Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills A leader becomes complete only after giving something back. LAURENCE S. LYONS LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following: Understand that managers need several key skills to manage the performance of their employees effectively, including skills regarding coaching, giving feedback, and conducting performance review meetings. Understand four guidelines that provide a framework for successful coaching including the importance of a good coaching relationship, the central role of the employee as the source and director of change, understanding employees as unique and whole, and realizing that the coach is the facilitator of the employee's growth. 226 Define coaching, and describe its major functions, including giving advice, providing guidance and support, and enhancing employee confidence and competence. Identify behaviors that managers need to display to perform the various coaching functions. Understand that a manager's personality and behavioral preferences determine his or her coaching style. Understand your own coaching style and the need to adapt your coaching style to the situation and your subordinates' preferences. Describe the coaching process and its components including setting developmental goals, identifying developmental resources and strategies, implementing strategies, observing and documenting developmental behavior, and giving feedback. Understand the time, situational, and activity constraints involved in observing and documenting an employee's progress toward the achievement of developmental goals and good performance in general. Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills Implement a communication plan and training programs that will minimize the impact of constraints present when observing and documenting performance. Describe the benefits of accurate documentation of an employee's developmental activities and performance. Implement several recommendations that will lead to documenting performance in a useful and constructive manner. Understand the purposes served by feedback on performance regarding the achievement of developmental goals and performance in general. Implement several recommendations that will lead to creating useful and constructive feedback systems. Understand why people do not feel comfortable giving negative feedback, and recognize what happens when managers refuse to give negative feedback. Implement a disciplinary or termination process if an employee does not overcome performance problems over time. Understand the various purposes served by performance review meetings and the various types of meetings that can be conducted. Understand the signs of employee defensiveness, implement suggestions to minimize employee defensiveness before a performance review meeting takes place, and deal with defensiveness during the performance review meeting. Chapter 8 addressed issues about employee development. Specifically, Chapter 8 discussed how to use a performance management system to help employees develop and improve their performance and to address more long-term career goals and aspirations. Performance management systems are not likely to help employees develop and improve their performance if managers do not have the necessary skills to help employees accomplish these goals. Such skills include being able to serve as coaches, to observe and document performance accurately, to give both positive and negative feedback, and to conduct useful and constructive performance review discussions. Unfortunately, these skills seem to be in short supply; hence, this chapter addresses each of these topics. For example, a survey conducted by the consulting firm Watson Wyatt found that, in about 50% of the organizations included in the study, managers are only slightly effective in helping underperforming employees improve their performance.1 This lack of supervisory skills is not unique to the United States. For example, a study including more than 100 organizations in Barbados found that, overall, employees are not satisfied with their performance management system and some of the culprits are \"poor management of the process\" and \"low levels of supervisory motivation.\"2 Let's begin with the first of these issues: coaching. 9.1 COACHING Coaching is a collaborative, ongoing process in which the manager interacts with his or her employees and takes an active role and interest in their performance.3 In general, coaching involves directing, motivating, and rewarding employee behavior. Coaching is a day-to-day function that involves observing performance, complimenting good work, and helping to correct and improve any performance that does not 227 228 Part III Employee Development meet expectations and standards. Coaching is also concerned with long-term performance and involves ensuring that the developmental plan is being achieved. Being a coach thus is similar to serving as a consultant and, for coaching to be successful, a coach must establish a helping relationship.4 Establishing this helping and trusting relationship is particularly important when the supervisor and subordinate do not share similar cultural backgrounds, as is often the case with expatriates or when implementing global performance management systems.5 In such situations, a helping and trusting relationship allows for what is labeled cultural transvergence in performance management, which means that cultural differences are discussed openly, and alternate practices, which enhance individual and team performance, are implemented. Coaching is a pervasive organizational activity and, since the mid-1990s, there has been an explosion of interest in coaching. Specifically, the first scholarly article on coaching was published in 1955, and between then and December 2005, 393 articles have been published on the topic.6 Increased interest in recent years is evidenced by the fact that, of the total of 393 articles, 318 have been published since 1996. Although many theories on coaching exist, there are four guiding principles that provide a good framework for understanding successful coaching:7 1. A good coaching relationship is essential. For coaching to work, it is imperative that the relationship between the coach and the employee be trusting and collaborative. As noted by Farr and Jacobs, the \"collective trust\" of all stakeholders in the process is necessary.8 To achieve this type of relationship, first the coach must listen in order to understand. In other words, the coach needs to try to walk in the employee's shoes and view the job and organization from his or her perspective. Second, the coach needs to search for positive aspects of the employee because this is likely to lead to a better understanding and acceptance of the employee. Third, the coach needs to understand that coaching is not something done to the employee but done with the employee. Overall, the manager needs to coach with empathy and compassion. Such compassionate coaching will help develop a good relationship with the employee. In addition, there is an important personal benefit for the coach. This type of compassionate coaching has the potential to serve as an antidote to the chronic stress experienced by many managers.9 It has been argued that this type of coaching can ameliorate stress because the experience of compassion elicits responses within the human body that arouse the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), which can help mitigate stress. 2. The employee is the source and director of change. The coach must understand that the employee is the source of change and self-growth. After all, the purpose of coaching is to change employee behavior and set a direction for what the employee will do differently in the future.10 This type of change will not happen if the employee is not in the driver's seat. Accordingly, the coach needs to facilitate the employee's setting the agenda, goals, and direction. 3. The employee is whole and unique. The coach must understand that each employee is a unique individual with several job-related and job-unrelated identities (e.g., computer network specialist, father, skier) and a unique personal history. The coach must try to create a whole, complete, and rich picture of the Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills employee. It will be beneficial if the coach has knowledge of the employee's life and can help the employee connect his life and work experiences in meaningful ways. 4. The coach is the facilitator of the employee's growth. The coach's main role is one of facilitation. A coach must direct the process and help with the content (e.g., of a developmental plan) but not take control of these issues. The coach needs to maintain an attitude of exploration; help expand the employee's awareness of strengths, resources, and challenges; and facilitate goal setting. In more specific terms, coaching involves the following functions:11 Giving advice to help employees improve their performance. In other words, coaching involves not only describing what needs to be done but also how things need to be done. Coaching is concerned with both results and behaviors. Providing employees with guidance so that employees can develop their skills and knowledge appropriately. Coaching involves providing information both about the skills and knowledge that are required to do the work correctly and information about how the employee can acquire these skills and knowledge. Providing employees support and being there only when the manager is needed. Coaching involves being there when the employee needs help, but it also involves not monitoring and controlling an employee's every move. In the end, coaching is BOX 9.1 Taking Coaching Seriously at Becton, Dickinson, and Company A coaching culture and leadership development are viewed as competitive strengths at Becton, Dickinson, and Company (BD, http://www.bd.com). The U.S.-based company manufactures and sells medical supplies, devices, laboratory instruments, antibodies, reagents, and diagnostic products to health-care organizations, clinical laboratories, private industry, and the public. The coaching culture at BD includes the following points, as noted by Joseph Toto, the company's director of leadership development and learning: 1. We place high expectations on corporate leaders to model coaching as a productive and effective way to improve performance. 2. We expect leaders at all management levels to be coached as well as to coach the development of others. 3. We establish coaching as a norm. Leaders must view coaching and development as some of the key responsibilities and deliverables in their roles. Part of the company's training program includes developing skills through peer coaching and building management skills through peer interaction, support, and guidance. The training sessions emphasize several skills, including listening, asking facilitating and open-ended questions, sharing experiences, and challenging assumptions or discussing actions that might not be productive in the view of the coach. Training also involves self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses and identifying behaviors that would assist leaders in any given circumstance in which they might find themselves as managers in the company. In summary, BD has utilized training programs to develop and reinforce a coaching culture. This culture is credited with developing leaders to provide direction to others in a constantly changing business environment.12 229 230 Part III Employee Development about facilitation. The responsibility for improving performance ultimately rests on the shoulders of the employee. Giving employees confidence that will enable them to enhance their performance continuously and to increase their sense of responsibility for managing their own performance. Coaching involves giving positive feedback that allows employees to feel confident about what they do, but it also involves giving feedback on things that can be improved. Helping employees gain greater competence by guiding them toward acquiring more knowledge and sharpening the skills that can prepare them for more complex tasks and higher-level positions. Coaching involves a consideration of both short-term and long-term objectives, including how the employee can benefit from acquiring new skills and knowledge that could be useful in future positions and in novel tasks. Based on this list of the various functions of coaching, it is evident that coaching requires a lot of effort from the managers. For example, consider the case of NCCI Holdings, Inc., a company based in Boca Raton, Florida, that manages the largest database of workers' compensation insurance information in the United States (www.ncci.com). NCCI analyzes industry trends, prepares workers' compensation insurance rate recommendations, assists in pricing proposed legislation, and provides a variety of data products to maintain a healthy workers' compensation system and reduce the frequency of employee injuries. At NCCI Holdings, supervisors undergo extensive coaching training, including learning how to listen and how to be empathic. Managers also attend monthly roundtables where they can learn from one other's coaching experiences. At these roundtables, managers can solicit feedback from other managers regarding their own coaching performance.13 Coaching helps turn feedback into results. For this to happen, coaches need to engage in the following: Establish development objectives. The manager works jointly with the employees in creating the developmental plan and its objectives. Communicate effectively. The manager maintains regular and clear communication with employees about their performance, including both behaviors and results. Motivate employees. Managers must reward positive performance. When positive performance is rewarded, employees are motivated to repeat the same level of positive performance in the future. Document performance. Managers observe employee behaviors and results. Evidence must be gathered regarding instances of good and poor performance. Give feedback. Managers measure employee performance and progress toward goals. They praise good performance and point out instances of substandard performance. Managers also help employees avoid poor performance in the future. Diagnose performance problems. Managers must listen to employees and gather information to determine whether performance deficiencies are the result of a lack of knowledge and skills, abilities, or motivation or whether they stem from situational factors beyond the control of the employee. Diagnosing performance problems is important because such a diagnosis dictates whether the course of action should be, for example, providing the employee with resources so that she can Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills acquire more knowledge and skills or addressing contextual issues that may be beyond the control of the employee (e.g., the employee is usually late in delivering the product because he receives the parts too late). Develop employees. Managers provide financial support and resources for employee development (e.g., funding training, allowing time away from the job for developmental activities) by helping employees plan for the future and by giving challenging assignments that force employees to learn new things. Not all coaches perform all the coaching functions by engaging in all of the behaviors described here. Managers who do so, of course, are highly effective. In fact, some have become legendary leaders. Consider Table 9.1, which summarizes the critical functions served by coaching and the behaviors coaches used to perform these functions. For example, take the case of Jack Welch who was extremely dedicated to developing his employees by engaging in several of the coaching behaviors described here when he was CEO of General Electric (GE).14 To get involved with his employees, Welch spoke during a class held at a three-week developmental course for GE's high-potential managers. Over the course of his career, he attended more than 750 of these classes, engaging over 15,000 GE managers and executives. During these presentations, he expected to answer hard questions, and he communicated honestly and candidly with his employees. After the class, he invited all the participants to talk with him after the course. In addition to attending these sessions, he held meetings with his top 500 executives every January. Although Welch did not engage in formal coaching, he used the opportunities to communicate his expectations and receive feedback from the various business groups at GE. Welch also conducted formal performance reviews in which he engaged in several of the behaviors included in Table 9.1, including establishing developmental objectives, motivating employees, documenting performance, giving feedback, and diagnosing performance problems. He set performance targets and monitored them throughout the year. Each year the operating heads of GE's 12 businesses received individual two-page, handwritten notes about their performance. Welch attached the previous year 's comments to the new reviews with comments in the margin about the progress made by the individual managers toward his goal or the work that he still needed to do to reach the goal. Then, he distributed bonuses and reiterated the goals for the upcoming year. This process cascaded throughout the TABLE 9.1 Coaching Major Functions Key Behaviors Give advice Provide guidance Give support Give confidence Promote greater competence Establish developmental objectives Communicate effectively Motivate employees Document performance Give feedback Diagnose performance problems Develop employees 231 232 Part III Employee Development organization, as other operating heads engaged in the same performance review discussions with their subordinates. Another example of Welch's coaching behaviors occurred after he had heard customer complaints about a specific product. Welch charged the manager of the division with improving the productivity of that product fourfold. The manager sent Welch detailed weekly reports over the course of the next four years. Welch would send the reports back every three or four weeks with comments congratulating successes or pointing out areas in which the manager needed to improve. The manager stated that the fact that the CEO took the time to read his reports each week and send back comments motivated him to reach the lofty goal that Welch had set for him. In addition to this, Jack Welch took the time to recognize hourly workers and managers who impressed him. For example, after one high-ranking leader turned down a promotion and transfer because he did not want his daughter to change schools, Welch sent him a personal note stating that he admired the man for many reasons and that he appreciated his decision to put his family first. The employee explained later that this incident proved that Welch cared about him both as a person and as an employee. In short, Jack Welch was a legendary leader who developed his employees by setting expectations, communicating clearly, documenting and diagnosing performance, motivating and rewarding his employees, and taking an interest in their personal development. In fact, he engaged in virtually all the behaviors and performed most of the coaching functions listed in Table 9.1. How does Jack Welch compare to the CEO of your current company or to a CEO you have known or heard about? We can see that Welch was an extremely effective coach. In general, however, how do we know whether a manager is doing a good job of coaching her employees? From a results point of view, we could simply measure how many of a manager's employees go on to become successful on their own. But, as in the case of evaluating performance in general, we should also consider behaviors in evaluating coaching performance. Consider the good coach questionnaire included in Table 9.2. If you are or have been in a management position, answer the questions about yourself; otherwise, think about your current or latest supervisor or someone you know. To how many of these questions can you answer \"yes\"? To how many would you answer \"no\"? Overall, given your responses, what is the evaluation of this person (yourself or someone else) as a coach from a behavioral point of view? TABLE 9.2 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The Good Coach Questionnaire Do you listen to your employees? Do you understand the individual needs of your employees? Do you encourage employees to express their feelings openly? Do you provide your employees with tangible and intangible support for development? Do your employees know your expectations about their performance? Do you encourage open and honest discussions and problem solving? Do you help your employees create action plans that will solve problems and create changes when needed? Do you help your employees explore potential areas of growth and development? Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills 9.2 COACHING STYLES A manager's personality and behavioral preferences are more likely to influence his or her coaching style. There are four main coaching styles: driver, persuader, amiable, and analyzer. First, coaches can adopt a driving style in which they tell the employee being coached what to do. Assume that the coach wants to provide guidance regarding how to deal with a customer. In this situation, the preference for a driver is to say to the employee, \"You must talk to the customer in this way.\" Such coaches are assertive, speak quickly and often firmly, usually talk about tasks and facts, are not very expressive, and expose a narrow range of personal feelings to others. Second, coaches can use a persuading style in which they try to sell what they want the employee to do. Someone who is a persuader would try to explain to the employee why it is beneficial for the organization as well as for the employee himself to talk to a customer in a specific way. Like drivers, persuaders are assertive, but they tend to use expansive body gestures, talk more about people and relationships, and expose others to a broad range of personal feelings. Third, other coaches may adopt an amiable style and want everyone to be happy. Such coaches are likely to be more subjective than objective and direct employees to talk to customers in a certain way because it \"feels\" like the right thing to do or because the employee feels it is the right way to do it. Such coaches tend not to be very assertive and to speak deliberately and pause often, seldom interrupt others, and make many conditional statements. Finally, coaches may have a preference for analyzing performance in a logical and systematic way and then follow rules and procedures when providing a recommendation. To use the same example, such analyzer coaches may tell employees to talk to a customer in a specific way \"because this is what the manual says.\" Analyzers, then, are not very assertive but, like drivers, are likely to talk about tasks and facts rather than personal feelings. Which of these four styles is best? Are drivers, persuaders, amiable coaches, or analyzers most effective? The answer is that no style is necessarily superior to the others. Good coaching should be seen as a learning opportunity and as an opportunity to set clear goals and delegate action. Coaching involves sometimes providing direction, sometimes persuading employees how to do things a certain way, sometimes showing empathy and creating positive effects, and sometimes paying close attention to established rules and procedures. One thing is for sure, however: an exclusive emphasis on one of these four styles is not likely to help employees develop and grow. Ineffective coaches stick to one style only and cannot adapt to use any of the other styles. On the other hand, adaptive coaches who are able to adjust their style according to an employee's needs are most effective. In fact, 56% of participants in a survey of employees who had a coach at work reported that coaching was not helping them because there was a mismatch between coaching style and employee need.15 In sum, a combination of styles is needed. 