talent management - hire well, keep the est, hallenge … manag… · talent management - hire...

T A L E N T M A N A G E M E N T – A B A - 2 0 1 6 P a g e | 1

TALENT MANAGEMENT - HIRE WELL, KEEP THE BEST, CHALLENGE THE REST I got this email from a friend and colleague. Gary, I have been giving a lot of thought to something lately that I want to share with you. After 32 years of managing employees, observing their behavior, reading books, learning from people much smarter than me (like you), and making a whole bunch of mistakes and learning from them, I think I have a pretty good sense of what it takes to make people happy. And by being happy they are productive employees who enjoy coming to work every day which in the end helps us achieve our goals. There is just one part of the equation that I haven’t been able to figure out and who better to pose this question to than my dear friend Gary Schwantz?! Why do some people respond positively to what you call “servant leadership” yet others don’t? Some examples of what I am saying:

1- Why do some people call in sick when they just don’t feel like getting out of bed vs. an employee who comes to work unless they are on their death bed?

2- Why do some people who have already called in sick (possibly legitimately) on Monday through Wednesday of the work week, still go out on St. Patrick’s Day and are too hung over to come to work on Friday, vs. the employee who says, I was planning to go out on St. Patrick’s Day, but I feel really bad that I was sick the rest of the week and my job suffered because of that so I am going to stay home on St. Patrick’s Day to make sure that I am at work on Friday?

3- Why do some people ignore the phone when it’s ringing and think “somebody else can get that” vs. the employee who jumps at the phone when it rings.

4- Why do some people think nothing of pissing off their boss, yet others feel terrible guilt even thinking that they may have disappointed their boss?

5- Why do some people see their job as nothing more than a 8-5 commitment every day, vs. the employee who is always willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done?

My thoughts/questions:

1- Please OH WISE ONE tell me why this is so! 2- How much of a factor is personality? And if the answer to that question is a big factor,

shouldn’t we determine what that personality is, and only hire people with that personality? 3- Can you turn someone who doesn’t respond to servant leadership into someone who does? 4- I am sure there are other factors such as upbringing, other relationships, etc., etc. that factor

in. How do we determine those factors so we can take them into consideration in an interview?

Perhaps we could have a few minutes to discuss this via ooVoo or phone call next week???


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GOOD TO GREAT AND TALENT MANAGEMENT- AN INTRODUCTION Our theme for this discussion is Talent Management. The best summary is this, it is getting the right people in the right seat on the bus and getting the wrong people off – inspired by the work of Jim Collins and team in their text Good to Great. The key quote, one you will find again:

We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage “People are your most important asset” turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

There is nothing you can do that is more important than making sure that the right people are in the right place for the full benefit of the employee and the company! Three Practical Disciplines Good to Great offers 3 practical disciplines related to personnel management Practical Discipline #1- When in doubt, don’t hire, keep looking. Practical Discipline #2 – When you know you need to make a people change, act. Letting the wrong people hang around is unfair to all the right people, as they inevitably find themselves compensating for the inadequacies of the wrong people. Waiting too long is equally unfair to the people who need to get off the bus. Practical Discipline #3 Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems The fact is managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great.

From Nuts: Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success Leaders show their belief in people by giving them assignments that are often way outside the boundaries of their normal job descriptions. Southwest Airlines involves customer service representatives in designing lobbies, pilots in designing the reception area.


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Hire For Attitude and Train For Skill

Finding the right and the best workers and keeping them motivated are no longer marginally useful tasks. Today they constitute the most important work that a manager does, the activities that contribute most to the bottom line. Hiring and retention, in other words, now represent the linchpin of a successful corporate strategy. Loren Gary, Editor Harvard Management Update

The main point is to first get the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) before you figure out where to drive it. The second key point is the degree of sheer rigor needed in people decisions in order to take a company from good to great. Good to Great – Putting the Right People on the Bus More from Good to Great regarding some of the great companies outlined in the book and what they looked for in interviewing and hiring. Collins offered the example of Nucor, a steel company that chose to place its mills in non-traditional settings: farm communities where the work ethic was already established. The book states:

“In determining ‘the right people,’ the good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experiences. Not that specific knowledge or skills are unimportant, but they viewed these traits as more teachable (or at least learnable), whereas they believed dimensions like character, work ethic, basic intelligence, dedication to fulfilling commitments, and values are more ingrained”

A quick piece from a February 1986 article out of the Cornell HRA Quarterly – on Managing the Service Encounter. This was part of the research for my dissertation – I didn’t realize until going through files that I had used this portion of the article: E.M. Statler admonished his general managers in 1917 – “hire only good-natured people”. That is still good advice today. We should hire service employees who have a “customer-interaction orientation.” This orientation is found in employees who demonstrate behavioral flexibility, display empathy, and demonstrate strong interpersonal skills. While you may be able to hire people with strong interpersonal skills, it is also possible to train employees in these skills. On the other hand, behavioral flexibility and empathy are innate qualities that cannot be easily learned.


