Category: Performance Management

By Scott

3 Things To Give Development Plans Momentum

As I work with organizations and leaders to create development plans, the challenge every time is How do I measure this? We all know that what is measured gets done AND some outcomes are difficult to measure.

Here are three things I preach to help create momentum for the process:

  1. It does not have to be perfect: When we invoke the success or failure mantra, we too often forget about the journey.  I offer my mantra:  Start somewhere / Keep improving / Move towards a desired outcome.  My mantra would make a terrible bumper sticker, but good ideas do not have to all fit on a bumper sticker.
  2. Use a business measure: I encourage leaders to use a number being produced today, mainly because most businesses do not need more metrics and most development goals should be tied to a business outcome.  It also helps leaders see the gaps they might have in planning and reporting.  If a goal is to increase sales in a region, and that number does not exist – then start there.
  3. When in doubt – start with measuring activities: It is okay to start with a quantitative or activity measure, so long as you are certain that activity, done regularly, will move you towards your desired outcome.  Here is an example.  One area many leaders struggle with is being seen as caring and respectful by their teams.  This is impossible to measure, but one activity that has been proven to impact this is focused one on one time with each person. Set a key measure of 30 minutes of one on one time with each person per month.  If you do this religiously for 12 months – it will make an impact.  At the end of 12 months – ask the next question:  What activity or input would help me gauge the quality of this time?

I have shared several resources for people to use that will help get them started, one being a development plan and the other being a talent calendar.  Here is the page containing all of these resources.

The last thing that has helped over 150 leaders evaluate where they are today is the Talent Scorecard.  Here is a link, it is free, and it will help at least measure your key habits around talent management and set goals that will impact your people AND your business.

 

By Scott

Our Talent / Self Awareness Language – Have One?

How do you talk about what you are good at doing?  Does it sound like a list of your educational accomplishments?  Do you share the last three job titles you have?  Does some answer come out as you look awkwardly at the floor?

Developing a language around who you are, what you bring to a role, and how the learning from your past will be a fuel for your future success is where talent management starts.trUYou: our model for developing self-awareness

The challenge – making the journey for wisdom a habit and not just something you do once and then just put your head down and work for the next 10 years.

Not sure what this Journey looks like? Read the book Mastery by George Leonard or LinchPin by Seth Godin

Are you stuck with thinking of yourself as a degree or a role? Buy the book Strengthsfinder 2.o by Tom Rath and take the assessment.

What are the key things I need to understand about myself? Take a look at my trUYou™ model and fill in the boxes.  Where are your gaps?  How confident are you in the picture it paints?

I was talking to a community organization this week about coming to their area to provide a keynote for a community leadership program.  I thought  what seeds can I plant in that community to help each individual move it along and initiate some conversations among the people that will keep things going long after I leave. One tool – Strengthsfinder 2.0 and one model – trUYou™ are great ways to begin any journey towards development and performance.

Once we share a language, the conversation becomes more impactful and a learning community is born.

Sound like a great journey?

 

By Scott

Development Tips: Communication that Creates Momentum

This week I will be publishing a review of the book Great on the Job by Jodi Glickman.  One request I get often is for ideas for helping develop the skills/capabilities of people.  This book provides an opportunity for some great conversations around communication and initiative.

Here are 4 ways Great on the Job could be used as a development tool for people on your team.  Each is a 30-60 minute conversation, that could go longer depending on how much actual skill practice you do.  Always ask for a commitment to use it on the job and plan a time to debrief/share at the next team meeting.

1. Calling people they do not know: Sounds simple, but in the world of texting you will be hiring people that are used to providing sound-bits and not professional introductions.  This book has a great chapter that will help people get to the point on a phone call with a busy client/customer.  It is very applicable advice for friends doing a job or to build communication skills/professionalism of your team. Here is a sample outline of what learning time is with an individual/team:

  • Provide them with a scenario that requires them to call someone they do not know with a request.
  • Give them 5 minutes to craft a 30 second message they would leave.
  • Ask them to share their message.  Do very little editing/correction.
  • Follow-up questions.  What was the biggest challenge of this assignment?  Who gave the most effective message in your opinion?  Why was it so effective? (write answers on the board for comparing to GOTJ content later.
  • Review Chapter 1 with them in the book.
  • Give them 3 minutes to rewrite their introduction.
  • Go around the room sharing revised introductions.
  • Go around the room and ask for each person to make a commitment on how they will use it in the next week.  Some examples – “I commit to posting this on my phone and tracking how many times I use it this week . . ”  “I commit to meeting with ____ for 30 minutes and practicing it.”
  • Spend 10 minutes at next staff meeting reviewing commitments and learnings.

