Performance - 10 Minute Manager

Posts Tagged ‘performance’

Is poor supervision impacting your productivity?

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

How often do we stand back and think about the value of applying effective people management practices – especially the value to the business? Take a look at this piece of research:

Proudfoot Consultings (www.proudfootconsulting.com) annual Productivity Survey for 2007 shows that in the UK 33.3% of the time spent in work is unproductive. Taking into account that they estimate that the optimum ‘labour utilisation’ time is considered to be 85% this means that UK businesses are wasting just over 18% of working hours.

Here’s what they say about the reason

‘Whatever business you’re in, pay particular attention to the calibre and capabilities of those who directly supervise frontline workers. Poor worker supervision has always been a prominent reason for wasted working time in our Business Reviews and in the last two years has risen to become the dominant factor’

That’s just short of a day a week, then, lost to poor supervision

Before we explore this issue further I should point out that this report is based on research of large businesses (with turnover in excess of £100m). Clearly, managing staff in a smaller organisation can be very different. For example, there’s less likelihood of there being a long ‘chain of command’ and it’s clearly more difficult for staff members in a small enterprise to be unproductive, at least intentionally. However I’d say it’s worth all organisations, whatever the size, periodically taking a critical look at how they manage their staff

Here are a few questions you can use to assess your people management practices (based on my model of effective people management):

1. Are your staff crystal clear on what’s expected of them? Have you described and agreed what good performance looks like for their job? Are these agreed descriptions written as performance standards or objectives?

2. Do you monitor your staff’s actual performance against the standards or objectives on an ongoing basis? Are your staff involved in monitoring their own performance?

3. Do you and your staff review together their performance on a regular basis (every 3 months is standard good practice)? Do you give them objective, evidence- based feedback? Do you agree on areas of outstanding performance and how these can be built upon? Do you identify and agree any areas of improvement?

4. Do you discuss your staff’s job satisfaction with them so that you can, together, develop ways to maintain or enhance their satisfaction?

Do you now feel like having a lie down? I do know this all sounds like an awful lot of work and it certainly does take some time commitment to manage your staff effectively. However research does demonstrate again and again that not only does effective people management positively impact productivity and business performance but it also positively impacts your staff’s job satisfaction. A win for the business, a win for your staff and not nearly as hard as it sounds with the right tools and techniques

Tags: management training, managing, performance, performance objectives
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My staff member is boring! What can I do?

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Some time ago I was asked by Colin, the Head of a large secondary school in London, to give him some advice and guidance on dealing with a number of staff performance problems. We talked about a number of issues and finally he began talking about a teacher he labelled ‘mind bogglingly boring’ Here’s how the conversation began;

C Now this staff member is driving me nuts

J What is she doing, or not doing, that is giving you a problem?

C It’s just that she’s such a boring teacher

J Give me an example?

C OK. I dropped into one of her lessons this week as part of my observation schedule. Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen such a set of bored pupils in my life. Half of them were asleep, a group of them were writing SOS messages on the window (in their own blood) and one kid was trying to make an escape tunnel, using a biro

J Really?

C Well no, but not far off. Now I’m guessing you’re going to say to me ‘Oh for crying out loud Colin, just sit her down and tell her she’s boring’

J Do you think that would work?

C No

J Me neither

C Ha! I knew you wouldn’t be able to help me with this one

Putting aside Colin’s clear lack of confidence in my abilities (oh yeah of little faith), it’s not

uncommon for managers to decide that some performance problems are just too difficult to

address. These issues then get put in the ‘too hard tray’ and left, often to fester

Of course telling someone ‘you’re a boring teacher’ or ‘the pupils find you boring’ won’t work. Feedback on personality traits or characteristics is just too hard to understand and too hard to accept (I talk about why in the blog ‘How to give positive criticism – with the focus on behaviours’ http://www.10mmt.com/how-to-give-positive-criticism-with-the-focus-on-behaviours/ ).

So what do you do?

The first step is to articulate the behaviours – not your interpretation of the results of those behaviours (as Colin had)

The question I asked Colin was What are you seeing the teacher doing, or not doing that has led you to label her as ‘boring’?

Here’s some of what he came up with;

She did not;

1. Make enough use of the available IT facilities – minimal use of the interactive whiteboard to show videos, on line resources etc

2. Use enough research / problem solving exercises

3. Explain the learning intention – what she expected the pupils to be able to do as a result of the lesson

4. Use enough group discussion techniques

How does this help?

