Setting expectations

The Accountability Conversation

26 Oct

The Accountability conversation is one of the most difficult and this is why it does not occur routinely in many companies. This conversation is the one that comes before the disciplinary situation where you’d like to fire the person. It comes during the normal course of doing business and should be an ongoing conversation. It should not be a surprise if you have set the expectation that it is coming.

With that said, start by asking yourself these questions:

What is the specific unacceptable behavior that is causing the problem with performance? Define the specific behavior and avoid accusatory adjectives like “grumpy, bad attitude, lacks initiative, lazy, etc.”
Does the employee know what the expectation is? When have you told them and did they get it?
Has the current performance been acceptable in the past? Still needs to be addressed, but this must be acknowledged.

Accountability works best when both the manager and the employee know it is coming, there is a set routine for doing it, and both people are involved. These are the steps that are most important.

Be sure to clearly explain what is expected. More detail may be required for some front line employees, where higher level employees may have more freedom in how to do the job and the expectation will be more about results.
“Test” understanding. Not by asking them to repeat what you said, but by asking a question that requires they speak about what they will do first, what they expect to be most difficult etc.
Set a time and date for follow up. And make sure they realize what they will have been expected to accomplish by that time. This may be a specific result, progress they will have been expected to make or a task that should be finished.
Stick with the time and date you establish. At that time, ask them to report on their progress, without you having to prod with a million questions.
Keep the accountability going by setting the next expectation and the next accountability date. Have these types of conversations all the time, taking just a moment or setting a sit-down meeting.

Getting People Engaged

23 Sep

by Bridget DiCello

Engaged people are those who are interested enough to do something. Engagement means movement. Action.

What makes people act? A desire to act usually comes from a desire to reach something greater than where they are either because of discomfort with the current situation or a vision of what’s possible beyond the current reality.

What does that mean for you in trying to get team members, peers, associates, and employees engaged? Create an Invitation and find Common Ground.

Create an Invitation: I’ve heard it often said that people will act because someone asked them to. Will you help someone who asks? Will you get involved because someone you trust invites you to? Will you respond when someone explains what they need you to do?

Too often, people may not get engaged in a process, in planning, in executing and in implementing because it is easier not to. Easier not to put themselves out on a limb, extend beyond their level of confidence, assume their help or involvement is not needed or assume what they are currently doing is enough. If you see possibility beyond where your team is currently operating, invite others to see what you see, and ask them for their specific participation.

“You’ve put a lot of time and effort into this. I appreciate all you’ve done. I can’t help thinking that we could make it even better if we… Will you help me by …?”

Find Common Ground: People act because there is something in it for them. I don’t mean people are self-centered and selfish. I mean that each of us operates from our own point of view and when something is exciting, important and valuable to us, we tend to get involved.

Have you ever learned something new or gained more in depth knowledge about a cause, a problem or a challenge, and then decided to get (more) involved?

Finding Common Ground requires that we have a conversation with whomever we are trying to get more engaged. It means we share some of our passion, and let them respond and determine for themselves what it is they are excited about. There are often many facets of a project, problem or situation and the specific reason we get excited may not be the same as another person, and yet we both can become avid workers towards the end goal.

“I was thinking about the reason we started working on this project and how exciting it will be when we achieve the goal of… What is it that you are most excited about?”

Who on your team needs to be more engaged? Who do you wish would be of more help to you in what you are trying to accomplish? Have you issued the Invitation and do they see the Common Ground?

The Coaching Conversation

14 Sep

by Bridget DiCello

Coaching is having a series of conversations with an individual in order to help them access their hidden potential to achieve greater levels of success.

- Bridget M. DiCello

It is essential that you have both “Conversations on the Go” as well as “Undivided Attention Meetings.” When you see acceptable or unacceptable behaviors, sometimes you need to address them immediately for greatest impact. Other times you need to get both the employee and yourself focused on their improvement in a planned meeting where you have each other’s undivided attention. In which meeting you bring up an issue depends on the urgency of the needed change in behavior. If you wait as an unacceptable behavior continues, your frustration increases as does the employee’s resistance to change – which makes the conversation more difficult when it does occur.

Conversations on the Go:

1. You bring up the unacceptable behavior and get them talking.
“I’m concerned about… because… What Happened?”

2. Then you talk. Explain current unacceptable behaviors describing them specifically. “Your bad attitude” and “your lack of initiative” are not specific behaviors.

