Category: Discipline and Problem Solving

Giving feedback is an important management task but certainly not an easy one—especially when the feedback isn’t all sunshine.

Negative feedback requires a manager to motivate, counsel and criticize in a way that alerts employees to where the problems lie and what must be done to solve them. Fortunately, it’s a skill that can be learned.

Start here with our interactive training CD: Effectively Managing Difficult Employees

Follow this seven-step method whenever giving negative feedback:

1. Tell it like it is. Don’t sidestep the issue; be straightforward and tell the employee exactly what your concerns are.

Example: “I’m troubled by the way you deal with customer complaints.”

2. Give feedback immediately. Feedback is most useful when given at the earliest opportunity after a particular incident. Effective feedback allows the recipient an opportunity to correct behavior right away.
3. Paint a specific picture of how you view the situation. Describe what you see happening by using objective details, not subjective opinions.

Example: “When you get calls from irate customers, you become short with them and you don’t try to hide your own irritation.”

4. Give the lowdown of the outcome. Make sure employees understand the connection between their behavior and the negative results. This lets employees know that they can control the consequences.

Example: “I’ve received letters from customers threatening to stop using our company if they continue to receive such poor treatment.”

5. Give credit where credit is due. That way, employees will know what actions to repeat in the future. Plus, they’ll know that you appreciate the effort to do it right.

Example: “I know it can be frustrating, but I’m pleased to see that after you quickly pinpoint the problem, you immediately make a return call.”

6. Reiterate performance expectations. As a manager, it is important that you try to make employees understand what it takes for job success.

Example: “Understand that good customer service begins with fielding the complaint; it isn’t just the end result of solving the problem. Frustration-management skills are important in this department.”

7. Use feedback as a means of change, not punishment. A positive reaction is a more likely result when you correct negative behavior rather than punish the offender.

 Constructive criticism: 4 helpful hints

1. Beware of communicating your frustration and anger. Otherwise, the recipient will likely feel frustrated and angry, too, and therefore, less receptive to your message.
2. Be flexible. Most situations don’t require you to dictate exactly what needs to be done or how. Giving employees room to maneuver and allowing them to make changes on their own reduces resistance to following your feedback.
3. Make your point right away. Otherwise, you risk losing focus on the feedback with too much small talk or overwhelming the employee with too many details.
4. Put the feedback in writing. It helps reduce misunderstandings, allows you to perfect your message before sending it and is a smart legal move in case of a lawsuit.

 

Getting employees to be engaged in their own solutions…

 

1. Gather the Facts
   1. Your facts and their facts – what information is available to us at this point
   2. Your feeling and their feelings and what others are feeling about the situation.
   3. Come to a common agreement on what the facts of the situation are; what is known; what has happened that has brought us to this point of time.
2. Establish the consequences
   1. What are the consequences of the facts we know on: (each stakeholder needs to be discussed and the impact on each addressed)
      1. The employee involved in the situation.
      2. The other employees involved

• The organization or firm or company

1. The management or manager
2. The customers and clients involved
3. Other people (such as family and friends)

• The community at large (if that is appropriate)

1. What are the implications and ramifications of the facts that have been established?

3. What are the solutions? What are the most important things that have to be done now? In the future?
   1. The employee needs to provide the first idea or the first solution. (The manager should not jump into the discussion with the first thought. The manager needs to keep silent until the employee comes up with at least one idea.)
   2. The employee should also attempt to create a second solution. (The manager should acknowledge that the first solution might work, but encourage the employee to develop a second solution that will also work.)
   3. Management can then provide a third solution or another idea to consider. This is about developing alternatives and teaching the employee how to think.
   4. All solutions do not have to be perfect, practical or entirely worked through. They should be reasonable.
   5. The employee writes their own personal action plan. It must be the employee’s plan NOT the manager’s plan.
   6. Is the accountability extremely clear? What will happen if this plan is not fully achieved?
4. The employee selects the best choice that provides the most appropriate solution or alternative? (This is very important if you are to have the employee take full responsibility and accountability for their actions.)
   1. Establish why they chose the alternative they did choose.
5. Establish measurements.
   1. How will we know it when we see it accomplished? What does success look like?
   2. When will we review the results to confirm if this approach was successful or needs to be adjusted? One week from now? Two weeks from now? One month from now? (Keep the time frame relatively short for maximum affect.)

