HRCleanUp

Coaching the Uncoachable by Guest Blogger Bobby Pruitt

Bobby Pruitt is my collegue and all-around great guy at Profiles International.  He is Vice President for Enterprise Solutions at can be reached via email at bobby.pruitt@profilesmail.com. 

Coach the Uncoachable
...What happens if they just don’t get it??

By a show of hands, who has ever coached the uncoachable... come on, be loud n’ proud! It's can also be referred to as:

• The immovable force
• Who made that hiring decision, HR?
• The 80/20 rule or some variation of the 80/20 rule...

Or most widely referred to as...

… a waste of my time!!!

As "fair" and equally grounded as we typically say that we are, there's no getting around it -- some of our team members can “appear” to be a waste of “our” valuable time (said as if we are sharing the only unique asset we have complete control over), Having said that, we typically stop doing it the second we make the realization that the “light’s on, but nobody is home”!
To quote one of my favorite lines in a movie (Tombstone): “It’s like playin cards with my brother’s kids”!

Perhaps they were mis-recruited/mis-hired to begin with; perhaps they were promoted well past their ability to effectively lead others just like themselves; perhaps they simply don't want to do what's required; or perhaps we are totally wrong about them all together... I don't know nor would I spend a ton of time analyzing the "why." The "what," is "I'm spending my time for no return, when I could be spending it on someone else for a recognizable value."

Not really much of a choice, is it? On the other hand, it might be our choice all together.
“They” say (They=Consultant somewhere...) that we spend 80% of our time on those things that deliver us 20% of our total goal. I would argue that, when discussing employee performance, motivation, and one-on-one development or coaching, that figure is much closer to 90%.
So, be honest with yourself: How much time do you spend with your Top Performers... your top 5-10%? Don’t consider face-time, drinks after work, or breakfast get-togethers. I'm talking about working with that A-player, investing your personal time and expertise, and making sure that the "A's" receive more emphasis than the "C's."

Yes, we should do an appropriate amount of development for those employees who don't quite "get it," but seem to have the ability, activity and the "potential" to grow significantly with some well-thought out development. But be critical, wary, and skeptical; you should be prepare to “cut the cord” the moment you realize you are repeating yourself, notice issues of ethics or integrity, or that the employee's "light" just hasn't "turned on."

Remember, development equals the sum of all of its parts (coaching, training, appropriate responsibilities) – and is a vital part of growing our future leaders. But they must bring a few things to the table that you simply cannot "train in..." You can't train them to have a work ethic, for example. They must bring that with them when hired. You cannot train them to be honest and ethical -- someone well before you influenced that beyond repair. You should look at Attitude, Activity, and then Skill before you are able to dismiss a “perceived” marginal performer.

As a coach-manager, your attitude toward making a person successful will make up 80% of their success or failure.  ARE YOU PREPARED TO CARRY THAT WEIGHT ON YOUR SHOULDERS? If you understand this concept, you “have skin in the game”! You can look for the good and increase the number of positive encounters. Before you know what is hitting you, you will be embracing the concept of the “Performance Preview*” This Kum-Ba-Yah world is filled with

1. Company initiatives aligning with individual team members goals
2. Open communication
3. Results exceeding expectations

On the flip side, you also eliminate those “mis-recruits and mis-hires” by pointing them in the right direction (and sometimes that direction is right out the door).

*Wall Street Journal article: Get Rid of the Performance Review by Dr. Samuel A. Culbert

Employee Disengagement is a Global Challenge

Level of Disengagement by Generation and Region

Country	Baby Boomers (1946-1964)	Generation X (1965-1977)	Generation Y (1978-1990)
Australia and New Zealand	13%	24%	25%
China*	--%	34%	33%
Continental Europe	18%	20%	28%
India	16%	12%	14%
North America	17%	20%	35%
Southeast Asia	16%	20%	35%
United Kingdom and Ireland	18%	22%	30%

*There were too few survey responses for Baby Boomers in China to include

There are some interesting observations that you can draw from the information above.  First, disengagement isn't a problem only in the United States...it is a global problem.  Second, the problem crosses generations. So, those boomers who preach "younger workers didn't have to pay the same dues as I did" are not totally preaching the truth but the numbers do show that younger workers are more disengaged.