2.  Interacting with Executives/Leaders: The #1 question asked at work to start conversations is –  How is it going? It is a crappy question, but it happens and it does provide an opportunity for people to give a BRIEF update on one thing they are focused on.  Here is an example of how this could be used with a group of high potentials or new hires:

  • Put people in groups of 3 and give them a scenario that you run into the CFO in the elevator and he/she asks “How is it going?”  Craft a great answer.  Craft a terrible answer.
  • Go around the room asking for both to be shared.  (this should generate laughter . . . )
  • Debrief:   What is the difference between a great answer and a poor answer?  Which was easier?  (write answers on a white board)
  • Review the GOTJ chapter for Status Update and Outstanding Answer.  Give half the groups the class of doing a Status Update answer and half to do an Outstanding Answer update.
  • Go around and ask for both to be shared.
  • Assignment:  Ask groups of 3 to be learning partners and test each other randomly, either face to face or during the work day until the individual provides a solid response.  (ie:  When your learning partner asks How is it going? – answer them as if they were the CFO.
  • Set 30 minutes to get back together in a week to review commitments and debrief the practice.

3.  What to say when you are asked something that you do not know: Job scopes generally change before people get hired, and after they start there will be continuous creep into areas where they are not experts.  The formula presented in the book is simple:  Here is what I know / Here is what I do not know / Here’s how I’ll figure it out.  Here is how this would fit into an onboarding session for new employees:

  • Day 1 with new employee, share your support for them and acknowledge that you will be asking them questions they do not know the answers to.
  • Share the GOTJ methodology.
  • Ask them a question they do not know the answer to – and have them use the GOTJ method to answer it.
  • Commit, as their leader, to help them by being willing to pause a conversation where they are rambling and asking each one of these questions to lead them through an answer.

4.  Asking for feedback: Leave the “millennials need more feedback” excuse behind.  Everyone needs to know how they are doing, and yet asking for that feedback is tricky.  GOTJ offers some great advice for how to ask in such a way that it is easy for people to give you feedback.  Here is how a work team could use this:

  • Ask everyone to read Chapter 6: Ask for Feedback.  Set the expectation that you will spend 30 minutes on the topic at the next meeting.
  • Facilitate a discussion around feedback: How do you feel about getting feedback?  How do you like to receive feedback?  Share a time when you received some great feedback/poor feedback?
  • Focus on how it works today:  What are ways you receive feedback today?  What are two parts of your job that would be easy/beneficial for others to give you feedback?
  • Using the Chapter 6 material in GOTJ, what is one commitment you make for gather feedback this week?  (What feedback will you ask for? How will you ask for it (script). Which teammate will help you? When will it be done?)
  • Practice your response when people give you great feedback – Thank you. 🙂
  • Go around the room and ask everyone to share their commitment for the week on using this material.
  • Set 10 minutes at the next staff meeting to revisit commitments and talk about next steps.

90% of development/learning happens outside of the classroom.  Any of these activities is 30-60 minutes of focused time spent on skills that can help people of any age/experience levels.  If people are just afraid or nervous to speak, one year in a Toastmasters group is still the best option, but as a leader this book can be used to empower and refine the skills of your team.  The result, they will become better at communicating to each other and you – which will make your life as a leader easier.

Talent management is about great conversations.  Go have one.

By Scott

Listening – Add This 360 Habit

Recently a leader asked me a question:  How can I know what my people think about how I am leading?

My response – ask.  Then I filled in the blanks.

This leader had a very strong habit of weekly one on ones with their team (the 2nd question on the Talent Scorecard).  Building off that habit, at the end of each conversation ask the question: What is one thing that I can do (or stop doing) that would help you the most?

First, deal with the actions associated with the answer.  Secondly, write down what people share in a single place – and make it a personal habit review the list every couple of months, maybe in your own one on one with your leader.  Here is an example of how this would work.

If your recent input is centered around comments like:  “Give me a heads up when a leadership change is happening in another group.  I have been surprised lately and received some questions from my own team that caught me off guard.” or “Let me know what you are thinking.  You have seemed distracted lately and I often wonder what I can do to help.”  Action plan – Need to focus/refocus on communication with your team and keeping them in the loop.  Maybe add weekly phone call/stand-up on Monday am for 5-7 minutes to check-in or carve out a 3 minute update from you at your team meetings.

Talent management is about great conversations.  We use 360 evaluations as a tool to help leaders get feedback from others on what they could do to be more effective.  Making this one question a habit integrates the 360 process into your conversations.

