Employee Development: The Manager’s Mission

After reading my last blog on Performance Evaluations, one of my blog followers suggested that I address the real purpose behind performance evaluation—i.e., the continuous improvement and development of the employee.  His suggestion was spot on!

 In the Performance Evaluation blog, my objective was to share with the employee an approach that might be useful and effective in dealing with the boss. My observations and suggestions in that blog dealt more with mental preparation and positioning perspectives that might be helpful to the employee. However, now, it is time to delve into the real aims and objectives of the performance evaluation process.

Contrary to popular belief, performance evaluation is not, necessarily, designed to prune your organization of the lowest performing employees. Its primary purpose is not to “rank and yank”. Sure enough, one of the outcomes of a well designed performance management system is the forced ranking of employees based on their ‘body of work’. Still, the primary objective, I would submit, of a well designed and implemented Performance Management system is to ensure the continual development of the organization’s human capital—their people. That’s right; development should be intentional—not incidental.

If you are ever close enough to HR professionals, you will hear them spout the three words that summarize their key organizational helping tasks—Attract, Develop and Retain [ADR] talent. If these three tasks are done well, the organization should be positioned to meet current and future business challenges with the appropriate number, type and caliber of talent. Note, that I said these are key helping tasks that HR is essentially measured against when determining the function’s effectiveness. In fact, HR is just one of the partners in Attracting, Developing and Retaining employees.  In reality, the organization, the boss, and HR must function together to achieve a competitive advantage leveraging ADR goals. Under Developing employees, the boss must take the lead. The boss must understand the old adage that “people join a company and quit a boss” is more than just a turn of a phrase—its reality.

Now, we come to the real purpose of performance appraisals/evaluations. First and foremost, the boss must be held responsible for observing and appraising for the purpose of developing the employee. No employee comes into the job-no matter how gifted and/or talented- fully up to speed. There are new expectations, people and technical competencies that must be introduced, understood and then mastered. The boss is responsible for guiding the employee through this evolution. Ongoing feedback, formal evaluations and on-the-job training are the tools the boss must use to achieve this goal of employee development.  To be effective at developing the employee, the boss must be an open and honest communicator of both compliments and constructive criticism.

Remember, I said in the last blog that performance evaluations/appraisals should be viewed as development opportunities—not definitive events. Unfortunately, too many bosses are cowards when it comes to “shooting straight” with the employee. They tell HR, their colleagues and even some other direct reports how they really feel about a certain direct report; they often speak in vague and nebulous terms and/or use parables that can be interpreted any number of ways by the employee. They are cowards, because, when given the opportunity to give direct and honest feedback to the employee in question, they become ‘mush mouthed’.  Sure, its tough to sit across from a person who is coiled, anxious and worried about getting a ‘bad evaluation’.  But, hey sports fans, the employee deserves to hear what he/she needs to do to get better.

Hiding behind vague and overused labels like “not strategic enough”, “lacks fire in the belly”, “needs to drive more for results” is a cop-out, pure and simple. Of course, share the What they are lacking—but, hasten to add the How they can improve addendum. Development of employees, therefore, should be 'Job #1' for the boss. Failure to develop employees who have capabilities and show a desire to improve should reflect poorly on the boss in question. Employees are not disposable units. They are organizational assets that must be managed as such. If the Plant Manager was not using the maintenance function and throwing out equipment because of occasional malfunctions, somebody in HQ would want to talk to him/her-right away! Far too many so-called supervisor default to the HR function to handle [dispose of] the failed employee who has not been developed [not maintained].

By the way, this is why in so many organizations HR has earned the rap of being the ‘hatchet men/women’.  In any organization where the HR function has this rap it, most likely, deserves it.

Performance Evaluation: Flight, Fight or Flex?

Outside of the ‘make it or break it’ second interview, probably the most tense and anxiety ridden time in an employee’s professional life is the dreaded annual performance evaluation. A lot rides on the outcome of these formal encounters with one’s boss. In many cases, an employee’s future with the company, their annual merit increase and/or their potential rating are ‘in play’. How does one mentally prepare for this important event? What, if any strategy, will be effective in convincing the boss that your efforts were value added and impactful? How does one disagree with the boss’s evaluation of their performance without appearing defensive and self-serving?  How do you accept constructive and career building feedback that, when articulated by the boss, stings the psyche? All good questions, for sure. Let’s take a run at trying to explicate the dreaded performance evaluation session.

