Talking Story

Starting new conversations in the workplace!

Performance Reviews: There’s a much better way

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Sat to talk story with a few managers who are currently facing their annual deadline with completing performance appraisals.

If you’re in corporate life you probably know the drill:
Performance reviews are conducted annually in one-on-one manager/employee appraisal meetings (and mandated), and managers are required to use a format designed by an HR office or some consultant, so consistent performance ratings can be used throughout the company for supposed equity in compensation levels — a poor reason for a bad process.

Employees hate it, and managers hate it, and yet scores of companies continue to uphold the practice. Pure yuck.

As you might guess from my tone so far, we don’t use that system in any of my Managing with Aloha-modeled businesses (we don’t have Job Position Descriptions either; we co-write individual Ho‘ohana Statements).

Do we review performance? Of course! The difference is that we do it constantly, coaching and mentoring on the job as the best possible context for having those conversations: Working on our Ho‘ohana is an everyday thing (and compensation is handled in another way as well). Thanks to opportunities furnished by The Daily 5 Minutes and our value-mapping practices, business partners (i.e. employees) are often the ones to initiate conversations on their performance with managers.

However I know that many managers have no choice but to comply with mandates, and like those I just coached, they have to work within the system they have until they are able to change it. Well, you CAN make improvements, making them work for you right now. Embrace your Systems Thinker: As we have learned, people can fix broken processes. Processes cannot fix broken-in-spirit people.

Here is what I advise.

Keep the good, get rid of the bad

In short: Turn your mandates into a positive and highly useful process.

  • Start with the basics of what you are required to do,
  • Improve the quality of those basics when done by your hand, and then
  • Build new improvements from there.

Here’s how.

1. Learn everything there is to know about your mandate. Good managers never wing it or fake it when it comes to putting anything in writing in regard to the performance of another human being. If you’re feeling somewhat powerless at this point in changing anything about the system as it now stands, imagine how your employees feel! They are counting on you: Hold yourself accountable for what is a profound responsibility.

Put your own manager or HR department to work for you, and get their coaching. Ask all your questions, and be crystal clear on the domino effect created by any appraisal form you complete: forms largely exist to expedite other processes.

2. Do your homework. If you’re working within a mandated system, you’re not alone. Chances are the employees in your charge have been reviewed before, and by others: Learn their history. I don’t necessarily recommend you use it (each situation is likely to have different variables requiring your judgment), but you should definitely be aware of it: you can’t build a new house (and culture of Aloha) without a solid foundation.

Second, put your feelers out for other managers who have a good reputation in your company (managing and leading with Aloha), and ask them to share any of their lessons learned with you: You may be pleasantly surprised in discovering great workarounds (legal ones) which already exist in your company culture.

3. Add some heart to add good energy. I cannot emphasize this enough: In “starting with the basics of what you are required to do” make the ‘official’ annual appraisal meeting a positive experience, helping without hurting. Do what you have to (more on this in the next section on timing) but be absolutely sure the annual appraisal itself ends on a high note: Positive and useful.

How can it be useful? Do have the appraisal focus on Ho‘ohana goal-setting, with action-specific goals that are achievable week to week (not year to year). Hō‘imi: Lay the groundwork for a near future flush with positive expectancy. Always remember that the energy of your people will fuel their capacity to perform magnificently going forward, and thus, it’s your greatest resource too: All other business assets flow from the performance energy of human beings. Your job as manager is to light those fires, not put them out.

4. Ace your timing. Until you can change the system itself, do whatever is required of you, by doing what you have to at the best possible time. If you have to deal with some negativity and have a conversation about poor performance, do so and do not avoid it. Be a good boss: Never shy from your opportunities to teach, facilitate, coach and mentor.

Corrective conversations do NOT have to occur during an annual appraisal: They should happen before then, and in their best context on the job. Alaka‘i managers will create a coaching m.o. where they deal with any messes first, and then use the annual appraisal as yet another time to celebrate a sweet victory with having done so. Give that victory to the employee whose performance you are coaching and mentoring as a win you can log during the ‘official’ review.

5. Keep conversation as the construct of each working relationship. Annual appraisals are a pain when you only do them annually. What I’m suggesting to you is that whatever is required becomes the culmination of better practices you’ve adopted day in, and day out. We talk about conversation so much here because it’s easy, enjoyable, and effective.

Work with Ho‘ohana initiatives to fuel performance energies in your workplace group huddles. Do the Daily 5 Minutes ® and you will have a wealth of one on one conversations:

I need to be crystal clear about something:
If you’re not giving your staff the gift of the Daily Five Minutes ®
you’re not Managing with Aloha „¢

Turn up the Volume, and Manage Loudly:
Don’t give up too soon. Enjoy the music of managing well.