By Scott

Rethinking The Leadership Book Club – 3 Tips To Increase The Impact

I can remember two instances in the past year where peers have shared the ‘exciting’ news of how their organization was doing a book club for leadership development, and internally I was thinking it was a dumb idea.  My belief was if studying a book together was leadership development then you were in trouble.  I am not sure where that idea started, but it was there.

I was wrong.

More recently I interacted with several small companies and heard stories of how transformational the experience was for leaders hungry for learning and support.  I was reminded how people getting in a room voluntarily because of their desire to grow is ALWAYS a good thing.

Here are 3 ideas to make sure your book club has the desired impact.

  1. Get CEO/Senior Leader involved: Half the benefit (or more) is having different levels of the organization involved and getting to know each other.
  2. Rotate leadership: Ask others to lead the discussion and coach/mentor where needed to help them prepare and reflect after it is done.
  3. Focus on self-observation and action: Have people apply ideas by first watching how the they/the organization/others do certain things today.  Share the observations, then focus on one or two things to go apply after the book is done.  A good move is to brainstorm “How can we apply this?” and have people vote for a couple favorite ideas.  CEO – leave the voting to the team.

Any other ideas?  I would love to hear/share them.

Here is a link to my top shelf of books that, if my office caught on fire, I would grab and let the others burn.  (fyi – this is my tribute to Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury – who died this week at 91.)

By Scott

How to get feedback as a leader? 5 Steps to get more of it.

The leader looked at me after an hour of talking through their development plan and asked one last question – “How do I get feedback from my people about how I am doing?”

I pondered some options for a few moments and then delivered the answer – ASK.

It is not that simple, and it is that simple.  Talent management is about great conversations.  Within a great conversation are some key questions and the ability to listen to the answer.  What made it simpler for this leader is their demonstrated commitment to weekly one one one time with each leader on their team.

Here are the 5 steps to having a good ASK: (if you do not have regular one on one time with each leader individually – make that a priority – here is a template)

  1. At the end of each one on one ask the question “What can I be doing more of / less of to make your life easier / make your team more productive / etc.?”
  2. Next time you have a team meeting with your group, share with them – I want more feedback from you as a team on how I am doing/being perceived as a leader, which is one reason that you are asking the question.  So if there is something you all want me to hear, feel free to collaborate and all give me the same answer – I promise to listen. (smile) I also ask for patience because change takes time (21 days to a new habit) and I may need some help.
  3. Listen – for 3-6 months.  It might take them that long for them to get comfortable answering the question.
  4. Always – say thank you.  Never – give an instant excuse.  Always – commit to an action plan (even if it is just self observation on your part and commitment to talk about it at the next one on one).
  5. Keep track of their answers over time, and make a habit out of looking at the list occassionally to see which answers keep popping up, which ones have disappeared, and how ‘risky’ the criticism is.  Risky answers are things that hurt a little, which means that your people are trusting you more and more.

Feedback is hard to give and to get, and by making a practice of asking, listening, and acting – momentum towards the right outcome will happen.

By Scott

Process Trumps Solution – If relationships matter . . .

If relationships matter, then the process trumps the solution.

At a recent Family Business Alliance event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, family business expert Greg McCann shared this quote in the context of a story.  The story was of a older business owner who had just put together a plan for passing his business on to his wife and two sons after his death.  The plan assembled by his lawyer and accountants put one son in charge who was part of the business and desired the top job, and make the other two financially comfortable.  When McCann asked him when he was going to share the plan, his response was “when I die it will be part of my will.”  McCann’s only advice was simple – if you want this to work, they need to know about it now so that they can work out the details and any disagreements or problems can be addressed while you are here.  If relationships matter (this is a family, so this IS the goal), then process trumps the solution.

We can learn a lot in talent management and leadership about building relationships from family business.  I created a talent calendar with the single goal of defining the events (process) that produced the best opportunity to talk, listen, support, and problem solve throughout the year for a leader and a follower. While content is important, presence and process is the goal.

I am reminded of a study shared in the book SWAY by Ori and Ram Brafman.  A survey given to convicted felons about the judicial process and how fairly they were treated.  In the end, two factors emerged as significant on their perception of fairness.  As was expected, the inmates placed a lot of importance on the outcome, which was the sentence they received.  But almost equally weighted was how much time their lawyer spent with them.  Process matters.

If relationships matter, then open and honest dialogue during process of setting the goal is more important than the goal being set.  Talent management is about process and the relationships that happen when it is done well.

By Scott

Process vs Solution – What does my focus say?

If relationships matter, then the process trumps the solution.

These words were spoken by Greg McCann, an expert in helping families come together and work through passing the business on to the next generation.  It is brilliant, because it is simple and gives you a choice.  Do you allow for time to have a process, or do you drive the perfect outcome?