3. Get commitment to precise, doable action from the employee.

4. Determine a follow up date – it may be your monthly meeting with them.

Undivided Attention Meetings – Monthly meeting where each of your direct reports prepares for and attends a meeting with you.

This is not about how you can help them or what they think you or the company could do differently. This is about them reporting on their progress and challenges.

According to set agenda both you and they have prior to the meeting:

1. They report their successes first – according to goals you have set

2. They report on set metrics, projects, goals, status

3. They identify the areas where they have fallen short and what they will do differently.

4. You compliment them on successes you’ve seen

5. You comment on their performance that can be improved. (using specific examples of unacceptable and acceptable behaviors.)

6. Get commitment to precise, do-able and measurable action. Help them come up with action items and strategies. This is not easy and may take time. Dig in and really find a do-able action. Use Clarifying Questions like, “Can you give me an example?” and “Can you be more specific?” and “What have you tried in the past?” Watch for Smokescreens and Tangents.

7. Determine a follow-up date and follow-up.

The only way you can help your team to really access their potential and therefore move your team to a higher level of performance is if you coach them. Even the best employees need your coaching. Michael Jordan had a coach who pushed him to excel!

“I Know You Can Do It!”

18 Aug

by Bridget DiCello

“I know you can do it!” Why are these such powerful words? When voiced by a someone about a colleague or team member, they express confidence in that person. Despite the independent, confident, maybe egotistical approach of people who are difficult to work with, I believe there is a great lack of self-confidence under the surface, being hidden by confident speech. When someone who they respect, whether because of a great relationship or by only an official relationship, says they believe they can do something, it energizes that person.

You are telling them that you believe in them and that they should believe in themselves. Too mushy for you? Well, it’s powerful and used well, can bring about significant changes in performance and levels of cooperation.

Do you tell team members this who you find difficult to interact with? Can you get yourself to believe it for those who have less than stellar performance?

Why would you say this if you don’t believe it 100%? There is power in what we say about ourselves and what others say about us. By saying, “I know you can do it,” you are instilling a determination in that person.

You will find the most success when you follow up by holding them accountable to what they have agreed to.

What if they fail? Doesn’t that mean you were wrong? No! It just depends on what timeframe you are talking about. If you say they can accomplish something and they get frustrated because they didn’t get it done in a week. Push harder. Insist you know they can do it and ask them what the next step they are going to do is. Everything is accomplished with a series of small steps.

Sometimes team members may at first look to prove you wrong in order to stay in their comfortable current level of performance. Insist you believe they can do what needs to be done, that they have the ability to learn and to accomplish more than they have.

Try it. Say, “I know you can do it!” with conviction to each person important to your success once a week and see what happens!

Laziness is often a Misnomer

22 Jul

by Bridget DiCello

Managers use laziness as a reason why employees don’t do a good job or complete tasks they are assigned. Maybe you have uttered the accusation, “(S)he’s just lazy!” Some believe that people in general are lazy

I couldn’t disagree more! People are passionate, driven and intelligent beings! We even see those with great physical and mental limitations accomplish great things. (Like the world-renown pianist who has only four fingers total!)

That drive to contribute, accomplish and succeed is in every person – it may just be buried deeply behind a lifetime of bad experiences, of hearing words that beat up the self-confidence and a barrage of media messages that promulgate mediocrity.

Any employee who works for you has worked other places before, has interacted with friends and family, and has received messages about what they can accomplish and what is acceptable and expected – for years.

Laziness is defined as averse or disinclined to work, activity, or exertion and slow-moving and sluggish. Why would someone act this way?

1. Failing to do the work in a previous job did not bring any negative results and they continued to get a paycheck. They watched others work hard and get paid the same thing or be given more work to do.

2. They’ve worked hard in the past to reach a particular goal and failed, received harsh criticism for doing so, and were not given any coaching or a second chance.

3. They have grown up in a generation who believes they are entitled to a great life and it’s easy to get there – just watch TV and pay attention to the messages, and it’s no surprise.

4. They have never found their passion, gotten really excited about the mission or goals of a company and have never had a leader that connected with them enough to ignite this excitement.

5. No one has ever “forced” them to be successful, by pushing them out of their comfort zone and providing a safety net to assist in their success.

6. They have never worked with a boss who took the time to get to know them, what is important to them and where they are coming from – in order to help them feel part of the team and work to their strengths.