This need not be overwhelming:
Don’t Just Add, Replace. Own the 100%
Scroll down to the footnote tags and see how much this relates to!

Bonus Idea: One of the practices we incorporate in the ‘Ohana in Business Model ® is the Annual Nānā i ke kumu Interview: We literally re-interview all our business partners (including our vendors and suppliers) to strengthen our relationships with the knowledge of any life shifts which have occurred over the past year. It’s a time we revisit innate talents, strength activities, and sense of place well-being as we purposely catch up with each other. Why do so many managers only do this when they first hire people?

Will this be enough for you?

Finally, please do question your own influence: Stretch and grow it, and do not underestimate what you are capable of. What can you do to effect change in the larger system? How can you be a change agent where you work so a bad system goes away forever?

I think of what I’ve just outlined for you in this post as managing well: As I love to say, managing and leading are verbs. Will you be satisfied with this, or will you now lead? One problem with leadership, is simply that we don’t have enough of it.

As I mentioned before, the obstacle faced is usually your company’s compensation structure if that’s what ratings are tied to: Break the ties which bind by offering to help them create a much better solution.

D5Mdiscover

“Free” never is, so don’t ask

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2010 Update: I made the decision to bring Say “Alaka‘i” here to Talking Story in late May of 2010 when the Honolulu Advertiser, where the blog previously appeared, was merged with the Star Bulletin (Read more at Say “Alaka‘i” is Returning to the Mothership).

Therefore, the post appearing below is a copy of the one which had originally appeared there on April 27, 2010, so we will be able to reference it in the future when the original url it had been published on is no more…

Hibiscus

“Free” never is, so don’t ask

A reader emailed, asking my opinion of this compromise proposed by governor Linda Lingle:

Hawaii governor asks teachers to return
Lingle will release $57.2M, wants educators to work 3 furlough days at no pay.

Gov. Linda Lingle last night asked all public school teachers and principals to volunteer to return to the classrooms without pay for the remaining three furlough days of the school year as a “gesture to heal our community.”

And if lawmakers approve a plan on Wednesday, Lingle also said she will release up to $57.2 million from the state’s Hurricane Relief Fund to restore 11 teacher furlough days next year.

First, let me preface my response by saying it’s a general one — all purpose, for I think the different viewpoints of this particular Hawai‘i Friday furlough issue are irrelevant to my answer. I’d respond the same way no matter the situation variables.

In short, I don’t think anyone should work for free, because I believe in valuing Ho‘ohana as I do (the value of worthwhile work).

“Hawaiians believed that only through work can a man fulfill his social and spiritual purpose.”
— Dr. George Kanahele

I very strongly believe that the work we do should be better valued by other people instead of them asking us to “give from the kindness of our hearts.” It’s awkward, for no one wants to be a jerk, put in a position of being the bad guy (or girl) who says no. So please, don’t put others in that position by asking.

It’s more than that though: I believe we all need to get better at appreciating the work others do for us. I have high regard for the value of work, and I believe that value should be rightfully dignified and honored. No one should ask another person to work for free no matter the circumstances: We need to be better receivers than that, and affirm what others do for us, not negate it.

“Free” never comes without cost to someone (often more than can be readily seen), and “paying” for a product, or for goods and services rendered should be a no-brainer.

You may have heard this story before: This version is from Tall Tim, The naked entrepreneur:

It reminds me of a story, supposedly true, I heard some time ago about Picasso, whose reputation was already secure at the time.

Picasso was apparently meeting someone for a drink in a tapas bar in Barcelona. His companion was running late and whilst he was waiting for him to arrive Picasso began doodling on his napkin. As he put his pen down one of the other patrons in the bar, who had recognised Picasso, boldly approached and proffered – “Maestro, I couldn’t help but notice your doodling on the napkin. I would be very happy to purchase the napkin from you.” “Certainly,” replied Picasso, “the price will be US$10,000.”

“How could you possibly charge $10,000?” blustered the would-be buyer, “I watched you and it took but a few minutes of your time to create.”

“Yes,” said Picasso, “But I AM Picasso and it has taken me 40 years to arrive at the point where I can create a work of art, worthy of bearing my name, in a matter of minutes.”

Whereupon one of the other patrons in the bar who had been observing the exchange leapt to his feet and said “Picasso, I’ll give you $12,000 for the napkin if you’ll just sign it.”

Good for Picasso!

