They Are NOT Family

One of the most common excuses I get from leaders to not manage people systematically is, "We're like a family. Everyone knows what to do."

There are a number of reasons why this is one of the great lies of "leaders." It really says, "I don't want to deal with it."

Consider this simple math:

Leaders + laziness = LAWSUITS and/or lost profits, busyness yet low productivity, lost customers, employee turnover...

A "Stella Awards" email with false stories is making the rounds. Stella is the woman who sued McDonald's for giving her coffee that burned her when she spilled it on herself. It does not matter that McDonald's serves 24 million cups of coffee for each reported coffee spill that burns; or the fact they serve their coffee at the temperature recommended by the National Coffee Association; or even the fact Stella admitted to spilling the coffee on herself after she had left the restaurant. A jury awarded Stella $2.9 million.

The real Stella Awards should remind you that the people who file these lawsuits may be part of your work "family" (employees and/or customers). Employees can sue you and customers can sue you when employees make mistakes. Yuck.

These people may share two common values of many Americans: It's all about me and it's not my fault!

WHAT TO DO: (at a minimum)

1. Set clear, measurable objectives

2. Document progress towards achieving those objectives

3. Document significant employee behavior

4. Write annual performance reviews

Please do not gamble your company because you assume everyone is "like family." Consider MANAGEtoWIN or at least something as a way to quickly and easily document employee behavior regularly.

Meeting Ideas

They Are NOT Family is about professionally managing people, whether you are a company owner, executive, manager or even a co-worker delegating work to others.

It's great to enjoy the people you work with and have a sense of family or camaraderie. Just be realistic and professional: You still have to set clear, measurable objectives, pursue them ethically and competently, and hold everyone accountable to performing to your company standards.

Here are some potential questions for your next staff meeting to consider how systematically you are documenting employee performance:

• Are the key objectives we are pursuing as an organization and individually clear and measurable? (How?)

• When is the last time anyone documented in writing your progress towards achieving each of your 2009 objectives?

• When is the last time someone documented in writing something you did great or a mistake you made? Are your mistakes and achievements receive equal attention? (Why or why not? Yes, this question could be trouble. Use it carefully and wisely.)

• When was the last time you had an annual performance review? Did it strengthen your relationship with your boss? Did you leave the meeting with a clear understanding of how well you performed during the review period?

Systematic Power

Systematic Power increases team member engagement by defining, consistently following, and improving your company's best practice processes for hiring, managing, developing and retaining people.

Your system for completing work involves planning your tasks sequentially so you complete one before moving to the next, or multi-tasking to labor on multiple tasks simultaneously or at least shifting from one to another.

According to a free report by Mike Dalton, Managing Director, Guided Innovation Group, it is more productive to innovate by working sequentially. My apologies to all you Gen Y folks and the herd trying to multi-task with them, but Mike's conclusions are validated by research I've found elsewhere.

So what's this mean to you? Please consider the following:

1. FOCUS: Assign one project or task per person. For yourself, focus on one project or task at a time.

2. TECH OUT: I recommend, and Mike concurs, that you should limit technology interruptions - desk phone, cell phone, voicemail, texting, Twitter, instant messaging... his preference is twice a day. You can even put a Do Not Disturb sign on your door or cubicle for 1-2 hour periods during the day - just be specific as to when you will be available.

3. PROFIT: Ask youself, "Could we improve cash flow and/or profit by completing some work earlier than the deadline for the entire project?" For instance, working sequentially enables you to complete revenue-generating functionality earlier rather than delay them to be part of a multiple solution product/service introduction.

Yes, we live in a technology-information-work overloaded world. Divide and conquer. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Whatever analogy you prefer, consider working more sequentially rather than multitasking yourself into confusion, stress and lower quality work than you are capable of achieving.

Systematic Power

Systematic Power is about being as systematic in the way you work with people as you are in accounting, sales, marketing, manufacturing or with technology.

We are all in the "people business" so becoming more systematic with people is in our best interest.

Choosing to be sequential in the way you pursue results is logical. It is also proven to be more productive even though the media hype about multi-tasking is seductive.

Here are some potential questions for your next staff meeting to consider how your people can be more systematic in pursuing results in innovation or any area of your business:

• Do you approach your work sequentially or by multi-tasking? Why?