I’m sure there are many reasons why someone would appear “Lazy,” and these are just a few. Below are suggestions of how you, as the manager, might address an employee who acts lazy for these reasons.

1. No negative results in the past. Ensure you are clearly setting expectations, explaining consequences and holding them accountable. Take the time to provide the routine accountability, insist they report on their successes and failures and require they give you an idea of what they can do differently to continue to improve.

2. Past failures. Celebrate success and hard work. Even little bits of success and small steps in the right direction should be acknowledged by you – as should little failures and small steps in the wrong direction – receive coaching and redirection.

3. Entitlement. Realize that your employees may have a different mindset, and may not have grown up in a strong environment to teach them otherwise. Do you as the manager have to act like a parent? In the role of imparting values, yes, sometimes you do.

4. Lack of Passion. Share the mission and goals, get them talking about them (notice I did not say that you should talk about them), require they come up with good ideas and show them through leading by example what passion looks like (this means all your managers need to do so, not just you if you are the top dog).

5. Force Success. No matter how small, require they do tasks and activities outside their comfort zone, check in with them before they have a chance to fail to redirect them if necessary, and help them to taste success! Your involvement will become less as time goes on.

6. Bad boss. The best bosses expect great things, demand excellence, impart passion and excitement and most importantly, connect with their people. They realize that the best processes and systems in the world will have limitations if they cannot engage their people. Engaging them means taking the time to build a relationship, but a relationship is a two way street – they also insist the employee does their part!

Have you had an experience where you thought an employee was lazy, but were able to uncover a great employee using techniques like those listed above?

What does Top-of-the-Line Service Look Like in Your Industry?

01 Jul

by Bridget DiCello

In the May 2011 edition of Entrepreneur Magazine, The Best in Business Travel article compared different levels of hotel service, and the description of top-of-the-line Premium service was inspiring!

It described how the hotels in this class remembered a guest’s allergy to feathers and adjusted the bedding, remembered his favorite wine and provided it complimentary, provided an outdoor temperature reading in the room so the guest could dress appropriately, had an enormous fitness center with 30 complimentary classes per week, delivered comic books instead of a newspaper because of the guest’s offhanded remark, and made a special trip to purchase a case of a guest’s preferred type of bottled water.

While I have never held a job in this top of the line hospitality environment, I think it would be incredibly fulfilling. Or can we provide this level of service in every one of our businesses? Logistically, it requires two things to excel in service – employee time and resources (labor costs) and money (to purchase preferred wine, bottled water outside of a purchase agreement, etc.). Many businesses, if they don’t charge premium prices, don’t have the revenue or profit margin to add awesome customer service perks.

So, unless you are a 5-star hotel or a Nordstrom’s, are you out of luck?

Ask yourself, “What is it that the guests really like about this Premium service?” In order to answer that question, we need to look at two types of premium service that I have experienced: Perks Service and Custom Service.

Perks Service – This is where every amenity is present. Anything that you think of is readily available at no additional charge. From the example above, that would be the 30 complimentary fitness classes a week. This level of service is expensive to provide because each of these perks cost the company money, but the return on investment can be significant depending on your product and your customers.

Custom Service – This is where the customer service is tailored to each customer’s needs and wants. This requires that we listen to each customer to hear what they really want and what is important to them. From the example above, this is delivering the guest’s favorite wine or comic books that they mentioned the last visit.

Both levels of service require that we listen to the customer. The Perks Service requires we listen to them as a group and offer what is important to our customer base as a whole. The Custom Service requires that we listen to an individual, remember what they’ve said and deliver that customized service next time we interact with them. This is more difficult, more often overlooked, can have a tremendously powerful impact and has the potential to cost a lot less to implement than the Perks Service. But, it requires that you hear and remember what the customer says.

Listening is like riding your bike next to someone who is walking. You can think at 400 words per minute and most people speak about 100 words per minute. The danger in listening is that your brain is thinking about something else with that excess capacity.

It doesn’t cost anything to listen to someone, and often it doesn’t cost much to customize the service they receive to some degree. Where are those opportunities in your business and your industry?

Time Consuming Conversations – Time Wasters or Absolute Best Use of Your Time?

21 Jun

by Bridget DiCello

One of the biggest time wasters in your business day is time spent talking with other people!

AND

One of the absolute best uses of your work time is productive conversations with people important to your success!