9.3 COACHING PROCESS The coaching process is shown in Figure 9.1. We have already discussed many of the components of this process in previous chapters. The first step involves setting developmental goals. As discussed in Chapter 8, these developmental goals are a key component of the developmental plan. These goals must be reasonable, attainable, and derived from a careful analysis of the areas in which an employee needs to 233 234 Part III Employee Development Set Developmental Goals Identify Developmental Resources and Strategies Implement Strategies Observe and Document Developmental Behavior Give Feedback FIGURE 9.1 Coaching Process improve. In addition, goals should take into account both short- and long-term career objectives. The second step in the coaching process is to identify resources and strategies that will help the employee achieve the developmental goals. As discussed in Chapter 8, these can include on-the-job training, attending courses, self-guided reading, mentoring, attending a conference, getting a degree, job rotation, a temporary assignment, and membership or a leadership role in a professional or trade organization. The third step involves implementing the strategies that will allow the employee to achieve the developmental goals. For example, the employee may begin her job rotation plan or take a course online. The next step in the process is to collect and evaluate data to assess the extent to which each of the developmental goals has been achieved. Finally, the coach provides feedback to the employee, and, based on the extent to which each of the goals has been achieved, the developmental goals are revised, and the entire process begins again. Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills BOX 9.2 Training Coaches at Hallmark Hallmark (http://www.hallmark.com) sought to improve management communications with employees and initiated a training program that has been well received and viewed as a strategic benefit to the company. U.S.-based Hallmark is a retailer and wholesaler of greeting cards, stationery, flowers, and gifts with operations in the United States and Great Britain. The company initiated training to help managers become more effective in communications, enhancing their ability to provide leadership and coaching to employees. The training program sought to provide skill development in increasing two-way communication, with a greater frequency of communication and increased interaction of managers with employees. Training sessions included self-assessment, small group role-playing, and viewing video clips to enhance understanding of the role of communication. Engagement training focused on gaining the trust of employees as well as their involvement and ownership in business outcomes. Follow-up resources were also made available for managers to continue to improve their leadership competency. Following the training in this area, managers gave positive feedback, and employee surveys have shown that employee engagement has increased at all levels of the organization. In summary, Hallmark provides an example of a company that made a commitment to leadership and coaching through training managers and focusing on communication skills that has translated into a more engaged workforce and enhanced strategic business results.16 Chapter 8 included a discussion of developmental goals and developmental resources and strategies. Let's discuss the two remaining components of the coaching model: observing and documenting developmental behavior data and giving feedback. 9.3.1 Observation and Documentation of Developmental Behavior and Outcomes Chapter 6 addressed the fact that people may make intentional and unintentional errors while observing and evaluating performance. Managers may make similar errors in observing and evaluating behaviors related to developmental goals. For example, a manager might make a halo error by assuming that if an employee does a good job at working toward one developmental goal (e.g., improving her typing skills), she is also doing a good job at working toward a different developmental goal (e.g., improving customer service). As is the case for performance in general, it is important to observe and document behaviors specifically related to developmental activities. Documentation can include memos, letters, e-mail messages, handwritten notes, comments, observations, descriptions, and evaluations provided by colleagues.17 The discussion presented in this section complements information given in previous chapters because, although it is specifically related to behaviors regarding developmental activities, it can be easily generalized to behaviors related to performance in general. In other words, the following discussion applies to the observation of all performance behaviors, not just those displayed while working toward achieving developmental goals. Observing an employee's progress in achieving developmental goals is not as easy as it may seem. Consider the following constraints that managers might experience in attempting to observe an employee's performance regarding developmental activities: Time constraints. Managers may be too busy to gather and document information about an employee's progress toward his developmental goals. Consequently, too 235 236 Part III Employee Development much time may elapse between the assignment of the activity and the manager's checking on the employee's progress. Situational constraints. Managers are often unable to observe employees as they engage in developmental activities and therefore may not have firsthand knowledge about their performance. For example, managers do not observe the extent to which an employee enrolled in an online course is an active participant and contributor or is a passive learner. Activity constraints. When the developmental activity is highly unstructured, such as an employee's reading a book, the manager may have to wait until the activity is completed to assess whether the activity has been beneficial. How can we address these constraints and make sure that a manager will be able to observe and evaluate an employee's performance regarding developmental activities? The recommendations provided in Chapter 7 regarding the observation and evaluation of performance in general apply here as well. Specifically, a good communication plan should explain the benefits of implementing a developmental plan effectively. This helps managers accept the plan. Also, managers should be trained so that they minimize errors (i.e., rater error training), share notions of what it means to complete developmental activities successfully (i.e., frame-of-reference training), observe performance accurately (i.e., behavioral observation training), and are confident and comfortable in managing employees' developmental activities (i.e., self-leadership training). Finally, we need to understand the forces that motivate managers to invest time and effort or not in the development of their employees. In other words, what does the manager gain if her employee's developmental activities are supervised appropriately? The importance of documenting an employee's progress toward the achievement of developmental goals cannot be overemphasized. Similarly, it is critical to document employee performance in general. Why is this so important? Consider the following reasons: Minimize cognitive load. Observing and evaluating developmental activities, and performance in general, is a complex cognitive task. Thus, documentation helps prevent memory-related errors. Create trust. When documentation exists to support evaluations, there is no mystery regarding the outcomes. This, in turn, promotes trust and acceptance of decisions based on the evaluation provided. Plan for the future. Documenting developmental activities and their outcomes enables discussion about specific facts instead of assumptions and hearsay. A careful examination of these facts permits better planning of developmental activities for the future. Provide legal protection. Specific laws prohibit discrimination against members of various classes (e.g., sex or religion) in how developmental activities are allocated. For example, it is prohibited to provide male employees with better developmental opportunities than female employees. In addition, some court rulings have determined that employees working under contract may challenge a dismissal. Thus, keeping accurate records of what developmental activities employees have completed and with what degree of success as well as performance in general provides a good line of defense in case of litigation based on discrimination or wrongful termination. Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills The importance of keeping thorough performance documentation and taking actions consistent with this documentation is illustrated by the outcome of several cases. In one such case, John E. Cleverly, an employee at Western Electric Co., was discharged after 14 years of good service.18 Western Electric was found guilty of age discrimination, and Cleverly was awarded back pay because the documentation indicated that Cleverly had been given adequate performance ratings and increases to his salary over a course of 14 years. Upon his discharge, six months before his pension vested, Cleverly was informed that one reason for his discharge was to make room for younger employees. As illustrated by this case, documentation of performance should be taken seriously. In this case, the documentation available indicated the employee had a valid claim. In other cases, documentation could be used to discount charges of discrimination. If Cleverly had alleged age discrimination, but the company could show that his performance was deteriorating over time, then the company would have won the case. What can managers do to document performance regarding developmental activities and performance in general in a useful and constructive way? Consider the following recommendations:19 Be specific. Document specific events and outcomes. Avoid making general statements such as \"He's lazy.\" Provide specific examples to illustrate your point, for example, \"He turns in memos after deadlines at least once a month.\" Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. The use of evaluative adjectives (e.g., good, poor) and adverbs (e.g., speedily, sometimes) may lead to ambiguous interpretations. In addition, it may not be clear whether the level of achievement has been average or outstanding. Balance positives with negatives. Document instances of both good and poor performance. Do not focus only on the positives or only on the negatives. Focus on job-related information. Focus on information that is job related and specifically related to the developmental activities and goals at hand. Be comprehensive. Include information on performance regarding all developmental goals and activities, and cover the entire review period as opposed to a shorter time period. Also, document the performance of all employees, not just those who are not achieving their developmental goals. Standardize procedures. Use the same method and format to document information for all employees. Describe observable behavior. Phrase your notes in behavioral terms and avoid statements that would imply subjective judgment or prejudice. Obviously, not all managers do a good job of documenting performance about the accomplishment of developmental goals or performance in general. Table 9.3 includes a summarized list of recommendations to follow in the documentation process. Now, consider the recommendations listed in Table 9.3 in evaluating the set of quotes appearing in Table 9.4 reportedly taken from actual employee performance evaluations in a large corporation in the United States.20 We can be sure that the employees at the receiving end of these quotes would not be very happy with them. It also goes without saying that this type of documentation 237 238 Part III Employee Development TABLE 9.3 Documentation of Performance and Performance in Developmental Activities: Some Recommendations Be specific. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. Balance positives with negatives. Focus on job-related information. Be comprehensive. Standardize procedures. Describe observable behavior. would be extremely detrimental to the performance management system. In fact, this organization would have serious problems beyond the scope of its performance evaluation system. Now, let's turn to the final important component of the coaching process: giving feedback. TABLE 9.4 Individual Quotes Taken from Actual Employee Performance Evaluations Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom . . . and has started to dig. I would not allow this employee to breed. This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a definitely won't be. Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap. He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle. He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them. This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot. This employee should go far, . . . and the sooner he starts, the better. He's been working with glue too much. He would argue with a signpost. He has a knack for making strangers immediately detest him. He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room. If you see two people talking and one looks bored . . . he's the other one. Donated his brain to science before he was done using it. Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming. If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week. If you gave him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change. If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean. One neuron short of a synapse. Some drink from the fountain of knowledge . . . he only gargled. Takes him 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes. The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead. Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills 9.3.2 Giving Feedback Giving feedback to an employee regarding her progress toward achieving her goals is a key component of the coaching process.21 Feedback is information about past behavior that is given with the goal of improving future performance. Although \"back\" is part of feedback, giving feedback has both a past and a future component. This is why, when done properly, feedback can be relabeled feed forward.22 Feedback includes information about both positive and negative aspects of job performance and lets employees know how well they are doing with respect to meeting the established standards.23 For example, the so-called 2+2 performance appraisal model for teachers includes peer teachers who observe each other perform in the classroom and then offer two compliments and two suggestions for improvement.24 Feedback is important in the context of performance regarding development activities and goals. Our discussion of feedback, however, goes beyond that and includes feedback about performance in general. Feedback is not a magic bullet for performance improvement;25 however, it serves several important purposes: Helps build confidence. Praising good performance builds employee confidence regarding future performance. It also lets employees know that their manager cares about them. Develops competence. Communicating clearly about what has been done right and how to do the work correctly is valuable information that helps employees become more competent and improve their performance. In addition, communicating clearly about what has not been done right and explaining what to do next time provide useful information so that past mistakes are not repeated. Enhances involvement. Receiving feedback and discussing performance issues allow employees to understand their roles in the unit and organization as a whole. This, in turn, helps employees become more involved in the unit and the organization. Unfortunately, however, the mere presence of feedback, even if it is delivered correctly, does not necessarily mean that all of these purposes will be fulfilled. For example, a review of 131 studies that examined the effects of feedback on performance concluded that 38% of the feedback programs reviewed had a negative effect on performance.26 In other words, in many cases, the implementation of feedback led to lower performance levels. This can happen when, for example, feedback does not include useful information or is not delivered in the right way. For example, feedback can have detrimental effects if it focuses on the employee as a whole as opposed