by thepeopleplan | Jul 31, 2012 | coaching
“Effective performance management is not about executing the annual review cycle, its about the modifications, adjustments and course corrections day in and day out that keep the organization headed in the right direction.” (Aberdeen report – The Performance Engagement Equation, 2012)
Read our blog post Total Reward #10- recognition that discusses the positive praise also called recognition, so this article will focus on the corrective feedback.
Many managers I work with have yet to reach a rhythm and style for terrific, effective, ongoing feedback with their direct reports. They seem to lack the comfort level with correcting performance gaps, and do take the time to specifically recognize great performance activities and results.
Lesson to be learned—you should increase the frequency you recognize good performance so that when you give your employees corrective feedback it is better received (and more likely to be acted on).
A classic study on teams (Marcial Losada, 1999) found that the best performing teams had a ratio of 6 positive comments to one negative, and the lowest high performing teams had a ratio of positive to negative statements of 3:1. (Psychology geeks like me love the remarkable finding—too much praise without constructive improvement is counterproductive — some of the worst performing teams had an 11:1 ratio of positive to negative.) Apparently in marriage the ratio is closer to 20 to 1 (I kid you not, I recently interviewed marriage counselors at a client and there is research to back this statement up).
One way to improve an employee’s acceptance of performance enhancing communication is to make this a planned update session. No one likes to be “called to the principal’s office” or hear “Lucy, you have some ‘splaining to do.”
When managers held informal monthly employee performance update meetings, organizations were much more likely to achieve their goals (56% versus 47%) and have engaged employees (47% versus 36%, Aberdeen report).
If you have a scheduled weekly update (even a 5 minute one) every week with your boss and a monthly review of priorities and goals, how would this change your perceptions of the communication (and pre-meeting anxiety level)? During this time your supervisor can review specific performance against what I call “de-personalized” measurements and then discuss tactical changes to improve.
For example, my goal this month was to write 10 blog posts and meet with 10 prospects. I wrote 13 blogs but only had 7 prospect meetings, so we can discuss what resources and changes in my work flow would assist my achievement of 10/10 next month. Do I feel picked on, perhaps (depending on the coaching ability of my boss), but the expectations are clear and objective and so are my performance results.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by thepeopleplan | Jul 24, 2012 | Uncategorized
In my informal poll of employees and human resource professionals, most are not satisfied with the performance review process at their organization. The “annual review” is often the most dreaded event for employees and managers alike (hundreds of studies back up my personal polling results) go to this web-site. Don’t blame HR people—they have the best of intentions.
You see, employees crave performance feedback — really! (next week our blog post will focus on the value of feedback). The problem is that they are not getting enough between the “annual reviews” and that managers are not doing a very good job with the conversation during the annual review (or worse, the reviews are less frequent than annual or not at all).
Performance management is not just an annual event with a sit down conversation and simplifying an entire year of an employee’s conversation to a single number. The term performance management refers to all the efforts of peers, managers, measurement and systems that literally “manage” or guide an employee’s performance to do work that accomplishes an organization’s goals.
A terrific Aberdeen Group report found out what differentiated the “Best in Class” employers from the “Laggards” in the area of performance management. At Best in Class companies, 88% of managers reached agreement on performance goals between a manager and a worker (compared with 77% of others). Simple stuff that they should be doing, but how they did this was remarkable —83% of Best managers provided ongoing, informal feedback compared to 43% of the lowest performing companies.
Wait until you here the impact of having great managers that align and focus employee productivity—at Best in Class employers, these managers rated 71% of employees as exceeding expectations, compared to 20% of those employers with average performance to their industry and 13% of lower performing companies. (Also, 62% of employees at Best employers were engaged compared to 28% at laggards).
So this means that Best companies had 6 times are many Top Performers– no wonder they hit the ball out of the park compared to their competitors!
The study also found that there were reasons Best employers had more effective manager- employee conversations, as they provided tools and training for managers on how to engage workers and deliver effective performance reviews.
Compare this to an organization I recently worked with. The organization had no performance review process, so a new manager took the initiative to copy the one used by his wife’s employer. He then completed the reviews by himself, handed them to employees with the comment “let me know if you have any questions.” And yes, each employee was given a number, but no, the reviews never left his office (I do not believe the general manager or HR even knew about this). I definitely give him an “A” for effort—but put yourself in the mind of the employee—what must they be thinking?