Employee’s Name:  ___________________________________

 

Supervisor’s Name: ___________________________________

 

• What are the facts and actions that caused this discussion?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• What was the impact and consequences of your actions on our company, other employees, customers, management, and you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• What is your personal action plan to correct this behavior?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compliance with the policies of business conduct is the responsibility of every employee of this company. Disregarding or failing to comply with this personal action plan could lead to further disciplinary action – up to and including possible termination of employment.

 

______________________________                        ____________________________

Employee                                                                    Supervisor

Date: _______________                                            Date: ________________

White Paper published by The HR Specialist, copyright 2009
____________________

It happens to every manager: You sit down to prepare a staff member’s review and realize you can remember only what the person has done the past few weeks. Or you allow only a single incident (good or bad) to color your assessment.

Supervisors should never rely solely on memory to evaluate employee performance. That makes appraisals far more difficult than necessary. Instead, it’s best to institute a simple recording system to document employee performance.

The most useful, easy-to-implement way is to create and maintain a log for each person. Performance logs don’t need to be complicated or sophisticated. They can simply be sheets of paper in a folder or a file on your computer. Choose whatever means you’re comfortable with.

The key is to establish a system that you will use regularly. No matter how you take notes, make sure to keep them confidential.

Many employee lawsuits can be quickly dismissed if performance logs can clearly demonstrate a history of performance problems leading to the firing.

Recording employees’ performance: 8 tips

To begin the process, create a file for each employee you supervise. Include in each file a copy of the employee’s job description, job application and resume. Then follow these steps for recording performance:

1. Include positive and negative behaviors. Recording only negative incidents will unfairly bias your evaluation. Make a point to note instances of satisfactory or outstanding performance, too.

One way to ensure a balanced reporting: Update employee performance logs on a regular basis, instead of waiting for a specific incident to occur.  Ironically, failing to document a positive performance can strengthen an employee’s claims of discrimination. A file of all-bad comments may look like a setup.

2. Date each entry. Details such as time, date and day of the week help identify patterns that may indicate an underlying problem before it becomes more serious.

3. Write observations, not assumptions. In all log entries, be careful about the language you use. Performance logs can end up as evidence in a lawsuit. Your log comments should only focus on behavior that you directly observe. Don’t make assumptions about the reasons for the behavior or make judgments about an employee’s character. Keep out any comments that border on personal comment or that show personal prejudice.

Avoid emotional content, including personal impressions (“I think …”), labels (“He’s a whiner …”) and adjectives (“very unproductive …”).

4. Be specific. Example of poor documentation: “Employee was late three times in the past month.” Better: “Employee was 30 minutes late on Feb. 5; reason given: traffic. Employee was 45 minutes late on Feb. 9; reason given: overslept. Employee was an hour late on Feb. 23; reason given: car problems.”

5. Keep out biased language. A good rule of thumb: Any statement that would be inappropriate in conversation is also inappropriate in an employee log. That includes references to an employee’s age, sex, race, disability, marital status, religion or sexual orientation. Don’t suggest reasons for employee actions or make connections between events without direct evidence.

For example, you may know that Dan’s wife recently filed for divorce, but don’t suggest in the log that his personal problems are the reason his work performance has slipped.

6. Be brief, but complete. Log entries should use specific examples, rather than general comments. Instead of saying, “Megan’s work was excellent,” say “Megan has reduced the number of data entry errors to fewer than one per 450 records.”

7. Track trends. If you begin to see patterns, make notes in the log or flag prior incidents of the same behavior. You don’t need to discuss every entry with your staff members. Bring your observations to the employees’ attention only after you’ve defined a specific problem.

8. Be consistent. Don’t include comments about a behavior in one person’s performance log if you ignore the same behavior in other employees. When in doubt, check to see how similar problems have been documented in the past.

 

Performance Logs: What to Include and What to Leave Out

INCLUDE: Project assignments and deadlines met or not met. Your assessment of the quality of an employee’s work. Cite attempts you make to help the employee improve. Instances of tardiness, work absences or extended breaks. Disciplinary discussions and actions taken. Employee responses to problems and questions. Positive contributions to the work effort. Details of significant personal interactions with the employee. DON’T INCLUDE: Rumors or speculation about the employee’s personal life. Theories about why the employee behaves a certain way. Information about the employee’s family, ethnic background, beliefs or medical history. Your opinions about the employee’s career prospects. Unsubstantiated complaints against the employee.