• Identify three ways you could be more sequential or systematic in the way you work. Prioritize these in order of the impact each behavior has on your results and weigh the behaviors for how significantly they will affect the quality and quantity (results) of your work. (Total weighting should be 100%.)

• Are you willing to commit to doing the #1 behavior on your list for 90 days to determine if working sequentially helps you be more productive? (You can work on all three behaviors, but the first should have the most significant impact.)

• Are you willing to allow someone to hold you accountable to demonstrating this behavior that will help you work more sequentially during this 90 day period? Who?

• What project is our company currently pursuing that could be done sequentially so we could complete one revenue-generating part of the work prior to the overall project being completed?

• Can we agree on a project to test working sequentially; measure the results and adjust the way we approach future projects based on those results?

Make certain your people understand the personal benefits of working sequentially or systematically. Hopefully you pay them based on performance so it is a win-win opportunity.

Employees Have The Best Ideas

Stop moving so fast. Slow down and talk with your people.

Howard Schultz is the driving force who made Starbucks successful. Recently he took charge of the company again. He's at his best when he thinks like an underdog, according to a recent BusinessWeek article. (The last page of the article has my favorite insights.)

So how does he get ahead? He's paranoid, like Andy Grove of Intel. He says, "I love being the underdog." Then he listens to and inspires his people. He concludes with passion, "...It's not marketing, research, consultants, it's just the experience."

So he gives some employees a small budget and asks them to open a store to compete with Starbucks. It's called 15th Ave. Coffee & Tea and it opened on July 24.

BIG IDEA: Think about it: What's the best competitor you can have? Answer: One you own.

Will it be successful? It depends how you define success. It has stimulated a positive rush of emotion for Starbucks employees who either developed the concept shop or know about it. It's like, "We're back. We not done yet. Watch out."

The bottom line: Your employees have your best ideas. What are you doing to encourage, develop and fund them... before they get frustrated and compete with you, or a competitor gets the same idea and hits you where it hurts.

Meeting Ideas

Employees Have The Best Ideas is about challenging your people to practice LOI: Live It - Observe It - Improve It. Engage your people to motivate them to be their best and to learn from them so your company achieves its best.

Here are some potential questions for your next staff meeting to challenge your people to identify your next business thrill ride:

• Consider the way we deliver products or services - what could we do differently that would thrill our clients?
• What are the three aspects of our business model where competitors succeed most often?
• What is one product or service we could add that would benefit existing clients and also attract new clients?
• How could we lower the cost, shorten the time and/or improve the quality of three internal processes?
• If you could have any idea fully funded, what would you pursue with the next 3-12 months of your life?

As always, consider inexpensive awards from their Wish List for great ideas.

Nice vs. Confront

I was reminded this week of how many people steal time or assets from their company without considering their behavior to be wrong.

A year or so ago I had a footnote about Acts 13:10 in my Bible jump off the page at me. It says, "There is a time to be nice and a time to confront. Ask God to show you the the difference and the courage to do what is right."

The economy is clearly trying to stabilize and move forward, but the pressure on many leaders has been intense for a year or more. Although contracts and cash may become easier to secure, leaders are still faced with challenging decisions.

One of these decisions involves clearly defining and enforcing acceptable standards of integrity in your workplace. If you have not already done so, then now is an excellent time to have a candid discussion with employees about their integrity on the job. For those people who do not share your company values, stop being nice and confront unprofessional behaviors in a positive yet firm manner.

Give them an opportunity to improve by discussing your concerns verbally and in writing, including your specific expectations for their behavior. Have them sign the document confirming they have been notified of your concerns and if they do not improve then it could result in discipline up to the loss of their job. Work with them in an encouraging manner for a period of 30-90 days.

If they cannot improve, then maybe it's time to give them a negative disruption in their life: Fire them.

Sorry to be the bad guy. I personally avoid confrontation, however there is a time to be nice and a time to confront. The economy is starting to turn and you cannot afford to lose business due to unacceptable behavior by your employees.

Moving Away From Helicopter Drops

"Helicopter drops" are when leaders rush-in and rush-out for a brief chat, to follow-up on something, provide a "bonding moment" or other brief interlude... but the interaction is a one-time event when more regular interaction is required to fully engage the individual.

