Tag Archives: Supervision

Evaluate results not time

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We all know the workers who are the first to arrive and last to leave. They don’t take time off. You wonder if their kids even recognize them anymore. Contrast that person with an employee who leaves early for parent-teacher conferences and usually walks out the door in time to have dinner with his family.

Which is the preferable employee? That question is being bantered about more than ever, as young workers in particular strive for a life that balances work, home and community.

Kate Rogers wrote “Might Be Time to Tell Your Employees to Get a Life” on foxbusiness.com. She notes that more top-level execs are embracing a flexible approach to when, where and how work is done. They hold themselves and others accountable for the quantity and quality of performance – because that produces business results.

Rewarding “face time” at the office encourages people to look busy and be present, even when they’re not giving it their all. For some, being busy becomes a way of life and a means of avoiding other brutal realities. Tim Kreider notes in “The ‘Busy’ Trap at NYTimes.com:

“Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.”

Think about how you use your  time and help your team create real success. Is it all about being busy, or are you zeroing in on the business results that matter?

Need to refocus on the right results? Contact Humanergy.

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Great expectations

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It may seem like common sense that when a teacher expects students to excel at a certain level, the students do. Grading can be subjective, after all. It is more surprising that studies of teachers have found that students’ scores on objective IQ tests correlated with teacher expectations.

Specifically,  if teachers are told that a randomly-selected student is expected to realize a large gain in IQ, that is exactly what happens. Why? Teachers begin to treat them differently. These “expectations affect teachers’ moment-to-moment interactions with the children they teach in a thousand almost invisible ways. Teachers give the students that they expect to succeed more time to answer questions, more specific feedback, and more approval: They consistently touch, nod and smile at those kids more.”

Transferring this phenomenon to a work setting, research by Jean-Francois Manzoni and Jean-Louis Barsoux indicates that the boss is often inadvertently complicit in the failure of an employee. This dynamic begins with an early mistake, lukewarm recommendation or personality clash and is set in motion as the boss questions the employee’s competence. Under increased scrutiny by the boss, the employee loses confidence. He freezes or over-reacts. The syndrome is then in full swing, and it is no surprise when the employee fails.

Think about the people you supervise, and ask yourself these questions:

What do you expect your people to accomplish?

How does that impact your behavior and thus, their achievement?

How should you change your thinking and behavior to remove the impact of unwarranted low expectations?

Need help managing your expectations and your people’s performance? Contact Humanergy.

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Stop tolerating dead weight

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Is there an employee in your organization who is dragging everyone down? There may be several. These are the employees who appear to be busy but don’t consistently produce good results. (Forget about great.) They have ready-made excuses for why they fall short, and they thrive in environments where expectations are vague.

When even one employee is glaringly unproductive, others notice. Even if they try not to care, they will begin to wonder why the expectations are so different. Over time, morale drops.

How do you clear out the dead wood in your organization?

Define expectations and give feedback. If you don’t have clear goals, roles and best practices, there can be no easy way to define a lack of productivity. Regular, formal and informal feedback to employees on what’s working and what is not will help them to maintain motivation and make adjustments as needed.

Figure out if the wood is really dead. There can be many reasons for under-performing. Some people look like failures because of a single, fixable flaw. With a strong desire to learn and change, these employees can mitigate the effects of their weakness and succeed in their jobs. Other employees may have had insufficient training. Consider fit and whether the person would be a good performer in another role. Seek the truth before you cull the dead wood.

Pinpoint who has the problem. Sometimes the problem is a lack of appropriate hiring, supervision, coaching or delegation. The results will be poor, but not because the performer isn’t giving it her all.

Act deliberately. Don’t adopt a wait-and-see approach. This may seem easier in the short term, but your organization’s culture will be negatively impacted. If you worry about losing an employee, remember that you will be more successful with fewer people aligned to the right standards than having more people orienting to mediocre or poor benchmarks.

Holding people accountable to high standards works for organizations and their employees. People thrive in environments where they are recognized and rewarded for hard work and results. In organizations with high standards and accountability, the choice for a dead-weight employee is clear. Change or leave.