What programs are you putting in place to improve engagement from all of your workers?  My company, Profiles International can help.  We focus on employee engagement, pre-hire selection, and leadership development.  We frequently start, however, with engagement.

Performance Reviews--Ewww!

Samuel Culbert had a great article appear in the Wall Street Journal the other day titled Get Rid of Performance Reviews!  I couldn't agree more--and many of my students agree with me.

Last week, we were talking about Integrated Talent Management systems.  An ITM is all things talent management--it includes applicant tracking, performance management, succession planning, etc.  When we got to the performance management portion of the lecture, we ended up having a great discussion about the trials and tribulations of the performance management system (and it didn't seem to matter if the "system" was in Excel or in a great web based performance management system).  The students all lamented about the same things:

1. It makes me, and HR in general, feel like the organizational "nag"
2. We have to force managers to complete review
3. Everyone hates the process
4. No one is learning anything--in fact, most managers turn in the ratings so they can process the merit increase before they write the review!

Perhaps it really is time to change the methodology for performance reviews.  As Generation Y and the Millennials come into the workplace regular feedback and performance discussions are critical--how will we meet their needs without a performance management system?

When we do leadership development work with organizations at Profiles International, we focus on coaching and on 360 assessments.  Leader know thyself.  Manager, know your people and play to their strengths and develop their weaknesses.  Easier said than done but many companies out there are trying and we're anxious to help more make a real impact on their people--and their bottom lines.

Potential?

Have you ever been told, or told someone that they have "potential"?  As an HR professional, have you ever taken part of a talent review where you determine who in your organization has "potential"?  These types of talent reviews are a critical component of an solid succession planning or leadership development activity.  

As we look at our high potential people in our organizations, I challenge you to figure out how you measure success in your identified folks.  In other words, if someone is identified as "high potential" how do you monitor and measure their success year over year?  It is critical that you have some methodology to loop back with current supervisors, staff, and peers.  Often, a good 360 assessment program will go a long way in helping your talent pipeline identify gaps and then, a year later, seeing what progress your "high potential" person has made.

People don't want to just see your potential--they eventually want to see results.

43% of American’s Don’t Like Their Managers Management Style!

That statistic came from a Yahoo 2008 survey of American workers. What does that mean for us—well, it means that those of us on the people side of things have a lot of work to do. The question is so broad…what don’t you like? How the delegate? How they don’t delegate? Do they “micromanage” you? Do they not trust you to get the job done? The reasons are endless but you can do something about it.

The reason why most American’s don’t like their Boss’ management style is that they don’t know their boss and conversely the boss doesn’t really know them. And, as an front-line HR manager knows, getting the two to talk is like pulling proverbial teeth. However, my company, Profiles International, has a simple tool that helps managers and employees start the conversation. It is called The Workforce Compatibility Survey and it requires both the manger and the employee to take a 45 minute assessment that examines thinking style and behavioral traits.  The tool than does an instant analysis and examines both sides of the story and produces a report is the output that shows where the employee scored v. where the manager scored and it gives both sides suggestions for working together.

Imagine having a guidebook to work with your manager? Or, as a manger, understanding why your direct report does the things she does.

Retreat? What a treat!

As a manager of people, I have always been a big advocate of the off-site retreat. I would always hear other manager’s (and a few participants) bemoan the off-site retreat. I, however, always found it to be a valuable experience. In this month’s Fast Company Letter from the Editor, Robert Sofian discussed the power of the “off-site” as a tool for innovation.

…we were taken “out of our every0day routines because he wanted to encourage open discussion. As Emory University professor Gregory Berns writes in “Rewiring the Creative Mind”, on page 51, our brains are biologically engineered to engage in repetitive thinking. To generate new ideas, we need to force our synapses to behave differently. Unplanned encounters and new environments are the best way s to jolt our neurons into finding novel pathways”.

