Performance Reviews

Performance evaluations … or the dreaded employee performance review.

Management hates giving them … and employees hate getting them.

Is your approach working well for you and your employees? Are you using a standard form … or have you developed a specific format for your company or industry?

Keep It Simple

My focus for this blog is geared toward upper management. My goal is to keep it simple while making it manageable and worthwhile for all parties. Let’s try to get away from the antiquated routine of using something that has been forced on us, which no one seems to enjoy. I believe the best approach is to seek feedback and dialogue instead of grading performance … use it as a tool to measure performance and to help us move forward. In other words, try to generate discussion and dialogue about now and the future. Rather than a long drawn out document with boxes to check as a laborious project and process, let’s try to make it a worthwhile experience that informs and allows us to proceed from where we are now in a positive way, even if there’s bad news to be shared.

Performance and Potential

In today’s blog, I’m going to throw out a very simple straightforward approach that I believe boils things down quickly with a very basic approach.

Here it is … the two key areas for performance review are Performance and Potential. Take those two areas and rank then high, medium, low. Set up a simple graph type chart. Then rank each direct report as to whether their Performance is high, medium, or low. Then rank their Potential the same way. After doing your rankings in a thoughtful and analytical manner, then sit down and discuss your finding with each of your direct reports. Let them know where they stand today … how they are doing and what you feel their potential is with the company. The key for this to be successful is being forthright and honest. If there isn’t honesty and candor, it’s not worth doing.

In my next blog, I’m going to share four or five questions that can generate a dialogue to gain insight for both parties in the review process and eliminate that laborious form you’ve been using. Hope you will check back.

What are your thoughts on the Performance Review?

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved

Is Knowledge Power

The idea that I know something you don’t know is over. You have to gain respect and be willing to communicate with your team.

Today an entrepreneur has to have a real purpose behind their Vision. The mission has to be laid out in clear detail.

•           Where are we going?
•           Why are we going there?
•           What’s in it for everyone to get there?

The leader must let the team know they care a lot. And how well you do will impact their lives with more money, better promotions, better jobs, better access ….

Get it right down to the individual. The purpose … what it does for mankind. Different industries or professions are easier than others.

Bottomline is that today those who really want to know can know. So we’re back to the real purpose.

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved

Keeping Top Performers

A good leader will never lose one of their top performers. As a leader you can never let that happen … if you do, it’s your fault … no one else’s. You must identify your Top 10% … the cream of the crop that make things hum the way you want. You love on them. You have an environment where the other 80% want to be one of them. Your job as the manager of the Top 10% talent is clearly a critical thing. I can’t state that strongly enough.

Here’s how you determine if you are managing the Top 10% correctly. Make a list of the top 7-8 key initiatives in the company. Then list next to each initiative who is in charge of getting the initiatives accomplished. This may include 8 people, 20 people, or 30 people. But the telling question is how many of your Top 10% are working on these top initiatives. It is not uncommon to find that critical issues or opportunities are not matched up to the best people.

Develop a dashboard or tools to help put real meaning behind what makes the company hum … from the Top 10 to the Bottom 10. Remember, what gets managed (or measured) is what gets done or what keeps key talent engaged, involved and on the team.

Getting top talent to come to work for you is important, but keeping your Top 10% must be managed intentionally and consciously in order to ensure success.

Next Blog: The idea that knowledge is power is over.

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved

Is Being Candid Good or Cruel

There is a mindset in the business world that we have to do employee evaluations on a regular basis. This can be a great practice when done with integrity. Unfortunately, there is a tendency by some companies to make evaluations intimidating and challenging rather than educational and helpful. And I need to say at this point that this blog is not about employee evaluations … I will address that subject in a few weeks. This blog is about whether candor is good or bad (cruel).

The employee evaluation, to have any substance or credibility, must be handled with candor as a tool to help both the employee and the company be successful.

I happen to believe that candor is one of the kindest forms of management. It requires a combination of straightforward candid talk … not cruel … not rude, but honest, sympathetic, and hopefully, leading to improvement and growth. Every employee needs to know where they stand with their company … what their future looks like. This requires advising everyone where they stand. If they are not performing well or don’t have potential to grow with the company they need to know that and what options are available to them. They should be told where they stand, what they can do to improve, and how the company (and their boss) sees their potential. If its bad news it needs to be tactfully communicated so that they know while they have a chance to make adjustments and not just be downsized or terminated. It they don’t have the skills or passion to grow with the company then the company needs to help them either develop those skills or help them find an opportunity that will work for them. Today employees are not loyal to their employers because employers have drastically mismanaged their employees since 2008. It is going to take some time, effort, and yes, money to heal this major wound within the workforce.

