Does Your Puppy "Wet" On The Floor? - Five Elements to
Performance Management
Perhaps you have heard the phrase, "Push the Envelope." Well, in
this article that is exactly what I'm going to do. Rest assured,
I'll do it as carefully as possible, because I was criticized
for calling three women "ladies" in Minneapolis; I was
criticized (also in Minneapolis) for asking the only gray-haired
person in a workshop if experience is a good teacher; I was
criticized in Washington DC for being too nice to people; and I
was criticized in Philadelphia for not being "explicitly clear"
that a librarian could be both male or female. So, in pushing
the envelope here I'll proceed cautiously.
My youngest daughter and her husband recently purchased an
eight-week old puppy. With the smell of freshly installed carpet
still in the air, these new parents quickly sought advice about
the fastest way to house-train their new addition. While
observing this process it brought to mind an analogy I've used
in leadership, performance
coaching, and performance management workshops. It's this
analogy that needs prudent wording in this article.
What would you think about this training technique for the new
puppy? Each time the puppy has an accident in the house
("accident" is polite for something much less pleasant), what if
my daughter gave the puppy a doggy candy treat? How long would
it take the puppy to realize that accidents are a good thing and
being housebroken is an optional activity? Clearly, it would not
take long and the results would be odoriferous (polite for
smelly).
Now any wise reader would certainly ask, "Why would any normal,
rational or sane owner reward a dog after it had an accident?"
And that is, indeed, an appropriate question. But, before
answering that question, let me pose another similar situation.
What would you think about this training technique for a new or
existing employee? Each time the employee has an accident
we reward him or her with managerial silence and a paycheck. And
for this analogy let's define "accident" as any behavior that
either contributes to low performance or is considered
inappropriate by organizational standards and practices. So in
other words, an employee is late for work or has work
performance that is substandard by a reasonable standard of
measurement. Then, following these behaviors, the employee's
supervisor says little or nothing to the employee, and the
paymaster gives the employee a paycheck. How is this situation
any different than giving a puppy that wets on the new carpet a
doggy treat?
When I've asked this question in a workshop it has usually been
greeted with stony silence while the participants comprehend the
implications and meaning of the message. I believe there is no
difference in the two analogies: rewarding a puppy for
inappropriate behavior is no different than rewarding an
employee for inappropriate behavior. In both cases the dog and
employee would have little incentive to improve.
The Truth About Performance Management. Managing the
performance of others is a combination of experience, knowledge,
technique, communication and courage. If any of these five
elements are missing or neglected, managing the performance of
others is difficult at best, and ineffective at the least. The
answer I was trying to get from the gray-haired manager in
Minneapolis is that yes, experience can matter, providing the
person learns from it. The more experiences a manager has in
dealing with others (assuming the person learns from
experiences), the better able he or she ought to be in
understanding not only the variety of situations a manager must
deal with, but also the differences there are in people. I
wasn't able to get the answer that day from the gray-haired
manager because of an objection from a human resource
"professional," but I'm sure it would have been, "yes," the more
experiences a manager has the better equipped he or she ought to
be in dealing with the performance of others.
The second element of performance management is knowledge. I
have observed hundreds of managers as they work with their
employees: both to sustain good performance and improve
sub-standard performance. And it is clear that both general and
specific knowledge about how to manage others and deal with
people is a great advantage. In particular it's interesting to
observe a wise and experienced manager as he or she works with a
"problem child." (That's polite talk for an employee who is
driving the manager nuts!) I think any manager, gray-haired or
otherwise, can become wise and experienced by learning from
mistakes, and reading the wisdom of others in books and
articles.
The third element is technique. There is no question that using
time-tested and proven techniques to manage and coach others are
far more effective than doing what comes naturally. The natural
technique of managerial silence permits an employee to "wet" on
the floor. All too often it's a natural technique that causes a
manager to over-react to a small problem with a big correction.
And it can be a natural technique that fails to help an employee
understand his or her involvement in a situation. Clearly,
knowing and using effective techniques are requisite skills to
manage the performance of others.
The fourth element is effective communication. My clinical
psychologist colleagues have said that ineffective communication
is a prime cause for divorce. Likewise in the business world,
poor communication is also a prime cause for problems with
performance management. Many organizations promote an individual
contributor to supervisor because he or she is a "good worker"
and has mastered the skills of working hard. Unfortunately for a
supervisor, working hard is not as important as being an
effective communicator. The manager who takes time to listen,
motivate, provide performance
coaching, and lead his or her employees oftentimes dwarfs
the manager who is the strong silent type. Effective
communication is the foundation of effective supervision.
The fifth element of performance management is courage. In my
consulting practice of coaching the coach, I have seen managers
who have years of experience, have acquired much knowledge, know
the techniques, should be good communicators, but who lack the
courage to engage employees in uncomfortable discussions. These
managers avoid potential confrontations like the plague.
Consequently, these managers practice a deadly game called
self-resolution. This is where a manager believes that by
leaving a problem or situation alone long enough it will somehow
solve itself and not be a problem anymore. In truth, rarely do
problems self-resolve. Actually, most employee problems get
worse, not better over time. This means that the absence of
enough courage to engage the employee in a discussion about
performance improvement can create other more costly and
difficult to resolve problems. Time without intervention can
make things worse. Having the courage to intervene early in an
employee performance situation with experience, knowledge,
technique, effective performance coaching, and communication is
the best way to manage the performance of others.
Does your puppy "wet" on the floor?