to specific behaviors at work. This is precisely the case of a very successful woman who made many personal sacrifices such as not starting a family to reach the top echelons of the organizational hierarchy.27 She received feedback that included information that she had failed to retain a valued client. The feedback was accurate and delivered in the correct manner; however, after receiving the feedback, she began to question her life choices in general instead of focusing on how to retain valued clients in the future. In this example, feedback was not instrumental in improving performance; instead, the feedback created self-doubt and questions about identity. Although some feedback systems do not work well, the advantages of providing feedback generally outweigh any disadvantages. Also, consider the possible cost of not 239 240 Part III Employee Development providing feedback. First, organizations would be depriving employees of a chance to improve their performance. Second, organizations might be stuck with chronic poor performance because employees did not recognize any performance problems and felt justified in continuing to perform at substandard levels. Finally, employees might develop inaccurate perceptions of how their performance is regarded by others. Given that, overall, feedback systems are beneficial, what can we do to make the most of them? Consider the following suggestions to enhance feedback:28 Timeliness. Feedback should be delivered as close to the performance event as possible. For feedback to be most meaningful, it must be given immediately after the event. Frequency. Feedback should be provided on an ongoing basis, daily if possible. If performance improvement is an ongoing activity, then feedback about performance should also be provided on an ongoing basis. Specificity. Feedback should include specific work behaviors, results, and the situation in which these behaviors and results were observed.29 Feedback is not about the employee and how the employee \"is,\" but about behaviors and results and situations in which these behaviors and results occurred. Verifiability. Feedback should include information that is verifiable and accurate. It should not be based on inferences or rumors. Using information that is verifiable leads to more accurate feedback and subsequent acceptance. Consistency. Feedback should be consistent. In other words, information about specific aspects of performance should not vary unpredictably between overwhelming praise and harsh criticism. Privacy. Feedback should be given in a place and at a time that prevent any potential embarrassment. This applies to both criticism and praise, because some employees, owing to personality or cultural background, may not wish to be rewarded in public. Consequences. Feedback should include contextual information that allows the employee to understand the importance and consequences of the behaviors and results in question. For example, if an employee became frustrated and behaved inappropriately with an angry customer and the customer's complaint was not addressed satisfactorily, feedback should explain the impact of these behaviors (e.g., behaving inappropriately) and results for the organization (e.g., the customer's problem was not resolved, the customer was upset, the customer was not likely to give repeat business to the organization). Description first, evaluation second. Feedback should first focus on describing behaviors and results rather than on evaluating and judging behaviors and results. It is better first to report what has been observed and, once there is agreement about what happened, to evaluate what has been observed. If evaluation takes place first, employees may become defensive and reject the feedback. Performance continuum. Feedback should describe performance as a continuum, going from less to more in the case of good performance and from more to less in the case of poor performance. In other words, feedback should include information on how to display good performance behaviors more often and poor performance behaviors less often. Thus, performance is a matter of degree, and even the worst performer is likely to show nuggets of good performance that can be described as a starting point for a discussion on how to improve performance. Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills Pattern identification. Feedback is most useful if it is about a pattern of poor performance rather than isolated events or mistakes. Identifying a pattern of poor performance also allows for a better understanding of the causes leading to poor performance. Confidence in the employee. Good feedback includes a statement that the manager has confidence that the employee will be able to improve her performance. It is important for the employee to hear this from the manager. This reinforces the idea that feedback is about performance and not the performer. Note, however, that this should be done only if the manager indeed believes the employee can improve her performance. In the case of a chronic poor performance, this type of information could be used out of context later if the employee is fired. Advice and idea generation. Feedback can include advice given by the supervisor about how to improve performance. In addition, however, the employee should play an active role in generating ideas about how to improve performance in the future. Many of the above-mentioned recommendations are particularly useful when feedback is given to employees who score low on a personality trait labeled core self-evaluation, which is a combination of four traits: self-esteem (i.e., the degree to which an individual holds a favorable attitude toward himself), self-efficacy (i.e., the degree to which an individual believes he is capable of taking action and taking control over events), emotional stability (i.e., the degree to which an individual is not insecure, guilty, or timid), and locus of control (i.e., the degree to which an individual believes he can control events and outcomes in his live). Individuals with low core self-evaluations feel they are less able to deal with the world and, consequently, are overall less satisfied with their jobs and lives. Thus, supervisors need to be aware that feedback is likely to be received by individuals with low versus high core self-evaluations.30 For example, low core self-evaluation employees may feel hurt and helpless after receiving negative feedback. Thus, the recommendations about \"confidence in the employee\" are particularly relevant. Similarly, the recommendations about \"advice and idea generation\" are also particularly helpful so that there is a clear course of actionrather than feelings of helplessness and lack of direction. Consider the following vignette in which Andrea, a supervisor, has observed a specific performance event and provides feedback to her subordinate. Andrea is the manager of a small retail store with approximately five employees. With a small staff, Andrea looks for coaching opportunities on a weekly basis. Andrea is working with Matt today, and she has just witnessed him complete a customer sale. Matt did not follow several steps, however, that should be included at each sale and, because the store is now empty, Andrea decides it is a perfect opportunity for a coaching session. ANDREA: MATT: ANDREA: MATT: ANDREA: Hey, Matt, that was great the way that you just assisted that customer in finding her correct size in the jeans. Thanks for taking the extra time to help her. Thanks, Andrea, not a problem. I would like to go over the sales transaction with you. Sure. After you helped the woman find her jeans, you promptly brought her over and rang her up. That was a good sale because those jeans were a full-priced 241 242 Part III Employee Development MATT: ANDREA MATT: ANDREA: item; however, you didn't complete all of the tasks associated with closing a sale. In the training last week, we discussed the importance of adding on additional sales, entering the customer's personal contact information in our computer, and letting them know about upcoming sales. Yes, I just remembered us talking about that. When customers seem in a