When people ask me to speak or deliver workshops pro bono (without charge, and “for the public good”) I may, in that I’ll fulfill their request and not bill them in dollars, but I do step into the coaching opportunity they give me, and I’ll ask how they’re planning to reciprocate in kind. I’m ready to give them some pretty creative ideas if I need to.

There are several ways they can do so, for money is but one type of transactional currency, and a problem-riddled one at that. Unfortunately, compensation practices are as big a mess as you’ll find, with union rules and taxation complicating it even more (case in point).

Yes, I realize that even barter is subject to taxation, and most CPAs will advise you to report all transactions to the Internal Revenue Service in equivalent-dollars as cash sales, but so be it: The point is that we need to honor each other in the work we do.

Dignify your own work too: Value it, assessing it fairly, and let people know how they can compensate you if they ask. For instance, in the case of Hawai‘i’s Friday furloughs, I personally would love to hear from more teachers or school administrators, instead of union representatives and our legislators. If there simply aren’t the dollars available to compensate them monetarily, what would they suggest? It is far easier to be a good giver when we know what we can give.

“[In Hawai‘i of old] the general principle underlying all gift giving was reciprocity, a concept which permeated virtually all Hawaiian behavior” Economically, reciprocity has a narrower meaning, although the principle is the same: one should repay each gift with something at least equivalent to what one has received. But if the equivalent is enough, giving more is better” an important feature of reciprocal gift giving was the spirit of noblesse oblige.”
— Dr. George Kanahele

Noblesse oblige, “nobility obliges.” A wonderful concept, don’t you think?

The Dictionnaire de l’Académie française defines it thus:
“Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly. One must act in a fashion that conforms to one’s position, and with the reputation that one has earned.”
The Oxford English Dictionary says that the term “suggests noble ancestry constrains to honourable behavior; privilege entails to responsibility.”
— Wikipedia

Let’s seek to give, and give exceptionally before asking. Wouldn’t you want the same courtesy and affirmation of your worth?

~ ~ ~

From the archives:
Set your price, charge it, and stand behind it

~ ~ ~

Update: The saga continues in this morning’s paper: Hawaii governor’s furlough plan derided

While my posting makes it pretty clear I think the governor could have come up with a better suggestion (don’t go for adversarial compromise or even consensus and cooperation: Go for collaboration), it is alarming to me that so many who say “think of the children” and/or “what about the teachers?” are listing excuses and justifications why our teachers can’t work. Heaven forbid that we now are anti-volunteering, and that people are restricted from working to serve others if they want to. Why are we going there?

To be clear, I’m not saying they shouldn’t work within my posting, not at all! Do get back to work, and do make it work.

I still want to hear from more teachers, and not the BOE, unions, or legislators… why allow others to speak for you? Be heard.

On the KÅ«lia i ka nu‘u warpath: the Compensation Enemy

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I have a wonderful client who I love working with.

This client has embraced Managing with Aloha with as big a bear hug as anyone can give it. Right now, KÅ«lia i ka nu‘u could be their middle name, for indeed, it has become a battle cry in their company. They currently joke with me that they are striving to be my poster children for MWA, so much so that when I visited them last week I walked into a room of leaders waiting for me with warpaint striped on their cheeks!

Yet recently I had a telephone conversation with one of them who was very discouraged, explaining to me that,

“It just doesn’t seem right to get people all charged up and excited about all the right things, asking them to KÅ«lia and strive, reaching higher and higher for excellence, when we just don’t pay them as well as they’d be paid if they left us to go work somewhere else.”

I agree, it’s not
right.

The managers in this company are in a tough spot to be in. This is a company in turmoil because they feel they know what to do, they feel they know how to get from good to great, and they love the people they work with, yet they are struggling with retention. Unfilled vacancies are adding to the workload of those who valiantly carry the torch, and even though they know that managing with aloha is the right thing to do, it gets tougher and tougher to rally behind and pull off.

In this particular case, I have not pulled back from giving them the KÅ«lia i ka nu‘u message; we have redirected it to solving their issue with a poor compensation structure within the company. It’s a biggie, and it will take all the creativity and determination we can muster.

However that IS what KÅ«lia i ka nu‘u takes. Striving for excellence demands bucket loads of creativity and determination. In cases like this one, it also demands the bravery (there’s that word again) to simply not accept a wrong: Their compensation structure is very clearly broken.

When you manage with aloha, having a business model with imbalance in what you can afford to pay the people who work for you is not acceptable. Period.

If you cannot make the numbers work, you cannot make the business work in the best possible way, taking it from okay to good, and from good to great.

Managing
with Aloha demands business models with aloha.

Take care of your people first and foremost: If you don’t, you cannot expect them to take care of your customers and the health of your business, and still sleep well at night feeling good about it.