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Do you see a theme? With great companies, they look first for those things that can’t be taught: character, core values, and openness to learning. THEN they look at skills, knowledge and experience. Character or Behavioral Traits of the Position – The First Step in Behavioral Interviewing Knowing what behavioral competencies are required by a role provides the information a candidate needs (actually all of your employees) to be successful in an organization. They allow people to act without having to refer to the rule book since competencies are the foundation of the rules. It answers the questions, “What exactly do I have to do to be successful? Pinpoint the key performance indicators, the actual job actions that an employee will take in order to successfully demonstrate the best way of working. Here’s an example from Cohen’s book of the job profile for an entry-level engineer:

Decisive problem solver

Client focused

Communicator

Results oriented

Networker and relationship builder

Innovative and creative I have a friend who was good enough to give me the research they had done for the CSRs within their bank (tellers and others). Here is what they found were the key elements or “standards.”

Relationship building

Customer service

People skills (ability to love people)

Communication skills

Problem solving skills

Ability to follow rules and/or procedures Notice numbers skills were not one of the key standards (even though these folks work intensely with computers, calculators and money). Why? In the words of the one of the CSRs involved in this initial research, “You can teach someone 10 key, but you can’t teach them to have a personality.” Other elements they decided were important but not necessarily standards, were these:

Great attitude

Smile a lot

Honest

Not afraid to apologize

Likes to learn

Knowledge of products, services, policies and procedures


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My wife is a speech pathologist. They use behavioral (and peer) interviewing for their potential staff. Their standards:

Ownership

Teamwork

Communication

Courtesy/Customer Service Keep in mind – the Director of her department has already determined whether someone is “technically” qualified. Their questions get to the heart of the behavior they have found to be most successful in their department. Traits/Competencies from Who By Street And Smart Critical competencies for A Players, in prioritized order

Efficiency. Able to produce significant output with minimal wasted effort.

Honesty/integrity. Does not cut corners. Earns trust and maintains confidences. Does what is right, not just what is politically expedient. Speaks plainly and truthfully.

Organization and Planning. Plans, organizes, schedules, and budgets in an efficient, productive manner. Focused on key priorities.

Aggressiveness. Moves quickly and takes a forceful stand without being overly abrasive.

Follow-through on commitments. Lives up to verbal and written agreements, regardless of personal costs.

Intelligence. Learns quickly. Demonstrates ability to quickly and proficiently understand and absorb new information.

Analytical Skills. Able to structure and process qualitative or quantitative data and draw insightful conclusions from it. Exhibits a probing mind and achieve penetrating insights.

Attention to detail. Does not let important details slip through the cracks or derail a project.

Persistence. Demonstrates tenacity and willingness to go the distance to get something done.

Proactivity. Acts without being told what to do, brings new ideas to the company.

Exercise: let’s keep it simple. Think of one of your key positions in your company. What are five primary traits/competencies/behaviors you need in that job? Position: Traits:


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STRUCTURE IN INTERVIEWING

Before we go into interviewing, can we agree that even under the best circumstances, interviews don’t always work? meta-awareness Halos and horns

Here are some great pre-interview strategies. Before the initial interview, pick up the phone and call the candidate. How hard or easy is it to reach the candidate? Does the candidate return your call at the specific times that you suggest? Is she an articulate communicator in your conversation? You can pick up great information in catching them slightly off-guard. In the call, review time, place and dress for the upcoming interview. If appropriate, regardless of the material in your file, ask the candidate to send a resume with a one-page cover letter that briefly highlights his or her life or background. Is the response prompt? Is the candidate literate? Sloppy or neat? Give an assignment before the interview. Ask the candidate to visit one of your stores, the warehouse, office or website before the interview, then ask for their observations. As with the letter and resume, this asks for a demonstration of how a person carries out an actual task.

Making the Interview Valuable Here are some ideas for communicating to the applicant that this interview is important to you and you realize that the applicant’s time is valuable: Plan specific time in your day for an interview and allow plenty of time for the interview. Prepare your candidate before the interview. Create a comfortable environment.


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Set aside a few minutes just before the scheduled interview

Do not allow interruptions during an interview.

Another good recommendation. Before you begin the interview, take the potential candidate for a walk around the office. See how they interact, how they may let their defenses down or relax. Most candidates wait for the beginning of the “official” interview before they put on their “interview face”. See if you can’t create a more casual experience from the beginning.

