Yes. Discipline Without Punishment solves performance problems promptly and permanently by placing the responsibility for change exactly where it belongs—with the individual. The core concept of giving an individual whose performance is not acceptable a day at the company’s expense to make a final decision about whether he can meet the organization’s expectations and is [...]

There are several reasons that it makes sense to pay the employee for the day he is away from work on decision-making leave. As a practice, the paid suspension: Changes the supervisor’s role from adversary to coach. Demonstrates the company’s good faith. Is more consistent with organizational values. Eliminates money as an issue. Doesn’t harm [...]

Why not just issue a final written warning, or create a performance improvement plan, or place the individual on probation? At the final step of a discipline procedure, when earlier formal discussions have failed to convince the employee to change behavior and return to fully acceptable performance, a dramatic gesture is required to clearly communicate [...]

Our discipline system seems harsh and inappropriate for professional employees with its warnings and reprimands and suspensions without pay. Is there a better approach? The traditional ‘‘progressive discipline system,’’ with its criminal-justice mentality and its use of punitive warnings and reprimands and probation and suspensions without pay, is outmoded. Discipline Without Punishment is a more [...]

The individual’s performance is very good, but her attendance record is spotty. How do I convince someone that we need to come to work, on time, every day? Start by making your attendance expectation clear. The attendance expectation the organization has of every single employee is the same everywhere: ‘‘We expect each employee to come [...]

The individual’s quality and quantity of work are okay. It’s his attitude that’s the problem. How do I solve an attitude problem? Ask any group of managers what the most common ‘‘people problem’’ they encounter is and they will uniformly answer, ‘‘Attitude problems.’’ One of the reasons that attitude problems seem so hard to resolve [...]

When a manager documents a performance improvement discussion or a formal disciplinary transaction, what is it that the manager is actually documenting? Too many managers think that what they are documenting is the existence of a problem. That’s a mistake. You are not documenting the existence of a problem. You are documenting the discussion that [...]

Begin by writing down a clear and unarguable statement of the difference between desired performance and actual performance. If you can’t write down exactly what you want and exactly what the employee is doing that concerns you, there is no way that you can get the individual to agree to change. Next, simply ask for [...]

Probably the toughest ten seconds in management comes when the manager has told the employee that they need to get together to talk about a problem. The appointed time comes, the employee arrives in the manager’s doorway, knocks, and says, ‘‘You wanted to see me, boss?’’ What should the manager say to start off the [...]

The most important step is to clearly identify the difference between the desired performance and the employee’s actual performance. Several other pieces of preparation help ensure that you are successful in your meeting with the individual: Identify the impact. Determine the consequences. Check for defensibility. Tell Me More 1. Identify the impact. What are the [...]

Identifying the gap between desired and actual performance is the most difficult part of solving performance problems. The reason is that we usually define the problem in very general and abstract terms (e.g., ‘‘Harriet’s got an attitude problem’’), or we label the individual with an accusation (e.g., ‘‘George is a slacker’’ or ‘‘Tony isn’t a [...]

I have an employee whose performance is not acceptable. I have had one or two informal conversations with him, but nothing’s changed. What should I do? Most of the time, with most of the people a manager supervises, a word in the ear is sufficient to solve a problem whenever one arises. But when informal, [...]

No. You may be delighted that the individual has successfully completed a significant development plan, or disappointed that she has ignored all of your suggestions about development. But development isn’t performance. Performance appraisal needs to focus exclusively on how well the person did the job that she was paid to do. However, a person’s commitment [...]

The tasks, assignments, and activities that a person performs on the job can also serve as developmental experiences. In Performance Execution, we discussed ways of enriching the developmental nature of a job by deliberately building in challenge and autonomy. By assigning specific projects to her subordinates, a manager can provide a developmental experience to a [...]

Most development plans seem to involve little more than just signing up for training programs. Where does training fit into a development plan? Training isn’t ‘‘development.’’ Training is simply one component in a complete development plan. Here are six suggestions to use training as an effective part of a development process: Never start a development [...]

Isn’t development the responsibility of the individual? What are the manager’s responsibilities for developing subordinates? The manager has six key responsibilities for the development of subordinates: 1. Identify key individual and organization development needs. 2. Coach the subordinate’s selection of areas for developmental concentration. 3. Coach the subordinate’s construction of a development plan. 4. Bless [...]