hurry, I feel bad about asking them additional questions. That's a very valid concern. Can we think of ways to increase the efficiency of adding these few steps into the sales transaction process so that you feel comfortable performing them in the future? I would like to help you do that because increasing the number of items you sell during each transaction could help you win the upcoming sales contests. That would be great. I would really like some new ideas about talking to customers. No problem; I know that you are a very capable salesperson. You have great customer service skills, and I think that you can improve your sales and possibly win one of the upcoming contests. Andrea and Matt then generate ideas about how to improve Matt's performance. In this vignette, Andrea demonstrated several of the feedback behaviors listed in Table 9.5. She was specific about the behaviors and results, the information was verifiable, and it was timely because the behavior had just occurred. In addition, since Andrea communicates her expectations on a weekly basis, the information she provides is consistent. Finally, she described the behavior first and then evaluated its effectiveness; she communicated confidence in Matt, and she offered to help him generate ideas about how to improve his effectiveness. On the other hand, Andrea left out several important things while coaching Matt. First, she did not communicate the consequences of his behavior (e.g., his failure to follow the procedures could hurt sales for the entire store). Although the vignette does not describe the idea generation portion of the feedback session, Andrea did not describe small behaviors that Matt could use to improve his TABLE 9.5 Most Effective Feedback Should Be Timely Frequent Specific Verifiable Consistent Private Consequential Descriptive first and evaluative second Related to a performance continuum Based on identifiable patterns of performance A confidence builder for employees A tool for generating advice and ideas Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills performance. Finally, Andrea did not communicate to Matt whether this behavior was a one-time incident or whether it was a pattern that was affecting his overall work performance. Overall, if Andrea continues to look for coaching opportunities with her employees, her relationship with her employees and their performance in the store will continue to improve. To be more effective, however, she may need to work on communicating the patterns of behavior that lead to poor performance and the consequences of continued poor performance. Good feedback includes information about both good and poor performance. Although most people are a lot more comfortable giving feedback on good performance than they are on poor performance, some guidelines must be followed when giving praise so that the feedback is useful in terms of future performance. First, praise should be sincere and given only when it is deserved. If praise is given repeatedly and when it is not deserved, employees are not able to see when a change in direction may be needed.31 Second, praise should be about specific behaviors or results and be given within context so that employees know what they need to repeat in the future. For example, a manager can say the following:32 \"John, thanks for providing such excellent service to our client. Your efforts helped us renew our contract with them for another two years. It's these types of behaviors and results that our group needs to achieve our goal for this year. And, this is exactly what our company is all about: providing outstanding customer service.\" Third, in giving praise, managers should take their time and act pleased, rather than rush through the information looking embarrassed. Finally, avoid giving praise by referring to the absence of the negative, for example, \"not bad\" or \"better than last time.\" Instead, praise should emphasize the positives and be phrased, for example, as \"I like the way you did that\" or \"I admire how you did that.\"33 Consider the following vignette which illustrates how a manager might give praise to his employee. After the successful completion of a three-month project at a large telecommunications company, Ken, the manager, wants to congratulate Mike on a job well done. Ken calls Mike into his office one day after the project is completed. 9.3.2.1 PRAISE KEN: MIKE: KEN: Thanks for stopping by Mike, and thank you for all of your hard work over the past three months. I know that I might not have congratulated you on every milestone you reached along the way, but I wanted to take the time to congratulate you now. Your organizational skills and ability to interact successfully with multiple departments led to the successful completion of the project on time and within budget. Thanks, Ken. I have really been putting extra effort into completing this project on time. It shows, Mike, and I appreciate all of your hard work and dedication to this team and our department. Thanks again and congratulations on a great end to a long three months. In this vignette, Ken delivered praise to Mike successfully and followed the recommendations provided earlier. He was sincere and made sure not to praise Mike 243 244 Part III Employee Development too often so that when he did praise him, it was meaningful. He described how Mike's organizational and project management skills led to the successful completion of the project. Finally, Ken took his time in delivering the praise and made sure that Mike took the praise seriously. NEGATIVE FEEDBACK Negative feedback includes information that performance has fallen short of accepted standards. The goal of providing negative feedback is to help employees improve their performance in the future; it is not to punish, embarrass, or chastise them. It is important to give negative feedback when it is warranted because the consequences of not doing so can be detrimental for the organization as a whole. For example, Francie Dalton, president of Dalton Alliances, Inc., noted, \"In organizations where management imposes no consequences for poor performance, high achievers will leave because they don't want to be where mediocrity is tolerated. But mediocre performers will remain because they know they're safe. The entire organizational culture, along with its reputation in the marketplace, can be affected by poor performers.\"34 In spite of the need to address poor performance, managers are usually not very comfortable providing negative feedback. Why is this so? Consider the following reasons: 9.3.2.2 Negative reactions and consequences. Managers may fear that employees will react negatively. Negative reactions can include being defensive and even becoming angry at the information received. In addition, managers may fear that the working relationship, or even friendship, with their subordinates may be affected adversely and that giving negative feedback can introduce elements of mistrust and annoyance. Negative experiences in the past. Managers themselves may have received negative feedback at some point in their careers and have experienced firsthand how feelings can be hurt. Receiving negative feedback can be painful and upsetting, and managers may not want to put their subordinates in such a situation. Playing \"god.