By thinking ‘behaviours’ we can now move from the highly subjective and judgemental statement / thinking

‘My staff member is boring’

To the much more objective and non judgemental statement / thinking

‘My observation is that my staff member is not demonstrating the use of a number of tools and techniques designed to engage the pupils’

Which means we can move from feeling, as Colin did, that the situation was too difficult to address – who would be prepared to tell someone they were ‘boring’, or that ‘clients find your presentations boring’? - to seeing that when we talk behaviourally no performance issue is ‘out of bounds’

Tags: 'giving criticism', management training, manager, managing, performance, supervision
Posted in Managers Questions | Comments Off

How to give positive criticism – with the focus on behaviours

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Most managers, in my experience, don’t find it too difficult to give criticism on the

quantifiable element of their staff member’s performance. They don’t find it too difficult to say something like ‘We agreed you would produce 30 units a day. This record shows you’re producing 20. Can you agree there’s a problem here with your performance?’

The challenge

What many managers find much more challenging is giving criticism on the unquantifiable elements of the staff member’s performance. This is how managers often describe this type of issue to me

· He’s got a poor attitude

· She lacks confidence

· He’s not a team player

· She’s arrogant

Clearly it’s not too hard to see the problem managers have with raising these types of issue. It is difficult to see a conversation going well based on an opening line ‘I want to talk to you about your attitude. It stinks’ (and if you think I’ve made that last statement up, I’m sorry to say I haven’t)

So how do you give this type of criticism?

The first step is to focus on behaviours, and only the behaviours. What you will notice from our manager’s statements above is that they are talking about the staff member’s characteristics or personality traits. As you may have noticed from your own experience, criticising a person’s characteristics or personality traits very rarely works well. If ever. Criticism specifically focussed on behaviours is much more likely to be understood and accepted. Here’s why

1. Behaviours vs. Characteristics or Personality Traits

When a staff member receives criticism on their behaviours they generally ‘hear’ that criticism on the cognitive or intellectual level (‘in the head’)

When they receive criticism of their characteristics or personality they generally ‘hear’ that on the emotional level (’in the heart’)

Criticism based on our behaviours is easier to accept than criticism of our personality or characteristics because it is based on

· what we do

NOT ON

· who we are

Also, although most people believe they can change what they do. Very few people believe they can

change who they are

A couple of examples:

A) If I were to say to you

When you turn up late to team briefings it causes a problem (Behaviour)

It would probably feel easier to accept than if I were to say

Your lack of commitment to the team is causing a problem (Characteristic / Personality trait)

B) When you interrupt me in front of a client it causes a problem (Behaviour)

Would probably feel easier to accept than

Your arrogance is causing a problem (Characteristic /Personality trait)

So, criticism based on behaviours is both a) depersonalised and b) focussed on the belief that the person can change. This makes it easier to accept and consequently easier to give

2. Facts vs. Assumptions

The second reason is that it’s easier to give criticism on behaviours is because behavioural

criticism is based on facts not assumptions

Examples

A) When I talk about you turning up late for a meeting – that’s a fact

When I talk about your lack of commitment – that’s an assumption

B) When I talk about there being three errors in the report you gave me – that’s a fact

When I talk about your lack of interest in your work – that’s an assumption

The reality is I can’t actually know what your level of commitment or interest in your work is – I can only assume, or guess, based on my interpretation of your behaviours

But it is assumption and it is guesswork and, putting aside any moral objection you might have to making assumptions about a person, assumptions can be argued against and facts cannot. And that’s why it’s a problem

Another example

Have you ever said to anyone ‘You just don’t listen!’?

Have you ever had the following response?

‘Your assumption that I don’t listen to you is absolutely correct. I rarely, if ever, pay attention to anything anyone else says. Thank you for pointing this out to me. I shall now endeavour to hang on to every word you say’

I thought not

Almost any criticism of characteristics or personality trait will be met with an argument.

‘You don’t listen’ ‘I do’

‘You’re not committed enough’ ‘I am’

And so it goes on

3. Objectivity

When you focus on behaviours you can give examples:

Yesterday you came to the meeting 20 minutes late

There were three errors in the report you gave me

What examples give you is objectivity – because you’re talking about facts – and criticism that is seen as being objective is always easier to understand and accept

A summary of the benefits of focussing on behaviours

a) It depersonalises the criticism as much as is possible – it’s not about the person. It is

About what they do or have done

b) Most people believe they can change what they do. Very few people believe they can

change who they are

c) It’s difficult to disagree with facts. It’s easy to disagree with assumption

d) Facts bring objectivity. Objective criticism is easier to accept and easier to give