Maintain balance in the interview. You should listen 80% of the time. Be sure to allow the interviewee time to consider your questions before he answers. Don’t be afraid of small increments of silence. In fact, silence is a great technique in interviewing.


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BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING Traditional interviews look at what a candidate has achieved, not how he or she has achieved it. Most fail to determine in advance what - beyond skills and credentials – is required to do that job at top performance levels. They have not clearly defined, in advance, their desired behaviors. They don’t know what they are looking for. Degrees, years of experience, training can put too much emphasis on factors that aren’t as important as the ones that really indicate success. It’s what’s done with a degree or a training certificate or an internship that counts. The what of a job focuses on the skills and knowledge required in a role and is defined in terms of tasks and objectives. The how of a job involves the behaviors to perform a job’s roles successfully.

Note this comment from David Campbell of the Center for Creative Leadership Given the choice between an untrained person with the right behaviors and values but untested knowledge versus someone with extensive experience and knowledge but exhibiting the wrong behavior, I would take the untrained person any time.

Types of Questions The question-response phase is the main focus of the interview. This is where your preparation and planning ahead will have the best impact. Interview questions usually go from the broad: “Tell me about yourself” to the specific: “Here’s the situation – how would you handle this?” Beginning with open-ended questions usually relaxes the interviewee and may eliminate the need to ask many of the planned questions because the information is volunteered during this discussion. However, if you have a shy or reluctant applicant, you might want to begin with more specific questions to help them feel more at ease before asking general questions that require more discussion on their part. Behavioral interviews seek to get beyond the what of a job and go to the how. Behavioral interviews are all about experience, but the questions focus on specific “critical” incidents whose basic theme is determined in advance. The candidate is prompted for more and more detail until the incident is thoroughly fleshed out. They typically focus on a person’s extreme moments, his or her biggest challenges, hardest problem, most frustrating customer, and then dig for rich info. The best prophet of the future is the past. To relate this to behavioral interviewing, what we have done before in similar circumstances is the most accurate indicator of what we will do again in the future. What you hope to answer through the effective use of questioning is:

Does the applicant possess the critical knowledge needed to solve the key problems that she will face in the position?


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Can the candidate apply this knowledge in the successful solution of these key problems?

Is the candidate motivated to apply the knowledge to these problems? As we discuss types of questions in general, in this following section, keep in mind how they could be used to get to the information just described. Open-Ended Questions Open-ended questions give the interviewee maximum freedom in how to respond. In this way, the applicant will naturally reveal information regarding his value system, personality, and attitude. Listen carefully to their responses, but feel comfortable taking notes as they speak (remember, we already told them we would take this approach during the interview). An open-ended question is structured to encourage candidates to respond in detail. Open-ended questions begin with words such as “explain,” “describe,” or “tell me about.”

Tell me about a time when

What was your most

Give me an example of After a candidate answers one of the primary questions, get curious.

What do you mean?

How so?

What is an example of that?

How did you deal with it?

Tell me more. When you have no idea what else to ask, just say, “Tell me more.” They will keep talking. Going Deeper/Probing The purpose of probing is to validate the candidate’s behavior against the job profile. Many people like to use “we” when they talk about behavior on the job – don’t let them. Ask specifically “What was your involvement?” Behavioral answers must be concrete and must focus on the individual involved. In order to get to critical info, we will use open-ended questions, but go deeper as we understand more. The basic structure is this. I like this acronym, courtesy of Richard Davis. It is STAR (Situation/Task, Action, Result)

We ask about the situation/task (Describe a time when….),

What action you took (What did you do….)

The result (How did that change things, What did you learn…...)


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With probing, think of the journalist who goes after a story by asking how, what, when, where and why. In fact, general consensus from the authors I describe on behavioral interviewing suggest you may want to ask these types of questions about one incident up to five times. Describe the most successful project you’ve been involved in. What was your input? What feedback did you receive? Tell me about your most difficult interaction with a customer. How did you prepare?

How did you report the client’s concerns? Describe the time when you noticed the early warning signs of a problem that would have cost a lot of money if not detected. (as a group, what would be follow-up questions?) 1. 2. Now, you’ve got a good start, but you need detail. Here is an example of an initial open-ended question and some additional probing questions: Talk about a time when you spoke up for something you felt strongly about, even when others disagreed. At what point did you realize that others had a strong and different opinion? What steps did you take to deal with this situation? Who did you talk to? What was their response? What was the final outcome? What was the benefit of speaking? Again, as a group, let’s go deeper with these initial questions. Tell us about a recent time when you were under a great deal of pressure to deliver on time. Describe how you overcame an obstacle you considered significant in your life. Describe how you lived up to a commitment.


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Describe a time when others around you seemed to work just to get by.

