of Feedback – Are You Asking the Right Questions?
Depending on my state of mind (and my emotional intelligence) at the time, my reaction to this feedback would vary from demotivated to downright angry. “Great start”, I might mumble to myself with a “who does he think he is” attitude. I was feeling hurt. I spent hours working on this project and was proud of the result and I needed more than just “Great start!”.
A Framework to Assess Organizational Effectiveness
I recently had a conversation with fellow business coaches that focused on organizational effectiveness. During this conversation, David Levesque* shared a performance review framework that helps leaders understand how well their organization is performing. This framework identifies and eliminates gaps in six core areas. These areas include: 1. The layers of leadership (vertical alignment) Have you identified the right roles / seats for your organization? 2. The managers and their direct reports (manager competency) How well do your managers lead their teams? Are your employees engaged or disengaged? 3. All the departments in the value chain (silos) How well do your departments work together? 4. Each department and their customer delivery capability (customer satisfaction) Are you delighting your customers? Is each team member focused on customer satisfaction? Interested in learning about performance review phrases? 5. People’s adoption and understanding of leadership strategies (strategy deployment) Do you have a clear strategy that is understood by all? Does everyone understand your Unique Value Proposition? 6. A clear plan to achieve a high performing organization (prioritization and execution) Are your prioritizing your action plans / initiatives? Are you limiting the number or priorities so you can focus on what is most important? If you are looking for a powerful agenda for your next leadership team meeting, you may want to consider adding these six areas to your agenda. If you want to explore how we can help facilitate this meeting and/or coach your team, we would love to hear from you. *David Levesque, is a Business Coach and the owner of The Alternative Board franchise located in Rochester, NY.
Four Factors that Improve Employee Engagement
Employees all want to be happy in their job role and Managers who care about people want to provide an awesome work environment. Investors certainly want this as well because the best places to work for outperform others by 2 to 4X (re: Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work). While this is obvious, it’s not that common. In fact, Gallop Research shows less than one-third of employees feel engaged in the workplace. So how do leaders fix this? Based on our observations of working with hundreds of companies and thousands of employees, we have found there are four factors that drive employee engagement (aka employee happiness). These factors, ranked in importance, are: 1. Relationship with Manager (Empathy, Coaching, Recognition & Accountability) The number one factor driving workplace satisfaction is the relationship between the employee and his/her manager. Employees want their managers to care about them individually and to coach them to be their best. Managers who display these two traits create high performing teams where individuals hold themselves accountable for results. Employees feed off their managers’ positive behaviors and mimic these behaviors with their team and others (customers, vendors, departments, etc). In addition to better performance, companies also see less turnover when there is a positive relationship between the manager and employee (“53% of people reported that they would remain with their current employers if they felt like they were more appreciated by their bosses.” —Glassdoor Employee Appreciation Survey 2013). 2. Relationship with Peers (Trust, Candor, Emotional Control & Reliability) Employees are more engaged and work better as a team when they trust each other. This trust is based on observing workplace behaviors that support an organization’s core values. When employees trust each other they are likely to call their co-workers, their friends. Managers have a very important role in helping employees build a positive relationship with their peers. This role not only includes recognizing and rewarding workplace behaviors that build team chemistry but also preventing or removing “jerks” from their teams (i.e. employees displaying negative team behaviors). 3. Job Alignment (Learning Agility, Behavioral Preferences, Career Growth, Clear Expectations & Compensation) Jim Collins, the Author of Good to Great has said, you can accomplish amazing things when you have the right people in the right seats. To do this, you must: Define the job’s responsibilities and expectations for success (Performance Criteria); and Place employees in jobs that match their capacity to do the job (learning agility), motivation, and behavioral preferences. In addition to matching employees with jobs that best fit them, it’s important to show employees a career path that supports their professional goals and income needs. If the company’s vision does not support an employee’s career goals and compensation needs, it’s ok. You just have to realize the tenure may be shorter than you would like. However, if you support the employee’s career goals, the employee will give you more during his/her tenure. Learn more about WorkDove’s Performance Review Software today! 4. Culture Alignment (Mission, Vision & Core Values) Mission Employees want to work for a company with a purpose they believe in. This purpose can best be explained by answering four simple questions: One — Why should customers buy from your company? Two — Why should employees work for your company? Three — Why should investors invest in the company? Four — Why should the community support your company? (How is your company giving back to the community?) Vision Establishing a future vision of what the company will do and what it will look like over the next 3 to 5 years creates excitement and opportunities for growth. When everyone shares a common vision, your chances of reaching it are much higher. There is also tremendous employee satisfaction when each milestone of your vision is attained. The team understands, “We did this together!”. Core Values Your core values drive your competitive advantage because it determines how things are done and how people behave. When your core values drive performance and foster team chemistry, it’s known as a Performance Culture. While each organization’s culture is unique, a Performance Culture includes a pattern of remarkably consistent behaviors that support your core values. Successful organizations clearly recognize their core values and make sure employees who display these values are recognized and rewarded for doing so.
