Good intentions gone wrong

I was shopping at my neighborhood grocery store and happened to make an impulse purchase for a Christmas present. As I was standing in the line, I noticed a sign that advertised free gift wrapping and was thrilled: The gift was large and lumpy, and I was not looking forward to wrestling with it. I would be happy to delegate it to someone more talented. Little did I know that I was going to enter a gift wrapping nightmare as a result of typical performance management failures.

Missing process and communication

I didn’t have much time, so I wanted to make sure I was going to the right place. As I was at the check-out desk, I asked the associate about the offer. Her answer: “Ummm… What gift wrapping?” I pointed at the sign glued to her post, and she hesitantly pointed me to Customer Service.

Missing talent and skills

As I walked towards the Customer Service, I asked another associate about the gift wrapping. He knew to point me to the department that was in charge of wrapping, and walked with me. Unfortunately, nobody was there. The lights were off, although I could see a couple of rolls of gift paper. The associate started paging people. The first person who got there assured me that I wouldn’t want him to wrap my gift. More people were paged. Eventually they found two young ladies who were up to the challenge.

Missing tools and resources

The eager associates asked for my preference for the wrapping paper, and I was looking forward to a fast resolution. I had already waited 15 minutes and was starting to get second thoughts. Not so fast! There were no scissors or tape at the gift wrapping station. The other associate was ready to rip a product from the shelf to produce scissors for the transaction. After a frantic search through the drawers, we were ready to make some progress.

Hooray, after almost half an hour, I had my gift wrapped. The employees were doing everything they could with their positive attitude and creativity to compensate for the corporate blunders. I can’t say my experience was truly positive. I ended up being the guinea pig to trigger some process improvement in their gift wrapping offer. If their company culture works, the employees will bring up input and ideas to improve the customer experience. Everything that went wrong was very simple to prevent:

• Communicate the process and expectations to your employees.
• Ensure you have the right people with right skills in place.
• Provide tools and resources for success.

Are you ready to make your employees successful?

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Raise your hand if you hate performance management

Performance management has got such a bad rep among both employees and managers. For employees, the performance review is the annual dooms day, and for managers, it is a month filled with endless bureaucracy. The sad thing is that performance reviews don’t really drive performance. They are necessary for other talent management processes, and should be done well, but any manager who thinks that the annual review is enough to check the box for performance management completed for the year is WRONG.

According to CLC (Corporate Leadership Council) research, the top three performance drivers are risk taking, informal feedback and clear performance standards. Managers who cut some slack for their team members to try out new things will find process improvements and increased productivity. If some of the new ideas don’t work out, they don’t slam the explorers. You need lots of new ideas to find one good idea. At the same time, these managers don’t allow risky and unsafe behaviors.

When it comes to performance management, the most effective way to drive performance is to be clear about expectations and give frequent feedback. No complex computer systems needed! The key is a skilled manager. Employees must know what the expectations are in the form of job descriptions, company behavior standards, and specific goals to accomplish what is important for the company. When the expectations are clear to everyone, employees are more likely to feel that they are treated fairly.

Once the manager has set clear expectations, it is equally important to let the employees know how they are doing against the standards. Most everyone comes to work to do their best. If they are doing their job right, or great, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to let them know that. If they are off track, the manager needs to alert them to the deviation. The earlier the correction is made, the easier it will be. The worst annual reviews take place when the employee hears from the manager that they have not met the expectations but didn’t know about it. Feedback is so simple and it is just about the most powerful weapon to boost your team’s performance.

So why do we even have annual reviews if they don’t really drive performance? CLC research reveals that annual reviews drive retention. It is a chance to discuss career development and how much the employee is appreciated. Annual reviews trigger a chain of events in a company that values its talent. The performance ratings from annual reviews are used to differentiate rewards and development. When the reviews are more forward looking, they become less dreaded and more valuable. Let’s not forget that bulk of performance management happens every day.

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Copyright 2010 Liisa Pursiheimo-Marcks, all rights reserved.
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Do you LOVE your job? Rediscovering passion at work.

What keeps puzzling me is how some people are passionate about their work and some are not. Look at the healthcare workers who dropped everything to go and help the victims in Haiti. There are scientists who spend nights at their labs to find a new solution to our energy crisis and Olympic athletes who sacrifice their normal youth for one chance to be number one. But these jobs are so alluring and have a higher purpose, we say. But what about the lady at my grocery store who packs my purchases faster than anyone else? She sorts them by kind to make it easier to unpack, and does all this with a smile. You can tell she is proud of her work. And I know software developers who love coding so much they take their laptops to bed. There are also doctors, scientists, media personalities and athletes who are not passionate about what they do. My claim is that it’s not about the job; it’s something else.