Compare and Contrast With the compare and contrast approach, the interviewer asks the candidate to compare two or more items or events. I interviewed a friend, Rex Castle, who provided resources for this research. Rex notes that he usually starts an interview by asking the candidate to take his resume and walk him through their employment history as it relates to the job, comparing and contrasting what he liked and didn’t like about each workplace (compare this job to that job, this workplace to that workplace, this supervisor to that supervisor).

Behavioral Interviewing Questions The first step in behavioral interviewing is to define the “character” or “behavioral” traits you look for in a candidate for the specific position for which you are interviewing, something we did earlier in this workshop. The next step is to create questions specific to that position and the traits desired. Develop Interview Questions Remember the primary aspect of behavioral interviewing – that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior? The questions we develop need to address these elements (standards) we’ve defined for each job. The questions need to find how your candidate has dealt with these types of issues in the past. What you hope to answer through the effective use of questioning is:

Does the applicant possess the critical knowledge needed to solve the key problems that he will face in the position?

Can the candidate apply this knowledge in the successful solution of these key problems?

Is the candidate motivated to apply the knowledge to these problems? Ideas For Behavioral Questions By Standard I’ve listed below a few typical standards. For each standard, I’ve listed three to four typical questions. There are many more, but this offers a good start for your own creativity. Most behavioral questions don’t end with question marks.


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As we discussed, continue to probe, ask the difficult questions. Ask about specific “critical” incidents, extreme moments, his or her biggest challenges, hardest problem, most frustrating customer, and then dig for rich info. Beware of:

Generalizations

The use of “we”

Lack of specific time references

Inability to give a specific person as a reference for a specific incident

A candidate stating they have the described behavior without recent evidence of desired outcomes

Notice some questions are quoted in the positive, many in the negative. Often you may want to introduce one of these difficult questions by saying, “This question may be difficult to answer.” RELATIONSHIP BUILDING Southwest Airlines focuses on this ability to form relationships with customers, coworkers and supervisors.

When we ask three or four of your close associates to describe your relationships with them, what will they likely say?

When we ask your most current manager to describe some of the instances where you have had difficulty with a relationship, what will he say?

Which of your personal traits have been most helpful in your ability to build relationships and why?

Describe for us a specific work relationship that you had the most difficulty with and how you handled this difficulty.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Describe for us a specific example of a good customer you have worked with over the years and how you developed this relationship with this person.

Tell us about the most memorable example or two where a customer came to you with a problem and how you worked to resolve the problem.

Tell us about most memorable example or two where a customer brought you a problem and you were unable to solve the problem and what the resolution for the customer was.

Give us a specific example of where you influenced a customer’s decision, perhaps in a purchase of a product, and why.

In addition to their answers, look for these elements during the interview: o Eye contact. o Do they remember and use names? o Do they smile? o Do they interrupt?


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PEOPLE SKILLS

Tell us about the best group of people you ever worked with and what made this the best group.

Describe for us the group where you just really didn’t click and why you believe this was not your group.

Describe for us something a coworker has done in the past that most upset you and how you responded to this situation.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Tell us about a customer phone call you’ve received where understanding the problem was difficult and how you went about first discovering what the problem was, then responding to it.

By way of illustration and example, show us what you consider to be the most important aspect in the communication process and why you consider this to be the most important.

When faced with an irate or very difficult customer, tell us, by way of specific example, how you go about attempting to calm the customer and solve the problem.

Tell about something you have written that has given you the results you were desiring.

Tell us about a specific incident where you have apologized to a customer for something that you didn't consider to be exactly you or your company’s fault.

KEY THING TO REMEMBER – NO MATTER THE CHARACTER TRAIT, YOU CAN GOOGLE – BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS AND THAT CHARACTER TRAIT AND I ALMOST GUARANTEE SOMEONE HAS ALREADY WRITTEN QUESTIONS FOR YOU.

Exercise: You defined 5 traits for a key position with your organization. For each of those traits, come up with a couple of behavioral interview questions.


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KEEPING GOOD PEOPLE Keeping The Right People Reward, Recognize and Celebrate From Nuts

One of our great human needs is celebration and recognition. Celebration enhances our humanity. Without celebration, we are robbed of life and vitality that energizes the human spirit. There are lots of companies that achieve great things, but you’d never know it by talking to their employees.

Celebrations In Business Dr. Gerald Graham, at Wichita State University, did research into the elements that motivate employees. Here are the top five factors he found:

1. The manager personally congratulates employees who do a good job. 2. The manager writes personal notes about good performance. 3. The organization uses performance as the basis for promotion. 4. The manager publicly recognizes employees for good performance. 5. The manager holds morale-building meetings to celebrate successes.