Performance Management Challenges – Top 5 Questions
Performance Management Challenges After hundreds of conversations with people across the globe searching for a performance management solution, I’ve noticed there are several frequently asked questions. In this post, I will address five of the most popular questions. 1. Do my leaders know what they really want? Human Resources has been tasked with finding a better solution to the cumbersome performance review process that everyone at your organization hates…but leadership doesn’t know what they really want. What are the “deal breakers” when it comes to a performance management solution? Are they more interested in a slick user interface to update their paper/manual process than in the real purpose of a performance review? How ready is your organization to implement a new solution? What will success look like? My answer here is for leadership to spend time determining the answers to some of these questions before they send their fired up HR manager off to hunt and gather, only to be dejected on all their offerings or have the project scrapped altogether. Reference our Readiness Survey here for probing questions that will save you valuable time when researching a performance management solution. 2. What if our managers aren’t great? This is a concern I often hear when explaining how critical the manager-employee relationship is to true performance management. Digging deeper it’s revealed many of the organization’s managers have been promoted as such based on their apparent aptitude for performing the job function, or better yet, purely seniority. However, they have never been trained about how to be a real manager, a developer of people. There are countless trainings on leadership because it is a learned skill that can be honed and developed. Invest in your managers, and hold them accountable for raising up leaders below them, not just for ensuring everyone showed up to work today. 3. How do we create measurable goals? Everyone loves goals…or loves to hate them. Goals are vital to an organization’s health since the lack of them – or lack of paying attention to them – can mean its undoing. Many organizations do not have clearly defined goals. Often this is because they do not have a clear mission, vision, and core values that is shared by all. Confused yet? It’s okay if you are, we spend an entire day’s workshop helping organizations form and work through this cascading connection: Goals should then be further broken down by key performance metrics (which should follow the S.M.A.R.T. format), and workplace behaviors that support your Core Values. Reference our Key Performance Indicator and Workplace Behavior Library for examples to get you started. 4. What if our organizational structure inhibits “real” performance management? What do I mean by this? Ratios, people. One manager cannot possibly truly develop 35 direct reports. This is an actual ratio I learned about last week when speaking with a potential client. Even if you want to call them “Team Leads” instead of managers, more leaders need to be raised up in order to get this ratio in line. How can one person have authentic conversations, guiding both performance and behaviors with thirty-five people? Maybe if you only talk to them once a year, but even then, how meaningful will this conversation be? How likely is that direct report to feel valued, clearly understand expectations, and truly know their path to development? Consider a cup of water as one manager. She only has enough room for 8 ounces of water. She has to pour herself out to her direct reports, trying to fill their cups as a way to develop them and help them meet their goals. How much water is each cup going to contain if she has to split that evenly between 35 cups? Clearly very little. Now if she instead pours into just 5 cups, they receive so much more, and even “grow” their own water levels because of it. Now they each have more to share with their direct reports beneath them, maybe there are 10 of them…and the design goes on. I’m not suggesting a set ratio here – every organization is different – but human capital certainly has its limitations and we would be well served to remember this. 5. What if we don’t have manager “buy-in.” The traditional performance appraisal has left so many scarred with PTSD, that they have done away with them altogether. Now, these organizations are realizing there has to be some level of measurement and conversation around what’s expected and how leadership can help, but managers don’t buy there’s any solution that will work. I offer a simple solution that agreeably won’t fix every instance of this, but does help many: let them be a part of the creation process. How much more do my kids want to work on a project or complete a task when I ask them their opinion about it? They are brought into the making of it, so now they have ownership of it. Your managers are no different. The Performance Culture System is designed to allow your managers access to create draft performance review templates for their direct reports, even creating their key metrics and behaviors to be measured. This now becomes a collaborative event with the manager and his or her supervisor. The supervisor is in effect saying, “I trust you, and I trust that you have learned a thing or two about your people and about managing this department. I’m interested to see what you think should be the focus, and we’ll collaborate together on the finished product” (coaching moment). Now that manager has ownership of the performance review and will be much more inclined to become your advocate in the field, creating that vital alignment between leadership and employees. There are more, even some very unique, “frequently asked problems” when it comes to implementing a performance management software, but hopefully, this discussion triggers your own discovery and sets you on the right path.