In the old days, we used to have artisans and craftsmen, who learned their profession through apprenticeship and years of practice. They even assumed their last names based on their trade. They marked their work with their initials and made sure it was well done. In the age of mass production and standardization, employees can still carry the mark of ownership and pride to their work. This is a personal choice. You can be today’s craftsman of your own trade.

We also have our natural skills and talents. Some of them are more obvious and transferable to a career than others. The greatest gift parents can do for their children is to let them explore their gifts and interests and guide them to the right path, not necessarily the one they had in mind in the first place. If we get to do something that comes easy for us, the passion follows. Maybe it’s not the whole job, but a part of your job.

When we talk about a calling, it has to do with making a difference. If I work for a charitable organization or an emergency room, the impact is easy to see. However, every organization is necessary and has a purpose in its own way. Find out how your company’s products are used, how customers experience the solutions, and what is needed to strive towards the company’s vision. Make sure you see the connection between your line of work and why your company exists. Then decide to be the best that you can be.

The most intense moments of recorded happiness are experienced at work during flow. When we set challenging goals for ourselves, avoid interruptions and give our best, our chances to get into the flow increase. That is passion. It can happen in any job.

In today’s economy, it may sound a bit arbitrary to talk about passion. Those who don’t have a job feel stuck and forced to take whichever job they may get. Those who are already in a rut are painted in a corner and can’t leave in the fear of not finding a more fulfilling position. Even in this situation, job passion can be achieved. Make a long term plan to get to your final destination that matches your natural gifts and the work environment you desire. In the meanwhile, create opportunities to get into the flow and take pride in whatever you do in your current trade.

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Copyright 2010 Liisa Pursiheimo-Marcks, all rights reserved.
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How big of a chunk of your company’s talent is underutilized?

The CBS post-Super Bowl show Undercover Boss thrilled or further jaded over 38 million viewers. The Waste Management President and COO Larry O’Donnell spent five days on the ground learning the ropes of the basic operations from the first line employees. Who wouldn’t enjoy watching a corporate big wig scrubbing latrines?

The outcome of the show was that Mr. O’Donnell ordered some changes in the local practices and a task force to look into their productivity policies that seemed to override all other company values. Having worked side by side with five employees, he also ended up promoting three of them. Now, three out of five makes 60%. It took the company President to notice that 60% of the employees he met did not work to their fullest potential.

Waste Management has 45,000 employees. With O’Donnell’s quick sample, 60% of talent being underutilized would make 27,000 missed opportunities. Yikes! Something to talk about with Jay Romans, Senior Vice President, People.

When a company grows past 400-500 employees, the CEO can’t know every employee. The VP of HR can’t know every employee. It is time to put in place talent management mechanisms that ensure that the CEO’s eyes reach all the way to the front lines to recognize and move the right people to the right opportunities.

The selection process should reflect the qualities that make the company culture successful. Sometimes, the culture is not quite there yet, so the management must find the pockets of excellence, and start building the desired culture by replicating the top performers’ attitudes and aptitudes, starting with hiring.

With the talent already in the organization, it is important not to let it go stale. The company loses opportunities, the employees lose motivation. There must be a process in place that frequently checks where the opportunities are, and where opportunities can be created. You also must create visibility into the strengths and talents of your existing employees. How else can you match talent to opportunities? The market provides many options for skill inventory software, or better yet, integrated talent management software.

And even with the fanciest software, keep this age-old rule in mind: garbage in – garbage out. It applies even at Waste Management. If the managers and employees don’t take the talent management process seriously, your software is not worth a byte.

Managers a the key to spotting talent are the managers. If they are only interested in and rewarded for getting today’s tasks done, there will be no talent management. They must have the skills and confidence to have in-depth conversations with their employees about their motivations, strengths and career goals. The company culture must also promote resource development and allocation beyond one’s own turf.

Many employees don’t even realize that they have opportunities beyond their current position. With a supportive company culture and a manager who knows how to develop their skills and coach their careers, they can look beyond the dead-end job, even if the President doesn’t come for a visit.

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Copyright 2010 Liisa Pursiheimo-Marcks, all rights reserved.
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