Helicopter drop events do not build or sustain the momentum necessary to fully engage employees - and NOT fully engaged employees is the biggest drain on your profits.

The Gallup Organization estimates 75% of your employees are NOT fully engaged. Consider the additional profits available just by systematically engaging your employees... it's HUGE!

Think of the impact if all of your employees matched the top performer profile in the recent Watson Wyatt 2008-09 WorkUSA Survey that defined how top performers behave on the job. Do not do a helicopter drop and scan the list! Pause to reflect on each behavior for 10 seconds - how would it affect your bottom line?

• 26 percent higher employee productivity
• Lower turnover risk
• More likely to attract top talent
• Twice as likely to be top performers
• Miss 20 percent fewer days of work
• 75% exceed/far exceed expectations in most recent review
• More supportive of organizational change initiatives

Then avoid helicopter drops and become more systematic in your interactions with coworkers so you develop momentum in your professional relationships that is mutually rewarding.

Go Beyond Wishes

For awhile now I have encouraged clients to ask employees how they would like to be rewarded when they do something right. The process is to ask each employee to write a Wish List containing five ways they would like to be rewarded.

I do not recommend you send them to Europe or buy them a new car, but many people would like a specific gift card, one-on-one lunch with the boss, or something else that does not cost a lot of money, but is meaningful because it shows you gotten to know them as an individual.

In the last two weeks I spoke at the HTG Summit and THRIVE 2009. In both cases someone from the audience shared their firm has gone beyond Wish Lists to have a fun questionaire that gains personal insight to their employees. They ask questions about their favorites, such as their favorite cartoon character, non-alcoholic drink, automobile, person in history, activity or hobby... you get the idea. Any silly but politically correct question is okay.

One young woman at THRIVE shared they have appointed a Sunshine Committee which regularly recognizes employees with something from their list. For instance, when the employee arrives at work in the morning they may find their favorite cartoon character on their computer screen. They keep track of what they do for each employee to make certain they are recognizing all employees equally. Of course the members of the Sunshine Committee are naturally optimistic extroverts.

I suggest you give it a try to increase the fun factor and team vibes at your office.

Goal Warm-up

The objective of Goals That Work is to set clear, measurable goals and follow-up more often so results are achieved.

I recommend you warm-up your goals this week in your meetings with direct reports and/or staff by speaking positively about their potential for achieving each key objective. Whether your people are doing well or struggling, give them a vision of success.

Words are powerful. Use your sincere words, body language and follow-up after the meeting to build-up your people. But do not stop there. Cast the vision, or reinforce it, and then help them understand the tasks they need to complete during the upcoming week to move one step closer to achieving each goal.

That's why I suggest it's time for a goal warm-up. One third of the year is gone. Let's make the final two thirds of the year our best ever!

Making Telecommuting Work

Currently we have people in California, Wisconsin and Arizona. The question comes up, how can we be certain everyone is fully contributing their best efforts?

BusinessWeek magazine had a brief article edited by Michelle Conlin (Out of Site, Yes. Out of Mind, No, February 18, 2008) about this issue. It was great to learn Hewlett-Packard offers a personality test for workers so they can determine whether they can work effectively remotely. We offer our Talent Assessments to identify winning behaviors and values rather than personality, but the concept is similar. Our experience is matching behaviors and values is more reliable than personality.

According to the article IBM researchers have determined if teams of people go more than 3 days without gathering then their happiness and productivity suffers. IBM now requires managers to bring teams together at least once every 3 days - physically or virtually - for discussions or activities that often have nothing to do with completing assignments.

What’s the most important ingredient in making telecommuting work? Trust.

That’s why it’s so important for you to hire the right people in the first place. Recently I was talking with a company in who is interested our services. His struggle is the people he hires do not behave as expected once they start in their job. We can fairly easily solve his problem. If you are having difficulty hiring great people, email us (info@successwithpeople.com) to learn how we can help.

Let’s make 2008 our best year ever. Have an awesome day!

