Is it poor employee performance or poor behavior?

When business is good we tend to overlook marginal performance and poor behavior. The old adage- sales hides all sins – can not be a part of any business striving to be successful today.

Good employee performance should be rewarded regularly and loudly, while poor performance or poor behavior should be addressed discretely and swiftly. Many people often mistake poor performance with poor behavior.

As described in an article at http://www.labourguide.co.za/poor_performance.htm

Poor Performance looks at whether the job, which the employee is being paid to do, is being done properly. Poor behavior – relates to misconduct- deliberate disregard proper professional conduct.

So how do you define poor performance?

• Is the output sufficient?
• Is the quality acceptable?
• Are company operating procedures being followed?
• Are costs kept within budget or is the amount of rejects unacceptably high?
• Is the effort put in by the employee sufficient?
• Is it perhaps inability to do the job at the required level – can the employee perform satisfactorily at a lower level?
• Is just plain incompetence? I.e. not insufficient effort, but a clearly a lack of ability to do the job?
• Is it carelessness – lack of attention to detail?
• Is it a form of negligence but not misconduct? In other words “I don’t care.”

Management’s responsibility:

• Respond in reasonable time frame
• Be specific about the problem and the solution- let them help this to determine – TFU
• Establish cause- personal life issues, internal company issues
• Investigation- Determine if systemic issues exist
• Discussion with the employee- reiterate expectations in writing
• Counseling meeting – not punishment- assist them to recognize and overcome the problem
• Training – retraining
• Find a mutually acceptable way of dealing with it
• Follow up
• At the end of the counseling session, the employee must be warned of the consequences of failure to improve where such warning is appropriate.
• Bear in mind that the aim of the counseling session is not to punish the employee, but to notify an employee of the need to improve their performance.

Defining misconduct or poor behavior (relation to company rules, policies and procedures)

• Stealing
• Assault
• Swearing at a customer
• Disruptive behavior
• Blatant disregard for company policy or procedures

An example might be an employee is never absent and performs well but the employee is caught stealing… blatant misconduct issue.

Management’s Responsibility

• Respond immediately
• Investigate thoroughly- write exact account
• Determine punitive action
• Make decision quickly
• Misconduct usually results in immediate and severe disciplinary action – perhaps even dismissal.

The surest way to erode your credibility, respect and profits with your employees, boss and most importantly, customers and clients is to ignore poor behavior and employee performance issues.Making every employee and manager aware of your written guidelines in your policy and procedure manual assures everyone understands the critical nature of their proper behavior and performance. it sets the expectations necessary to ensure sustainable productivity and efficiency that drive excellent customer service and growing profits..

If you are in doubt as to how to respond to people issues, get good outside help from a trusted adviser, business coach or a friend with an unbiased view. Working with a good business coach is a great way to stay ahead of the competition both in the growth of you and your people and the growth of your business.

To your continued success,

Coach Nancy

Often people complain about the lack of time, even though we all get the same amount of time in a given day…..there are the same 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour for everyone.

Do you ever wonder why some people are always rushed, stressed, anxious and constantly running while others have the time to think, plan,  and balance work and play?  The constant demands of everyday life can seem overwhelming and stalemate  our ability to get things done.  It is not really our lack of time but actually it is our lack of how to effectively use that time. So what can we do about it?

Here are some helpful thoughts and steps to free up more of your time.

• Deal with your “reality” about time.  Many of our time management issues are actually related to our own behavior.  So the first step to freeing up more time is to understand yourself and your limiting behavior.

• Prioritize tasks.  All too often everything is treated with the same level of     importance.  Prioritize work based on importance instead of size of project. Think     about important and urgent vs. important but not urgent. Over time, shift your list     so that you are being proactive about your tasks.

• Track your time.  Analyze how you spend your time.  Take a week and record  everything you do and the time you spend on each task.  Map this out so you can  visually see how you spend your day.

• One at a time.  Try to complete projects by working on each project individually. Let the computers multi-task.  Have only one project at a time on your desk.

• Delegate tasks you should not do.  Many people hang on to tasks that should be     delegated to someone else.  Determine what it is costing you by doing these tasks then find/train someone else to do them for you.

• Learn to say “No”.  Many people overload themselves with work.  You can become     overwhelmed and others cannot count on you to meet deadlines.

• Schedule your work.  Create time to work on projects by scheduling them as you would a meeting.

• Always ask why.  Things change and sometimes we continue doing things one way when a better way is available.  Always question yourself.

• Make time for yourself.  We all need down time.  It will allow you to recharge the  batteries so you can be more productive when you go back to work. A simple walk around the parking lot can re-energize you.

