by Diana Southall | Jul 31, 2014 | culture
Hundreds of studies have demonstrated that the most critical factor that impacts employee productivity, performance, retention and engagement is the relationship between an employee and his or her direct manager. As the book title clearly states “people leave managers, not jobs”
What can you do to transform your interaction and dialogue away from being a “manager” to being a coach and leader?
Brendon Burchard created an enthusiastic 11 minute video to outline 6 steps. Here are excerpts from this video below.
After watching the inspiring video- here are 6 things you do to implement this compelling model:
- Envision– Clearly (decide) define your vision for the organization, and outline your core values (I will give you bonus points if you involve your team in this process )
- Enlist– Share this vision in the most visual and engaging way and then ask “will you join me”
- Embody– Create a list of behaviors that embody your core values and then demonstrate them and recognize them <quick recognition template> and ask for feedback when you are not walking the talk
- Empower– Consider the language of your feedback, and modify to do more coaching less managing (nagging, bossing) and have more frequent and open dialogues
- Evaluate– Employees want frequent, honest, appreciative feedback — formalize your management rhythm- with weekly conversations, monthly touch points, quarterly action plan updates
- Encourage– build in storytelling, recognition, celebration into your team updates agendas and process (think about little league)
Practice One: Envision The reason we say envision versus just have a vision is it’s a practice of envisioning – “what should tomorrow look like for my team?”
Practice Two: Enlist A great leader is always enlisting other people to believe in the dream, to shape the dream, to stay dedicated to the dream.
Practice Three: Embody as leaders we have to stand for and demonstrate and show and portray what we are really believing in
Practice Four: Empower Training other people and equipping them with everything they need to succeed has to be a vital practice of every great leader.
Practice Five: Evaluate Ethics and Progress That evaluation also brings up the incredible challenge that we face as leaders, which is to give honest, direct, immediate constructive feedback to those who are trying to influence and lead.
Practice Six: Encourage To encourage, to be the champion. To be the cheerleader. To be the person always motivating, inspiring, uplifting people.
Watch this video
Read the transcipt
Image Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
by Diana Southall | Mar 5, 2014 | culture, performance
In a recent meeting with a client, we began to recap what she accomplished in the business in the last six months. Although I was involved in each step of the planning, I was pleasantly surprised to see the whole list “on paper.”
During one spring and summer, we were able to recruit, select and train two new team members and a fabulous assistant manager, promote a department manager to general manager (and trained how to delegate and work with his new assistant), turn around one employee who had lost their enthusiasm, and free up the owner from day to day management responsibilities so she could grow her second business (which she did—at a rate of over 10% that year). Best of all, she did this by involving her team to take over more responsibility and they all enjoyed their jobs more. Whew! And yet the owner felt that this was a “fun” project that she completed in a few hours a week of her time, and with these amazing results.
I work with clients who have a burning desire to surround themselves with competent and enthusiastic team members, who want to build a team that works together to make the business a success.
Many of us are willing to “put up” with the quirks and quibbles of our team members, with some mediocre performers, with attitudes that waver from positive to pessimistic. After all, good people are hard to find, right? … but I am here to tell you that you CAN expect and receive great performance from your team and you CAN find people that are willing to join you on your path to business success.
So, ask yourself what you’re waiting for. If you want a business success that relies more on your team than on you, time to put a People Plan together and go for it!
And if you’re thinking: “I don’t know how,” “I am not comfortable with delivering feedback,” or, “I need help” … You’re NOT alone and, it’s ok!
Being an entrepreneur forces you to step outside of your comfort zone and that’s scary! And, it’s an essential part of the process of achieving success.
But, the good news is, you can And, we are here for you… to develop a step by step plan, to answer your questions, to help you work through your People issues, and to support you through the process of growing your successful business team in whatever way you need.
So give yourself permission to create the business you that you want, right now. You can do this.
So if you’re ready:
*You can get started today for FREE by joining the free
*Or, you can learn how our People Plan Toolkit program will create your Fabulous team!
P.S. if you want to get get fast solutions to one People Pain, attend our next webinar
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by Diana Southall | Jan 20, 2014 | culture, job fit, performance
As your business grows beyond just a single owner in the role of general manager, you begin to build team of managers and senior professionals.
You find people who are willing to come onboard and help you build the business, and they are committed and loyal and hardworking. They came to work for your company for a paycheck but ultimately they would like to share in the success of the organization. Or perhaps you have a profit sharing/ bonus/ incentive plan that you offer now.
Many organizations design plans with the intention of rewarding key people with more than base pay, and every possible type of plan can emerge as a result.
As Dr. Phil has been known to say “how is that working for you?”
Here are 8 questions to ask about how you are compensating your key employees (count how many you can answer with “yes”):
- Do managers know exactly what they need to do this year to achieve the business goals (do they have a dashboard or scorecard)?
- Do managers know what the reward will be if they hit the results on their scorecard? (For example, if they achieve the goals exactly, what will they earn?)
- Is there a significant individual component to incentive compensation?
- Does the current reward structure emphasize long-term (5+ years) results/ metrics (more than just annual ones)?
- Have you gathered official data in the last 18 months to check if current base pay and annual incentive is “market competitive”?
- What is the perception of your compensation including incentives—is there a meaningful reward for exceptional results? Is it considered “fair”?
- How have you designed a plan that uses the different levers (base pay, short term incentive, long term incentive and benefits) for the highest value to employees, the best alignment with company goals, and the lowest post tax payroll cost?
- Have you built any mechanism to use compensation for future plans- owner retirement and/or ownership transition?
If you answered YES to at least 5 of those questions, I would suggest you have a well designed and possibly effective “pay for performance” program for your key employees.
If you only answered yes to a few or several answers are “sort of” you are not alone— we work with many very successful small companies that have outgrown their rewards programs and are challenged with each of these issues. (Some are $50 to $500 million in revenue!).
The good news that you can leverage the impact of an effective Total Rewards program, and this will align compensation with business results and be designed for future growth.
Email us to find out about our systematic 5 phase design process that customizes a solution for your unique needs, and can be ready in about 6 months.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by Diana Southall | Aug 29, 2013 | culture, job fit
Job Descriptions versus Job Responsibility Profiles:
Do you want minimum acceptable or exceptional performance?
Recently I asked a small business owner to provide the current job descriptions for a key office person.
This is the list provided by the employee: “ answer phones, open mail, dictation, schedule appointments, take out trash, add postage to meter, take deposit to bank, enter payroll, filing.”
How often do your employees have to “fill in the blanks” to determine the what, when, why and how to do their jobs? Why do we make them guess if they are doing their job “right”?Unfortunately, this example is not a rare occurrence—many businesses do not have written job descriptions that include even the basic job requirements. When I interviewed the employee her position required a much higher level of skill and experience than that list of duties imply. She also was able to explain more about the “why and how” about her position’s purpose and process to accomplish it. She knew what her job entailed and how it should be performed, and despite specific expectations from her manager, she even had weekly goals that she achieved. (For example, she expected to respond to inquiries within one day and type up all dictated documents by the end of the week.)
If you want employees to do their absolute best, they need clear expectations including performance standards. One critical document can provide this information, for your use in managing performance and to select effective new hires. We call this document the Job Responsibility Profile. This is far more than just a job description (a brief statement of 8 general duties).
A job description might be the same for a customer service representative at 100 companies: respond to customer inquiries, provide information on product, and take orders.
A Job Responsibility defines the specific knowledge, skills, abilities and personality traits of an ideal employee and then provides performance metrics to define performance requirements More hints.
Job Responsibility should include information for a manager to:
- Clearly explain performance requirements
- Compare employee’s performance to expectations
- Evaluate position’s compensation compared to market
- Verify legal compliance (American’s with Disability Act (ADA), overtime eligibility, etc)
- Suggest job restructuring or job enrichment for an individual employee
- Identify characteristics of ideal candidate to assist in recruiting and selecting new employees
Once you have documented the Job Responsibility Profile (JRP), do not just “file” this away. To be effective, this document becomes the basic work plan for an employee and used as part of your performance management process. An employee’s work should be continually compared to the outline and metrics contained in the JRP. Any deviation from the “standard” becomes an opportunity for feedback (positive or negative).
If the metrics for an associate attorney is to bring in one new major client per quarter and have 90 billable hours per month, every associate attorney should know this and also receive data on their performance compared to these metrics. When an employee exceeds expectations, this should be at least recognized, and ideally, continued exceptional performance rewarded in a Total Rewards package. Even top performers may lose motivation to continue their great work if it does not “seem” appreciated.