Talent management ideas from the top 100 companies of 2008

Fortune magazine has an article in their February 4 issue titled, The 100 Best Companies To Work For. Our teaching is designed to provide you with a foundation for talent management. One of the benefits of being systematic in talent management is that leaders can incorporate good ideas into our system.

Here are some ideas to more fully engage your people based on this article:

#5 Genentech: You get doggie day care, and onsite farmers market, and 100% matching up to 5% of your pay into your 401(k).

#6 Cisco Systems: CEO John Chambers won praise for his leadership and new blog, On My Mind, which solicits employee ideas.

#12 Nugget Markets: Last year they took the entire company whitewater rafting = throw a year and bash.

#13 Umpqua Bank: Pay employees to give 40 hours of volunteer time annually.

#17 David Weekley Homes: Because the home building industry slowed they canceled their annual reward trip and tripled severance pay for laid-off employees.

#22 American Century Investments: New hires get a copy of the founders book, and many teams put up deskside banners or buying new recruits for lunch.

#32 Rackspace Managed Hosting: Every other month they hold a Open Book meeting were all financial issues are shared.

#35 TDIndustries: One way they demonstrate their “Servant Leadership” philosophy is to not pay anyone more than 10 times anyone else’s compensation.

#37 Johnson Financial Group: Six weeks paid paternity leave, graduate tuition reimbursement up to $10,000 a year, and child care reimbursement when you travel.

#45 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta: Employee referrals account for 46% of new hires.

#51 Paychex: Average amount of training per employee is 107 hours.

#57 Ernst & Young: In just three months during 2007 E&Y built the fastest growing recruitment group on Facebook and now has more than 12,200 members.

#60 Alcon Laboratories: They match employee retirement contributions 2.2 to 1.

#64 EOG Resources: They match charity contributions up to $60,000 per employee per year.

#66 Nixon Peabody: It targets 3% of billable hours annually for pro bono work.

#68 eBay: Maybe this is too much - golf lessons, bike repair and on-site dentist, prayer and meditation rooms, plus a four week paid sabbatical after only five years.

#83 AstraZeneca: If you like eBay then you’ll like this company’s on-site haircuts, video rentals, massages, tennis and basketball courts, plus a Bright Horizons childcare center.

#86 Microsoft: In just 3% of their budget in employee training.

Drop It a Notch

In my book I recommend that you rate performance on a 1-5 scale on performance evaluations. This recommendation was based on lots of research, personal experience and conversations with experts. The second most popular rating scale was 1-3. And then there were a variety of alternatives.

I have come to the conclusion after additional experience with Clients and a lot of thought that it is time to change my recommendation. Here is why. I find too many companies struggling with the 1-5 scale because employees want to be rated a 5, yet in that 1-5 scale the 5 rating should only be given out very rarely.

For instance I worked with a client awhile back. He shared a story about a company he worked at previously. When he was hired the average performance review rating was something like a 4.8 or 4.9 on a five-point scale. However, the company was losing money! How could the scores be so high when the company is losing money!

Too often people instinctively compare a five-point scale to grades they received when they went to school. They think an A is a 5; a B is a 4; a C is a 3 and so forth. No one who is a performer wants to be rated a 3 even if in reality that means they’re doing a good job.

I’m still seeing this happen today. Even though the overwhelming response that I got from experts and recommendations in my research says the 5-point scale works best, my experience is this is not true.

Therefore I am recommending you use a different rating scale for performance evaluations. My suggestion is you use a four-point scale. When you rate someone a 1, this still means Not Acceptable. When you rate someone a 2, this still means Needs Improvement. When you rate someone a 3, this still means that they are meeting the requirements of the job. However, I want you to use the descriptor Solid Performer rather than Meets Job Requirements.

My experience with clients has now led me to overwhelmingly conclude that very few employees want to be told that their performance “meets job requirements.” How boring! How average! Think about it: The guy goes home at the end of the day and his wife says, “Well, how did you get rated in your performance review?” He replies, “Well, I’m told I meet job requirements so I guess I’m doing okay. How about a beer and let’s watch some TV?” It is almost totally UNmotivating!

This is why I think it’s so important to change a the #3 rating descriptor to confirm the employee is a Solid Performer. Everyone wants to be a solid performer and to be recognized as a contributor. Telling someone that they “meet job requirements” is about as motivating as telling someone they’re lucky to have a job in the first place.

