James Simone @ Caffeine Performance Management

Engagement or Satisfaction – What’s the Difference?

2012-01-25T15:01:00.000-08:00

Engagement is frequently identified as a leading indicator of ROI. It’s the measure of a customer or employee’s involvement and commitment to the company or brand, while satisfaction is the measurement of recalled service delivery against a prescribed set of drivers.

The differences are subtle, but important:

• Engaged customers are more likely to be involved in the company: more loyal, committed, likely to excuse error, likely to return, likely to refer, and likely to spend more.
• Disengaged customers on the other hand, while possibly satisfied, are brand-ambivalent, or worse active campaigners against your service.
• Engaged employees are more likely to be involved in the company: more loyal, and likely to stay longer.
• Disengaged employees may very well be satisfied with elements of their work, but fail to contribute the discretionary effort required to deliver outstanding service.
• Disengaged employees can impact the engagement level of customers, and vice versa.

Net:

While traditional satisfaction surveys are helpful tools to isolate and improve performance, there is not necessarily a correlation between engagement and satisfaction. Not measuring customer or employee engagement can lead managers down the path of false positives – assuming that all is well with the business, yet market share and other key indicators could be about to take a tumble.

We advocate an annual survey of the engagement of clients and staff, along with satisfaction/incident tracking surveys, as management deems necessary to facilitate performance improvement.

We just released a whitepaper that outlines a process by which managers can maximize organizational performance improvement planning, by bringing together the engagement statistics of both the customer and employee engagement surveys, to define a process that is most efficient for the organization.

JS

Autopilot

2012-01-16T20:24:00.001-08:00

Have you ever been on a long-haul flight and wondered if the plane is being flown by autopilot?

Does it bother you that your fate could be in the hands of a computer program, or are you (like me) somehow comforted by it?

When you go to work tomorrow, take a look at the faces of your colleagues - or better yet- ask them outright: 'are you on autopilot?'.

The idea here of course is to determine if your colleague truly has an understanding of her role in the company, and her contribution to the success of the firm.

I'd bet there's a better than 60/40 chance that the response will refer to 'just keeping up', or 'handling the volume of work'...a couple of hints that maybe things might be drifting a little, and that the link between goal achievement and corporate objectives might be graying.

Net:

Autopilot is fine for an aircraft...it can be a signal of stagnation (or worse) for a workplace, and an opportunity for managers to call an impromptu huddle, and realign priorities, and clarify roles (particularly in relation to customers, sales, and rewards).

Recognize Autopilot through ad hoc conversations, engagement surveys, and customer satisfaction surveys, and stats like lead generation activity.

JS

20 Minutes Too Late

2012-01-11T10:44:00.001-08:00

I heard an expression the other day that I thought was funny, in a subversive way: "He has a knack of managing 20 minutes too late."

The expression was meant to convey dissatisfaction with feedback and action that rarely arrived, or arrived too late.

As I drove back from my meeting, I reflected on the manager in question, and what the opposite to '20 minutes too late' might look like.

Clearly, it's a pro-active approach that coaches, guides, and helps remove organizational obstacles to achievements.

Net:

The point of this blog is to challenge leaders to a moment of introspection.

As a leader, you know that your staff are talking about you with friends and family (this is positive, and inevitable).

Can you change the story from: "20 minutes too late" to "a terrific coach that inspires me to achieve my goals"?

JS

Toward a Culture of Safety

2012-01-06T09:07:00.001-08:00

The WCIB estimates that 40-50% of workplace incidents in Canada go unreported.

There are two foundational questions that employers (and risk managers) need to come to grips-with:

1. Why are so many safety-incidents unreported?

2. What can we do about it?

It would appear (at a macro level) that the reason that such a large volume of unreported incidents has allowed to continue as unreported is that the system simply tolerates it, if even tacitly.

If substantial will existed for change- change would happen.

Now, given this, there are of course many cases of exemplary employers and leaders across every industry who place priority on the management of cultures of safety, wherein the reporting of every safety violation or incident is encouraged.

These organizations make every effort to make it easy for their employees to report an incident, and provide loop-closing activities to assure escalation from incident to accident is minimized.

These firms provide easy reporting tools, ample time for the associate to complete their work as well as report incidents. They train all supervisors frequently in company policy and communication skill - things like ways to create an environment of trust and communication, and provide managers and supervisors with the opportunity to train their crews in safe work procedures.

Additionally, for remote workers, best-practice employers provide remote training and performance support resources to assure understanding, compliance and access to safety information, training, and on-the-job safe-work resources.

Net:

A culture of safety is the end-point of a continuum that begins with a culture of complacency.

The first step to move beyond complacency, and toward a safety culture requires the courage to gather the data (via a safety culture survey) to get your employee's perspective of the efficacy of your safety management system.

JS

12 Performance Improvement Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-02T14:22:00.001-08:00

Here are 12 resolutions to adopt to improve the performance of your workplace in 2012:

1. Hire an external firm to assess the engagement levels of your staff.

While it can be done internally, we've recently seen cases where the biases in the survey were (not intended) astounding, and skewed results dramatically. An engagement survey can be adapted to focus on safety issues, if this is a particular concern for the business. The results of either survey will provide solid insights into planning organizational change to assure the targets of 2012 are achieved.

2. Conduct three random and heart-felt 'thank you's' per week, to anybody on your staff, where you invest a minimum of 10 minutes per conversation.

3. Ask a senior manager how they are progressing with their goal-achievement- then acknowledge them in front of their peers if they can recall their goals with out looking them up.

4. Visit quarterly with each member of your sales team, and ask the question "what do we need to do, to be doing better?"

These are the folks on your front line. You hired them. Listen. Act.

5. Ask your direct reports, privately: "how can I be a better manager for you?"

If you're really committed, invest in 360-feedback surveys for your management team, and commit to action plans to improve the results.

6. Take your banker and accountant out to lunch - together, and ask-for and listen to their advice.

7. Assess your risk tolerance, and challenge your business plan from both an opportunity and risk management perspective.

What 3 things can you stop doing, because they've never really carried their weight from a profit-generation perspective? What 3 things can you add that will add profit to your firm?

8. Put-together a "diversity board"- consisting of people whose sole function is to provide perspective that you might not be getting.

Consider a 20-something, a visible minority, a senior, and so on. If you're not listening to these constituencies- you're likely not listening completely to your market.

9. Go mobile.

Challenge your team to develop performance support resources for mobile workers to achieve specific business objectives.

10. Recognize that training has a shelf life.

People forget classroom training within a matter of days...are you still training in a classroom-style? Consider weaving accountability into every training program, via rapid e-learning- where managers author their own training content as required.

11. Invest in transforming your performance appraisal process into a performance management process.

Performance appraisal is 'broken' in most places to the extent that appraisals are rarely done (on time), and the goal-setting process is very often ineffectual (or the follow-up is).

12. Connect the dots between accomplishment and aspiration.

Maslow nailed the whole concept of motivation by pointing out that unfulfilled needs are what motivates us as individuals. Find a way to align the achievement of the unfulfilled needs of your staff with the achievement of your strategic objectives, and you're good to go. Your process may involve an incentive plan or a reward and recognition plan. It will definitely include improving managerial skill, better communication/listening, and better goal management.

Net:

Use the energy and good will of the new year to realize that performance and ability improve when managed as one.

The Juniors: A Performance Management Template from the Hockey World

2011-12-31T08:09:00.000-08:00

Every Canadian knows that the most fun and energetic hockey tournament in the world is the World Juniors, held every year between Christmas and New Years Day.

This year- Calgary and Edmonton have showed the world that we're not just great hockey fans, but great hosts as well.

The Canadian teams are usually dominant at these tournaments, even during those occasional years when we lose.

The point of this blog is to comment on how this team (and presumably that of every other international team) comes together, and what we can learn from the process, to strengthen our teams and workplace performances.

'The Juniors' is a quickly-compiled team consisting of the best-of-the-best under 21 players across the country. The 40 or so invitees to training camp are quickly cut into 'The Team', and undergo intensive personal coaching and skill development to become ready for high-level international play a few weeks later (classic project management methodology).

During the coaching and development phase, talented players are brought together, taught a new system, and to play as a unit, to achieve the goals of the organization (winning tournament gold).

Each player has a role, which may be very different from the player's usual role with his home team. Role-articulation must be crystal clear: the player either buys-into the coach's vision for him, or he's cut:

- One is 'the sniper'
- One is 'the scorer'
- The 'set-up man'
- The 'power play face off man'
...and so on.

These new roles, the required skill and specialized knowledge are patiently taught to each player and drilled to assure understanding and compliance. The training is intensive, and is designed to assure compliance with the coach's vision. To achieve this, the players are provided with immediate feedback via video, one-on-one conversations with assistant coaches, group conversations, and so on.

By tournament time, every player has:

- Complete goal awareness, and role-clarity. Every player knows their role to achieve the goal.

- Received, and relies-on continuous feedback to assure peak performance on the job

- Expects to win, and be rewarded with national recognition and a shot at a very lucrative and highly valued pro contract when the team (usually) wins).

Net:

The essentials of an effective performance management system can often be found in high-achieving athletics:

1. Role clarity

2. Training

3. Effective communication from managers

4. Ongoing feedback/corrective guidance

5. Rewards that are valued, expected, and aligned with the objectives of the firm

The Multiplier Effect

2011-12-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

You may recall the term 'The Multiplier Effect' from your days studying economics.

It's the term that economists use to describe the potential impact of an injection of money into an economy - to get a handle on the potential net result of changes to fiscal policy.

But it also has an application in the field of Performance Improvement.

In a blog a few months ago, I described a process to diagnose motivation drift (http://www.caffeineperformance.blogspot.com/2011/06/diagnosing-motivation-drift.html); in it, I outlined a process by which the assessment of certain dimensions of behavior should be multiplied to arrive at an overall assessment for the person in question.

I received a lot of feedback on this point - all of which challenged me: "why not simply add the dimensions instead of multiply them?".

The reason we multiply the dimensions (job clarity/ line of site to reward/ value of reward) is that each dimension is a dependent variable of the other: if one variable is strong, while another is weak, the net effect will be a moderated effect on motivation.

Of course this simplified model of the Motivation Multiplier Effect is presented for illustrative purposes.

Caffeine Performance Management provides a detailed assessment of motivation by manager, strategic objective, and a variety of other dimensions to help you drill-down to the root cause of performance-stasis, or failure to achieve goals or significant organizational breakthroughs.

Net:

Use a detailed Motivation Diagnostic as a the basis of a performance improvement plan by manager that addresses organizational priorities. It can be a very easy tool to implement, and does not necessarily require the intrusiveness of other employee surveys to yield high-impact insights.

JS

Three Things To Think About This Week

2011-11-27T19:05:00.000-08:00

Unemployment is down across western Canada, average income up, governments are increasingly bullish on balancing budgets.

Things are looking pretty good - certainly for job hunters.

So, with that background, here's three things to think about this week:

1. Are you at risk of losing any of your key staff?
2. How do you know?
3. Would you like to have a better sense of the likelihood of defection of your key staff?

Net:

If you find that you're unhappy with your honest answers to these questions, I'd appreciate the opportunity to visit with you. As western Canada's organizational development consultancy that specializes in performance improvement solutions for firms under 200 employees, we have some ideas that we think you might like hearing.

James Simone
Caffeine Performance Management

The Currency of Recognition

2011-11-14T13:02:00.001-08:00

Like most people these days, my wallet seems to have less cash in it and more plastic.

I have credit cards, debit cards, airline cards, cards for grocery stores, and cards that I present with other cards when I pay...all that accumulate points.

I have all of these cards because the card issuers somehow got me to surrender my purchase (and personal?) data in return for the promise of future discounts or trips.

In other words, I modified my behavior to align with their corporate objectives.

Now I know the value of most things I buy, and am not easily fooled by the promise of getting '100,000 points just for switching'...I know it's probably just ten bucks or so.

Still- '$10 bucks just for switching' is somehow a less compelling proposition, isn't it?

Besides, I'd likely end-up blowing the $10 on a couple of coffees somewhere.

So what's my point?

Points work.

It's not the intrinsic value of the redemption, it's the thrill of the chase.
The chance to compare.
The buzz factor.

In a reward and recognition context, points are a lot more friendly than cash to help modify behavior. Coupled with a meaningful catalog of redemption experiences and goods, points become the currency of recognition.

Easy to dispense. Easy to account-for.

...And a medium to provide a direct and personal line of sight for the individual to achieve the organization's objectives.

Net:

A points-based reward and recognition program can be a powerful modifier of behavior, because it provides employees with a direct and highly personal line of sight to their successful achievement of their goals. Caffeine Performance Management provides a client-managed, cloud-based reward and recognition program to turn training into sustained action.

JS

After Your Engagement Survey: 24 Considerations to Turn Insight Into Action

2011-11-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Boss...the results of your employee engagement survey are in. A couple of important things have happened: you've taken action, and you're about to take more action.

The conduct of the survey should be considered a promissory note to your staff: they've delivered candid feedback - it's your turn now to deliver the data, and a plan for improvement.

Here's a few ideas to get you thinking about a PI strategy to affect improvements in engagement:

The 'Jump-off-the-Page' Data

- What did it tell you?
- Correlation between engagement level and tenure?
- How did the “Would you recommend?” dimensions perform?
- What type of communication disconnects were highlighted?

Reading Between the Lines: Can you tell if Managers and Supervisors are:

- Providing feedback?
- Establishing meaningful goals?
- Coaching for performance improvement?
- Providing aligned corporate messaging?
- Able to handle ‘courageous conversations’?
- Conducting performance reviews on time?
- Are Recognition, Rewards programs perceived as aligned? meaningful? timely? sincere?
- Are employees satisfied that their skills and talents are being used and developed?

Follow-up

- What was the business objective of conducting the Survey in the first place?
- Results shared with staff?
- Who will facilitate the presentation of data?
- What results will be shared?
- What’s important to improve?
- What’s critical to business strategy to improve?
- What’s important to staff to improve?
- Can working groups be formed? Composition? Accountability?

Sustainability

- Deadlines for reporting of improvement recommendations?
- What's the commitment to action?
- Senior support
- Pulse-sampling-action planning

Net:

Conducting an engagement survey is a good start. The value in the exercise though, comes in the action and dialog that follows the survey.

JS

Confirmation Bias and Groupthink

2011-10-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

I read an excellent article in today's Globe and Mail, by Tralee Pearce, called "You probably think you know all about self-delusion".

In it, she summarizes work by author David McRaney in his book You Are Not So Smart, who describes a number of ways that people tend to delude themselves (and others).

A fascinating article, I explored McRaney's blog, an apparent source of some the material, and locked onto his work around confirmation bias.

How does confirmation bias prevent a firm from achieving a breakthrough?

We see it everyday:

- "that's the way we've always done it"
- "that's what the SOP says"
- "it'll never fly"

Pearce, in her Globe and Mail article summarizes "Confirmation bias holds everything together. Thinking your opinions are the result of objective analysis, when they’re not. It flavours our unbreakable belief that our behaviour follows from attitude, when actually our attitudes follow from our behaviours. We like to make up stories. But we’re unreliable narrators."

Wow. Let that sink-in, and evaluate your business/employer against these challenge-questions:

What if:

- Confirmation biases are flavoring the delivery of service to your clients? Is it preventing you from achieving a breakthrough?

- Confirmation biases around foundational elements of your business are just that - effectively blinkering you to opportunity?

- Your #1 competitor - isn't?

- The determinant attributes of your market are not aligned with your offering?

...you get the idea.

Merely acknowledging the potential existence of confirmation bias empowers the performance improvement strategist to challenge status quo.

Net:

Look for glass ceilings in your company as likely indicators of a confirmation bias at work. By adopting the "it's this way for a reason" approach, you'll challenge those reasons with objective data, begin to identify root causes, blast beyond groupthink, and begin building real change strategy.

JS

Zombies or Talking Heads: Matching the Message to the Trainee

2011-10-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

I recently saw an excellent promotional video for an elearning module for a software package called Ruby on Rails. The elearning series, Code School - Rails for Zombies speaks directly to its user base with pinpoint accuracy and a blast of irreverance and humor. Images of zombies are interlaced with a would-be code-learner diving into the deep end of a pool in an action-hero pose as he blasts his shot gun. The images, presented in a slide-show format provide an engaging and fun backdrop to the smart-ass style narration that left me wanting more.

So what?

...if you haven't followed the link I gave you yet - go back and do so now, then come back and I'll explain why this is an important detour.

Possible reactions to the video (and the training it is selling) might include:

- "the video is entertaining, but ultimately little else."
- "it reminds me of 'Thriller', but beyond that?"

If your organizational culture is of a certain type (say ultra conservative), you might laugh at the video and say "but that'd never fly here - there are too many 'suits' here.

If you're a person of a certain age, you might think wistfully "I wish my company would produce entertaining learning content - why does it have to be so dull?"

...now, we're getting somewhere.

Training delivery, particularly e-learning is really a function of marketing communication planning. Six elements that need to be identified before production begins are:

1. Who are the primary consumers of the learning? Effective elearning design requires segmenting the market by a variety of variables, not the least of which are gender, age, education, and location (there are of course many more)

2. How do they connect with not just the LMS, but each other?

3. Do they want to connect with each other, but feel that gateways on your LMS might compromise candor and/or anonymity? Can the course be delivered just as effectively 'outside official channels'?

4. What is the purpose of the learning module: skill development, values-reinforcement, or skill-transfer training?

5. Is some level of certification required?

6. How has previous training been delivered, and has the target consumer group been polled as to their preferred method of course consumption/design?

Net:

Elearning is a subset of marketing communications, and requires the same discipline of matching target consumer behavior with the message to increase adoption rates. So, just like an advertising campaign, before launching an elearning program, know your target demographics and their preferences (Caffeine Performance provides a modelling survey for you to do just this!), to determine your best thematic approach to assure the stickiness of your message: zombies, talking heads, or an interactive approach.

JS

The NGH Incident - what PI lessons can we learn?

2011-10-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

I watched on CBC's The National last night with the same mixture of disgust and horror that the rest of the country did as they saw the latest story of victims of Canada's healthcare system unfold. The story was of an 82 year old woman who slipped and fell either in or on the property of the Niagara General Hospital. Her injured son called for help, and was told to call an ambulance - despite the fact that she was already on hospital property. The poor woman, in the hospital to visit her dying husband, lay there for 30 minutes until help finally arrived.

The story takes the gut-wrenching turn when we learn of the eventual death of her husband, and the woman's inability to attend to him during his final moments because of this injury.

While I acknowledge that my facts may not be 100% accurate, the point of this blog is to recount this nightmare from the eyes of the public, then to deconstruct the incident from management's side of the equation, and ask a series of 'what if' questions, to identify potential performance improvement lessons that could be applied elsewhere:

- What if staff were held accountable for there behavior at this hospital - would this have helped?
- it is possible that the response received by the patient was due to over-worked, over-stressed staff. But is that really allowed? Is it acceptable? How did it become so? Is it endemic to just one unit in the hospital, or is it organization-wide?

- Does the hospital measure, and publish their patient satisfaction scores? Most Ontario hospitals do, although at quick glance, I could not find this data on the site of this hospital. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place...or maybe patient satisfaction is simply not a priority at this hospital? Whose responsibility should it be?

- Are performance appraisals in place? Are accountabilities in place for patient and visitor safety? At which level in the organization do these accountabilities stop? Should they be cascaded from top to bottom?

- What sort of KPI focus has their been around patient and visitor safety? How does this balance with the financial imperative?

- How will the organization recover from this terrible, PR nightmare? Will they start pointing fingers or will they realize that something is foundationally wrong, and start probing to determine what it might be, before determining a plan of attack?

- What role does Risk Management play in the organization? Does Risk Management have an active voice at the table when determining policy and response matters related to patient and visitor safety, staffing levels, training, and hiring of qualified managers?

Net:

My very best wishes to all involved in this event. I particularly wish the hospital administration the courage to solve the problem once and for all.

JS

FDR and Employee Engagement

2011-10-17T11:43:00.001-07:00

I invested a couple of hours this weekend at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial in Washington DC, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Design, sculpture, and history were integrated in stunningly poetic fashion.

I was particularly taken with an FDR quote sculpted into the granite: "No country however rich can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order."

Hmm.

As I meandered through the sprawling seven-acre memorial, I pondered this quote, and reflected on the current state of economic affairs, that sadly, shows little gain from FDR's day. One can imagine the wise old guy wagging his finger as he points to his 'new deal' as a way out.

Then I wondered...how many companies tolerate a demoralized work force these days, and what's it costing them? There can be no doubt that it's a menace to the social order/potential output of firms when their employees are demoralized.

Net:

If you have yet to awaken to the possibility and price tag of a demoralized work force (or even a partially demoralized work force), I urge you to hire an engagement survey today. The results of the survey will likely surprise you, and will power you to make real change in your operation.

JS

Assessing the Value of Training

2011-10-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

I recently read an excellent article in the ISPI Journal by Dave Basarab, where he outlines a Predictive Modeler to assess the value of training.

Because training is an expensive proposition which by nature is both invasive and interventionist, it's vital to objectively assess the proposed investment against external criteria...ie, how likely is your proposed training plan to achieve your objective?

Basarab develops an eloquent model that combines the predictive scores of the training's intention, adoption, impact to the organization.

Excellent thinking - and just another example of ROI-thinking being initiated inside the HR function (or within the functional element of HR and Process management in the Ops realm).

Net:

We celebrate the provision of analytical tools that quantify the need for performance or process improvement. When assessing. (or developing) these tools, we look for a common sense, broad-based approach that considers relevant risks, costs, and benefits that are grounded in reality.

JS

The Unseen Shapers of Engagement and Culture

2011-09-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Much is written about the dynamics and power of organizational culture. How it can affect everything - positively and negatively - from service to safety to product quality.

Lead by the Japanese school of management, and its recognition of culture, the entire TQM and engagement revolution was born in the 70's and 80's, and has evolved continually since then.

Since employee engagement has become a leading indicator of financial performance, much research has taken place around how to improve culture to improve performance - much of it written-about in this blog over the past few years.

Today, I posit the notion that the real, perhaps most powerful shapers of organizational culture are the people who don't even work at the organization.

...huh?

It starts at the dinner table, with a variant of "how was your day today?". If the response to that question is met with continued negativity, the eventual good-hearted advice will eventually evolve from "what you going to do about it" to "time to get your butt out of there".

This begs a couple of challenge questions:

1. Who is responsible for the quality of the day of your employees?
2. Can you, as their boss, mitigate a 'bad day' through effective communication skills? Should you?
3. Do you actively engage the significant others in the lives of your employees? If not - why not?
4. What do you think the 'dinner-table' chat is about work in your company or SBU? Do you care? If not, why not?
5. What do you think the impact on performance improvement is, if your staff are not happy with their work?

JS

Who Ya Gonna Call?

2011-09-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

An effective performance management system negates the need for a lifeline. It reduces stress on your staff, and helps you manage an efficient operation.

Think about it: if your business or SBU was truly operating like you planned, you'd have received early warning signals from your KPI's - and you would have acted on them - thereby averting the need for crisis management.

You'd be achieving your goals.

If your performance management system was humming-along as it should, your business would never have:

- dissatisfied customers
- cash flow crises
- off-target sales
- dissatisfied employees
- unrealized goals

...you get the idea.

The fact is, if you are experiencing any problem in your business, it was very likely avoidable or at least manageable with an effective performance management system alerting you to the trouble that could be on the horizon. All you had to do was design your KPI's, watch the data, and manage your business.

So Boss, before your next problem erupts...who ya gonna call?

My advice? How about the person in the mirror.

JS.

Defining Coaching Excellence: Mr. Spencer

2011-09-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge hockey fan...have been all of my life.

When I was a kid, I played organized hockey for a few years, and loved every minute of it. As every other kid, I had the fantasy of one day making the pros. When I wasn't at the rink, I was skating on a frozen river in our backyard. I lived for chasing frozen pucks - and thought I was terrific at it - until Mr. Spencer came into the picture.

Mr. Spencer was the coach of my hockey team, the Mustangs, when I was 11 and 12 years old.

He inherited a bunch of smart-ass kids who each thought they were destined for the pros. He shaped this rag-tag group into legitimate winners, by instilling group-wide values of respect, humility, humor, willingness to learn, and team-above-self.

...now, when I think of coaching excellence, I always default to Mr. Spencer as my go-to case.

So, in a corporate performance improvement context, what makes a great coach?

Here's a list of effective coaching behaviors:

1. Communication Skill - a great coach is a great communicator. She has the ability to distill sometimes painful feedback so that the message will be heard by the 'coachee' and actioned.

2. Courage - a great coach isn't afraid to confront their coachee with sometimes painful data/feedback, sometimes persistently.

3. Adaptability and Empathy - a great coach should have a strong base-line level of knowledge related to the individual's job. The coach doesn't have to 'do' the job, but should have an understanding of how the job is done, and the ability to project herself into that position, and the complexity of the relationships that the coachee encounters.

4. Discreet and Trusted - a blabbermouth coach is a bad coach.

5. Inspiring and Organizationally Savvy - a great coach is one who acknowledges success, isn't shy with a figurative 'high five', and has the ability to make things happen politically (discreetly) for the coachee.

There's more...tell me your story of your 'Mr. Spencer'!

James.
1800.401.3712

Quick Quiz: How are decisions made at your firm?

2011-09-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick quiz with perhaps a startling outcome for you: how are decisions made at your firm?

Are they:

1. Individual and Entrepreneurial?

2. Professional and managerial?

3. Boss-centred, with an emphasis on process vs. results?

Professor J. Baardwick, in his AMACOM publication, Danger in the Comfort Zone: From Boardroom to Mailroom – How to Break the Entitlement Habit That’s Killing American Business makes the case that the decision-making style of your firm reflects the stage of its life cycle.

Getting consensus around this seemingly simple item will help your firm plot an organizational turnaround strategy.

If you answered that your firm's decision-making style is:

1. Individual and Entrepreneurial, according to Prof Baardwick, odds are you're in start-up mode.

2. Professional and managerial decision-making are symptomatic of firms in both rapid and steady-growth, while

3. Decision-making that is boss-centred, with an emphasis on process vs. results is evidence of a firm in decline.

Net:

While not necessarily prescriptive, Baardwick goes on to document warning signs of behaviours (evidenced by decision making and other leadership traits) of firms in each stage of the corporate life cycle.

This is compelling information, and an important-read, because when combined with other macro-level indicators of a firm's health, provides both executives and OD consultants with data to zero-in on 'hot spots' for either removal or targeted improvement activities.

I'm very interested in your firm! Please respond, or call me at 1.800.401.3712 to discuss the strategic implications.

James.

Michael Scott, Motivation, and Just Listening

2011-09-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

You may want to stop reading now: I'm a huge fan of 'The Office', and as the theme of this blog is 'performance improvement in sales and marketing organizations', I couldn't resist using the team at Dunder Mifflin as an example.

"Performance Improvement" too often gets pigeon-holed as either an HR or operational function.

In the case of HR, the effort tends to focus on individual performance improvement practices, that start with job designs, descriptions, equity-review panels, pay banding policy, incentives, appraisal processes, and so on.

Operational performance improvement focuses on systems that could be functioning better. Elements that are often involved include benchmarking, customer feedback surveys, market surveys, employee opinion/engagement surveys, system reviews and project management principles.

Often overlooked in the discussion of performance improvement is how to improve sales results, through improved marketing performance.

While there's a wealth of sales and marketing literature available, the fact remains that sales is the lifeblood of any business, and marketing is the vital strategic connection for business growth. Not providing performance management resources in these areas is simply not an option.

Yet, a sense of product-superiority hubris often sets in, and when it does, it can spell trouble for sales.

Do any of these themes sound familiar?:

- "our sales people are on a quota system - if they don't sell, we'll replace them"
- "our sales people are on commission - it's in their interest to keep selling"
- "we have so much demand, the role of sales is really just order taking"
- "our product is so unique/superior in the market - it sells itself"
- "we're so well priced, we really don't have competition"
- "our service is why we're so successful"
- "we are the best in the market - period."

...chances are you've heard on or more of these themes at a company near you more than once. I'd wager that the company that truly believes any one of the statements above is headed for a wake-up call the likes of which will not be pleasant.

Why?

Stagnant sales, or stagnant lead generation is a signal that one of two things are occurring:

1. Your sales team has stopped selling, and is spending their hours goofing-off.
2. The market is talking to you.

Let's explore each case in detail:

1. Your sales team has stopped selling, and is spending their hours goofing-off.

Consider the following before jumping to this conclusion:

- How likely is it that your team is as bad as the sales guys on The Office?
- Are you really as bad a leader as Michael Scott on The Office?
- What do you see happening?
- What are the activity reports telling you?
- Is call/activity volume up, down, or flat?
- Is the team happy?
- Are they otherwise engaged in project work that you've assigned to them?
- How long does it take them to get one proposal or piece of correspondence out the door?
- Are they excessively customizing their proposals for clients, at a too-early phase?
- Do they understand and believe in your product catalog?
- When was the last time they received a bonus? Was it paid on time?
- Are commissions paid on time?
- What does the team say/feel when asked about why sales have slowed?
- Do your sales people sell a product or a solution to a problem?

2. The market is talking to you...are you listening?

Consider the following:

- Have your traditional lead generation sources changed?
- Are you experiencing less face-to-face presentations? why?
- What's happening with your clients in the last six months that's causing them worry?
- Have new competitors entered the scene?
- Has your technology/product changed in the last year/two years/five years?
- How does your offering stand-up against a clients internal 'buy or build' assessment?
- Are you a mission-critical purchase, or a nice-to-have purchase?
- What's your reputation in the market?
- Is your messaging razor-sharp or muddled?

Net:

It's a lot of soul-searching, isn't it?!

If your analysis is leading you to a 'people' issue, your next step is to drill-down to identify the precise people and specific issues. That's where we can help out. Our MotivationManager system identifies 19 drivers of motivation for each manager, to help identify an individual performance improvement plan that'll individually and collectively improve performance for the team (it's more complex than this blog can explain, but I'd be happy to show you via webinar).

If your analysis has lead you to a 'market' issue, chances are you already have a sense of the cause. Our Market Turnaround performance improvement plan provides you with tools, research, and counsel to help you architect a quick-turn adjustment to your business plan.

Or, give me a call to chat about your situation!

James.
1-800-401-3712

Drucker, culture, and safety.

2011-08-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."

...that's a pretty famous quote that alot of folks these days have taken credit-for. It seems though that the proper attribution belongs to Peter Drucker (who we all remember fondly from our biz school days).

I couldn't agree with Mr. Drucker more.

Every workplace has its own distinct culture - a set of norms and 'ways we do things around here' that has evolved over time, and become accepted by both workers and management. Usually, this culture has very little to do with the SOP book.

Cultures develop randomly and tend to resist change unless they are actively managed. Newcomers are quickly educated in the ways to 'fit in'. The dysfunctional elements of culture become obvious only after setbacks such as accidents or near-misses.

A link between workplace culture and safety?

You bet.

Extensive research on the subject has shown the key drivers of a safety culture to be issues around confidence, reporting, and the work itself. Specifically:

- Employees in highly effective safety cultures tend to have high degrees of confidence in their supervisors, management, and the company itself on issues related to trust and safety.

- On reporting, key drivers are a reprisal-free workplace and a sense of trust that action will be taken should an incident or safety violation be reported.

- Issues related to the work itself include time-to-perform, training, tools, and work group issues.

The Safety Culture Index is compiled from a 41-question survey that'll help you assess just how effective your workplace culture really is at preventing accidents. It'll help you to zero-in on, and implement improvement plans against the specific areas that require your attention.

JS

Communications and Safety Culture: "I heard it through the grapevine."

2011-07-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

When I sat down to blog about communication effectiveness and its impact on a safety culture, the Marvin Gaye version of this song came to mind! Poor old Marvin sang the blues about hearing bad news from a friend, who heard it from a friend.

...the dreaded grapevine.

The grapevine never ever has something good to say about anything or anyone. It's a dreadful place to hear anything about yourself or your company...and if you're a manager who's been mentioned on it, then I'm writing today with a few tips to help you improve your communication skills to help you avoid the grapevine, and set your work unit straight on issues related to safety: strengthening your safety culture.

Grapevine situations happen only when there is a gap in information. Person A is unclear, asks Person B, who is equally unclear, but somewhat authoritative and friendly, who offers an opinion. Qualified or not, this opinion takes on a life of its own, as we've all experienced both personally and professionally.

Your role as a manager: don't react to the message - investigate root causes that might have triggered the unclarity in the first place.

The best communication practice for managers is to 'say what you do, and do what you say'. This will build trust, satisfaction, commitment, and a sense that if data is missing, a direct-to-you line will clarify it quickly. Moreover, from a safety perspective, you'll be seen to be reinforcing corporate policy and building the safety culture in your work group.

Grapevine scenarios happen when managers 'don't say, but do', thereby creating mixed signals, and gaps in information. Consider the turmoil and the instant rise of a grapevine, in the case of a well-meaning manager who initiates a new action/initiative, but fails to inform others of it:

- Why is this action taking place?
- What is the organizational motivation for the action?
- Does this mean that other actions will no longer be taking place?
- What is my role in this new action?
- I manage the old action...am I still needed?
- Is this temporary or a new, full-time initiative?
- Where is the budget coming from?

A grapevine scenario could also be triggered post-accident, if appropriate information (status of the injured, corrective action planning, etc) is not given to staff on a timely basis. I've seen situations where despite plenty of good activity taking place, staff did not know of it, and effectively 'hung' the manager for being uncaring, not looking-out for staff, etc.

Avoid the grapevine, and be a more effective communicator, by:

1. Being aware of the grapevine potential, and being committed to heading it off early
2. Do what you say, and say what you do. Inform others. Anticipate questions. Answer questions. Be candid.
3. Act after informing.
4. Inform in 'grand' style where appropriate, at least once in a while: stop work for a few minutes before lunch, deliver your announcement (and you'll have effectively dominated that day's lunch-chatter)

JS.

Pros and Cons of 2 Healthcare PI Systems

2011-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

The US Centers for Medicaid and Medicare has an admirable system whereby patient satisfaction with hospital service are routinely surveyed and the scores are published.

The system (known as HCAHPS - an acronym so incredibly clumsy that it could only be government-spawned), is admirable, in that not only are the scores published for all to see (patients, families, insurers), but the results are tied into Medicare reimbursement as well. Reimbursement is based in part on the greater of improvement or achievement, as well as consistency against key drivers of these scores.

Clinical scores are tied into a similar measurement-publication-reimbursement cycle.

As a Canadian, I applaud this transparency, and celebrate the aspirations of Ontario's Bill 46 - a 'baby-steps' legislative change in the direction of the HCAHPS system.

As I work with US hospitals periodically on issues related to HCAHPS, I am very interested in the performance improvement responses of Ontario hospitals as it relates to Bill 46 (a requirement of the Bill is that hospitals must publish their performance improvement plans).

I've spent some time reviewing these recently, especially the sections related to the patient experience.

I was struck by the following contrasts:

In the US: Performance improvement responses of many hospitals frequently default to macro-'clinical' approaches: root cause identification, cross-functional teams, etc. Because Medicare reimbursement is on the line, the focus is on improving the entire range of patient care, to maximize reimbursement and solidify market share.

In Ontario: Performance improvement responses tend to focus on 'micro'-level improvements (ie, improving just one dimension of care versus the entire patient experience). Due to funding models, this is of course to be expected.

This is a concern for the citizens of Ontario. Without significant leverage to create organization-wide change, their hospitals will continue to focus on minor process improvements that they deem to have a positive impact on the patient experience. The organization must deliberately rise above the natural PI focus of 'micro' to avoid missing the big opportunities for change that the hospitals to the south are undergoing.

Our team recently tore into the HCAHPS report of a large midwest hospital, and identified a clear link between 'Explanations' first by Physicians and second by Nurses to the 'Overall' HCAHPS score of the hospital.

While not necessarily causal, the statistical relationship between the 'Overall' HCAHPS score of the hospital and these two Explanation dimensions is undeniable, and tracks closer than any other dimension for this hospital.

By focusing on improving these items, this hospital will have an effective toe-hold to getting two very important constituencies paddling in the same direction with an important, tough-to-implement process (that often involves a measure of scripting and an element of behavior change)...by focusing on 'micro' dimensions only - Ontario hospitals risk losing out.

In the US: Hospitals sometimes struggle with prioritization of performance improvement projects, particularly when systemic challenges arise that require the input of one or more departments to solve. Moreover, due to the structure of the HCAHPS survey, an impatience for results is beginning to take hold (not a bad thing).

In Ontario: Patient satisfaction surveys are conducted (apparently) by one vendor, in conjunction with the Ontario Hospital Association. The results are not published (or at least they are very, very hard to find if they are). The data that's published is from the hospitals themselves, and is of a 'press release' nature. Common publications quote meaningless top box data in small towns, clearly designed to make someone (staff?) feel good, or to elicit donations to the foundation.

In the US: patient discharges are surveyed at least quarterly, monthly or weekly in large facilities. Publications to the live site (www.hospitalcompare.gov are quarterly).

In Ontario: seems like annual surveys. But I can't be sure. Conversations with people that ought to know...don't.