 

Principles of proper delegation

1. Establish the responsibility
   • Make sure it has a proper description of both the tasks required and the behaviors needed to do the project or job successfully.
2. Establish the appropriate authority level
   • 1^st level is “Do it. Don’t tell me.”
     1. For example, “You can spend under $50 and, as long as you remain within your total budget level, you do not need to tell me you spent the money.”
   • 2^nd level is “Do it. Tell me after you spend it.”
     1. For example, “You can spend between $51 and $100 but I want you to let me know you spent the money.”
   • 3^rd level is “You are not authorized to make that decision until you consult with me first.”
     1. For example, “If you want to spend more than $101 dollars you must come to me, outline the amount you want to spend; what you want to spend it on; and why it is important to spend the money now.”

3. Once you have done steps one and two and it is clear to everyone, then you can hold that person accountable for their results.

 

One of the big problems is many managerial / employee conflicts is that someone is given the responsibility for doing something, held accountable for the achievement, but they never know whether they can proceed on their own or have to constantly check in for permission. When they proceed, they are told they should have checked in. When they hesitate, they are told they should have moved faster and gotten things done.  The parameters have not been properly set at the beginning and so only “20/20” hindsight provides the answer and then it is too late.  It leads to frustration and dysfunction throughout the organization.

Some workplace behavior goes beyond being merely annoying.  When the actions of “challenging” personality types land you in court, these workers become a liability – in every sense of the word.

Consider these recent cases:

• Employees of the city of North Richmond, Texas taunted co-worker Robert Coffman, saying he was too old to keep up with his work.  He sued, and the city settled for $75,000.
• A North Carolina sheriff’s deputy told his new hire about the department’s strict rules against sexual harassment – before grabbing her buttocks, dragging her onto his lap, forcibly kissing her, and offering her a promotion if she let him do it again.  She quit, she sued – and she won.  Jury verdict: $225,000.
• An African-American temp at a power company was repeated asked racially-tinged questions like, “Do all black people go to bathroom a lot?”  She sued the company, which claimed that she wasn’t their employee, but the temp agency’s.  The court disagreed, and the case is going to trial.

Turning your back on difficult employees isn’t just a management mistake.  It can also create legal trouble. Not only are employees who frequently bump heads with management the ones who are most likely to file lawsuits when they feel they’re being treated unfairly, but – as shown above – they’re often the cause of lawsuits themselves.

That’s why, when confronted with employees who don’t do what’s asked, it’s best to devise a strategy for making the best of a potentially explosive situation.

Although it may be hard to transform a difficult employee into a warm, friendly ally, you can take the following steps to make it easier for the employee to comply:

1. Confront problems head-on. If you don’t like an employee, that person probably feels the same way about you. By clearing the air and calmly acknowledging any ill will, you can help the employee focus on getting the job done.

Use phrases such as this to level with the person: “When I ask you to do something, I need to rely on you. I realize we’re very different people, but we can’t let that stop us from doing our jobs.”

2. Seek confirmation. When giving instructions, don’t assume that you’re making yourself clear. Ask the employee to explain what you just said and what you expect of him or her.

3. Rehearse. Making simple requests is painless. But if you must explain something more complicated, don’t wing it. You may waste time backtracking or jumbling words.
As you rehearse, use the fewest words possible to describe your goal. Once you find a concise way to summarize the outcome you want, write it down and memorize the key phrase that captures the main point.

4. Speak and write. To ensure that the employee understands you, assign tasks both orally and in print. Get in the habit of talking with that person and telling him or her what you need. Let the employee ask questions and offer suggestions. Then, follow up soon after the discussion with an e-mail or memo that summarizes what’s expected, along with the timetable for the project.

   5. Stick to behavior. When managing someone with an attitude problem, don’t let the person’s personality interfere with the job at hand. Focus on describing the work that you need done.
   
   6. Talk on the employee’s turf. If you have a personality conflict with a certain employee, the last thing you should do is make him or her feel “bossed around” when you assign a task.  A practical way to encourage such employees to comply is to meet in their offices, not yours. Calling employees into your office to assign a task could instantly put them on the defensive.

   Armed with these techniques, you’ll be better able to deal with jerks at work – generating greater productivity … better morale … and fewer lawsuits.

by Allison West, Esq., SPHR

“Document, Document, Document.”

Employment attorneys say it all the time. In fact, they’re incapable of saying that word only once because documentation relating to performance management and discipline is absolutely critical.