 


Ask the right questions at the right time

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Your once-well-oiled machine of a team is experiencing strife. Some people seem to be spending more time whining than doing their jobs. A high-priority project is behind schedule and over budget. What questions do you ask to understand what’s really going on?

You’re first instinct may be to ask, “What isn’t working?” If you’re really at the end of your rope, you won’t be that polite.”What in the HECK is WRONG with you people?!” As frustrated as you may be, don’t focus on the negative right away. This will put people on the defensive and may deteriorate into a blame game. You will end up wasting time and will probably miss some incredible strengths that could be put to use to solve the current problem.

Begin with this question: “What’s working and why?” Here’s where you uncover the brilliance – and regain a balanced perspective. It isn’t all broken, and some things are going great.

Then, ask: “What is the need we are trying to address?” This will get people zeroing in on their purpose and goals. Be very clear about exactly what you’re trying to achieve, why it’s important and the desired results and impact.

Next, ask: “What do we need to start doing to get there?” You’ll find that there are some best practices that were never shared or have fallen by they wayside. Build on what’s working to address the gap between the need and current performance.

Only then should you delve into “What’s not working?” Figure out the behaviors that need to stop in order to remove barriers to success. Often the previous questions will have addressed some of the gaps with an eye to constructive resolution, so this conversation may be very brief.

When there is a problem, focusing first on the negative keeps you trapped in the past and may encourage you to throw in the towel too early. While it’s important to learn from what went wrong, the real power for change lies in what is going well. It takes courage and talent to overcome adversity. You’ll uncover more of both when you uncover strengths you didn’t know existed.

 

Want to learn more or just need to ask some questions of a Humanergist? Contact us.

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Is your organization ready to grow?

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Many experts think that America’s economy is poised to expand, perhaps slower than we’d like, but preferable to the recent stagnation. While you may see opportunities on the horizon, how do you know if your organization is prepared for growth? For maximum effectiveness, plan and execute now to sow the seeds for growth later.

Align on key values. Organizations who “grow well” don’t lose sight of what is important, regardless of the pace or size of growth. These core values are the rock-solid foundation upon which growth can happen.

Get rid of thorny issues. Get to the root of pervasive problems now, prior to implementing any growth strategy. Causal mapping is a great tool for understanding interconnections between problems and their roots – ensuring that solutions address the real causes, not just the symptoms.

Be more transparent. Communicate as much as you can as broadly as possible. People in the loop make better decisions and can think/act like owners. That is exactly the attitude that you want – all of your employees making decisions as if it were their own money at stake.

Go, see, lead and empower. Visible leadership is needed during any change process. If you’re more used to hanging out in your office, change that habit now. Caution: Resist the urge to go around fixing problems. Your job is to be with your organization’s people (Go), be a careful observant (See), model openness and learning (Lead) and remove roadblocks to success (Empower). None of these steps involves yelling, accusing, doing it yourself or any of the other negative behaviors which might be in your repertoire.

Lose the noise. Can you honestly say that you spend all of your time on the most vital aspects of your work? Or do you get distracted by email, meetings and the minutia of your organization’s operations? Proper focus requires the discipline of thinking and action to evaluate and resolve the critical, urgent few. Think about this as “triage,” where only the most vital strategic work passes through your filter. Everything else? Delegate or don’t do it at all.

Keep the joy. If you’re considering growth, there must be some great things happening within your organization. Figure out now how you will recognize successes. Make joyful celebrations a top priority.

Understand the drivers of success. Don’t forget to give good outcomes the same examination as you do problems. Fully explore what factors lead to success, so that you have a complete understanding how things really unfolded so well. Only then will your organization be able to build upon past achievements.

Even if you’re not in an expansion mode, your organization will benefit from the above steps. Continuous, passionate dedication to improvement is a necessary component of ongoing success. After all, as Stewart B. Johnson, a British artist, said, “Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves – to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by today.”

Want to speak to a Humanergist on this or other topics? Contact us and we will be in touch with you!

