Sun
06th Jun
2010
When giving performance management feedback to staff many managers complain that staff just don’t realise they need to change. It is not the fact that they are poor employees – in fact what they are delivering would have been spot on 5 years ago – but that level of delivery simply does not hit the mark today. Things have changed!
Below is a great video that vividly demonstrates just how fast change is occuring in our modern world. It is US and education centric but still provides some startling information – possibly one to share with your staff? Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 06th Jun 2010
Mon
31st May
2010
My heart sank. I was speaking with a coaching client and they said that there was a new instruction from HR on their Performance Evaluation System – each team manager was to mark 10% of their team as a poor performer and in need of improvement.
Aaarrrhh! Whilst I understand why such an instruction could have been sent out edicts like this rarely work in practice!
Research shows that on average, across a company, 10 – 25% of staff at any one time are in need of feedback in order to improve their performance. So if you, as HR, look over the Performance Evaluation Reports submitted by your line managers and discover that they rate everyone as doing fine – you know you have a problem! Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 31st May 2010
Sun
23rd May
2010
So you are providing some necessary feedback and the only response you are receiving is ‘Yes, but’. You might even be seeing them physically looking around trying to find the next ‘Yes, but’ excuse to pluck from the air!
The previous blog post listed out the possible reasons why people may be responding with ‘Yes, but’ and now lets look at what you can say and do to get past this block. Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 23rd May 2010
Sat
15th May
2010
OK – you are in a performance feedback situation, either informal or formal. You have thought about what you want to say and have stated it in a neutral and objective manner but the only response you get is a series of ‘Yes, buts’. What can you do to get past this impasse and onto improving things in the future?
Well there are several different approaches one can take – determined by why this individual is responding with ‘Yes, but’. And these would be: Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 15th May 2010
Fri
07th May
2010
We were brought up to be nice and polite – to think about an other person’s feelings and to put those feeling before our own needs. This may have been the right approach for our parents to take when we were six and they were anxious about our behaviour with friends and relatives – but being ‘nice’ does not help us as an adult in the workplace. Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 07th May 2010
Mon
26th Apr
2010
Sometimes I can forget the impact that just one negative team member can have on a group of people and on the leader. But this was brought home to me once again just the other week whilst delivering a workshop.
Right from the moment this one individual entered the room it was clear that they considered training courses to be a waste of time. Unfortunately, they successfully recruited two of their friends to join them in sitting with backs to the main group, arms folded and whispering amongst themselves.
I attempted to engage with them and to encourage them to make a contribution to the discussions and exercises. But nothing had an impact and their behaviour continued. Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 26th Apr 2010
Tue
20th Apr
2010
The answer to this is easy – one word – recruitment. Get your recruitment right and you will have a skilled and enthused employee. Get it wrong and you will have a misfit that damages your organisation and themselves.
Unfortunately many, many organisations rush recruitment and thereby run the risk of getting it terribly wrong. Here’s what Tom Peters has to say about the importance of talent in your organisation and the mistake many organisations make in appointing crucial management roles: Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 20th Apr 2010
Sun
11th Apr
2010
What can you say (and do) when you have presented a skilfully crafted message providing some necessary performance feedback and the response you get are tears?
It is important to realise is that there can be two reasons for tears – the first is genuine emotion and the second is gamesmanship – played to unsettle you enough to drop the whole issue and never feel brave enough to mention it again!! Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 11th Apr 2010
Sun
28th Mar
2010
It was just a couple of weeks ago when a manager at a workshop came up to me and said that one of his team members had recently told him that she hated, hated her job!
He seemed unsure how to respond and I asked whether he felt it was being said for dramatic effect or for real. He rather thought it was for real.
This is serious! No-one who hates their job will perform it well. But how to respond if a member of the team says something similar to you. Read more »
Posted by Sue Ingram - 28th Mar 2010
