Performance Execution
Won’t people complain when I deliberately treat some people better than others? Won’t I be accused of favoritism? Yes, they will complain. Yes, you will be accused of favoritism. That’s okay. Consider where the complaints are coming from—the poorer performers. If you treat everyone exactly alike, regardless of performance, you will also get complaints. But [...]
Yes, it is discriminatory. If some people do better work than others do, then they should get more recognition. The better, more productive employees will get more freedom to act and more Post-its saying ‘‘Thanks’’ stuck to their computer monitors. They will be allowed more flexibility in their schedules and get first choice when interesting [...]
How do I actually use recognition? Is there more to it than just saying, "Thanks . . . nice job"? Yes, there is more to it, but not much more. The most important—and most ignored—requirement to make recognition an effective motivational tool is the notion of earned or contingent recognition. If we want to make [...]
No. In fact, praise has very little to do with true recognition of good performance. Have you ever noticed how people react to praise? Not very graciously, most of the time. Praise a house or a garden and its owner hastens to point out its defects; praise an employee for a project and he downplays [...]
I don’t have a budget for awards to recognize people. How can I recognize their good performance if I can’t demonstrate financially that we appreciate good work? Money is only one of your options in recognizing good performance. The most important concept about recognition comes directly from the word itself—‘‘to recognize.’’ When you recognize something, [...]
No. If you recognized good performance every time someone did something right, you’d have no time to do anything else, and they would get bored by it. The key is to make the recognition you provide commensurate with the quality of the job that was done. As the person’s skills increase, the quality of job [...]
No. Don’t do it. Employee-of-the-month programs are a notoriously bad idea. Tell Me More The problem with employee-of-the-month programs is not so much with the concept, but with the execution. The concept is a noble one: Every month the organization will review the employee population and single out that one individual who, in the month [...]
Yes. Recognizing good performance is the single most important motivation tool managers have at their disposal. It is cheap (usually free), is universally liked, and results in an increase in desired performance. Tell Me More Behind this question about motivation lurks a larger issue: How do we go about changing human behavior? Motivating a person [...]
Six techniques have a predictable effect on increasing an individual’s motivation: 1. Create opportunities for achievement and accomplishment. 2. Allow people freedom, discretion, and autonomy in doing the job. 3. Provide opportunities for learning and growth. 4. Increase the amount of challenge. 5. Make sure that the work itself is inherently capable of motivation. 6. [...]
Where does money fit into this scheme? Pay is the ringer in the motivation equation. It is the one factor that shows up as both a source of satisfaction and a source of dissatisfaction. People are dissatisfied with their pay when they feel it isn’t commensurate with their efforts, is distributed inequitably, doesn’t reflect the [...]
The first responsibility of a manager in the performance execution phase is to create the conditions that motivate. The second is to eliminate performance problems. We’ll devote all of Building Performance Excellence to the methods and techniques that work when you’re confronted with unacceptable performance. Solving people problems, however, is the unusual and infrequent occurrence. [...]
No. The performance log, in whatever form you keep it, is your private and informal record of how people have done in their activities on the job. You may find it worthwhile to have your performance log available if an employee challenges a judgment you make or a description you record in the performance appraisal. [...]
How should I keep track of employees’ performance? Should I keep a journal? And should I record day-to-day performance or just note the exceptional positive and negative events? The method isn’t all that important. What is important is having complete records of exactly how the individual did when the time for performance assessment rolls around. [...]
The employee has one primary responsibility: Get the job done. There are, however, several others: Solicit performance feedback and coaching. Communicate openly with your appraiser on progress and problems in achieving objectives. Update objectives as conditions change. Complete the development plan. Keep track of achievements and accomplishments. Actively participate in the midterm review meeting. Tell [...]
Essentially, performance execution consists of two major responsibilities for the manager. The first is to create the conditions that motivate people to perform at an excellent level. The other is to eliminate performance problems when they arise. The manager also has some other responsibilities in the performance execution phase of the process. They are: Maintaining [...]
Once the performance-planning phase has been completed, it’s time to get the job done—to execute the plan. Performance execution is the second phase of an effective performance management process. For the individual, the critical responsibility in Phase II is getting the job done—achieving the objectives. For the appraiser, there are two major responsibilities: creating the [...]