Want to know more about this topic? You can watch Session One from the video ‘Motivating your staff to improve their performance with positive criticism’ for FREE at http://www.10mmt.com/wp-login.php?action=register

In this session you can learn;

· How an iceberg can help you understand (and explain) the concept of behavioural criticism

· Why the focus on behaviours can be such a challenge

· A two step exercise for preparing to give criticism on behaviours

Tags: 'giving criticism', Add new tag, management training, performance, skills, supervision, training videos
Posted in How To | 2 Comments »

Using video in your blended learning solutions

Monday, March 8th, 2010

I’ve recently been asked by a HR Manager to design a blended learning solution to help managers learn how to motivate their staff to improve their performance with positive criticism. She specifically wants a solution which includes;

1. A motivational element – engaging managers in the ‘why’ and the benefits

2. Self managed learning using the 10MMT video workshop

3. Support in applying learning into practice

Here’s the solution

STEP ONE – MOTIVATION

INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP

A two hour, high energy, motivational workshop to engage managers in understanding;

Why dealing with under-performance is a critical issue for the organisation, team, staff member and for you as the manager

The benefits of dealing quickly and effectively with under- performance, and the cost of not dealing with it

Why managing under-performance is challenging and how those challenges can be met

Why under-performance happens

How to develop a range of strategies for improving performance

The 10 Minute Management Toolkit – how it works and how you it can be used

STEP TWO – SELF MANAGED LEARNING

SELF MANAGED LEARNING

Managers watch their individual copies of the DVD ‘Motivating Your Staff to Improve Their Performance with Positive Criticism’ designed as easily digestible, bite sized sessions – around 10 minutes long – that managers can stud

Where they want

When they want

At the pace they want and

As many times as they want

This means managers can use the videos, and the downloadable workbooks, to learn in a way that:

Best fits their style and preferences and

Best fits into their working day

STEP THREE -SUPPORT

INDIVIDUAL TELE-COACHING SESSIONS

Each manager receives three x 30 minute telephone coaching sessions:

Session One. Planning how to use the 10 Minute Management Toolkit techniques. Laser coaching on specific performance improvement issues

Session Two. Reviewing application of the models. Outcomes from applying the techniques , drawing conclusions and learning

Session Three. Further support and coaching on any issue relating to improving staff performance for up to 6 months after completion of the workshop.

Summary

So often traditional management training courses concentrate on motivation and imparting knowledge and then ….. that’s it!

In this blended learning solution the manager is also helped to apply the knowledge they gain, and to significantly develop their skills

The outcome? Not only will the manager improve their own performance, they will improve the performance of their staff members. High impact, flexible training that really makes a difference

Tags: blended learning, improving performance, management training, manager, performance, training videos
Posted in Using the 10MMT | Comments Off

Want to improve productivity? – then get supervising!

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

How often do we stand back and think about the value of applying effective people management practices – especially the value to the productivity of our business or organisation? Take a look at this piece of research:

Proudfoot Consultings (www.proudfootconsulting.com) Productivity Survey shows that in the UK 33.3% of the time spent in work is unproductive. Taking into account that they estimate that the optimum ‘labour utilisation’ time is considered to be 85% this means that UK businesses are wasting just over 18% of working hours.

Here’s what they say about the reason

That’s just short of a day a week, then, lost due to poor supervision

Before we explore this issue further I should point out that this report is based on research of large businesses (with turnover in excess of £100m). Clearly, managing and supervising staff in a smaller business or organisation can be very different. For example, there’s less likelihood of there being a long ‘chain of command’ and it’s clearly more difficult for staff members in a small enterprise to be unproductive, at least intentionally. However I’d say it’s worth all organisations, whatever the size, periodically taking a critical look at how they supervise their staff

Here are a few questions you can use to assess your people management and supervision practices:

1. Are staff crystal clear on what’s expected of them? Do they have agreed descriptions of what effective performance looks like for their job? Are these agreed descriptions written as performance standards or objectives?

2. Is the staff member’s actual performance monitored against the standards or objectives on an ongoing basis? Are staff involved in monitoring their own performance?

3. Is the staff member’s performance reviewed on a regular basis (every 3 months is standard good practice)? Are they given objective, evidence- based feedback? Are areas of outstanding performance identified and how these can be built upon agreed? Are any areas for improvement discussed and strategies for improvement agreed?

4.Is the staff member’s job satisfaction discussed with them so that ways to maintain or enhance their satisfaction are agreed?