Where is the difference? Working productively with the right group of people is the key to multiplying success. However, people are social creatures, who often fear something new, who wish to preserve their self-image and self-confidence, and don’t always get to the point in a conversation. Therefore, if you wish for your ‘people time’ to be productive, it must be done purposefully.

Schedule appointments to talk. If you plan to meet with another person and have a conversation, do it purposefully. If you just ‘stop by’ their office or give them a call without a plan, you may end up wasting both of your time. And they may do the same with you.

Set expectations ahead of time. If you need to talk to them, plan a time and day and have an “agenda.” Set a time and day on your calendars, even 15 minutes from now, to give each person time to “have their first reaction” and to prepare for the meeting. Have the conversation ahead of time: “When we speak, I will… and you will.. in order to accomplish [goal, task or decision].” This works both up and down the chain of command.

For example, “I’d like to talk to you about the production logs. How about Tuesday at 1pm for 30 minutes? Before then, I will review the log for my areas of concern. And you could review the log compared to last month’s as well as looking for overall opportunities for improvement. When we sit down, we’ll go though the last two months, each sharing our observations. Does that work for you?” Make sure you get their commitment to the agenda you suggested. If they don’t agree, edit or change it so that you can both prepare appropriately and not end up arguing about the agenda during the meeting.

If someone comes to you and wants to talk right then, tell them you are right in the middle of something, would like to be able to give them your full concentration and are wondering if you could come see them in 20 minutes. Then, ascertain from them what it is they need from you when you come see them. This asks them to think through the results they desire (which they may really not have done yet), and allows you to prepare as well, saving you both time and potential frustration.

Get very good at asking questions. In these situations, you want to remain in control, specifically of making sure something productive comes out of the conversation. Gladly take that responsibility. In order to do that you need to ask questions from the standpoint of genuine curiosity to see where they are coming from and how that relates to what you are trying to accomplish. With the information you gather, you can then notice excuses, frustrations in the form of roadblocks, and cries for attention that can get in the way of productive discussion.

When you talk, you share information. You rarely can change anyone’s mind by talking. By asking curious questions, you get the other person talking. When they talk, you hear how they are really thinking. When they talk, you can prompt them to consider your point of view. Help them to get to a conclusion, considering what you value. When they talk is when they think through things and may change their mind as a result.

It’s up to you to work to understand the other person. The difficulty with having a conversation is that it is with a person – who has their own feelings, experiences, biases, expectations, etc. The first thing they say is rarely the whole picture – as it is for you. Ask your questions. Give them time.

Schedule a follow up conversation if important to them or to you. Set a time and date and the agenda for that conversation as well.

You Can Talk, but Can You Communicate?

24 May

by Bridget DiCello

Eloquent. Intelligent. Clever. Articulate. It’s a pleasure to listen to a well-spoken person.

Communicating, as opposed to speaking, requires that a message is sent and that a message is received. Do you ever feel like you are just not getting through to someone? You may try to rephrase what you are saying, say it again or remove distractions. All these tactics work on the speaking end, but fail to take into account that in order for the message to be received the person on the receiving end must be ready, willing and able to be communicated to.

The ability to hear and understand is often the easiest to ensure – is the person intelligent, educated on the topic and experienced in the area being discussed? It is the “ready and willing” that can be missing. Are they worried, upset, offended, personally distracted, colored by their experiences, their successes, their failures, and their interactions with you that have gone well or badly in the past?

You communicate with a variety of people on a variety of topics every day. However, I would guess that there are a few key interactions that are most important. Maybe you:

- are trying to ease tension between two team members

- are working with a particular employee in whom you see great potential

- are developing leadership skills within your middle managers

- are trying to decrease turnover in your sales team or front line employees

- wish to access the creative potential of all your employees to improve your bottom line results through increased efficiency or new product development

- desire to improve the customer service offered by your organization

These are the situations where you may wish to spend a bit more time evaluating your effectiveness in communicating:

Is your message clear? Are you sure what you wish to accomplish? Have you outlined it to the extent that someone else can grasp your full message?
Are you communicating to the right people? Are they able to lend their expertise, assistance or suggestions in this area? Are you leaving anyone critical out?
Are they ready and willing to listen and respond? Where are they coming from? What is important to them? How do they see the situation? What is on their mind right now?

To get your message across the best thing you can do is get the other person talking about it.