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Why are some good performers resisting change?

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Your organization needs to implement significant change in order to survive. You have high hopes that this will go well, since your people are talented and enthused about the mission. There’s one big problem that really has you stymied. A few otherwise great people don’t seem to be adjusting. They say they’re on board, and they are sincere in their efforts. Yet they seem to have unrecognized barriers that impede their ability to make necessary changes.

Getting to the root of this problem requires a realistic grasp of how people really change and how that impacts the overall process.

Understand the real barriers to change. The Harvard Business Review article, The Real Reason People Won’t Change, demystifies the puzzling reality that sometimes productive, engaged employees resist change, even when they say they want to support it. Authors Kegan and Lahey say that often these people have a competing commitment, even if they’re not consciously aware of it. Here are their five steps to helping these people achieve a much-needed metamorphosis:

  1. Identify the stated commitment (what the person says they want to do, but have thus far been unsuccessful)
  2. Diagnose the competing commitment(s)
  3. Identify the big assumption (Thoughts/perceptions that support the competing commitment)
  4. Question the big assumption
  5. Test and replace the assumption

Real-life example. I’ll use myself as an example. I say that I want to be fit. In spite of this stated commitment (1), I have a competing commitment (2). My competing commitment is that I really like the comfort and ease of eating what I want and not exercising. That is not something easily admitted, so it took some dialogue with my coach to figure that out. Next I had to identify the big assumption (3) that supports the competing commitment. In my case, I assumed that I stink at self-discipline, since I’ve gotten off the healthy bandwagon repeatedly, going back to being overweight and sloth-like. To question the big assumption (4), I examined its validity. I realized that I know what works and have actually stayed fit for years at a time. To test and replace the assumption (5), I now practice the mantra that I can and do apply self-discipline. I have done a pretty good job of replacing my old assumptions. I realize now that a one-day cookie binge is not a big deal and not evidence of my inability to stick with the program.

If you wonder if you’ll have to get a counseling degree to help your people change, fear not! The article outlines the questions to be explored and gives examples to help guide the conversation. The authors even help understand how groups can have competing commitments and how to help teams identify unspoken dynamics and move forward.

What competing commitments are getting in the way of you making necessary changes? Dig deep to figure them out and replace your assumptions that are barriers to change. “The least questioned assumptions are often the most questionable” (Paul Broca).

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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Creating fertile ground for change

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Culture change in organizations requires more than a series of passionate speeches and staff training. Before leaders sow the seeds of change, they need to increase their chances of success by understanding their own assumptions about how or if people change. Whether you are aware of them or not, these assumptions impact the way you implement any change process.

Is change possible? Although they may not say so directly, some leaders harbor a fundamental belief that people don’t or can’t change. Because of that assumption, they operate on the principle that change will only happen if people are forced into it. To get change done, they may articulate the reasons for it, but they also take actions that corner people into change. For example, resource allocations are adjusted such that people are no longer able to operate within the status quo. These leaders also believe that change almost always results in casualties; they operate with the assumption that otherwise good employees might have to go if they can’t roll with the punches.

Adjust your assumptions about the possibility of change. People do change and often embrace it willingly. Ask people if they would be willing to adjust to winning the lottery, and most would do so with great enthusiasm. Even when change is less pleasant, people will adjust based on their world view and how the change is perceived. Leading people through change requires sharing as much information with employees as possible. It also means that leaders have to listen to people’s concerns, be as responsive as possible and partner with them as change unfolds. If people understand why the changes necessary, are able to work through any emotional reactions and trust the people leading the revolution, they are usually up to the challenge.

Is it worth all this effort? Absolutely. A productive garden requires more than sturdy seedlings. You need to remove all the weeds and pests that are a barrier to full development. When you accept that change is possible, you also take responsibility for managing it the right way. Consequently, the organization retains great people and positions them to take on the future challenges that are sure to come. C. S. Lewis knew how important it was to do the fundamental work up front. “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird; it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg.”

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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Are you part of a culture of intimidation?