• Create your own system.  Whether it’s Outlook, a day planner, or a notepad, you need to create your way to manage your time.

• Plan your success.  Set goals, create an action plan, and track your performance. Always follow-up and measure where you are so you stay on track with your goals. Understand how setting goals will impact what you do.

What will you change now that will help you accomplish more by paying attention to time robbers?

To your continued success,
Coach Nancy

No subject seems to pervade our lives as much as finance. Whether it is wresting with the family budget or seeing if your company qualifies for a bank loan, finance looms larger than any other technical subject on a daily basis. Managers are expected to scale down medical supply inventories or set up budgets for departments or projects, yet it has been my experience working as a business coach with in the healthcare industry that most management is sorely lacking in their basic understanding of finance. Why even some C – level employees depend too heavily on the CFO to tell them WHAT to do in regards to smart financial decision making.

All organizations preach to their managers to think like owners and consider all sorts of ideas and options before making a decision. We drill home the virtues of thinking costs savings and value added to our managers, yet how many businesses or healthcare organizations, large or small, train their management in the specifics of business finance? I would suggest few to none. But what business does not need ample cash flow and sustained profitability from every department in order to be successful?

If managers are expected to take ownership and share the responsibilities of running the business, they must be held to the same standards as owners or executive level management when it comes to financial understanding and accountability.

The key is to start training people immediately. We spend so much time training or hiring for technical expertise but very little to the financial understanding that is so basic for the achievement of corporate financial goals. Before promoting from within, ensure candidates have met certain basic criteria for leading people and understanding the financial risks of all aspects of their leadership. Before hiring from the outside, consider interview questions that specifically elicit a person’s financial comprehension.

So many executives simply hand over periodic financial reports to managers and assume they know what the heck they are looking at. Most reports end up in the bottom drawer somewhere. Many managers don’t take company financials seriously until they are required to – by that time it may be too late.

Managers today should know how to effectively utilize the basic tools such as reading, understanding and utilizing a balance sheet, statement of cash flows, and a profit and loss statement when making decisions. Teach managers at all levels how to create a functional budget so there are accurate financial metrics by which to measure a manager’s performance. Every manager’s performance should be tied directly to company financial goals. If not, don’t give them the title of manager. The need to make quick financial decisions is vital at every level to succeed in business today.

How would you rate your management’s actual understanding and accurate use of financial information?

Now is the time to take action to ensure your managers have every tool available to them to make proper decisions and take appropriate actions as leaders- especially those critical financial tools.

To your continued success,

Coach Nancy

Ever wonder if there is just an easier way to get others to want to do what you need done?

In my transportation management experience, getting umpteen packages delivered on time everyday did not happen without every employee involved in the process. Transportation is a different business, everything from trucks to various freight products, airplanes to weather can stop the business in its tracks. The one constant that always overcame all obstacles was the people and good leaders, regardless of titles.

Writing out plans for your business seems like the right thing to do, but do we ever stop to consider what our employees think of the plan? More importantly, do we let them play a major role in the planning itself?  In the transportation industry , a road map, a flight plan, or some sort of  navigation plan  is critical. Managing the people who will implement those plans is even more critical, yet most companies spend more time planning than motivating.

Good managers and leaders involved their people in discussions which generate  innovation determination. Allowing your people to create the plan for what you need done. Now, there is no doubt this can be a bit scary. What if they think you as the manager don’t know what to do? What if they don’t come up with ideas ? What if it takes too much time to bring people together to do this type of brain storming? Why can’t mangers just bring in their “favorites” and ask their opinions?

The main motivator of people is not money…people are  motivated most when they are asked for their ideas on how their work should be done and they are given the freedom to do their job and even make mistakes. we show respect for employees by trusting them to know what to do.

After all , who knows better than the person who actually does the job? When managers involve EVERYONE, the ideas are vast and the process allows ideas to feed from one another. No manager will be successful as a leader by surrounding themselves with Yes people.

Want to get buy in on a what you need done? Want to get people motivated? Let those who implement,  create. People will always go the extra mile to make THEIR ideas work.

Coach Nancy

Think back to the days when you first started working for someone and try to remember what it was that made you so excited about working for that person in that business. Many might say, I just needed a summer job. Others would say I loved working there because….. you fill in the blank.

If you loved working for that special boss, chances are it was not necessarily because of the massive amount of money you made. Heck, you were in high school with few marketable job skills! Most logically you liked working there because the boss made you feel important or valuable in someway.