Well said…and a good argument for the off-site.

What makes for a good off-site? Well, for one, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Some of the most effective off-sites are conducted in someone’s living room or outdoor deck if the weather is nice. One of the most effective off-site meetings I ever attended occurred on my co-worker Anna’s back deck at her home in Palo Alto. It didn’t’ hurt that Anna is an amazing cook and we ate well but it was, truly, one of the most productive days I ever had professionally. The opportunity to get out of the pressure cooker that was our Internet start-up was fuel for the creative brain and a bit of rest from the transactional work of the routine.

I am often amazed at how rarely the off-site is conducted. Think about what the collective brain power of your staff could achieve if only given some time, creative space, and permission to think and talk and dream. Yes, dream. Let them imagine a better way to work. A better way to interact. A better way to balance.

Take your staff on a retreat. If your budget is $0.00 and everyone is local then invite them to your living room and make homemade soup and sandwiches. They will love you for it. And who knows what will happen or transpire and who might be inspired. If your team is distributed, then the off-site becomes a bit more of a logistical challenge but, in my opinion, even a more critical event. Having face-to-face time vs. ear-to-phone time is an important part of relationship building and a part of creating a solid team. It is hard to rely solely on a voice. It is much better if you’ve seen the voice and know a bit about its personal life. Retreats and off-site meetings can go a long way in building collaborative climates.

If your team is new, consider doing some teambuilding exercises. Not the hokey ones that you’ve done a thousand times but something more meaningful. One of my favorites is called “Lifeline”. Each person has 15 minutes to take you from birth to today. Telling about significant (and a few trivial) events that occurred along the way you’ll learn a lot and are bound to have some fun. Other tools, like assessments, can help the team understand each other better and work together with better understanding of the strengths that each person brings to the table.

And, as a manager, if your manager asks you about the documented results from the day, let her know that you don’t know yet. You’ll see what some creative thinking will produce and you’ll get back to her. Or, better yet, invite her to kick back and enjoy the fun and get to know your team better.

Developing a User's Guide-For People

Have you ever wished that your employees came with a User's Guide or, at a minimum, a quick reference card that you could tape to your monitor?  What if we were to really work with each person at our organizations and figure out:

What are our people really good at?

What could they be really good at?

How independent are they?

Are they good decision makers?

When do they run out of gas?

How do we go about creating a User's Guide for our people that give us access to this type of information?  Well, the short answer...ask them.  The longer answer, consider implementing a talent assessment program. 

Do you even know who is on your bench?

Who are your targeted high performers?  What are you doing to keep them, develop them, drive them to success?  Do you have a program in place to work with them?  Do other leaders in your organization know about them?

Hey, Jay, where do I start?

Actually, it isn't all that hard.  Here are some steps to get you started:

1. Pick a department or a position to start with and do an inventory of who is there, what open requisitions currently exist, and what open requisitions are likely to be opened in the next six months. 
2. Examine performance data and see where people's managers are currently scoring them. 
3. Assesses them.  Find out their strengths and growth areas. 

Now, you've got actionable information.  With your new information, you've got a place to start. 

When It's Time to Change, You've Got to Rearrange

Did the Brady Bunch singing "When It's Time To Change, You Have to Rearrange" fly through your head when you read the title?  If it didn't, you and download it from iTunes.  Change is hard.  Change is good.  When my company hosted our Managing High Velocity Change conference  a few weeks ago I personally didn't realize how much I need to change.  Daily routines become habits and old habits die hard.  That is why change is hard and doesn't come easy.  Just ask a smoker.

So, what does this have to do with HR?  The answer:  Everything.

HR has a unique opportunity to be the change we want to see in our organizations.  When we say "oh, we can't do that" or "did you fill out the form and route it through six layers of approval" we know we have change indicator.  As we become more and more strategic and less and less tactical we must step back and see the wider picture.  That wider picture include a true business analysis of where we are today and where we need to go.