From Hardwiring Excellence – Quint Studer Reasons why we don’t compliment

Martyrdom – I don’t need a compliment, why should they?

Another day, another dollar “they should just be happy with a day’s work for a day’s pay”

The Scrooge Mentality – “hey, I can only give out so many compliments per week”

Pride “this is hokey” In reality, people appreciate specific feedback more than you might expect. Remember too, that it is okay to feel uncomfortable when you begin to increase the number of compliments you give. Studies have shown that our employees need three compliments to every criticism. Studer shares a typical conversation:

Bernie: Hi Joe, I’m Bernie. I’m the Administrator. You’ve been here for ten years Yes sir. Joe, you know why I’ve never rewarded and recognized you? No sir.


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Because nobody rewards and recognizes me. You know what else Joe? No sir. They call it work. They don’t call it play. You know what else? No sir. You’re just lucky to have a job.

What if instead Bernie got training and he said “Joe, you’ve been here for ten years and you’ve done a great job and we’re a better hospital because of you. And I want to thank you.” Is your first thought, when getting called into your boss’s office “Oh no, here we go again, more reward and recognition. When are these countless compliments going to stop? They’re killing my productivity. If you want to evaluate whether you bring enough compliments to your department, walk into the area and see what people say to you. If the first thing you hear is “what’s wrong?” or “is there a problem?”, you probably don’t bring enough reward and recognition when you show up. Notice how much recognition and celebration plays into all of this – honor people’s efforts, raise people to higher levels of motivation by showing them how their individual contributions are linked to the major purposes of the organization – through celebrations and thank yous. People become energized when they understand the significance of their contributions. Make The Work Valuable A short piece on heroes – from Hardwiring for Excellence, by Quint Studer Studer writes about his role as COO at Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago. I’ll let him speak from here: When we hit the 73rd percentile for patient satisfaction in December 1993, I felt good. We’d jumped from rock bottom to the 5th percentile and were now just two points away from our lofty goal, six months ahead of schedule. Then someone passed me a letter that said:

Dear Sister, My father died at your hospital. It wasn’t a matter of if he was going to die, but when. He was in your extended care facility. I’m his only living relative. I was all that he had. My constant worry was that I wouldn’t be there when he died. I tried to be at the hospital every moment, but I simply couldn’t be there 24 hours a day. I wasn’t there one day and I received a call from a nurse who said, “You need to get here right away.” I jumped in my car and got caught in a traffic jam. I pulled up to the hospital and ran inside. As soon as I got to the nursing unit, they told me my father was dead. But when I went into the room I saw a nurse there with him. She was sitting down. And holding my father’s hand. That nurse told me that my father wasn’t alone when he died. She was there. She also told me that my father loved me. Do you know what a great nurse you have at your hospital?


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Studer goes on to say, “I found out later that this nurse’s shift had already ended when she decided to stay. Knowing the financial challenges we faced at the hospital the nurse swiped her card and stayed with the patient on her own time. Her values would not let her leave.”

Ernest Becker, author of the Denial of Death – “People are capable of the highest generosity and self-sacrifice, but they have to feel and believe that what they are doing is truly heroic, timeless and supremely meaningful. The crisis of modern society is that people no longer feel heroic.”

Read the letter, is there a similar story we could share from staff at your place? If so, has it been shared? If not, why not? Another question, how often do your folks in billing get to meet your customers, your CSRs? How could that change their understanding of purpose?

More from Hardwiring for Excellence What are the three things employees want? They want to believe the organization has the right purpose. That’s why the manager who makes himself look good at the expense of the senior leadership does a disservice to all the other employees. Because the senior leader represents “purpose” to the employees. And if employees don’t feel good about the senior leaders, then they don’t feel good about the organization. They want to know that their job is worthwhile. They want to make a difference. Getting results remotivates people to persevere and seek more results. Studer’s five questions

Tell me what is working well today. – switches focus from the negative to the positive

Are there any individuals whom I should be recognizing?

Are there any physicians whom I should be recognizing?

Is there anything we can do better?

Do you have the tools and equipment you need to do your job? Have a Little Fun To keep your best employees, work needs not only to fulfill their need to make a difference, it also needs to give them some chances to laugh. Lighten Up authors CW Metcalf and Roman Felible discuss in their book terminal professionalism – the way overworked, overstressed, underpaid and underplaying individuals work. One of the ways to keep a whole-hearted organization alive is to intentionally have some fun with it.