First, any good performance evaluation process is not an annual event. It is continual, timely and constructive feedback given when needed. Any boss who is into ‘catching you doing something wrong’ and mentally filing it away to be used in the so-called annual evaluation is operating ‘above his/her pay grade’. Good supervisors are more concerned about developing the employee’s skill set so that strategic company goals are met. Hence, a good supervisor will insure that the employee is given timely, clear and concise feedback when needed. Assuming the employee has the knowledge, skill, and ability to perform the tasks and responsibility of the position, corrective actions based on feedback should not be a problem. However, if the employee is “over their head” in the job, the boss must be courageous and confident enough to work with HR to find, if possible, a better placement within the organization—if such is available. Putting an employee who lacks the knowledge, skills and ability to do the job on a Performance Improvement Plan is tantamount to a ‘stay of execution’. 90 days or 900 days will not improve the performance of an employee lacking the ability to do the job.

 Now, back to answering the questions posed above. Specifically, how does one mentally prepare for the encounter? The most important step in mental preparation is to put the event in perspective. In other words, think about the session as developmental opportunity and not as a definitive event. Viewing the session as developmental allows you to go into the conversation expecting to receive constructive feedback. Any evaluation session that focuses only on your strengths shortchanges you and undermines your ability to become better in the current or future jobs. Even before the formal session and without equivocation tell the boss that you see yourself as a top performer and are open to being rigorously managed as such--every day.  What this implies is that you are willing to take blunt and often times critical feedback so necessary to getting better in your current position and reaching your career goals. If you approach the evaluation with fear and trepidation, a mental block caused by emotional tension arises-creating an inability to think of something you normally can and have done. In a word, you become defensive. Neither a defensive nor an offensive posture is helpful in becoming mentally prepared for the evaluation.

Employing the ‘developmental approach’ allows you to frame a strategy based on honesty, integrity and truth. You are able to honestly assess the quality of your performance against goals; possess the integrity to admit the “missed opportunities”; and, be truthful about reasons you did or didn’t reach your stated goals. So, the going in strategy is based on disarming the boss—who, most likely, is prepared to argue with you about accepting your shortcomings. Once the session begins, listen very carefully and take notes; try to isolate the performance deficiency the boss is alluding to or talking, specifically, about; ask questions only for clarification and/or deeper understanding—not as challenges to his/her assessment. Finally, after listening intently, without interrupting, rephrase what you heard; ask if you accurately decoded what he/she was saying. If there is agreement that you heard what was intended, respond only to those points that are unclear to you and/or are based on incomplete information. If the problem is incomplete information on the boss’s part, you, more than likely, are the blame for failure to post him/her in a timely fashion. Accept the responsibility for failure to post and request that you be allowed to provide him/her with the missing information. Finally, if it appears as though the boss is inflexible and wrong, agree to disagree—and ask how this situation can be remedied. Throughout this session, you must stay on strategy—with poise, presence and clear projection of your objectives. Lest you think that I believe the boss is omnipotent, let me hasten to add that there are some rater errors that you should be aware of that can affect your performance rating. 

These rater errors, according to Robert L. Mathis and John H. Jackson, in the seminal textbook, Human Resources Management, Twelfth Edition   include Varying Standards, “where bosses apply different standards and expectations for employees performing similar jobs”; Recency and Primacy Effects or ‘what have you done for me lately?’ Rater Bias, occurs “when a rater’s values or prejudices distort the rating. Such bias may be unconscious or quite unintentional”—but they still negatively impact; Halo and Horns Effect, “when a rater scores an employee high [Halo Effect] on all job criteria because of performance in one area…or [Horns Effect] which occurs when a low rating on one characteristic leads to an overall low rating”; Contrast Error, “which is the tendency to rate people relative to others rather than against performance standards. For example, if everyone else performs at a mediocre level, than a person performing somewhat better may be rated as “excellent because of the contrast effect”; and, finally- to me, the most arbitrary one and pernicious when combined with Rater Bias-the Similar-to-Me/Different-from-Me Errors, where “raters are influenced by whether people show characteristics that are the same as or different from their own”. Now, perhaps, you may have benefited from or been victimized by one or more of these rater errors. Just remember, rater bias is a two edged sword—cutting both ways. And, it always depends on “whose ox is being gored”! The Truth shall set you free!

