Eliminating the Static in Performance Management

"Breaker 1-9, breaker 1-9, do you hear me?" "Breaker 1-9, you are breaking up." And so it goes with performance management.

Supervisors are responsible for performance management. The best supervisors address performance willingly, especially when that performance is poor. "Effectively dealing with poor performers is more than a willingness to fire an employee, it’s recognizing employee needs for training early, distinguishing what can and cannot be trained, and provide assistance to employees, as is practical." Merit Systems Protection Board Report, "Poor Performers and the Law"

"Breaker 1-9, breaker 1-9, are you out there? I know you've got something to say but I can't hear you . . .too much static."

Static is the reason performance improvement efforts fail, the reason a manager will not support a supervisor's recommendation for performance based adverse action and the reason HR professionals across the globe lean back in their chairs, put their hands to their forehead and lament, "why?"

Managers and HR professionals are a pretty solid, sturdy, been-there-done-that group of people so what kinds of yet static cause them to shake their heads in disbelief? 

The list can be long and here are a few examples of static to start the bidding: 

• Dishonesty
• Disparate treatment
• Changing performance expectations without explanation, or notice
• Not notifying the employee (ever) there was a concern with her performance
• Not reasonably considering the employees requests for additional training
• Ignoring or discounting issues raised by the employee that are impacting his performance
• Counseling employees over email, not meeting face to face, not documenting conversations when a meeting occurs, engaging in head to head confrontation, communicating with unprofessional content and tone, and delivering off hand or flippant remarks

Now, the bidding continues in the comments. Let me know what static you've seen in performance management actions gone wrong.

Performance management is one of the most important things a supervisor can do and it is essential that it be done respectfully and professionally from start to finish. Supervisors that are not able to do that may just find themselves on the other side of the desk. 

An Incentive Fairy Tale (sort of)

Incentives can be like sunshine on a cloudy day, or they can bring in the rain.

No denying incentives, when used properly, can prompt desired behaviors - or is it to impact outcomes? What was it again??  Incentives change behaviors - not outcomes.  I know that now because I read Incentive Intelligence and bookmark posts like Incentives - Definitions and Actions - A Primer AGAIN! but let me tell you about someone who did not.

Incentives Gone Bad

Once upon a time there was a leader of a team. The team was not working well together. The leader tried praise, recognition, telling the team what she wanted to see, playing on strengths, problem solving issues, not placing blame, asking questions, acknowledging desired behaviors and more. Basically, she did everything "the book" said a good supervisor could do to encourage behaviors - and it didn't work. 

Then it came to her. She'd reward outcomes achieved when desired behaviors were used. If she rewards her staff for these outcomes, and the behaviors that lead to them, they'd get the idea, point will be made and behaviors will be changed. Genius, pure genius! She rewarded the entire team, at varying levels (based on salary), for the department's achievements over the year. She handed out the awards at a staff meeting.

The gesture fell flat. Flat as a pancake. No, flat as a crepe. 

Program Design. . .Plus

There were many things wrong with this incentive, starting with the mishmash of behaviors and outcomes, ending with the fact that no one on the team knew an incentive was at the end of the tunnel and everything in between. The incentive wasn't communicated because, well, the leader didn't know an incentive was at the end of the tunnel until all other options failed to create a cohesive team. 

There was something else amiss here that was much bigger than program design. The leader rewarded her staff for outcomes even though she knew in her heart of hearts they weren't meeting her expectations.

The award was blackmail. It was a bribe - pure and simple. The leader knew it. Her staff knew it too.

Lessons Learned

Don't settle or sell your expectations on the cheap.  You can't buy outcomes, you can't buy committment, and, ok, you can't buy love. The money spent on the awards paid for a lesson in leadership she could never get from a book, a blog or a seminar and is one she will never forget.