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There is a philosophy called the “Fish Philosophy”. The concept comes from the infamous Pike’s Fish Market in Seattle. You can learn more about it by going to www.fishphilosophy.com, but the gist is that people want to enjoy their jobs and their customers. The four elements are: Choose your attitude Play Be there Make their day (customers or employees)

The Southwest Way to a sense of humor is this:

Think funny

Adopt a playful attitude

Be the first to laugh

Laugh with, not at

Laugh at yourself

Take work seriously, but not yourself

Quick exercise Big celebrations, like this weekend, are important. But what is your best idea for small celebrations?

http://www.fishphilosophy.com/


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A QUICK SUMMARY ON COACHING AND FEEDBACK Let me give you the essence of coaching in a simple quote. H. Gordon Selfridge worked for Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago, then eventually opened Selfridge's in London. Here’s what he noted about leadership and management. "The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says I; The leader says WE. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss knows how it is done, the leader shows how it is done. The boss says, GO; the leader says LET’S GO" This great summary on the elements of coaching comes from hrcapitalist.com

Note: separate this from any formal documentation, performance appraisal. This is coaching on the run, is that clear?

When your manager wants to engage an employee on a performance/conduct issue, they should: 1. State what they have observed (or what technology has observed) 2. WAIT For a Response... 3. Remind them of the goals for their position and how they are linked to the company's goals... 4. Ask questions on how the employee thinks they can improve in the area in question. 5. Agree together on what the employee has committed to do (make sure they agree) 6. Close upbeat and show that you believe the employee can improve and get it done...

You can infer some additional elements from the statements above:

Coaching is usually about a single issue at a time

It is ongoing

Follow-up is required Perspectives on Feedback from Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service by Zemke and Bell Performance feedback Feedback should be immediate, collected and reported as soon after the completion of the service rendered as possible. Feedback should be graphically displayed. – One picture is worth a thousand words. Feedback must be specific and actionable to be of any use to your people. Giving actionable feedback often starts with asking good questions – the best advice givers are the best listeners. “John, I had a call from Mr. Sanchez. He’s been a valued customer over the years, and I’d like


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us to help him if we can. He was a little upset with his last conversation with you. So I need to understand what this is all about. Could you summarize the situation for me?”

Mr. Sanchez, it turns out, wanted some additional time to make a payment, and didn’t care much for John’s response— which essentially stated company policy.

Manager/coach: “What alternatives do you think the customer would have been able to accept in this situation?”

Once you’ve explored options with John, you can help him select the next step. “It sounds like there are a couple of alternatives you can offer him. Which one do you want to propose first?”

Open-ended questions are generally more useful for coaching scenarios than the close-ended variety. Some examples:

“What was the customer upset about? “What have you tried so far?” “What can I do to help?” “What would you like to accomplish when you call her back?” “How do you think you might plan your work more effectively?”

Quick exercise: What is best about your current feedback system? What is the weakest point? What is one thing you could do to improve it? When you want to coach someone on an issue and document it – where is the best place to do so?


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A, B AND C PLAYERS There is a hospital in my home city of Lubbock. The book Hardwiring Excellence is one of the blueprints they’ve used to move from a second tier county hospital to the hospital of choice in Lubbock. The CEO is a friend of mine; I asked him what the most important thing he did based on the book – the first and most important. He said this: Keep the Best – Challenge the Rest They’ve identified their best and worst employees and come up with action plans.

High – they consistently “re-recruit” their highest performing employees Middle – for each middle performer, they are coached on a single item until they improve in

that area. Then they are coached on another. The key is – one at a time. Low – they are either coached up or removed – but the timeline is short and monitored.

Good-to-great recommends a rigorous approach to personnel, not ruthless, rigorous. To be ruthless means hacking and cutting, especially in difficult times, or wantonly firing people without any thoughtful consideration. To be rigorous means consistently applying exacting standards at all times and at all levels, especially in upper management.

Another way to identify employees is to call them A, B or C Players (primarily from Jack Welch, former CEO of GE). A players – Top Performers

They accept responsibility

They deliver without handholding

Eager to change

Great attitude

Own their jobs and their outcomes

Solve problems

Take action – self-reliant and directed

Team player

Will largely succeed in their tasks despite deadlines, politics or team

High performers share the organization’s values, are proactive, and suggest changes for process improvement. They are open to new ideas, have positive attitudes, and are good role models.

Because A Players are who they are, we typically demotivate them because they are: 1. 2. Here are a couple of stats about top performers

47% are

55% say


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Here are the goals we should have for A Players Re-recruit –

Recognize and challenge

Reward –

Retain –

Offer opportunities.

Have a discussion with your A Players Tell them where the organization is going

Thank them for their work

Outline why they are so important

Ask is there anything you can do for them Say to them “I value you. I do not want you to leave. Is there anything that might cause you to think about leaving? What can I do to help you and our departments achieve your goals? Your goal is to build an emotional bank account and set of supporters within the department. B Players – Steady Performers

They generally desire to do a good job Do what they are supposed to do Sometimes goes above and beyond, but not the norm Influenced by A and C Players – having the potential to go either way May lack experience or training Likely require coaching, but they are committed to improving performance Require supervision, but not someone that has to be “watched” These actively support the leaders in the organization and will let leaders know if there’s a

problem. We, as managers working with B Players: Often:

The Critical Question: Who is this person’s role model?