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You may be thinking, “Me? I’d never be a leader in an organization whose culture was intimidating! I’m a nice person!” Unfortunately, organizational culture and habits have a tendency to creep, if we’re not careful. There may be some ways in which you and other leaders contribute to people feeling constrained and bullied. You’ve just been too busy or narrow in your focus to recognize it. What are the symptoms of subtle intimidation?

Fuzzy accountability, blame and consequences that don’t fit. People aren’t exactly sure what they should be doing or what boundaries exist for their work. Expectations are unclear or inconsistent from one day to the next or one leader to the next. When things go wrong, the finger gets pointed, and the consequences don’t seem appropriate given the mistakes that were made.

Intense focus on what’s going wrong. Time, energy and emotion are invested in communicating about the problems and errors, and little is said about what’s working. Employees keep their heads down and hope for the best (or at least that they’re not the ones in the wrong this time). Sometimes negative feedback is delivered indirectly, such as jabs disguised as jokes.

Intermittent, inconsistent communication. Employees hear different messages from leaders, if they hear much at all. There is no context to what is communicated, so people don’t understand the importance and priority of the message. Confusion is common, and solutions are imperfect, since people don’t have access to necessary information.

Delegation is usually “swoop and poop” or micromanaging. Lacking the time (really, it’s commitment) to delegate appropriately, leaders plop projects in people’s inboxes, give direction via short, curt email or only half-delegate and then hover to make sure the work is getting done right.

Leaders don’t want feedback. Leaders may say they want critical feedback, but employees understand that this would come with grave consequences. “Remember Joe? Well, he criticized the boss and got canned.”

Leaders give feedback indirectly or vaguely. Often the person who needs the feedback is the last to know, as people discuss Sue’s problem with everyone but Sue. When leaders give feedback to their direct reports, they beat around the bush and don’t connect the dots between the direct report’s behavior and its impact. This leaves employees wondering what they did in the first place and uncertain about where they stand with their boss.

People create silos for support. To protect themselves or to gain power, people develop a group of allies within the organization. “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.” Invisible silos of alliances exist and everyone knows who is in whose camp, even if it is not openly acknowledged.

If even one of these statements ring true, it’s time to take a stand and promote change. Start by modeling effective listening and openness yourself. Like everyone, you are not fully aware of the impact of your own behavior. Seek information to decrease your own self-deception. Then find like-minded people within the organization and ask, “Is this culture one that enables us to meet tomorrow’s challenges and achieve necessary results?”

Work together to build a safe, healthy and productive culture that allows people to fully engage in the organization’s mission and make a difference. Good intentions won’t change anything. As Mae West said, “An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.”

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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Most rules are unnecessary and some are really dumb

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Let’s just clear this up, for those of you who are rule followers: Yes, there are a few rules that organizations need in order to comply with the law and create necessary structure and standards. Other than a scant supply of dictates, what more do you really need? (Even Moses came back down the mountain with only 10 commandments!)

The whole question of rules was reinforced by a blog called “What Every Manager Should Know About Managing Gen Y.” It advised leaders to create ‘Gen Y-friendly rules.” In fact, the authors recommend that you review all rules that people seem to try to work around.

Better yet, put all rules on the chopping block. Start with these:

Rules you can’t or won’t enforce. If people are breaking a rule right and left, ditch it. Either it’s impossible to enforce or the organizational will isn’t there. Lack of enforcement promotes cynicism and apathy about rules in general, even the ones you really need.

Rules that upper management folks break. If rules apply to some and not to others, get rid of them. Selective enforcement of the rules contributes to a toxic work environment.

Rules that don’t help you achieve your goals. We could insist that all of our staff maintain X hours of office time. We don’t because we realize that time in the office has little, if any, relationship to our goal – delighted clients. Keep your eyes on the prize and only create rules that are necessary for achieving it.

Rules that are micromanagement in disguise. Rules that tell people what to do and how to do it should raise alarm bells. Instead of dictating the “whats” and “hows,” only require that people orient towards the right goals and adhere to your ethical standards. Then let them exercise judgment and creativity in their work.