So what?
Both health systems are in crisis, aren't they?

Well, yes, but from a PI perspective, let's look at the fundamentals at play in each, and the relative importance of each, before we place our bets:

- Benchmarking - clearly the US is further ahead.
- Incentives - while incentives (in the form of low-level financial penalties and public 'shamings' exist in the Ontario Bill 46), the HCAHPS system has a built-in incentive to improve the patient experience as well as reduce cost and medical errors - advantage US
- Alignment - advantage US
- Motivation - advantage US
- Ability - this is where the jury is out.

JS.

Dropped Balls

2011-07-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with a senior leader of a rather large company last week, when it became apparent that they use the term performance management as a synonym for performance appraisal. I was intrigued with their perspective, and listened and probed for as much information, to learn if in fact there was more to their performance management system than was meeting the eye.

It soon became clear that a rather well-defined performance appraisal system was in place, complete with appraiser-training programs to neutralize bias, delivery-date accountability, and other sensible, well-thought-out processes to assure that performance feedback is being delivered regularly.

It also became clear that the ball was being dropped after the appraisals.

While action planning is being identified in each PA, little is being done to support a culture of improvement, whereby the action plans are actually being accomplished. So what's happening is that the action plans are being written - purportedly as development plans - then filed and forgotten.

Challenging this, the response was "The action plans are the responsibility of the individual. If they would like to achieve a higher performance ranking next time around, they'll accomplish the action plan."

Fine - the trouble is that accomplishment of the action plans is no guarantee of a higher ranking in the next appraisal (and both managers and employees know that this expectancy-gap exists).

...another dropped ball.

We chatted about how the strengths of the current Appraisal system could be used to transition into an organization-wide Performance Management system. This touched on a variety of factors, including the number and nature of projects currently being managed by the firm and how these could benefit from a strong Performance Management system.

I follow-up the conversation with an email that I'm pleased to share with you today, that highlights some 'guiding' work for the Caffeine Performance folks. The work by Armstrong and Baron defines elements of a strong Performance Management system - all of which incidentally are provided by Caffeine to our clients - to assure that balls are no longer dropped:

- It communicates a vision of its objectives to all of the firm's employees

- It sets departmental, unit, team, and individual performance targets that are related to wider objectives

- It conducts a formal review of progress towards these targets

- It uses the review process to identify training, development, and reward outcomes

- It evaluates the whole process to improve effectiveness

- It defines managerial structure to look after these characteristics (managers are assigned to manage the Performance Management system)

- Targets are set in express terms related to learning, measurable outputs, service, accountabilities, and other deliverables

- Formal appraisal processes are in place and used to communicate performance requirements

- Pay is linked to performance through rewards, incentives, and bonuses (with clear and attainable guidelines)

Net:

If your company is still talking in terms of 'appraisal-only'...there's a very good chance that balls are being dropped - opportunity is being missed, employee engagement is not maximized, turnover is higher than it needs to be, profit may not be maximized.

Diagnosing Motivation-Drift

2011-06-28T17:55:00.001-07:00

"My heart just isn't in it anymore."
"Things have changed here..."
"My job- it's OK I guess - it's a job."

You'll hear variants on these themes if you ask (and honestly receive) opinions about how people perceive their jobs. Let's face it - except in areas of high unemployment, there's a general malaise toward the idea of work:

...The daily grind.
...The old 'nine to five.'

It ought not to be this way. In fact, I argue that as managers of organizations, SBU's or departments within an SBU, it's within our power to put an end to this nonsense.

It starts with a perspective on the term 'motivation' that you may not have considered before. Let's take a look at some of the components of motivation, to start with the building-blocks of a performance improvement strategy as it relates to motivation:

1. The first component involves clarity of your employee's jobs, and their belief that their work will have a controllable impact on their performance.

This really is about job design, and communication, and speaks to the human need to control their workday/outputs.

- It's your employee's (collective belief that 'if I do X, I will get Y').
- reflect on this for a few moments, and assign your work-group a number between 1 and 10 (highest) for this factor
- for this example, let's assume you assessed this dimension as a '5'

2. "What's in it for me to work harder?"

Elements here include cash rewards, incentives, benefits, time off, and so on. Equally important, they include elements such as handshakes, informal recognitions, chances for promotion, and all other intrinsic rewards.

- It's your employee's (collective belief that 'my effort-specifically my discretionary effort, will earn a defined reward').
- reflect on this for a few moments, and assign your work-group a number between 1 and 10 (highest) for this factor
- for this example, let's assume you assessed this dimension as a '7'

3. "So what?"

If your employees (collectively) don't value their potential reward, they aren't likely to expend discretionary effort to achieve it.

- It's your employee's (collective belief that 'I want to achieve my goal, because the reward potential is amazing!').
- reflect on this for a few moments, and assign your work-group a number between 1 and 10 (highest) for this factor
- for this example, let's assume you assessed this dimension as a '2'

Finally, the last step is to get a sense of your unit's overall motivation level.

Do this by multiplying your assessment in each of #1 x #2 x #3.

- In this example, your unit's motivation level is: 5x7x2=70 out of a potential 10x10x10=1000
...Or, about 7% of your potential.

Yikes!

Diagnosing where the 'motivation drift' happened is easy...take a look at your numbers, and see if an action plan can be developed to complete the gaps.

Net:

If you're honest, your staff aren't as motivated as you think they are. Starting with a 'best guess' is fine, and re-affirming with a definitive engagement survey will help you craft a motivation strategy that's measurable.

JS