When recruiting for a new employee, the JRP provides the description of the position and ideal candidate. Then applicants are screened against the JRP. For example, does this receptionist applicant have knowledge and skill that would prepare her for this job (answer 100 calls a day, type up 20 letters and mail 25 marketing packets)? Does the applicant have the personality to be friendly and maintain her composure with 3 phones ringing at once? Once a candidate is selected, the JCP becomes the outline of duties to train a new employee. (For best results, also develop more detailed standard operating procedures and training checklists and manuals to augment the JCP outline).For employees who are not meeting expectations, supervisors should counsel employees to determine the cause and together develop solutions. Remember that performance gaps can be a function of motivation, ability or external obstacles. Some employees need either praise or corrective action to meet expectations—if they receive neither then performance often slips. Many times employees do not perform because they do not currently have the ability; they might need training, guidance, or a simple process to follow. Some might not have the core competency or personality to truly excel at one or more job functions (such as asking a high structure person to react and juggle 3 phone calls). Lastly, there are often obstacles to performance such as limited resources, urgent items, or dependency on others work that can prevent achievement of goals. An employee’s performance improvement plan needs to address the root cause to be most effective.
In summary, the Job Responsibility Profile (JRP) is a roadmap for each employee to understand expectations, benchmark their performance, and a tool for managers to improve poor performance and recognize and motivate exceptional work.
by thepeopleplan | Jul 24, 2013 | culture
Our prior article “What Drives Engagement?” listed the top 10 engagement drivers.
Two areas impact employee perceptions of their relationship with the supervisor (category 3):
1. Good relationship with supervisor
According to author James Robbins in his book “9 Minutes on Monday,” trust is the key component in a good relationship with your direct reports. He suggests a weekly “walkabout” to spend a few minutes talking informally with one team member to discuss something personal (not about work!) to show that you care.
2. Input into decision-making in my department
You don’t have to abdicate a decision to employees to get their input and improve their perceptions of “having a say.” Read our related post about “Total Reward #5 Autonomy” that shows a graph of the continuum of decision-making involvement
Three steps you can take NOW to improve employee perceptions of their relationship and role with (you) their direct manager:
- Schedule a time each week to do your “walkabout” to chat about the personal life of one employee.
- Find one moderately important decision you need to make soon, hold a meeting where you outline the issue and ask everyone to give input, discuss the ideas without “shooting them down” (you can share your thoughts and why you are considering this approach), and be sure to thank everyone for their contributions.
- After you have made the final decision, communicate this with your reasoning, again with recognition and appreciation for everyone’s input.
Article for more reading:
How to be a Better Boss in 2013 by leadership expert Jack Zenger (great tips here based on study of thousands of managers rated by their employees!)
by thepeopleplan | Jul 17, 2013 | culture, performance
Our prior article What Drives Engagement? listed the top 10 engagement drivers.
Two areas impact employee perceptions of what the organization values (category 2):
#1. “(My boss) sets high personal standards”
- Share what excellence and success looks like in their job (do you have any key performance indicators to discuss/ share/ track?)
- Hold everyone accountable to do their job to expectations (including yourself- walk the walk)
#2. “Organization encourages innovative thinking”
- Listen to new ideas and process suggestions, thoughtfully consider and discuss the viability of the idea
Three steps you can take NOW to improve employee perceptions of work standards and innovation:
- Regularly discuss work load and priorities, find out if team members have the tools and information to complete their tasks, and invite updates to re-direct if things aren’t on track
- Manage by results, not micromanage the process—this allows your team member to come up with a different (and often better) way to achieve the same outcome, then occasionally have staff share their methods with others doing the same task
- Ask your team- “What is one thing that could be improved for better customer service or to reduce a big hassle?” Then outline an action plan, assign tasks with deadlines, and revisit at your weekly meeting to implement this innovative improvement
Two articles for more reading:
It’s a fine line between setting high standards and being demanding. Read what NOT to do on Forbes: 10 tips on for dealing with an overly demanding boss
For tips on getting more practice at innovative thinking and turning into a habit, read “Innovation Is Everyone’s Job” on Harvard Business Review
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
