Category Archives: Effective Leader

Terminate or Tolerate?

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A manager said to me, ““I assumed leadership of a department of sixteen people about three months ago.  Most are reliable performers.  A few are really good and one is marginal at best.”

“Would your team be better off if the marginal employee were gone?” I asked.

“No question, much better off.”

“Then why don’t you work with your human resources’ manager to professionally remove the employee?”

“The employee is sixty three years old.  He was one of the first persons hired almost twenty years ago when the department was formed.  There is scant chance of removing him.”

“Have you tried training and coaching?”

“He’s not really interested in getting better.  I think he’s just holding on for a couple of years until he retires.”

When dealing with a persistent, low performer whom you cannot terminate, I think you just have to learn to tolerate the employee.

Be respectful of the low performer as a person, but do not waste time attempting to train, motivate, encourage, or improve the person’s attitude.  Minimize disruptions as much as possible.  Find work-arounds when you have to.  Understand that you may have to check more often than you would like.   Quit worrying about it.

 

Relentless, Stoic Leaders Win the Day

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“To be a good leader,” lectured a university professor, “you have to build up morale, appreciate what others do, pat’em on the back, show them that you care.  Take care of your people; they will take care of you.”

A hardened, construction superintendent addressed his team.   “All of you need to know that I expect you to work hard every day.  We will stay on schedule and we will follow all safety processes.  I’m not here to win a popularity contest.  I’m here to get the job done.  If you accept that, we will get along fine.”

Who’s right?  The polished college professor or the crusty, construction leader?

“It depends on the situation,” you say?  In some cases, fun-loving, pat-them-on-the back cheerleaders win the day.  In other cases, the no nonsense, get’er-done drill sergeant fills the bill.

Some argue that the really good leaders toggle back and forth between people-pleasers and task-oriented grinders.

Personally, I think Sam Walker, in his book “The Captain Class:  A New Theory of Leadership,” has a better answer.  Great leaders are relentless (They do not quit.), and they exhibit ironclad emotional control (Don’t get too high; don’t get too low).  Most other traits are inconsequential.

For Every Action, There is Likely to be a Reaction

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Janice’s manager said to her, “I appreciate your reporting the customer’s failure to comply with all safety rules.  But you should have insisted that he wear safety glasses and hearing protectors at all times.  If the customer failed to obey, you should have canceled the tour.  Consider this to be a verbal reprimand.  A copy goes in your file.”

Janice had been responsible for guiding a new customer through on a plant tour.  Although Janice had carefully explained all safety requirements prior to the tour, the customer consistently ignored some rules.  Janice did not think the customer was ever at risk.  Still, she repeatedly and politely nagged him to comply.

At one point, the customer became irritated and said, “This is silly.  I’m forty feet away from any moving parts.  These things are uncomfortable.”

Janice later commented to a friend that she feared she might offend the customer to the point of jeopardizing a potential high-dollar sale.

Managers described this incident in numerous meetings and promised consequences for all future failures.

Employees heard the message loud and clear.  However, over the next year employees reported in confidential interviews that customer violations continued and perhaps even increased.  Tour guides simply quit reporting what they thought were incidental violations.

 

 

Jack Welch’s Approach to Appraisals

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I like Jack Welch’s (the very successful, former CEO of General Electric) approach to performance appraisals.

Manager presents to the employee a handwritten sheet of paper.  The left column lists the manager’s view of employee’s achievements.  The right column contains items the employee could do better.  Both lists focus on performance metrics and team behaviors.

Manager and employee engage in a meaningful conversation.  Manager gives examples, “Your error rate is less than .03 percent, almost a ten percent improvement over last period.” “I like that you went out of your way to help our new engineer learn our software tool.”

Sum up by reporting, “Shelly, you are in the top twenty percent of our employees, and I’ll recommend a good pay increase.” Or, “Jackson, your overall performance puts you in the solid seventy percent of our team and your raise will reflect that.  I would like to see improvement in meeting deadlines and reducing errors.  I’ll help you with those.

Or, “Alford, I’m disappointed that, after considerable training, your response time is still the slowest in our group.  Let me help you find another position that is a better fit.”

Conduct these interviews at least twice a year and allow about thirty minutes for each session.

Are You Teaching Your Employees to Fad Surf?

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Prior to an all-hands meeting, an employee commented sarcastically to a peer, “What’s it going to be this time?”

“Whatever it is,” the peer responded, “the vice president will assure us that it will improve sales, cut costs and cure cancer.”

Rumors of a new program launch had been racing through departments like a grass fire in a wind storm.

Perhaps the employees should not have been so skeptical.  But they clearly remembered several previous aborted improvement efforts.

“Higher-ups” often are not fully aware of the extra work burden created by the latest catholicon.    And when managers are prone to latch on to the new “whatever,” employees quickly engage in what Professor Robert Sutton calls “fad surfing.”  That is, employees make minimum commitments to show cooperation but do not engage enough to ensure eye-popping success.

Program failures prompt managers to search for the next lever; starting a cycle of: (1) roll out a new program with great fanfare, (2) experience disappointing results, (3) regroup and center on another, even better, remedy.

When a new program flounders, management should not be so quick to search for lightening in another bottle.  A refocus on the fundamentals—hiring, training, supervision, recognition—might be the better cure.

 

Accept This Fact: Career Success is Very Dependent Upon Your Boss

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Which is more accurate?

  1. My boss is more dependent on me.
  2. I am more dependent on my boss.

About seventy percent of participants in my workshops say, “My boss depends more on me than I do on him (her).”  This view, I think, may over state the role of the subordinate in the relationship.

Of course, higher-level managers depend on subordinates to fulfill their responsibilities.  And bosses, in some cases, may not even be able to perform their subordinates’ tasks.  Still, the boss has a lot of influence—much more than most of us would like to think.

Recall a time when you worked for a bad boss.  No doubt, you experienced a lot of frustration.  Compare that to an experience with a good boss.  Job satisfaction and career success are much more likely when working for good bosses.  Face it, you are very dependent upon your boss for a good work life.

Good bosses mentor and help staff members grow.  Bad bosses stress and frustrate all.  When considering a position, be sure to evaluate the boss carefully.  If you are frustrated at work, the boss still gets a pay check; you may get an ulcer.

Quality Face-to-Face Time is the Secret Sauce of Good Communications

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(Reprinted from November, 2015)

“I was becoming frustrated,” explained a manager, “with my communications with staff at distant sites.  Several times I thought we had agreed on a way forward only to discover they misinterpreted my intentions.”

The manager began backing up his electronic messages with phone calls and while that helped, misunderstandings continued.  Later, the manager added video conferencing which helped but did not eliminate missteps.

“Eventually,” the manager said, “I started visiting the sites on a regular basis to talk personally with staff.  I was amazed at how much better we got at resolving and preventing customer-related issues.  Even though the site visits required considerable time and energy, they were well worth the effort.”

To communicate effectively, visit staff members at their work stations when there is no reason to be there.  Travel to your customer’s locations; invite your customers to your facilities. If you perceive conflicts with colleagues, drag your physical self to their offices and talk with them.

Consider town-hall meeting with large groups of employees.  Encourage them to ask questions and respond to all.  Deliver the bad news as well as the good.

I recall asking a group of employees if their managers ever visited their work areas.  “Yes,” said one.  “But when work is going smoothly, we never see them.  We make one mistake and they come out of the wood work.”

Do not wait until problems arise.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Engage others, preferably at their work stations, on a regular basis.  Face-to-face communication does not guarantee perfect understanding but it vastly improves your odds.