CIQ-Career Intelligence

Welcome to the world of work. Or, better yet, how’s that career goal or dream looking to you right now?  Is your trajectory still properly calibrated to take you to your destination position? Careers are funny things. Often what you had planned to accomplish in your career quickly becomes elusive and you slowly become cynical.  You did all the right things—went to college, even graduate school, and worked very hard at your job. Still, you feel your career has stagnated. No one told you this would happen. The principle of uninterrupted career verticality  seems to be a myth. In fact, careers are more like a StairMaster exercise machine than an escalator.The question now is “how does one effectively negotiate the often treacherous ‘straits and narrows’ of corporate politics”? 


Better yet, how does one scale the mountain of corporate success without some help— like finding some sort of organizational Sherpa guide, i.e., a mentor, to point out how you should equip yourself for the journey?  Initially, we all thought that hard work, discipline and intellect would take us to the top of our profession. And, then comes the rude awakening. We apparently lack something. But, what, exactly, is it that we lack? Is it desire, determination, drive-or, God forbid, is it the smarts that we lack? 

What is missing, I would submit, is the level of your Career Intelligence Quotient [CIQ]. In my mind, CIQ is a combination of organizational savvy, interpersonal skills and learning agility. Position knowledge, skills and ability, collectively, are givens and represent the ‘price of admission’. Most successful ‘chart climbers’ have figured out this part of the equation. In other words, you have got to have more going for you than just ‘job mastery’. You have got to be ‘smarter’ in ways that set you apart from the other worker bees and functional drones that crave face time and good merit increases. You have got to use your CIQ to leverage organizational opportunities.

Organizational savvy is the first leg of the career Trifecta one needs to win in order to advance. Specifically, organizational savvy, for me, is the ability to tease out the norms of any organization before you step on one. Norms are the organization’s invisible land mines. They are to be divined and never published. They are more powerful than rules, regulations and policies.  Norms not only tell what you cannot do—more importantly, they tell you what is acceptable and what you can and should do. Organizational rules and regulations are written, published and distributed.  Such pronouncements are for those corporate denizens who need things to be explicit, unequivocal and consistent. A savvy person gets it through apprehension and the subtle cues and signals evident to the real students of organizational behavior. The quicker you can spot, decipher and internalizes the ‘cues’, the higher your CIQ.

A lot of these ‘cues’ have to do with how individuals in the organization interact with and treat each other. Mastering Interpersonal Skills is the second leg of the career Trifecta. Interpersonal relationship skills are important in building a fungible type of equity. I call this relationship equity. While it is not transferable outside of the organization, it is a highly valuable internal commodity that is useful in moving a career forward. Real work and accomplishment takes place in ‘white space’ between jobs. The individual who functions well in the white space between his/her job and a fellow employee’s job knows the exact moment when he/she is the supplier or when he/she is the customer. Each status provides one with career building opportunities. As an internal supplier, people are able to observe your promptness, accuracy and willingness to help them meet a deadline or goal. As a customer, your supplier is able to determine what type of person you really are—i.e., are you clear in your expectations; do you look to place blame; are you reasonable; and, would you be someone they could work for as a subordinate?  At some point, these fellow employees either with their words or with their silence will accelerate your career or derail it. A great instrument to help you gain insight into four critical behavioral traits you exhibit every day is the Drake P3.

Finally, successful career management depends on how mentally quick and nimble you are in real time situations. Learning agility means you must be able to master shifts in business concepts, organizational constructs and political alliances very quickly. The ability to either provide constructive feedback or insightful input to leadership in times of transitions will increase your worth and value in the organization. Superficial mastery of these shifts will often get you in to trouble. It is equally important to have good questions as well as good answers.As one philosopher put it: “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers…You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions”.   Learning agility is the final leg of the career Trifecta. When you win on this one and the two aforementioned; it will be obvious to all that you have a very high CIQ.