The reasons are obvious. The quality of your documentation goes to the heart of your credibility as a manager or HR professional.

The person reading your documentation should walk away knowing who, where, when, how and most important, the why behind any decisions … and that you treated the employee consistently and fairly. Anything less and your documentation becomes Exhibit A for the plaintiff.

Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes

One big problem is getting each manager to actually document performance and disciplinary discussions. Not surprising, documentation—when it is created—is often too ambiguous, vague, biased and never actually puts employees on notice of any performance or behavior issues.

Here are three of the most common documentation mistakes and how you can avoid them:

1. Surprise!

No employee should ever be surprised when he or she is terminated for poor performance or a disciplinary reason.

Here is a common scenario: The manager has put Betty on super-secret probation for the past three years—but never tells her about it. Just recently, the manager decided enough is enough. He wants Betty terminated. In-house counsel reviews the personnel file before signing off. Much to counsel’s surprise, Betty’s performance actually looks pretty good.

When in-house counsel asks the manager why the file doesn’t reflect his true opinion of Betty’s performance, the manager says, “Well, she’s sensitive, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.” The resulting ambiguous documentation doesn’t put the employee on notice of the problems.

Your documentation must be direct, include specific expectations and the reasons the employee says she’s not meeting those expectations.

2. Legally explosive words

Documentation is black and white. When third parties—say a judge, jury or plaintiff’s attorney—read a manager’s documentation, they can only go by what is written down.

Often, managers write absolute expressions such as “always” and “never,” as in “Hillary never turns in her reports on time.” In reality, Hillary informs you that she did hit her deadline just last month. Using these types of absolutes without being 100% certain will undermine your credibility and hurt your case in court.

Choose your words carefully. If you want to highlight your concerns to Hillary, simply state the facts: “In the past three months, you turned in your weekly reports on time only once.” This way, you’re more accurate and accomplish what you wanted in a more professional tone.

3. Lack of follow-up

Solid documentation must include regular follow-up discussions.

Take this example: A manager informs Bob about his performance deficiencies and gives him a step-by-step improvement plan. Documentation is solid up to this point. Unfortunately, Bob continues to struggle for the next six months. But the manager fails to ­­­document any follow-up conversations or efforts made to assist Bob. Now the manager wants to terminate Bob.

The problem: The documentation is incomplete. The judge, jury or plaintiff’s attorney that reads it will assume the manager put Bob on notice yet did nothing over the next six months to ensure Bob was getting the assistance.

Proper documentation would include the coaching sessions, Bob’s stated reasons for not meeting his goals and efforts by the manager to help Bob. Also, document that Bob knew he could be terminated if he did not meet the stated expectations.

The bottom line: At the end of the day, your documentation must be accurate, state the facts, include the employee’s explanation and show all the efforts the manager made to help the employee succeed. Anything less, well, you know what happens.

________________________________

Author: Allison West, Esq., SPHR, is a former employment law litigator and the founder of Employment Practices Specialists, a training and consulting firm based in California.

Tips for documenting employee discipline

Be consistent. Don’t write up one person for a behavior that you ignore in other employees.

Be specific. Example of poor docu­­mentation: “Employee was late twice in the past two weeks.” Better: “Employee was 30 minutes late on Sept. 28; reason given: traffic. Employee was 45 minutes late on Oct. 4; reason given: overslept.”

Be clear and factual. Note the policy or procedure that was violated. Date the document, including the year.

Avoid emotional content, including personal impressions (“I think …”), labels (“He’s a whiner …”), adjectives (“very unproductive …”) and drawing conclusions about the reasons. (“It’s probably because of her divorce.”)

Ask the employee to sign and date the document if it’s going into his or her personnel file. If the employee re­fuses to sign, note that on the document.

• Is addressing the behavior worth the time?
  • If it is not important, addressing the behavior may do more harm than good.
• Does the employee know his performance is not what it should be?
  • If not, let the employee know in an honest and factual manner.
• Does the employee know what is supposed to be done and when?
  • If not, tell him! Employers frequently mistakenly assume that expectations are clear when they are not.
• Are there obstacles beyond the employee’s control?
  • If yes, either remove them or acknowledge that the requested performance cannot be realized with the tools provided.
• Does the employee know how to perform the desired behavior correctly?
  • If not, provide training or allow practice. Too often, employees are expected to hit the ground running and are penalized for performance that could have been easily corrected with a small investment of a manager’s time.
• Does a negative consequence follow performance?
  • If so, change the consequence. For example, exceeding performance requirements may be perceived as detrimental if it results in additional negative assignments
• Does a positive consequence follow non-performance?
  • If so, change the consequence. If employees who fail to complete less likeable portions of their responsibilities succeed in having those responsibilities reassigned, the manager is reinforcing non-performance.
• Is the employee capable of performing as expected?
  • This is the ultimate question. When a manager becomes convinced through progressive performance management that the answer to this question is no, it is time to reassign the employee to another function, or help the employee successfully complete the termination process.