The Four Disciplines of Execution
A synopsis of Franklin Covey’s approach to Execution Successful companies are usually a by-product of a winning Strategy and effective Execution. While this is a common thought, many organizations struggle with the Execution side. Talented individuals often don’t lack good ideas but many struggle executing the ideas. This is because it takes more than intellectual insight to build a successful organization. In the Franklin Covey Video (Execution Overview), Chris McChesney discusses the Four Disciplines for Successful Execution. These Disciplines include: 1. Define what is Wildly Important (limit these goals to no more than 3). Key Notes: Maintaining focus on just a few key goals will help you make better decisions and increase your chance of success. Avoid chasing the next new opportunity if it does not align with your Vision 2. Focus on the Key Measures and Activities to achieve the Wildly Important Goals Key Notes: Determine activities that will help you achieve your goals. For example, if your goal is to increase sales, develop marketing activities that will generate qualified leads. Establish key metrics for these activities to measure effectiveness 3. Develop and track a Scoreboard tied to the Goals and Key Measures Key Notes: Inspect what you expect. A Scoreboard helps you maintain focus on activities that produce results. Monitor goals through goal management software 4. Facilitate Weekly Meetings to Ensure Accountability Key Notes: A brief weekly meeting with the following Agenda helps build and maintain accountability throughout the team. The Agenda includes: Report on commitments made the prior week Evaluate the Scoreboard — Are we on track? Each team member picks 2 or 3 things he or she can do this coming week to affect the Scoreboard Franklin Covey’s approach to the Four Disciplines of Execution almost mirrors the process Performance Culture developed for its clients. The web-based performance management software includes easy to use templates that can be tracked and measured. In addition to Goal management and Weekly Leadership Meeting Agendas, the system includes a way for managers to evaluate and coach employees on both performance and behaviors — Behaviors that define your Core Values.
Change Management for Managing Performance
Is Your Organization Ready to Change the Way You Manage Performance? Being a performance management company, we talk to a lot of leaders that are fired up about making a real difference in their organizations. Many are ready to see their team soar to new heights and develop a healthy, performance culture. But how do you begin to institute real change? What if your organization is not ready? What if leadership is not behind it? How do you know if your new initiatives will “stick,” and if you will see any results?Below are some questions that may help you assess if your organization is ready to change the way you manage performance. One word of caution – don’t be overwhelmed if some – or all – of the questions cause you to pause. That’s a good thing. Ensuring a majority is behind your change management initiative is key. We encourage you and your leadership teams to brainstorm and “whiteboard” through these questions. They should spark real conversations about the state of your organization and prompt discussion around action items that will lead to positive change. Request Demo Performance Management Change Readiness Survey Company Profile• Has your organization clearly defined its mission, vision, core values and goals? Are these shared by all?• How do you manage performance today? What works well? What doesn’t?• What would you like to change with your current performance management process? Why? Management & Organizational Structure• Are current roles and responsibilities clearly defined and are they aligned with company goals?• What values and behaviors do your leaders model? Are they the right ones?• Do your leaders show personal commitment to business initiatives? Remember, leaders must lead by example to earn the will of the team. Change Management• Do senior leaders believe there’s a need to improve performance management?• Will this performance management initiative be supported by senior leadership? Will they hold the management team accountable to implement a new process?• What concerns do you think managers and employees will have?• Do most of your managers have the people skills to make a new performance management process work?• Do you have the resources to implement a new performance management process? Return on Investment• What outcomes would you like to see from implementing a new performance management process? For example: sales, costs, culture, employee retentions, business metrics.• How much have you budgeted for a new performance management process? These questions should help provide you clarity as you seek to determine your next step in managing performance at your organization. With that said, I will leave you with a quote from a friend of mine as you ponder all of this – “It is better to do something about one thing, than nothing about everything.” Request Demo