There are eight components to an effective development plan. The best way to construct a workable development plan is simply to take a blank piece of paper and write down your response to each item: Knowledge, skill, or competency area to be developed Benefit to your organization Personal payoff Measures to be used Baseline assessment [...]

‘‘Impact and influence’’ is the other competency that research regularly demonstrates as a critical factor in differentiating between the merely good and the truly great. In studies done of three different job families—managerial/supervisory, technical/ professional, and sales— impact and influence was either the highest or second-highest competency that distinguished truly outstanding performers from those whose [...]

Achievement orientation is almost universally identified as one of the two most important predictors of success in complex, sophisticated organizations. Other terms that are often used for this competency include results ‘‘orientation,’’ ‘‘taking initiative,’’ and ‘‘entrepreneurship.’’ How do you know achievement orientation when you see it? Here are some behavioral indicators. Achievement Orientation Checklist Sets [...]

There are several places to look to come up with good ideas on areas to focus development efforts: Personal knowledge Achievement orientation and impact and influence competencies Performance appraisal feedback Information from others 360-degree feedback data or employee survey results The organization’s core competencies Personal goals and aspirations Tell Me More Personal Knowledge. Development activities [...]

Most of the factors that influence an individual’s ultimate effectiveness have been firmly established by the time the person is a member of an organization. His basic genetic endowment is set; the individual’s early family, school, and other experiences (e.g., influential teachers, coaches, pastors, and priests) have long since had their influence. Since 1982 the [...]

Building performance excellence requires the manager to do three things. First, the manager is responsible for creating the conditions that motivate. Second, the manager must provide developmental opportunities. Finally, the manager must confront and correct performance problems. How to create the conditions that motivate was covered thoroughly in Performance Execution. This explores the manager’s other [...]

We are considering either turning our existing performance appraisal form into an Internet-based application or purchasing a web-based performance appraisal system. Is either a good idea? Yes. There are several significant advantages that a sophisticated, Internet-based performance appraisal system has when compared with a standard paper-and-pencil approach: It eliminates the administrative chore of physically delivering [...]

First, a definition. Forced ranking is a recently developed management procedure that requires managers to assign employees into predetermined groups according to their performance, potential, and promot-ability. General Electric, the company best known for the procedure, sorts employees into three groups: a top 20 percent on whom rewards, promotions, and stock options are showered; a [...]

Upward appraisal is a performance appraisal of a boss written by the subordinates. In organizations that use upward appraisal, after the manager has finished preparing and discussing their performance appraisals with each subordinate, the subordinates individually and anonymously complete a questionnaire about how well the manager manages them. The results are distilled into an anonymous [...]

We are concerned that people who perform the same may get different ratings from different supervisors. How can we make sure that appraisers apply consistent standards across our organization? The most effective way to make sure that consistent performance standards are being applied across an organization is to hold cross-calibration meetings. Appraisers first write their [...]

We use a lot of self-directed work teams in our organization. Should we evaluate team performance in addition to the performance of individuals? And how do we evaluate the performance of teams? Team appraisal is difficult. And it may be unfair. Consider a college example. At the beginning of the semester, the professor divides all [...]

Both appraisers and employees are confused about what the different rating labels actually mean. How do we solve this communication problem? Companies often think that just by providing a brief definition of each of the levels on their rating scale, people will thereby understand exactly what is meant by the term. That is not true. [...]

How can an organization determine whether its managers are doing a good job in performance appraisal and that the system is working well? The single best test is that the organization gets 100 percent uncomplaining compliance with every procedural requirement of its performance appraisal system. Tell Me More There are many other checks the organization [...]

Should we provide managers with samples of completed appraisal forms that they can use as models when they have to prepare performance appraisals? Yes. This is one of the most effective ways to help managers do a good job. Surprisingly, only a small number of companies provide their managers with this high-payoff, easy-to-prepare aid. Tell [...]

Yes. Although the training for employees does not have to be nearly as long or as detailed as the training provided managers (mainly because the skills required by the recipient of a performance appraisal are quite different from the skills required by an appraiser), it’s a good idea to hold a training or orientation program [...]