Use this ‘Memo to Managers‘ article to educate your supervisors. Paste the content into an e-mail, company newsletter or other communication. Edit as desired.

_________________

Working alongside difficult people can be hard enough. But managing someone with whom you have a personality clash can cause major tension.

Experienced managers know how to separate emotions from the work at hand when dealing with employees. Rather than dwelling on an employee’s negative personality traits, smart managers focus on tasks, projects and results. They don’t allow their personal feelings to interfere, and they treat everyone the same way.

But in too many cases, managers simply turn away from their least favorite employees. Rather than interacting with them, they avoid them. What’s worse, managers may just write off the problem employees and do the employees’ jobs themselves.

Turning your back on difficult employees isn’t just a management mistake, it can also create legal trouble. That’s because employees who frequently bump heads with management are also the ones who are most likely to file lawsuits when they feel they’re being treated unfairly.

That’s why, when confronted with employees who don’t do what’s asked, it’s best to devise a strategy for making the best of a potentially explosive situation.

Although it may be hard to transform a difficult employee into a warm, friendly ally, you can take the following steps to make it easier for the employee to comply:

1. Confront problems head-on. If you don’t like an employee, that person probably feels the same way about you. By clearing the air and calmly acknowledging any ill will, you can help the employee focus on getting the job done.

Use phrases such as this to level with the person: “When I ask you to do something, I need to rely on you. I realize we’re very different people, but we can’t let that stop us from doing our jobs.”

2. Seek confirmation. When giving instructions, don’t assume that you’re making yourself clear. Ask the employee to explain what you just said and what you expect of him or her.
3. Rehearse. Making simple requests is painless. But if you must explain something more complicated, don’t wing it. You may waste time backtracking or jumbling words.

As you rehearse, use the fewest words possible to describe your goal. Boil down the expected outcome to its essential.

Once you find a concise way to summarize the outcome you want, write it down and memorize the key phrase that captures the main point.

4. Speak and write. To ensure that the employee understands you, assign tasks both orally and in print. Get in the habit of talking with that person and telling him or her what you need. Let the employee ask questions and offer suggestions. Then, follow up soon after the discussion with an e-mail or memo that summarizes what’s expected, along with the timetable for the project.
5. Stick to behavior. When managing someone with an attitude problem, don’t let the person’s personality interfere with the job at hand. Focus on describing the work that you need done.

Avoid lacing your comments with any quips or cynical asides about the person’s spotty track records on complying with your past requests. What you may view as a harmless jab (“Maybe you’ll hit the deadline this time”) may make the employee even more jaded and resistant to help.

6. Talk on the employee’s turf. If you have a personality conflict with a certain employee, the last thing you should do is make him or her feel “bossed around” when you assign a task.

A practical way to encourage such employees to comply is to meet in their offices, not yours. Calling employees into your office to assign a task could instantly put them on the defensive.

_____________________________________________

Use this ‘Memo to Managers‘ article to educate your supervisors. Paste the content into an e-mail, company newsletter or other communication. Edit as desired.

Self-Test: Gaining compliance from stubborn employees

For each statement, rate your answers from 1 to 5 using this scale:

1 = never, 2 = occasionally, 3 = sometimes, 4 = usually, 5 = always

1. When I ask my least favorite employee to do something, I don’t mind if the employee doesn’t “get it” the first time. I’m willing to repeat myself in a patient tone.
2. When I give instructions, I allow employees to ask questions and express any reservations about the task.
3. My personal dislike of an employee doesn’t influence how I communicate when I assign a task.
4. Whenever I give instructions, I plan what I’m going to say.
5. When I ask my least favorite employee to do something, I stick to describing the task, without injecting any personal comments.
6. When I ask my least favorite employee to do something, I always explain the overall goal first and allow him or her to suggest options.
7. I’m comfortable telling an employee exactly how his or her behavior is creating a problem, and I do so in a tactful manner.

SCORE CARD:
29 to 35: You’re a wise leader who likely has little trouble gaining compliance from even the most stubborn employees.
24 to 28: You need to exercise more patience and put your personal views aside when interacting with troublemakers on staff.
Below 23: You may be falling into the trap of allowing certain employees’ negative personalities to rub off on you.

With Chris McChesney

Leaders make the difference. We all aspire to greatness. Leaders see the world differently. Executing strategic goals is a never ending battle. Keeping people focused on the most important strategies.  70% of strategic fires are due to leadership.

People don’t define goals

1. Don’t know the goals
2. Don’t know what to do to achieve the goals. Not translated into day to day activities
3. Don’t keep score.  What is critical and what is not vital.
4. Don’t account for results. Don’t account for progress to each other

How to filter. How to prioritize.

The principle and skills    The 4 disciplines of execution.

De-mystify the concepts – Create a simple a model so that is practical to apply.

Leaders do 2 things to get results

1. Develop the strategy
2. Execute the strategy.

Which is more difficult?

Execution is the big thing.

We tend to study strategy and not the execution in school.

 

1. Before a strategy to get done, someone has to get something done differently.
2. Got to change behaviors
   1. others
   2. yourself

The leader can really screw up execution. If the leader is in love with the strategy; the more I love it, the more I underestimate what it takes to execute it.

It is basic.  It is important.

It is not common.

Why is something that is so basic and important it is not common? It is very rare.

 

• Distractions
• Multi tasking – can do more than I think I can do
• A lot of things going on – hard to focus.

In every organization there is an inherent conflict between two forces

• The whirlwind or the day-to-day things that happen on the job
• The goals for moving the organization forward.

The nature of the whirlwind is urgent.

The nature of the goal is important.

 When there is a clash, which will trump the urgent? The whirlwind.

We don’t get to ignore the whirlwind. It is immediate. It will not go away.

The whirlwind is the enemy of strategic initiatives.  The whirlwind is the “real work!”

Draw a hard line between the whirlwind and the goals.  Acknowledge the gulf. The problem. Recognize the gnats that swirl around you every day.

The trick of execution is achieving the goal in the midst of the whirlwind.

 

This is the problem.

4 basic principles and disciplines.  They are not hard to think about; just hard to do.

1000 good practices. The gems are the principles

You can ignore the principles but there are consequences.

They are sequential. Ignore the first and the 2^nd and 3^rd and on and on won’t work either.

The principles are common sense. But common sense are not so common.

The first principle of execution

Focus on the wildly important.

 

• If I have 1-3 goals I am working on. I can be sure probably that I will achieve them all.
• If I have 4-10 goals the law of diminishing return the chances of you achieving them drop to 1:2
• 11-20 goals – how many will be done with excellence? I have paralyzed the organization.
• Got to do 50 things anyway – that’s called the whirlwind
• If the 1 to 3 things (goals) are added on to the whirlwind the individual can’t hear you through all the “noise”. Focus on those 1 -3 important things that will move the organization forward.
• When you tell people to focus and you don’t acknowledge the whirlwind you will frustrate them.
• The goals of today can become the whirlwind of tomorrow.
• Narrow the focus outside the whirlwind. Land one plane at a time.
• The first rule of execution is to STOP IT. Narrow the focus.
• The enemy of the great is the good.
  • Say no to good things. There will always be more good things than you have bandwidth to execute.
  • Got to say no to the good. Kind of counter intuitive. Because most leaders are taught to say no to only the bad things.
  • Got to say no to the good things in order to focus on the great
• The WIG – Wildly Important Goal.
• No more than 1 – 3 goals per team.
• Don’t fry people’s heads with too many things to do outside of the whirlwind.

We want a finish line.  How do I know I won?

• X to Y by when.
• When defines the finish line.
• Accountability goes way up.
• Eisenhower says we want to be first in space. To lead the world in space exploration. No accountability. Didn’t really get done.
• Kennedy said we will put a man on moon and bring him back by the end of the decade. Lots of accountability. We made it in a decade.
• Draw a line in the sand.
• Morale goes up when accountability goes up.
• Kennedy said we will not pursue other priorities. The enemy of the great is the good.  

The second principle of execution

Act on the lead measures.

 

• Define the difference between a lag and a lead measure
• Lag measure – The lag measure is the same way you measure the goal.
  • If the goal is to increase revenue, then the lag measure is dollars.
  • “Oh crap” or “oh cool”
• Lead Measure – Two characteristics
  • It is predicative. If this measure moves then the lag will move.
  • It is influence-able – – – – – We can get our hands on this thing. I have influence on the outcome. I have control over it.
    • These are not guarantees, but rather they are bets.
    • They always feel like a bet
  • People tend to focus on the lag measures because
    • It is important. It is what I want.
    • I am accountable for it (the lag) so I tend to fixate on it.
    • It is easy for me to get. I can find the results and the measurement. I can always check the lag measure
  • Example: Accidents rate
    • The number of accidents – the lag measure. If you think luck plays a role in your life, you are looking at a lag measure.
    • The lead measures in this example
      • Training is influence-able but not predictive
      • Minor incidents are predictive but not influence-able.
      • Do eight things (compliance to eight safety standards) – hard hats, googles, gloves, etc. If I do these 8 things, the “bet” is that accidents will decline.
      • Getting that data takes a lot of work. You have to go and observe it. It is too much work. It is only the wildly important goal but it is too much work.
      • GO AND MEASURE IT.
      • Got to leave the whirlwind and measure if there is compliance. It will not ever feel urgent. But it is very important.
    • There is an amazing connection with morale in doing all of this work. Because I can see how I contribute to this organization. We have narrowed the focus.
      • We are doing the important.
      • What I do is measureable.
      • I have personal control over it.

The third discipline of execution.   

Keep a compelling scorecard

 Capturing the “bet” – make a game out of it.

 

• People feel differently when they are keeping score.
• They play A LOT DIFFERENTLY WHEN THEY ARE KEEPING SCORE.
• Example watch kids play basketball from a block away. You can tell if they are keeping score or just shooting around. The intensity is tremendously different. Energy level is different. Teamwork is better. More celebration.
• Things are different when they are keeping score.
• Numbers on a wall don’t necessarily motivate people.
• People will disengage from the game when they don’t know the score or don’t feel they can influence the score.
• The rules for the score board
  • Am I winning or losing?
    • Every day on their top priorities.
    • Needs to be simple to understand
  • It needs to be updateable. It must be easy to maintain.
    • This is not a coaches’ scorecard. It is a player’s scorecard.
    • Coaches scoreboards are generally lag measures and complex.
  • Players scoreboards are complete
    • Both lead AND lag measures.
    • We are doing this to get that.
  • We send people to work and have them bowl through a curtain.
    • Shooting blindly
    • Not getting any feedback
    • Not much fun for long.
• One company had 3 goals. It looked like a football field. Other goals were waiting on the sideline on the bench.  When one goal reached the end zone or the goal line and a “touchdown” was scored, another goal could come onto the field – off of the bench.

 

• Focus and Finish
• Lead and Lag
• Predictive and Influence-able
• Scoreboard must be compelling.   If you like it but the team does not like the scoreboard it is no good.

 

The fourth discipline of execution

Create a cadence of accountability.

 

• A rhythm of team based goals of accountability
• A march around a 20 minute meeting. NO LONGER.
• People come prepared to answer at this meeting one question
  • What are the one, two or three things I can do this week that would have the biggest impact on the scoreboard?
  • Not the 3 most important things to do this week?  If I say the most important, my head will immediately move to the urgent and the whirlwind.
    • My mouth will say important but my brain will say urgent.
  • The whirlwind will get done anyway or it will be your head.
  • The whirlwind has its own accountability system.
  • We want to move the lead measure not the lag measure.
• Each person accounts
  • What did I do last week?
  • Review the scoreboard.
    • Is it moving?
    • Is the stuff I did have any impact on the scoreboard?
    • Where is it having an impact?
  • What will I do next week to move the scoreboard?
    • Make a commitment to the 2 or 3 things I have to do?
• Go fast.

 

He picked it. He is accountable for it.

 

It is a rare and beautiful thing when it happens. It may seem like common sense. But it doesn’t get done in very many organizations.

 

This is called “Just in Time Planning.”

 

Things don’t work because…

• We move back to the whirlwind because there you can’t get in trouble.
• So you don’t work on the goal.

 

Create the lead measure so you can move the lag measure.

 

If the organization has tasked too many goals; either spread them out over time or delegate it to people.

Freedom is found in the disciplines.