Often as managers we are pressured from above to lift the performance of our staff. Increase productivity, improve quality, achieve better response times or less errors! Below are a few tips that will help you get just that little bit more out of your people - it’s really not that hard.
Spontaneous recognition - how to make your staff do just that bit more
It really takes very little to get people motivated and to improve overall performance. One of the most powerful ways to achieve this is to find reasons to praise people. By doing this you will build individual self esteem and increase performance. But you have to plan it! Planned spontaneous recognition. This means looking for things that people are doing well. Often as managers we spend most of our time looking for the things our people are doing wrong. Turn that around and start looking for things they are doing right or well. Then let them know that you appreciate their efforts.
So, what form can this take? Planned spontaneous recognition can include:
- A simple thank you
- A handshake
- Praising them for a job well done in front of the team
- A bottle of champagne to share with their partner
- A $1 scratchy
- Letting them go home an hour early
My advice? Use your imagination and come up with a wide range of ways to show people how important they are to the success of the team. Remember, look for what your people are doing right and then recognise them for it. It's powerful and it works.
Rewarding positive behaviour
Sometimes I really wonder what our managers are being taught in our business schools and training programs. Last summer I came across a manager in one of the organisations I was consulting to who had developed a rather unique way of improving the performance of his best people. (Well, at least he thought it was good!) He would identify his top 2-3 people each month and get them into his office, then he would call on speaker phone a person who was performing poorly and proceed to verbally abuse them and threaten their job. His comment to the top performers was, "keep performing or that is what you can expect." How’s that for a motivational technique?
There is a simple psychological principle that must be put into effect if you want to build and sustain good performance, and it is this:
Behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated
If you catch someone doing something well, give them positive feedback. “Really liked how that report came together last week, I have another one that really needs your touch”, “I heard you got a complimentary letter from one of your customers, that’s great, I have arranged for you to get a DJ’s gift voucher”, “Lisa your presentation to Walkers was so good this morning I want you to present it again to our Managing Director”, “Jade I have arranged for you and your partner to go out to dinner; after all the work you put into the Kelloggs contract you really deserve it”, “OK team if we all reach our targets this week drinks are on me on Friday night.”
When a person is rewarded for positive behaviour they will seek to repeat that behaviour. It’s as simple as that. Too often I see managers doing exactly the opposite and the consequence is reduced performance. Another thing to consider along these lines is to ensure that your reward systems are directly aligned to the behaviour that you want to encourage. I was working with a sales department of a large organisation that was having difficulty getting the various product teams working together. When we analysed their reward and commission structures we discovered that people were being rewarded for individual performance, there was no component of their commissions that was aligned to them working together as teams. So, guess what? They didn’t! As one person said to me, “Why should I do anything to help them when I am the one who loses out?” Excellent point I’d say. Once we helped realign the reward system so a part of their commission was based on teamwork - team performance started to improve.
Ask yourself - What behaviours do I need to encourage in order to see an improvement in performance? Then find a range of ways you can actively reward these behaviours - and watch the performance improve.
'Nuts and bolts’ of improving staff performance
A couple of years ago I worked on an assignment as a consultant for an international computer company. On one occasion, while sitting with one of their senior managers, she started to express her anger at the poor performance of one of her direct reports. “He should know better, he has been in this industry for years. It’s just not acceptable!” And, the more she spoke about it the more angry she became.
Sensing that an explosion was imminent I asked her to explain to me exactly what aspects of this manager’s performance were unacceptable. She had some trouble articulating exactly what it was he was doing wrong, ‘bad attitude’ was mentioned a number of times, ‘flaunting my authority’ also came up, but at the end of the discussion there was not an awful lot to pin on him.
As we talked about it some more it became obvious to both of us that her manager had been caught in a ‘skills trap’. In other words, sure, he had been around in the company for a long time, however, the skills required to do the job had changed with shifts in the marketplace, increasing client expectations and a vastly different workforce to manage.
When I asked her my 'three magic questions' regarding staff performance the problem became clear:
- Does he know what to do?
This is a question of role clarity. Often managers expect their people to read their minds and instinctively know what it is they expect of them. Unless a manager clearly articulates for their staff exactly what they want them to do, they cannot expect them to do it.
- Does he know how to do the job?