Do you now feel like having a lie down? I do know this all sounds like an awful lot of work and it certainly does take some time commitment to manage and supervise staff effectively. However research does demonstrate again and again that not only does effective people management and supervision positively impact productivity and business performance but it also positively impacts your staff’s job satisfaction. A win for the organisation, a win for the staff member and not nearly as hard as it sounds with the right tools and techniques

Joan Henshaw is the author and presenter of the video management training series ‘The 10 Minute Management Toolkit’ – the flexible, cost effective and time effective way to help managers, business owners, team leaders and supervisors learn how to motivate their staff to high performance. Want to learn more about how to motivate staff to high performance? Watch videos and claim your free e-book at http://www.10mmt.com

Tags: management training, managing, performance, skills, supervision, training videos
Posted in Insights | 2 Comments »

Helping your managers embrace their right to manage

Friday, January 15th, 2010

So frequently the managers I work with seem to feel the need to gain permission to undertake probably the most important part of their role – managing their staff’s performance. They clearly know there are expectations of them as managers but they don’t feel they have somehow earned the right to manage. Here’s an example:

“I don’t feel managing performance is appropriate for my staff, some of them are more experienced than I am – who am I to say what good performance in their job looks like?”

Employees’ rights at work are a well debated and largely well understood concept. Most managers have some understanding of the organisation’s legal duties with regard to the care of employees. And rightly so. Many managers, however, spend little time thinking about their rights as managers of people’s performance. Here are some of the rights I believe managers must have:

The manager’s rights

· To explain and agree standards of performance for the job

· To expect their staff to consistently meet the agreed standards

· To monitor performance against the standards

· To give focused specific feedback on performance – the positive and less positive aspects

· To identify areas of under performance and to address those areas of under performance with their staff member

· To expect the staff member to take agreed actions to improve areas of under performance.

I’m guessing you can think of more.

Can I bring your attention to the word ‘agree’ in the above statements? I’m not suggesting here that managers have the right to coerce or bully good performance out of their staff. That would be daft. I am suggesting that managers have the right to explain clearly and directly their expectations of their staff and to have positive assumptions about their staff’s willingness to perform to a high standard.

And The Practical Application?

You could:

Open a conversation with the managers in your business around the issue of the right to manage – what they perceive to be their rights and identifying any barriers to asserting those rights

Agree what rights the managers your business have and what asserting those rights would look like in practice

Develop a ‘managers rights’ charter

Use the concept of the managers rights in coaching sessions with managers who appear reluctant to manage

I’ve introduced the concept of ‘management rights’ to many managers and many of those managers have told me that understanding this concept has had a profound impact on their confidence. If we don’t believe we have the right to do anything, are we ever going to do it consistently and well?

Joan Henshaw is the author and presenter of the video management training series ‘The 10 Minute Management Toolkit’ – the flexible, cost effective and time effective way to help managers learn how to motivate their staff to high performance. Want to learn more about how to motivate staff to high performance? Watch videos and claim your free e-book at http://www.10mmt.com

Tags: management training, manager, performance, skills
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How to describe what you want from your staff using ‘reverse thinking’

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Research consistently demonstrates that staff members who know what is expected of them are both more productive and have higher levels of job satisfaction than those who don’t. Clarity – about what our specific contribution to the organisation needs to be and why our contribution is important – is highly motivational and leads to improved performance

Here’s one technique you can use to clearly describe what you want. It’s based on the ‘spooky but true’ principle that it’s often easier to describe what you don’t want rather than what you do want

What you might call ‘reverse thinking’. Here’s how it works

STEP ONE

Describe what you don’t want

· What would this look like done really badly?

· What would other people be saying about them, if they were doing this badly?

· What don’t I want to see?

An example

Imagine we are aiming to describe to our staff what we mean by ‘open to change’ Here’s what I would expect to see if my staff member was not open to change;

Open to Change (the reverse)

· Doesn’t demonstrate any interest in proposed changes

· Doesn’t plan to incorporate changes

· Doesn’t try out new things

· Doesn’t give feedback on the changes

· Gives in as soon as there are any difficulties implementing change

STEP TWO

Of course you then need to reverse the description!

An example

Performance objective – Open to Change

· Seek information on the proposed changes

· Plan to incorporate the change

· Actively seek to experiment with changes

· Objectively evaluates changes and gives feedback

· Seeks to overcome any difficulties implementing change

· Helps others to come to terms with change

So, a quick and easy way to describe what you do want – by firstly describing what you don’t!