\" Managers may be reluctant to play the role of an all-knowing, judgmental god. They may feel that giving negative feedback puts them in that position. Need for irrefutable and conclusive evidence. Managers may not want to provide negative feedback until after they have been able to gather irrefutable and conclusive evidence about a performance problem. Because this task may be perceived as too onerous, managers may choose to skip giving negative feedback altogether. What happens when managers avoid giving negative feedback and employees avoid seeking it? A feedback gap results, in which managers and employees mutually instigate and reinforce lack of communication which creates a vacuum of meaningful exchanges about poor performance.35 A typical consequence of a feedback gap is that, in the absence of information to the contrary, the manager gives the employee the message that performance is adequate. When performance problems exist, they are likely to become more intense over time. For example, clients may be so dissatisfied with the service they are receiving that they may eventually choose to close their accounts and work instead with the competition. At that time, it becomes impossible for the manager to overlook the performance problem, and she has no choice but to deliver Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills the negative feedback. At this stage of the process, however, feedback is delivered too late and often in a punitive fashion. Of course, feedback delivered so late in the process and in a punitive fashion is not likely to be helpful. Alternatively, negative feedback is most useful when early coaching has been instrumental in identifying warning signs and the performance problem is still manageable. Negative feedback is also useful when it clarifies unwanted behaviors and consequences and focuses on behaviors that can be changed. There is no point in providing feedback on issues that are beyond the employee's control because there is not much she can do to improve the situation. In addition, employees are more likely to respond constructively to negative feedback when the manager is perceived as being trustworthy and making a genuine attempt to improve the employee's performance. In other words, the manager needs to be perceived as credible and as instrumental in improving the employee's performance in the future.36 Finally, negative feedback is most likely to be accepted when it is given by a source who uses straight talk and not subtle pressure and when it is supported by hard data. The supervisor must control her emotions and stay calm. If managers follow these suggestions, it is more likely that employees will benefit from negative feedback, even if employees are not particularly open to receiving it.37 Following these suggestions leads to what has been labeled \"actionable feedback,\" meaning that such feedback will allow employees to respond in constructive ways and will lead to learning and performance improvement.38 Overall, regardless of whether the feedback session includes praise or a discussion of needed areas of improvement, it should provide answers to the following questions:39,40 1. How is your job going? Do you have what you need to do your job? 2. Are you adequately trained? Do you have the skills and tools you need to do your job? 3. What can be done to improve your and your unit's/organization's job/products/ services? 4. How can you better serve your internal and external customers? 9.3.3 Disciplinary Process and Termination In some cases, an employee may not respond to the feedback provided and may not make any improvements in terms of performance. In such cases, there is one intermediate step that can be taken before the employee enters a formal disciplinary process which involves a verbal warning, a written warning, and may lead to termination. The employee can be given a once-in-a-career decision-making leave.41 This is a \"day of contemplation\" that is paid and allows the employee to stay home and decide whether working in this organization is what he or she really wants to do. This practice is based on adult learning theory, which holds individuals responsible for their actions. Unlike a formal disciplinary action, the decision-making leave does not affect employee pay. As noted by Tim Field, principal of a consulting firm in Los Angeles, California, \"This element of holding people accountable without negatively impacting their personnel file or payroll tends to catch people off guard, because problem employees, like problem children, are often expecting negative attention for their bad behavior.\" How can the decision to grant an employee a decision-making leave be communicated? 245 246 Part III Employee Development Assuming this is a company policy and there is senior management support, you can communicate the leave as follows:42 Lucy, as you know, you and I have met on several occasions to talk about your performance. In spite of these feedback sessions, I see that you are still having some difficulties with important tasks and projects. Consistent with my observations, I have received comments from some of your peers related to some performance deficiencies they have also noticed. I think that issuing a written warning would be counterproductiveI am concerned that it may decrease your motivation and do more harm than good. Instead, what I am going to do is to put you on what we call a \"decision-making leave\" for a day. This is a type of intervention that has worked very well with other individuals in your same position in the past. I want you to know that this is a once-in-a-career benefit that you should use to your advantage and I decided to do this because I truly believe that you are capable of improving your performance. It works like this. I am going to ask you to not come to the office tomorrow but you will be paid for that day, so you don't have to worry about your paycheck being affected. While you are away from the office tomorrow, I want you to give serious thought about whether you really want to work in this company. You and I will meet when you return to the office the day after tomorrow and I will ask you to tell me whether you'd rather resign and look for work elsewhere. I will understand and will be fully supportive if that is your decision. On the other hand, if when we meet you tell me you want to keep your job here, then I will give you an additional assignment on which I want you to work while you are away from the office tomorrow. Recall that you are being paid for the day, so here is what I want you to do. Please prepare a one-page letter addressed to me convincing me that you assume full and total responsibility for the performance issues we discussed during our feedback sessions. You will have to provide clear and specific arguments as well as describe a specific set of actions you will take to convince me that you will address the problems. I will keep the letter in a safe place but I am not planning on including it in your personnel file for now. To be clear, however, this letter is a personal commitment from you to me and our agreement is that if you don't stick to the terms of your letter, you will essentially fire yourself. This is a very important moment for you and for me, and it could be a turning point in your career development. Now that I have explained the process, I would like to hear any questions or comments you may have about this \"decision-making leave day\" that you will be taking tomorrow. Using a decision-making leave as part of the performance management system can be a powerful tool to give problem employees an opportunity to improve their performance. However, this tool may not lead to the desired outcomes, and the employee may have to enter into a disciplinary process. Note that a demotion or transfer may be a more appropriate action when there is evidence that the employee is actually trying to overcome the performance deficiencies but is not able to do so. However, termination is the appropriate action when performance does not improve and the employee continues to make the same mistakes or fails to meet standards. Also, termination is the appropriate course of action when an employee engages in serious violations of policies, laws, or regulations such as theft, fraud, falsifying documents, and related serious offences. Chapter 9 Performance Management Skills The disciplinary process should not come as a surprise to the employee or supervisor if there is a good performance management system in place because there are plenty of opportunities for the employee to overcome performance problems and for the supervisor to offer support and feedback so that willing and able employees will be able to do so. However, when a disciplinary process seems to be the only recourse, it is important to follow a set of steps so as not to fall into legal problems. Also, all employees, even those who are terminated, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Nevertheless, even if there is a top-notch performance ma