This is a question relating to training. If a manger expects a person to perform competently in a particular role then they must ensure they have the right skills to fulfil that role. That means either hiring a person with the right skills or providing the training required to upskill them.
- Is something external interfering with his desire or ability to do the job?
This is a counselling issue. If a person knows what to do, if they also know how to do the job, then if their performance is still lacking there must be something or someone interfering with their desire or ability to do the job. In this case the manager need to counsel their staff to identify what the problem is and help to guide to person through it, or find some suitable way of handling the situation.
For my friend at the computer company it was plain that the manager she was having problems with did not know
how to do the job - it was clearly a training issue. While he had been in the company for a long time circumstances had changed and his skills had become outdated. So, in order to improve his performance she needed to implement some sort of training program for this man.
Taking responsibility
In my experience I have found that managers often do not want to take direct responsibility for the performance of their staff. They expect their staff to simply do what they are paid for and if they don’t they see it as their role to point out the error of their ways. The concept of actually managing staff performance and taking responsibility for poor performance is distinctly foreign.
When I conduct training sessions around this topic I will often open with what I call ‘The Great Debate’, which is based on the statement:
“If a staff member is not performing it’s their managers fault”
This always causes lively discussion and argument with most managers clearly believing the statement to be false. In debriefing the exercise we draw the conclusion that it is a manager’s responsibility to ensure that staff members perform to a minimum acceptable level. If they don’t then it is the manager’s responsibility to ask the ‘three magic questions’ and find out why, and then to work with that person until they can perform to that level.
If, after clarifying their role, and over a reasonable time of providing adequate training and counselling the person still is not performing to the agreed level then it is the manager’s responsibility to dismiss the person and find someone who can. While it is immoral to dismiss a person without first employing every endeavour to improve their performance, it is also immoral to maintain a person on staff who cannot or will not perform to the agreed level.
Strong words I know, however a manager that refuses to take responsibility for staff performance condones incompetence and inadvertently lowers the over level of minimum acceptable performance.
We will now consider a wide range of performance management issues and introduce you to a model that will help you to manage and improve staff performance.
Big picture – Performance management model
As a starting point consider the model below that identifies the four main functions required to effectively manage staff performance.
- Define roles and responsibilities
Remember – your staff can’t read your mind! If they are to perform to the standard you require then they will need to know exactly what is expected of them. As simplistic as this might seem I am continually amazed to discover how few managers actually do this well. In most organisations this is embraced in some form of job or position description that identifies key result areas or areas of responsibly. Get this right up front and everything else will fall in place.
- Set goals and measures
Once you have defined the roles and responsibilities, next you need to set goals and performance measures. This should be done in conjunction with the individual to ensure they fully own the goals and measures assigned to their role. The goals and measures should be realistic and achievable and should include a set timetable for completion. By doing this you are detailing your expectations and the person will know exactly how they should be performing and what they should be achieving at any given time.
- Support desired performance
It is important you set your staff up to succeed, not fail. It is not enough to only do the first two steps of this process. It is also your responsibility to provide your people with the tools and skills to succeed. Ask the question, “What can I do to ensure you are able to attain the goals and performance measures we have set?” This could include some type of training course, assistance from you or someone else in a specific areas or information o relevant topics. Whatever is required and is within your capacity to provide should be made available to your staff to ensure their performance.
- Review progress
A structured and predetermined time to review individual performance is crucial if you want to effectively manage your staff’s performance. Ideally you will be reviewing their performance on a regular and informal basis, however, it is extremely important to conduct a formal review of a person’s performance at least once a year. This should involve going over your jointly set goals and performance measures and assessing what has been achieved. It should also involve identifying performance barriers and determining ways to overcome these. At the end of the review you should agree on a new set of performance goals and measurers for the next period.
How to use this model
You can use this model to analyse your current approach to performance management or as a guide to establishing a practical methodology.
If you do not currently have a formal process start by using the following checklist:
- Develop a position description for each major role - make sure it is comprehensive and includes the key result areas for each role.
- Meet with a group of staff members who fulfil each role and determine how the performance of this role should be measured.
- Meet with staff individually and agree on personal goals in their fulfilment of their role.
- Also agree on the support they will need to successfully achieve these goals and meet the performance measures.
- Set a date when you will formally review their goals and assess their achievement of their performance measures.
- Talk to them regularly about their performance on an informal basis.