CHAPTER 1

Indispensable Communications Tools

Beware of the Trauma You May Cause When Documenting Performance Problems

In the Introduction to this book, I discussed how and why organizations came todocument performance issues in the first place—their initial goodintentions and their eventual malfunction. The following story brings a real-worldface to this critical issue and the importance of finding perfect phrasesto document performance problems.

When a Single Word Without Explanation Won't Cut It

John, a supervisor at a well-known pharmaceutical firm, shared the followingconfidential story during an interview for this book:

I remember when I was coming up through the ranks in this organization. I waseager, hardworking, and enthusiastic about the future until my managerdocumented my performance in a standard 90-day performance review.

I distinctly recall that he wrote down in my file that my overall performancewas "satisfactory." This one word leveled me. In my head, I was working so muchharder and better than just satisfactory. What did he mean? Why wasn't thedocumentation more specific? Why didn't he write, "John's performance wassatisfactory based on his level of current experience"? That, I could havehandled. Instead, I was simply labeled "satisfactory"—translation: lowerthan highly satisfactory, below good, and far below excellent or a job welldone!

You may be thinking, why was this so traumatic? After all, my manager didn'twrite something terrible about me. But, you see, it was terrible. My enthusiasmwas squelched and so was my confidence. The documentation without betterunderstanding of what exactly "satisfactory" meant was insufficient feedbackthat took the air right out of my sails and slowed down my go-get-'em stride andpositive attitude. That documentation haunted me for years, and I eventuallyleft the department because of it.

John's point is well taken. As a manager, always be fully aware of the influenceyou may have over someone the moment you write down and document a performanceissue. You don't have to write something derogatory to traumatizesomeone—one word can do it. Lack of specificity and ignoring a specificrecommendation, or a way to help people improve their status, is enough to setthem back and squash their self-confidence. So remember, it's not just what yousay in your documentation that matters, it's also how you say it.

As you use these lists of perfect phrases for documenting performance problems,keep in mind that it will be up to you to provide a thorough explanation of thephrase suggested. A phrase alone is not enough when it comes to really wantingto help someone get better and reach his or her greater potential.

Let Performance Problems Be Your Organization's Strength Finders

Documenting an employee's performance problems is a delicate matter. When aleader takes the time to carefully craft what he is going to say about someone,that person helps to set the tone for future dialogue and ongoing improvementand personal growth.

Right now in some organization, somewhere, a manager or supervisor is meetingwith an employee to discuss his or her performance problems. Some people wouldrather have a root canal! But they feel that way because managers andsupervisors often focus on the problem and not on the strength that can comefrom addressing that problem head on. Leaders also fail to back it up byproviding a method to somehow create strength in an otherwise weak performance.(See Appendix A, Sample Performance Builder.) We've learned from experience thatthe traditional performance appraisal, on its own, simply doesn't cut it.

So then how does one improve performance by focusing on strengths? It is done bydeveloping better and stronger communications skills as a leader. When youdocument an employee's performance problems, you hold in your hand the power toaffect that individual's long-term success and desire to change and evolve forthe better. Documenting an employee's performance problems gives you, theleader, an opportunity to emphasize the vital qualities that that personpossesses. You can also further elaborate on how that employee can transformthose weaknesses one step at a time into something of greater value and meaning.

It is your communications skills—or the ability to phrase problemsclearly, correctly, and effectively—that can remove the barriers to youremployees' performance and productivity. When a leader does this well, she letsthe employee know exactly where he stands and how far he needs to go to get tohis best performance. That's the mission—continuous learning and growth,not criticism and ridicule.

Get to the Problem Sooner, Not Later

The key to communicating effectively and enabling continuous learning to occuris to identify possible problems before they happen, or as soon as they happen,not later, when irreversible damage may already have been created.

The Process Begins

Documenting performance problems is an ongoing challenge when you want to bringan employee's performance up to an optimum level.

Doing so requires a process that should accomplish the following objectives:

1. Quickly identify and uncover obstacles to an employee's performance andsuccess. Do this sooner, rather than later, whenever possible.

2. Help provide the person, as quickly as possible, with what she needs toeliminate those obstacles that stand in the way of improved performance andongoing success.

3. Be honest and straightforward in your documentation. When you set clearexpectations, you are preparing the employee—actually setting herup—for success rather than failure.

How you go about fostering the communication between you and your employees isup to you, but here are a few guidelines:

* Practice management by walking around (MBWA) and observing what is going on.Observation is the most underrated of all measurement tools. Plus, it's easy todo and cheap.

* Ask employees for ongoing status reports on projects. Don't wait six months tofind out what is happening.

* Hold weekly meetings with employees to evaluate overall direction and reviewwhat has been accomplished to date.

* Provide lots of helpful and corrective feedback.

* Use one-on-one communication when a performance problem arises. Never ridiculeanyone or point out someone's problems in front of others.

Review these communications processes with your team or workers. Then askemployees to share their specific techniques for doing a great job. It's also agood time to ask others to brainstorm their individual solutions to variousperformance issues. Oftentimes, other workers' tips, tools, and shortcuts canserve as valuable...