Next Blog: Keeping the top performers

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved

Where Do You Stand

Where do you stand with your company? The truth be known most people who come to work every day wonder if it is good … does the company like me? Does my boss like me? What’s my future? Do I just keep my head down and do my job?

Everyone should know where they stand … should know what they are good at and what they can look forward to in the future. How do you rate yourself at this point? Everything going pretty good? Do you have a good idea of when you will be promoted … and what it will entail? What if you get a new boss? What if the company is sold to new owners? Is your boss as loyal to you as you are to him? Is your company as loyal to you as you are to them?

What do you think your destiny is? Remember it’s YOUR destiny … not the company’s.

Try writing down in 15 words or less what you are really good at.

Then write down in 15 words or less what you really like to do.

If you can consciously decide where these two things intersect and how you can find a career that includes them both – what you are good at and what you like – then you will be having fun … and will have some control over your destiny. If you make it your goal to get yourself in the positions where what you’re good at matches what you like to do. Then you are off to the races. It is important that people know where they stand. Too many people don’t know where they stand … what their future is … how fast they can grow … what they need to do to improve. This is important.

My purpose here is to make you think … really THINK about your career … your future. I encourage you to take some time and really ponder on this subject, no matter your age or the stage of your career.

Next Blog: Is candor good … or cruel

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved

To Ensure Success … in business management

You always have to work on listening to others. Always be emphasizing a learning environment. You always have to be talking about getting better every day. Challenge yourself … have you got enough ideas, do you have everyone’s input, have you listened enough.

Don’t just start and jump off the bridge … get some data before you jump. Understand where you’re going and why.

Listening is so important – knowing you don’t have all the answers … always searching for better ideas, better ways.

This idea of “continuous improvement” is not just a slogan … it’s real. Use it as an incentive, not a bully stick. Make it interesting … collaborative … shared … engaged … involved … productive … fun and important. Its how you get people to come to work … get them motivated … keep them motivated … develop a loyal workforce.

Focus on looking at how you can do what you are doing better. Challenge everyone … challenge each other … how do we do things … and why … can we do it better. How do we socialize? Socializing builds camaraderie and teams. More good ideas come up in informal gatherings than in formal meetings … and generally from further down in the organization where the rubber meets the road and it’s most impactful.

No one has all the answers … you need every brain in the game working to get better continuously. It’s not good for the leader to come to the party with the answer. The purpose of the leader is to bring up issues and then get everybody’s input to make sure the final answer is the best you can come up with.

Next Blog: Do you know where you stand in your company?

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved

Make Business Hum …

There is very little new in business management today … but there are a lot of things that need to be approached with a relentless compassion to bring many of the traditional ideas up to date in a timeframe that makes a business hum. By bringing together new methods or ways that can make a business move forward aggressively there is opportunity to improve and expand the business environment in a positive way … and provide the opportunity for strong leadership. For example, to grow a leader needs to step forward by focusing on Teambuilding whereby you can develop a System or Code of Conduct, or Camaraderie that enables and inspires an approach or methodology for building great teams. This requires the Team Leader to get the Team to focus … to get them to drive things forward … in ways that will enhance the lives of everyone within the company because of the renewed commitment and approach of those who follow the Leader and his leadership team through a focused approach or methodology of business.

The Next Level

This requires candor, differentiation, a variety of techniques all aimed at making a winning team take the company to the next level as opposed to becoming plateaued.

Ordinary to Extraordinary

The concept of intentionally mobilizing a group of people around a set of values and a mission/vision that drives the company to the next level and beyond is doable and elevating. The intended goal and challenge is to take ordinary people with an innate work ethic and get them to do extraordinary things through their daily collaborative efforts in small but significant efforts. To give them the tools to build a great team. This can come together with a committed system of accomplishment through Teambuilding with Team Players.

Lives Can Change

With a focused Vision and a committed strategy and execution plan lives can change through the renewed focus of positively changing the direction of the company. This requires a series of processes that are identified and implemented … there’s no “one little thing.” It requires a series of small progressive steps implemented with a sense of urgency and accomplishment that is inspiring and motivating for everyone.

Next Blog: What one thing can trip you up?

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved