Managing personnel KPI’s, performance reviews by another name, are one of the most intimidating and easy to put off tasks most managers have.
Having recently written about behaviours delivering KPI’s rather than the other way around, it may be useful to do a quick audit of your own practises, and that of your employers.
If you want to shape behaviour, you need to communicate, and more importantly, display the behaviours before they will be taken up by others in the organisation.
This is a crucially important aspect of every person in a position to manage the output of others.
In no particular order, following are some of the things I have observed over the years that impact positively in behaviour, and clearly the converse is also true, their absence is telling.
Start from the beginning.
The first thing a new employee should understand is the behaviour that is required, and the connections these have to the KPI’s. Start as you want to continue, as someone who is willing and able to assist the new employee to learn, and contribute to the organisation. So often I see new employees disheartened by the reality of a new job not matching the rosy descriptions given during interviews. This is a bad mistake.
Feedback is a two way street.
Recognise that giving feedback is delicate, and is also a two way street. Positively managing the performance of other people requires a relationship, and no relationship can exist without some give and take. Every employee has expectations of their boss, so you should also ensure they have the opportunity in the conversations about performance to give you feedback. When this happens as a matter of course, as a part of natural conversation, it is a really healthy sign.
Responsibility and credit.
Taking responsibility for the failures around you, but giving credit where credit is due, publicly, is one of the most powerful motivators I have seen. It builds respect, and importantly also builds a well of goodwill amongst those around you, as well as from those reporting to you.
Feedback should be cultural.
Make performance feedback part of the culture. It should not be a once or twice a year conversation, but an ongoing part of the discourse. This is not an easy part of being a manager, it means you need to be thinking of others all the time, rather than concentrating on yourself. Have a look through the terrific Netflix culture doc, it is a very useful guide from a business that has managed exponential growth while disrupting established marketers, and building what appears to be a great place to work. Clearly, they know something about performance management and culture that the rest of us can learn from.
Remove emotion.
Keep emotion at bay, by concentrating on facts, and demonstrable cause and effect. This is a challenging task, but emotion is the killer of constructive and mutually beneficial conversations.
Be specific about expectations, exhortations to do better are of no value unless you are able to tell them exactly how to do better, and the metrics by which that performance will be measured.
Context.
Help people to see their work, and place in the organisation from a broader perspective than just their own little part of it. Understanding the context of a role, and the impact the performance of it has on others is a very powerful motivator.
Educate for the next job
Recognise explicitly that most people move on at some point, and that you take it as a personal challenge to ensure that when someone does move on, it is to a better, more senior job, and that you have contributed to the success that gets them there. Helping them build a career path is a part of your job as a leader and manager, and they will be grateful. When you give something of value to someone else, reciprocity kicks in, and in some way, at some time, most will repay the ‘debt’, often with interest.
See the context of peoples working lives.
Understand the patterns and drivers of the lives of those for whom you are responsible. While keeping a distance is easy, and natural, unless you understand what is going on in someone’s life outside the time they spend as an employee, you will not be able to understand them as well as you might, and will therefore fall short of being the perfect boss. This can be a very fine and variable line. Some may not welcome what they see as intrusion, but to one what may be intrusion, to another is genuine interest in them as a an individual.
Address the molehills immediately.
Adverse behaviour does happen, and unless called out immediately, will quickly become accepted as ‘normal’. When you see something great, immediate recognition will drive a repeat performance, and the opposite is also true, and corrosive. Once poor behaviour becomes the norm, it is very hard to change. Nip it in the bud!
Write it down.
There are regulatory requirements, as well as good governance that relies on things being written down and recorded. Some would say without a written record, it did not happen. Agreeing a written record with the other party goes a long way towards cementing the changes you need.
No threat no sweat.
‘Performance review’. Just the words elicit a sweat, an impending doom, that affects the conversation. Remove the implied threat, and the conversation can be mutually constructive. Of course, there are the odd occasions where threat is an intention, but it needs to be the exception, rather than the rule.
In these fractured post Weinstein days, ‘gender politics’ may also play a role, particularly if you are a middle aged, heterosexual white guy with the power. Enough said.
Remove with humanity.
Finally, when someone has to go, do it explicitly, but with humanity. Firing someone, particularly someone with whom you have worked closely, for whom you have had responsibility, and who you might like personally, is the hardest management job there is. Do not shirk it, and do not leave any room for ambiguity. It is not about blame, it is about both parties moving on in their own best interests. You also need to consider those that remain in employment. They will see the termination, and the manner of it, and come to their own conclusions about how it was handled, why it was necessary, and how it may impact them. Survivor syndrome is remarkably strong and often overlooked.
What have I missed from your experience?