Here are the goals we should have for B Players

Reassure –

Re-recruit –


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Develop –

Have an A Player influence/mentor them

C Players – Low Performers

Accept little responsibility for anything Believe they’ll outlast the supervisor Negative Do not communicate Extended breaks, long lunches, frequent absenteeism or late Master of excuses Little interest in improving Personal phone calls and “issues” negatively impact performance Points to “management as the problem” Disrespectful

Dealing with Negative Attitudes A short break – dealing with negative attitudes: This is the one I’ve been struggling with. A lot of times THE primary element that defines a C Player is negative attitude. It is not unusual for a company to have an employee who gets his/her job done, but whose negative attitude brings the entire company down. One key is to set the expectation that attitude is a key part of the company – one of the standards against which people are measured. Here’s an approach from Quint Studer’s book, Hardwiring for Excellence. Studer discusses the importance of creating several teams of staff to get a company moving in the right direction. The first team to get rolling is the Standards Team. Read this, see what you think this has in common with the material above.

When developing behavior standards, a good question to ask is “In order for us to demonstrate standards of behavior to our co-workers, our patients and our physicians, what does that behavior need to look like?” Be as specific as possible. For example, one standard may be to always introduce yourself when you are with a patient, knocking, using key words when closing a curtain “I’m closing this curtain to ensure your privacy and confidentiality”.

After the team has developed a rough draft, expose to a larger sphere. By involving staff, we are creating consistent standards and buy-in. A side note: allowing employees with a bad attitude to work in the organization is a morale killer. When leaders begin to hold employees accountable for their attitudes and ask those to leave who do not meet the standards of behavior, there is a huge boost in results. We recommend that employees required to both read and sign a commitment to the standards of behavior, and these should be used in the discipline process.


.

Incorporating this into the monthly scorecard I’m not completely clear on this yet, would like your input in the future. You noticed that one of the great values of the monthly scorecard is that they are objective numbers. However, let me challenge all of this with this question, when evaluations are focused solely on numbers – what is the message to our employees about the importance of attitude, professionalism? My own perspective, part of the role and responsibility in leadership is in making subjective judgments. My suggestion, take the idea at the beginning of having a standards committee define for the company what attitude looks like, how customer service is displayed, what professionalism looks like. Then put those on the monthly scorecard. Ideas: Attitude

A – outstanding B – good C – needs improvement

Customer Service A – outstanding B – good C – needs improvement

To keep it simple, perhaps no comments are necessary for an A or B, but when you choose needs improvement, then use these points:

Clarity on what’s happened Remedial action needed

Where should most of your focus be? Most companies are bottom heavy. Quint Studer, of Hardwiring Excellence, notes that he’s heard from several leaders who note they spent too much time with low performers and not enough with high.

Back to Good to Great, make the point again - Practical Discipline #3 - Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems. The fact is managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great.

In a given month, these C Players will easily consume 80% of your time while your top performers receive less than 20% of your time.

Ideas that affect how we deal with C Players

Dealing with C performers is an emotional issue;


.

Decisions about people’s careers and responsibility to families are the toughest of decisions –

Some believe that C players can be developed into B or even A performers

From my own perspective- many are unwilling to deal with C players because they know they’ve never corrected them in the past – no evaluations, no discipline, perhaps no training.

Reasons why you have to deal with C Players If not dealt with, here’s what happens with your high performers, your A Players: 1. 2. 3. Your concept of Southwest Airlines, the LUV Airlines, is that they would be hesitant to let people go. But read this:

Love doesn’t guarantee approval. Southwest removes employees from jobs where their performance was hurting the company. Love is tough and gutsy – sometimes the most loving things we can do for people is to tell them the truth, even when the truth hurts. Sometimes we avoid, in the name of kindness, to spare them the hurt. More often it is out of self-protection, we hate being disliked. Real love says “I will tell you what you need to know to become a bigger, more authentic person because I want you to succeed in life.” Love people by speaking the truth in loving ways.

Back to What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Goldsmith makes these points: Stop trying to coach people who shouldn’t be coached Stop trying to change people who don’t think they have a problem Stop trying to change people who should not be in their job Stop trying to help people who think everyone else is the problem


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HOW TO MOVE OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE Quint Studer notes that you can’t treat all employees the same. If you want to treat high, middle and low the same, you will be less effective and viewed as unfair. Here is the approach he recommends, with some other sources added in. Step 1 – make a list of all reports and rank them as high, middle or low Step 2 – meet with the high performers and have a retention conversation. Step 3 – meet with middle performers.