Would you like to see more descriptions of behavioural performance objectives? Then take a look at my ebook ‘Instant Performance Objectives’ at http://www.performance-objectives.com A gold mine of information and a quick and easy way to describe what you want from your staff so that you can get what you need from your staff

About the author: Joan Henshaw is the author and presenter of the 10 Minute Management Toolkit

Tags: management training, manager, managing, performance, skills
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5 Top Tips for a Motivational Performance Review Meeting

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

In this short video I share 5 simple tips for making your performance review meetings really motivational

5 Top Tips

Tags: management training, performance, skills
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How to define what you want from your staff – without reinventing the wheel!

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

The start point for achieving that clarity is to identify what resources you currently have in place in the business which can help you define your expectations of your staff – what you want from them

Here are some examples of resources managers typically use

Resources to help you define what you want from your staff

Job descriptions
Person specifications
Objectives – team or individual
Performance standards
Competency descriptions
Handbooks
Guidance notes
Training manuals

Let’s not re-invent the wheel

A couple of questions;

Have you utilised all the resources in place in your business to describe to your staff what you want from them (why not use the above ideas as a check list)?

Could you find out;

What other managers use?
What your manager uses?
What resources your HR department could give you?

It’s all about making use of what’s currently in place – without reinventing any wheels

Need more help?

Take a look at my e-book ‘The Managers Toolkit – 176 Behavoural Performance Objectives’. A quick and easy way to describe what you want from your staff so that you can get what you need from your staff

Tags: managing, performance, skills, training
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5 Ways to Motivate your Managers to Manage Performance

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

I’ve worked with hundreds of managers, including team leaders and supervisors, and many of those managers were, by their own admission, reluctant to manage. Of course on a day by day basis they do manage people – they answer questions, allocate work, go to management meetings, and hold some team briefings. But what they often don’t do is apply a focused and structured approach to motivating their staff to high performance by managing their performance.

In theory, managers know they should be managing performance, that they should be agreeing objectives, monitoring and reviewing performance and using the review or appraisal system. They know they should be having dynamic discussions with their staff about their performance. But clearly there’s an obvious difference between knowing you should do something and actually doing it. And when managers don’t manage, the business suffers and so do their staff. So what’s the answer?

Here are five ways to motivate your managers to manage performance:

1. Help managers to understand why performance management is important to the business
Do your managers need help in understanding the value of managing performance? Do they need to understand why effective performance management is a critical commercial issue and how effective performance management impacts business success? If you can help your managers to understand the importance to the business they then gain the confidence that there will be some real business benefit derived from their efforts. And then they see the point.

2. Help managers understand why performance management is important to their staff
Do your managers know that research shows that what people seem to want, and want quite badly, is to be well managed? That they want clarity on what is expected of them and feedback which is motivational? Much of what ‘well managed’ means is effective performance management. The manager’s role in the satisfaction and the engagement of their staff can’t be overstated but often needs to be explained.

3. Help managers to embrace their right to manage performance
Frequently the managers I work with seem to feel the need to gain permission to undertake probably the most important part of their role – managing performance. They clearly know there are expectations of them as managers but they don’t feel they have somehow earned the right to manage. Do your managers need to understand the rights they have to manage? Do they know what those rights look like in practice?

4. Give managers the tools and techniques they need to manage performance
Do your managers have access to a range of tools and techniques which can make the seemingly complex much, much simpler? How can we expect managers to know, for example, that there is a simple way to give feedback about even the most ‘difficult’ performance issue so that the issue can be understood and accepted by the staff member? Managers just do not have the time to work these processes out for themselves so they either waste a lot of time (and staff good will) on ‘trial and error’ or they just give up.

5. Ensure that managing performance is a top priority for your managers
Do managers have ‘managing performance’ listed in their job description, their job objectives or anywhere else? I have heard hundreds of managers tell me that there is nothing written down or agreed that describes their responsibilities as a performance manager. So why would a manager dedicate time and effort to an activity for which they are not held accountable, for which there is no reward, which appears to be just about the lowest priority of the business? How can organisations expect their managers to undertake the complex work of managing their staff’s performance if:
a) the manager does not know what being an effective performance manager looks like in practice in their organisation
b) the manager is not held accountable for the effective performance management of their staff – it is not seen as an integral part of their job but something to be done when all of the ‘real work’ has been completed
c) they are not acknowledged or rewarded for effective performance management?

In summary

It’s all about developing the ‘will’ and the ‘skill’. Helping managers to understand the importance of effective performance management in motivating their staff to high performance, helping them develop the skills and then holding them accountable for applying those skills in practice

Tags: manager, managing, performance, skills, training
Posted in Managing the Manager | 4 Comments »

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