Too often we focus on the outcome, and the process just becomes something we have to do to get there.

Talent management is about relationships and trust.  Trust is built by focusing on the process, not necessarily the outcome.  I often share with leaders that true Talent Management is like cooking with a crockpot, not a microwave.  It just take time, and the end is not an exact time, but a time of day.

Outcome minded leaders like the microwave because it is exact, predictable, and efficient.

If you are a microwave person put the quote above on a post-it and put it up as a reminder for yourself.

  • What if – – – we worried more about getting people involved in solving the problem?
  • What if – – – we worried more about asking what other people think, giving them a little extra time, letting them fight a little, and accepted non-powerpoint answers that got most of the way there?
  • What if – – –  we focused on the customer in front of us and not the 9 more we knew we had to talk with?
  • What if – – – we stopped filling the one on one agenda and gave that off to our people to make it THEIR time?

But, business results are critical and accountability is synonomous with goal achievement and a clear process for getting there!  Enjoy your microwave . . . .

By Scott

Leadership – Keeping it Simple

I started a session with a leadership team by asking them the first four questions on the Talent Scorecard.  The results were less than impressive for questions 1, 3, and 4, but everyone nailed question #2 – I have one on ones with my people at least once a month. Their question for me was:  Is this good?

My answer:  Remember the perfect balance of talent management conversations is 30-30-40 (30% focus on past, 30% focus on present, 40% on the future).  Regular conversations with your people makes up for lots of deficiencies.  I believe the performance conversation once a year is critical to help establish goals, document/revise career plans, and help cascade organizational strategies throughout the ranks of leadership.  So missing/being late is not positive, but if I was given a choice of being late for those or missing one on ones, I would rather see people struggle with timely yearly performance conversations.

No group has ever asked me that question or had those specific results.  It was a great conversation and I left it feeling wiser.  I hope they had the same experience. 🙂

Talent management is about great conversations, and seeing a score on the habits that create the conversations is eye opening.  The great thing about critiquing ourselves is the action plan is built into the answer.  If you are not doing it, then do it.  Within the conversations, the improvement plan is as simple.  First, share with your team member your goal of having a 30-30-40 balance in terms of focus and their ownership of the agenda -then work towards those goals.  Secondly, at the end of each conversation ask –  “What are you thoughts on what we can do to make this more valuable for you?”  Over the course of 3-6 months it will just get better.

I will leave you with Ken Blanchard’s definition of leadership – “Leadership is an influence process.  It is about working with people to accomplish their goals and the goals of the organization.” With is only possible if there is a conversation – with equal parts of listening and talking.

Wonder how your habits are promoting great talent management on your team?  The scorecard is free – here is the link.

By Scott

How to get better at delivering feedback? First, get better at receiving it.

I am in the process of reading/reviewing Jodi Glickman’s book Great On The Job – What To Say, How To Say It – The Secrets of Getting Ahead.  As I go through it I will share some thoughts that make me go Hmmmm . . .  This posting is based on one of those moments.

What is the secret to speaking what you feel about someones performance and having it end up in a place where the relationship is still intact (or stronger) and your thoughts are heard?

The first and only tip – Focus on how you request and receive feedback from others.

I read Jodi Glickman’s book Great on the Job, and one quote is stuck in my head.  It is under the chapter of Ask for Feedback and the heading of Say Thank You.  The quote is (p. 129):

The goal, however, is continuous improvement and learning, not just feeling good.  If you have a tough feedback session, remind yourself that the goal of the session is not to make you feel good.  The goal is to make you better at your job.

 

Talent management is about great conversations, and the definition of a conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people who are following rules of etiquette. (wikipedia)  We all need to hear what is going well, but we have to be able to hear what we can do better.  At the heart of this conversation is a lot of smaller conversations around –  How am I doing?  What is going well and where do I need to improve?

How can we use this as individuals?

First, recognize that giving feedback is a lost art for many leaders who are, themselves, caught in a spot where nobody is telling them what they are doing well (when is the last time you told your leader about something they did well?) and the list of to do’s is only getting longer.  So, our job as individuals is to ask for it well,  stay calm in the moment of receiving it, and respond by saying thank you without our faces getting red or our jaws tightening.  Then do something with it that creates momentum for you and the organization.

Second, put extra focus into defining your role/objectives and own the one on one time with your leader.  This makes talking about performance  easier.  Here is a template if you want an example of what that looks like.

Getting and giving good feedback is not easy, but it is pretty simple.  I wonder what would happen if both leaders and followers read this one chapter together and tried it for a couple of months.  My guess is some great conversations would happen.

What tips do you have for giving/getting good feedback?