Step 4 – Meet with low performers. We will get into several options in a moment – just make sure that their low performance is not just a lack of training, primarily what we are talking about with C Players are those who have had the opportunity to be trained and coached, they simply don’t care.

The result! High performers will continue to move up, most of middle will also. Low will remain where they are and try to pull the middle back down

Meeting With Low Performers You’ve got two options with C Players; either invest a significant amount of time and energy trying to bring them along, or sit them down for a direct and pointed discussion. The Verbal Discussion Typically, in HR speak, a verbal discussion (or warning) is the first step in a disciplinary process (and this is a disciplinary process). Also, there may be discussions such as employee who is too loud or has problems with hygiene where you may decide to keep it as a matter of discussion, not an action to be written up. I like the simple recommendation from Studer in meeting with C Players, the DESK method:

D – Describe what has been observed – “Lisa, one of the things I’ve noticed is you leave your work area in an in appropriate manner, your coworkers have to clean up what you’ve left.”

E – Evaluate how you feel “Lisa, I’m very disappointed that just 30 days ago when we met, you told me that this wouldn’t happen again and you would fix it.”

S - Show. “Lisa, at the end of your shift today, I’m going to come and show you exactly how the work area needs to look every time you leave.”

K - Know the consequences. “You need to know the consequences. This is a verbal warning, but if it happens again, it will be written, and after that termination.”


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Even though this example is verbal – you will still write down exactly what happened and how the discussion went. Documentation is key in working with low performers, especially if we are heading towards termination.

Sometimes verbal is fine, often a written plan is needed, in fact, I prefer written. I’ve been working with a friend, Rex Castle. Rex is the HR manager for a large technology company. Here is his approach, in his words.

The concept of working with this employee is simple (though the application and follow through can be complex).

I have performance (or behavior) I need you to correct I need change We need to have an agreement That document I call a Performance Change Agreement

My perspective is biased, but I tend to believe that not all agreements have to be dictates, but rather collaborations. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommending inviting an employee into my office and say “here’s a ‘write-up’ because you’re a screw up. Sign here.” That doesn’t say “collaboration” to me. That says “I’m the boss. You’re a screw up. Sign this to cover my backside.” So, in this process the supervisor creates the initial Performance Change Agreement. The supervisor then hands this to the employee and asks the employee to take this and read it and “respond back to me in writing by XX/XX/XX.” And the supervisor further explains he or she will consider the employee’s input before putting together the Performance Change Agreement. Sometimes there’s no input. Other times there are volumes. Either way the employee still gets the opportunity to respond and the supervisor (and I) consider a response to the employee’s comments. We work and put together the Performance Change Agreement with any changes brought about by the employee’s comments and then we have a meeting with the employee in which we discuss any changes. At the end of this short conversation we ask the employee for his or her signature. And, Gary, I think it’s pretty much a lawyer thing that someone has to sign this thing acknowledging receipt of a document.

Rex goes on to describe the document, the Performance Change Agreement. In this one, he is dealing with a very serious attitude challenge.

A history with the company – time of service, various jobs, past evaluations, past challenges A discussion of the problem – be very specific

You were coached on patience, positive communication and respect. Your action plan you emailed to me was to take fewer calls, triage existing calls better, and be more patient with customers and fellow employees. However, in our 6 month, rather than have a conversation, you got upset, noted you disagreed with the review and demanded that the actions of others be corrected. In another situation, you were rude to a customer, then used a racial slur upon hanging up the phone.

My expectations going forward


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When you are involved in any interaction with any of your coworkers, customers or managers, you will maintain the highest level of respect and ensure nothing you say or do can be perceived as anything less than absolutely cordial, kind and respectful.

Discuss the specific consequences A failure to abide by the preceding or a violation of any other company policy,

procedure or standard operating procedure will result in termination of employment. Now, notice this last part. The document is given ahead of time to the employee, so they have time to consider and respond.

o I would like you to read this agreement, consider what I have said, the facts and the consequences and then bring this agreement back to me with any comments on (date). I will consider your comments as part of this document. At the end of the process we will discuss my conclusions and your response, modify the agreement if we need to, then I will ask you to sign it (please do not sign it before I request and they you can decide if you want to.)

Writing

Quick exercise: What is one thing you will apply when you get home from our discussion today, just one? How will you make yourself accountable for that?

Thank You!

Please stay in touch with me if you have questions or ideas. My email is [email protected], and my phone is 806.283.4193. My website is www.drgaryschwantz.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.drgaryschwantz.com/

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