What questions can you ask to get them involved in conversation so you can listen to how they view the situation, the options and possible solutions?
How is this communication making them feel? Worried? Inadequate? Overconfident? Overall, are the two of you communicating or are you talking to a wall?

You can do a lot of talking and very little communicating if you aren’t speaking, asking questions and listening purposefully. Who is it that you find it most difficult to get through to?

Top 5 Mistakes Leaders Make when Promoting from Within

04 May

by Bridget DiCello

He was a great employee. He was the perfect choice for the management opening. His talents and skills, his focus on results, his expertise with customers and systems – all made him a great choice for the promotion. Why then is he doing such a terrible job as a manager? Did you make the wrong choice?

Too often, leaders forget that a promotion to management requires a major transition. From being great at what they do to taking on a whole new set of tasks, to measuring their own success in completely different ways, to losing their peers who they knew and liked and gaining employees from whom they need to keep a distance, it is a traumatic experience. Are you there to help them through it?

Here are the Top 5 Mistakes that you might have made in the transition:

1. Assumed their tactical expertise would directly translate into management expertise. Many leaders have their own story of how they were thrown into a management role and had to figure it out the hard way. Some survive that way and some don’t. Internal promotions also assume that the person has more knowledge about the bigger picture or that the expectations from above are clearer than they are.

Create a training outline. Every new role, whether it be for a new employee or a promoted employee, should be prefaced with a training outline – the list of things that they need to know in order to be successful in the new position, when they will be taught or expected to know/master each area, and what mastery looks like. If there are things that they already know, they can be quickly checked off.

2. Failed to teach them the management skills necessary to thrive. Managing people requires they understand how to create and communicate expectations, connect with their direct reports, inspire them to do well, and engage them in productive accountability discussions. These are not natural skills to most individuals and must be learned and then coached by their supervisor.

Do an honest inventory of these skills, and plan to help them to learn more in the areas which they are weak. Provide them books and resources, the opportunity for a mentor and key leadership relationships, classes or a leadership coach, and teach them yourself the areas in which you excel. Don’t ignore a lack of skills that you have noticed from their time as an employee! Use that information.

3. Did not set your expectations clearly. There is an incredibly long distance from what is in your head to what comes out of your mouth. Your new manager cannot read your mind. There are many things you may expect that you have never clearly outlined or discussed, even if you have worked with them for some time. “Improve morale” may mean one thing to you and something quite different to the promoted manager.

Clarify your expectations. Ask yourself:

§what the most important tasks are that they will do

§what results you hope they will achieve

§how you’d like them to do the job – detailing only necessary details to keep them focused but giving them room to do it their way

§what other managers have done that you do not like and wish the new manager not to do and

§what deadlines you would put on each of these expectations and how you will measure whether or not they have been a success.

4. Offered no accountability. Even the best employee who takes initiative and tries their hardest will not thrive without some degree of feedback. This step is critical and is often seen as unimportant – especially if you already know this person to be a start employee. In order to meet your expectations and company goals, they must receive input as to what they are achieving and where they are falling short. If delivered along the way, they have time to tweak their performance, not just to fail or survive in the end. If you don’t provide feedback, yet let them continue to under-perform, shame on you! If you don’t provide feedback in the areas they are doing well – don’t expect that behavior to continue!

Provide routine, expected, conversational feedback. Set a routine conversation, with a set agenda (of focus areas, new skills to learn, tasks to perfect, action items, successes, challenges, etc.). The conversation is scheduled, the appointment is kept and the new employee is expected to be the one to prepare for and report on the agenda you have set.

5. You never asked them to think. Transition to management can be a traumatic one. Suddenly, they are in charge and powerful, yet they’ve lost their peers and their comfort zone. They are no longer rewarded for doing the tasks they are good at, but expected to think strategically and develop other people as well. There are very few right answers and very few set processes in management. Management and leadership are about getting to the results, using processes in place, improving them as necessary, solving problems and developing people. If they are not thinking – you’re in trouble.

Get them to think. Getting them to think requires that you set the direction, ask questions and get them talking about how they see the situation, possible solutions and approaches and why they will choose the avenue they choose. Too often managers of managers still want to be the one to solve the problems even though they have a manager to lead their team to solve a problem. Thinking through a situation can be facilitated greatly by a manager who asks the right questions instead of giving the solution. You want your new manager to be independent, so ask them the questions and get them to think!

What mistakes have you made when promoting someone to management? What have you done right?

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