Read the Aberdeen report, the Engagement Performance Equation
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by thepeopleplan | Jul 19, 2012 | Uncategorized
“Where do you work?” is a question often posed when we first meet someone, directly after they learn your name and occupation. You might not think about this but we do judge someone by the “company they keep”- literally.
Are you proud to be associated with your employer? Does their reputation and values align with yours?
When someone works for a prestigious organization (say Wegmans, our local best place to work) they have a sense of pride with this affiliation (and we are impressed or perhaps envious).
A friend of mine recently took a job at a company that had been censored by the Environmental Protection Agency for flagrant polluting of the neighborhood—he was not particularly excited about working for this company (“it’s a job”) and did not broadcast the news to all his friends.
I had a similar experience in college working for a national exercise chain – it was clear to me after a short time that they used what I felt were predatory sales practices. While I kept my cushy front desk job for the remainder of the semester, I did not continue to encourage prospects to schedule a tour (prior to this I was the most successful appointment maker on staff). So you see, my values were not in alignment with theirs, I was not willing to compromise them and I lost engagement and my performance plummeted.
One factor related to employer reputation is that most of us would prefer a stable job (until at least we decide to leave). The Aon Hewitt Total Rewards survey found that perceptions of job security, as well as agreement with organization decisions and direction (that will ultimately impact our job security if the organization is not successful) were all key factors in employee engagement. Engagement has been found dramatically lower at organizations that are failing or laying off workers. How can you expect employees to go that “extra mile” if they expect to out of work soon?
Another factor related to our employer brand is our need for pride and affiliation. Our career choices reflect on us and we have a natural desire to affiliate with those who are similar to us. Research suggests that an employer’s reputation is becoming more important to recruiting, turnover and employee engagement.
Employers are also starting to leverage their reputation for socially and economically conscious choices, such as “green” statements and touting philanthropy.
Forbes has an interesting article about social responsibility for employee attraction, and references a study that found:
- 53 percent of workers said that “a job where I can make an impact” was important to their happiness
- 72 percent of students about to enter the workforce agreed (wanted to “make an impact”)
- most would even take a pay cut to achieve that goal
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by thepeopleplan | Jul 13, 2012 | Uncategorized
Last month our blog discussed what is Culture and why does it matter.
Essentially Culture is the attitudes, belief sets, values, written ground rules, and unwritten ground rules that set the tone of the organization and the guidelines by which employees make decisions.
If you want to use the powerful force of Culture as a motivational tool, you have to identify the culture you want and that will support the organizational goals. The Alexander Group has identified what they call the “management compass” based on what an organization focuses on (see list below- basic types of cultures).
Steps to align Culture with Goals
- Decide what type of culture you have now and want — see short list below (basic types of cultures) to find yours
- Is there a gap between current and desired Culture? Do you need Culture change?
- Identify the organizational strategy and short-term goals
- Communicate Values and performance that will support the Culture and achieve the goals/ results
- Train and coach immediate supervisors to recognize behaviors that demonstrate desired performance, and to give corrective feedback when behaviors show a lack of commitment to the values or goals
- Reward those employees (financial and non-financial) that show a commitment to the values or goals
- Council employees who are not demonstrating the expected Values and/or Actions and explain consequences, then act on those consequences if there is not adequate improvement
- Continue steps 4-7 as long as the strategy and goals are similar (if the strategy changes dramatically and requires a new Culture (think Kodak) then go back to #1 to identify new desired Culture)
Basic types of cultures (what is valued):
- Results oriented
- Focus on shareholders
- Employee oriented
- Individualistic
- Customer focused
- The organization as an Institution
- Great at execution (achieving goals)
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by thepeopleplan | Jul 12, 2012 | Uncategorized
Organizational effectiveness scholar Edward Lawler identified four “high involvement” principles that have a positive impact on employee engagement– power, information, knowledge and rewards.
What Lawler called “Power” (also referred to as autonomy or independence) means that employees have the power to make decisions that are important to their performance and to the quality of their working lives. Power can mean a relatively low level of influence, as in providing input into decisions made by others or it can mean having final authority and accountability for decisions and their outcomes. Involvement is maximized when the highest possible level of power is pushed down to the employees that have to carry out the decisions
Read more about Lawler’s principles for a high involvement workplace
Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