• We must RECOGNIZE the need to change.
• We must DEVELOP the plan to change
• We must EXECUTE the plan

It sounds so simple.  Especially when you see it in sound bite form.  But it is really really really hard to do. I recently read that CEOs spend almost 20% of each day making sure that the changes they have implemented are actually happening.  If the CEO is spending 20%, I'm guessing we need to spend at least double that.  Coaching, mentoring, and being the champion of the change.  It is exhausting.  It is lonely.  But, trust yourself.  Trust (but inspect) your team.  Trust in the change.

It will be worth it in the end.

Strategy to Execution Leadership Gap

Last week I attended the "Closing the Strategy to Execution Leadership Gap" conference that was sponsored by my employer, Profiles International.  The conference was excellent and I couldn't help but take away a bunch of good information about what we are doing as HR leadership to help our organizations improve people outcomes and ensure organizational survival.  One thing that quickly became evident to me is that in this time of high velocity change, we've got to remain at the leadership table.  And, we'll stay there if the level of innovation and people oriented programs that I witnessed last week is an indication of where we are going as a profession.

One of my favorite speakers was the team from Woodman of the World Life Insurance Society.  A company in Omaha, Nebraska.  They were faced with all kinds of people challenges--lack of turnover, stagnant people programs, and a culture of "sameness".  Pam and her team shook things up and did things that you don't ordinarily see HR doing--they lead.   They lead their organization to a very uncomfortable place...the place of change.  Doing what they were doing wasn't going to get them to the future.  Pam stated that her daughter once wrote "My mom leads through storytelling".  I think her mom leads through example.  Nice work Pam and team!

We also heard from Angela Valles from Victor Valley Waste Water Reclamation.  Here's the fun fact on Angela...she's a prison warden turned HR executive.  How great is that!  I am encouraging Angela to write a book on the similarities of the two.   I'm sure it can be done.  But again, Angela was responsible for issuing in change to the authority.  No longer was the status quo going to work.  People were unhappy, leadership was lacking, and Angela had the courage (I'm sure it comes from being a prison warden) to lead the change that had to occur. 

We also heard from Bob Savell from Eastman Chemical.  I'll bet you've never heard of Eastman Chemical--yet they have probably touched hundreds of items that you use every single day.  Bob discussed the challenges of recruiting talent and growing leaders for Eastman.  Imagine having to get top scientific talent to consider living and working in Kingsport, Tennessee?  Then, when you learn more about the amazing career you can have at Eastman, you tend to shift your thinking.  Bob is part of making that amazing career happen.  And, again, he does it though focused leadership development in a world that is changing by the minute--even in Kingsport, Tennessee.

All in all, the time was well spent.  Oh, and the BBQ at The County Line, was outstanding!

Trust Is A Competency

A 2002 Watson Wyatt study showed that high-trust organizations outperformed low-trust organizations by 286 percent in total return to shareholders (stock price plus dividends).

I'll take that.

By now, most of you know that I teach a course called Virtual HR.  One of the topics we discuss is how trust plays such an important part of managing and retaining a remote workforce.  Whether your employees are working from home offices or a satellite office in Beijing, you've got to have trust to be successful. 

How do you instill a culture of trust?

I think that there are three main programs that you need to implement to build a culture of trust.

1. Hire the right people from the get-go.  Use an assessment (preferably mine) to hire the right people for the job.  Understanding how they learn, think, and behave can go a long way in understanding who will "fit" and who won't.  Plus, you also look at attitudes towards work, drug use, & theft.  All of that before the potential employee walks in the door.
2. Empower your employees to get the job done.  Let them know that you trust their judgment and then, um, trust their judgment.  If you constantly play "Monday morning quarterback" then you'll quickly disempower your employees.  Understand that oftentimes there is more than one right answer to a problem and sometimes the person goes with the answer that is right--but not yours.
3. Finally, measure results.  Pay attention to work output.  If you stop worrying about "butt in seat" and start measuring output and productivity, you'll win in the end.

286%.  These organizations are doing something right.  I suggest we join them.