There are some pretty outrageous rules out there, if online postings are to be believed. Even if your policies don’t include a requirement that you give 2-weeks’ notice before dying, you may want to review your list. There may be some oppressive or just unnecessary rules that are doing your organization more harm than good.

Lots of rules may be an indicator that you’re spending way too much time on the activity of work – what you will DO. When your focus in on what you will ACHIEVE, you need fewer rules. Organizations can’t dictate their way into success – that requires an unrelenting focus on where you’re going and the crucial few non-negotiable rules that will help you get there.

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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Wait…what did she mean by that?

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You walk out of your boss’ office after a detailed discussion about the PDQ Project. You sit down at your computer, take out your notes, and begin amending the project plan. Suddenly that fruitful discussion has morphed into cloudy confusion. You’re not at all sure you really “get” what she said. What now? Walk back in and request more time? Send her an email with a list of questions? No matter what, you are pretty sure you’re going to look foolish or be an annoyance.

How could this situation be avoided?

Confirm who “owns” the agenda item. Sometimes meeting with the boss can lead to ownership confusion, particularly if your supervisor is enthusiastic and talkative. You may misinterpret his zeal for wanting to be in charge of the topic. Clarify in your own mind that this is something you’re taking the lead on, and then act accordingly.

Preparation is key. Decide in advance what outputs (results) you want from the meeting with your boss. Then outline the general flow of the conversation that will lead to those outputs. Consider in advance how the conversation might wander, and prepare a response, like “I think that’s a great topic for the team, and I’ll put it on the agenda for Friday’s meeting.”

Stay focused, and do it nicely. You may not be hearing what you need from your boss due to your own habit of interrupting. Resist the urge to push the conversation too quickly by interrupting your supervisor mid-sentence. Do ask her to stay on topic with you, but exercise patience. Sometimes the rambling road has a rich payoff, and sometimes it’s a dead end. It’s your job to recognize both and guide the conversation accordingly.

Ask clarifying questions. You won’t look simple-minded if you ask follow-up questions, like “Can you give me an example?” or “Are there other ways to apply this idea?” or “Can you tell me more about that?”

Allow for thinking time. It’s okay for you to say, “I’m going to take a moment to gather my thoughts.” Use that time to mentally organize what you’ve heard, jot notes and ask questions that clarify. Likewise, allow your boss space to process what you’ve said in order to respond appropriately.

Close the loop. Simply stated, this means restate what you’ve heard your boss say and ask him to do the same. It’s not so simple to do, particularly if you’ve convinced yourself that you’ve already got the message and don’t need to bother feeding it back. Just remember the consequences of confusion. Exercise the discipline of reviewing your understanding, and you won’t have to endure the embarrassment of clarifying later.

How can you gracefully regroup when you discover that you didn’t really “get” what your boss was communicating?

Get other help. There may be other people who can help you understand what you missed the first time. Check this out, but recognize that you might not be able to avoid the conversation with the boss.

Own it. Don’t try to fool the boss into thinking you got it the first time around. Admit that upon further thought, there were some points that you missed. Above all, don’t accuse her of being confusing, just because you were confused.

Prepare again. Figure out the one or two points you need to clarify, and that’s it. (If you missed more than that, you need a wholesale re-evaluation of your communication skills.) Ask for 10 or 15 minutes of the boss’ time and stick to that.

Say thanks. Thank your boss for his time, and tell him what you’re doing to make sure this doesn’t happen again. You don’t need to give him your plan in detail, but say something like, “For our next meeting, I am going to take more notes and regroup at the end of our time together to make sure I got it.”

Don’t do it again. Not catching on to some of the key ideas once is understandable, twice is annoying and three times gets you pegged as a bad listener and time waster.

We’ve all been there at one time or another – either as the confused or the confuser. Work on your own clarity of communication, and you’ll probably find that you’re less perplexed by others as well. Remember that what is so obviously obvious to you isn’t obvious to others, and vice versa.

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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