So rating someone a 1 means their performance is Not Acceptable. You need this rating. There are times when you need to communicate very clearly that the person is not performing up to your standards. In the Comments section of the performance review make certain you explain specifically what the standards are for good performance and the steps you feel the person needs to take to improve.

Rating an employee a 2 means their work Needs Improvement. This rating is very valuable to confirm to an employee that you appreciate their putting forth the effort, but that they need to improve. In the Comments section of their performance review make certain you explain specifically the type of improvement you desire.

The 3 rating on your performance review communicates to the employee that day are a Solid Performer and a valuable member of your team. I really believe reinforcing the fact that your people are regular contributors by changing this descriptor is an important piece of the puzzle to improve retention rates. Remember your people want to be evaluated even though you may dread taking the time to write the performance review. They want to know how they’re doing. And they want to be recognized for what they’re accomplishing.

The last rating level, #4, means Outstanding performance. By limiting the rating scale to only four levels this significantly increases your ability to limit the number of high ratings you give to your employees. The 4 basically communicates to them that in a particular behavior or goal they were awesome. Give out 4 ratings rarely to increase the desire of your results oriented employees to achieve them.

Class of ‘08 in High Demand

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the college Class of 2008 will have a great opportunity to find a job of their dreams as employers have indicated they plan to hire 16% more new college graduates than they hired last year.

“The job market for new college graduates has been gathering strength over the last several years, and this year we’re seeing that trend continue,” commented Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. The fact is this is the fifth year in a row that college hiring has projected double-digit increases.

Apparently almost 58% of employers responding to the NACE survey say they plan to increase their college hiring while 36% say they will maintain college hiring at 2006-07 levels.

The challenge for small companies is how to train these college hires. In 2008 watch for a new book and services from Success With People so you can learn how to systematically transform recent college graduates into your next star performers and/or hire us to help.

Training Never Ends

We are so busy we overlook the importance of training long-term.  I’ve been working with a number of companies lately.  None of them have systems in place to grow the professional and/or personal skills of their employees long-term.  There is such a focus on tasks and revenue that development is overlooked.

Not only does skill development and expanding someone’s knowledge increase their ability to do their job, but it also reinforces the culture of your company.  In the December 3rd issue of BusinessWeek there is an article titled, Toyota’s All-Out Drive To Stay Toyota.  The sub-title is Rapid growth and a generational shift have the company fighting to hold on to its DNA.

Toyota is having a lot of senior people retire.  As new people come on board Toyota is concerned it might lose its culture of frugality, discipline and constant improvement.  This would be a disaster.  So management has launched a series of educational initiatives intent on teaching Toyota folks how to be Toyota folks.  You have to realize, many young people today have never had a bad day at the office.  They have not experienced catastrophe or screaming customers.

Admirably Toyota is not just focusing on the newbies.  They are also reinforcing their training of senior people.  For instance when Steve St. Angelo was hired from General Motors (GM) in 2005, Toyota forced him to start on the assembly line for several weeks.  This is a senior executive who had spent almost 10 years at a plant in Fremont, California which is jointly owned by GM and Toyota.  He had been immersed in the Toyota Way for almost a decade.  Nevertheless Toyota recognized they were hiring an outsider for a management job and this is rare.  They wanted to make certain St. Angelo was schooled in the basics.  Toyota’s approach was to assume he knew nothing about Toyota’s production system even though he clearly did.  Last June St. Angelo was promoted to become Toyota’s North American manufacturing boss.

Another example of the importance of training everyone is Randy Pflughaupt.  Pflughaupt has worked at the company since 1982 and this summer was promoted to U.S. marketing chief for the flagship brand.  The first thing he was required to do in his new role was accept a gift which was a stack of books and binders telling him all about the Toyota Way.  Then they sent him off to the Toyota Institute in rural Mikkabi, Japan, for a week of indoctrination.

So as you consider your training and development programs for 2008, please make certain to include everyone in your organization - including yourself.  Balance the knowledge and skill development with reinforcement of your company’s culture and unique way of doing things.

Nobody has all the answers. The joy is in the journey. Plan your 2008 employee development activities strategically so everyone stays on your company’s path.