What is it that good leaders do to make  employees feel important and valued? How do they get their employees as excited about their business as they are? That is the $64,000 question every executive, business owner, manager, department head and supervisor should ask on a regular basis. After all, it is not simply a product or service that brings people in to do business with you. How many of your competitors have the same product and pledge they too provide outstanding customer service? What will make your business different are the people who work with and for you IN the business.

The primary responsibility of all executives and management at any level is to train, motivate, engage, and mentor their people to be different than the competitor’s employees down the street. It is to help them be as excited about the positive results of your business as you are.

That is easier said than done, in many cases,  because the person responsible for motivating and mentoring hasn’t been properly trained to do such a critical aspect of their job. How many companies take their best widget maker and make them a manager of other widget makers and see results fail? Notice I did not say see the manager fail. That is because companies never take the time to train their people how to be motivating leaders of people and organized managers of processes. Many times there are no processes for the executive or manager to follow so they make it up and hope for the best. Well, hope is not a strategy.

Engaging employees to want to do what a leader needs done is a leadership skill that people must develop to be successful. Most experts agree leadership skills are learned and developed. So what are some of those leadership skills executives and managers can develop to get their people as excited about their business as they are?

1.    Ask employees for their opinions on how things could be done more effectively.

Then follow up and acknowledge their successes as their suggestions are implemented.

2.    Give employees the credit. Period  -  end of story.
Employees make the difference in a successful business as they are the one providing the extraordinary service everyone talks about.

3.   Present clear expectations then trust employees to do the right thing.
Micro management is the number one de – motivating and devaluing behavior a manager, at any level, can do to a person in any walk of life.

4.    Allow everyone to make mistakes.
We learn more from our mistakes as long as we don’t repeat them often.
Give employees the opportunity to try new things a new way. Successful leaders are not surprised at how innovation promotes engagement and enthusiasm. They encourage innovation.

5.    Train and retrain ALL employees from day one.
People will do a much better job and be much more engaged when they thoroughly understand what is to be done and how. The training should include their job functions as well as conflict resolutions and decision making.
Enlist outside expertise like a Certified Business Coach to help with  communication and leadership skills as well.

6.    WALK THE WALK AND TALK THE TALK.
Be the example all employees would WANT to emulate. Positive leadership drives employee enthusiasm. If managers want people more engaged and excited about the business, give them good reason to be.

All successful business managers must keep in mind that employees are a company’s greatest assets. Their collective ideas, feedback and enthusiasm for what they do can help business grow and succeed. People require the guidance of skilled managers and leaders who seek their ideas, ask for feedback and generate enthusiasm in order to have a sense of purpose and energy about what they do.

What will you do differently to increase your profitability by getting your employees as enthused about your business as you are?

How much more productive and efficient might your business be if everyone loved playing on the team?

Can you afford NOT to get everyone on board with consistent enthusiastic involvement?

Need someone to help you come up with ways or to help you get gain back the enthusiasm for your work and company as  the day you first got hired?

Call your Profitable Business Coach, Nancy,  to get back on track and get your folks on track at the same time toward measured success.

To your profitable success,

Coach Nancy

The Profitable Business Coach

Listen to most executive management people in an organization and they often speak with considerable enthusiasm about how they run a people first organization, while instead spending the majority of time talking to employees about revenues and profits. As business leaders or department heads, we all understand the basic premise that an organization, whether it is a healthcare facility such as a hospital or a small business, has to make money to stay in business. But what we chose to focus on to make that money is the key to whether we are successful in that endeavor or not.

Businesses who sustain encouraging results realize the people in their organization are the drivers of the success and PROFITS a company seeks to achieve.

It stands to reason then that companies should be focused much more intently on their people and their unleashed potential, both personally and professionally, if they are to maintain those consistent positive results needed to compete in any market.

Three familiar ideas trigger the things that successful companies do to develop and tap the potential of their people:

1. The company has a clear, well-articulated set of values that are the foundation for management practices that provide for the company’s competitive success.

2. The company has a significant degree of alignment and consistency in the people-centered practices that express its core values.

3. Senior managers in these companies (not just the founders or the CEO) are leaders whose primary role is to ensure that the values are maintained and constantly made real to all of the people who work in the organization.

The most visible characteristics of successful companies are their values and the fact that the values come first even before margins.

Why are values so important? Because we a people need to believe that what we do makes a difference to others and that our work is important. That in itself serves as a crucial motivator for any employee. We also want to feel that we are valued as people. We want to be respected for who we are, not simply for what we do. Read any material on the psychology of motivation and be reminded that money by itself isn’t sufficient for motivating long-term above average performance.

Companies more than ever need to have a clear understanding of their people and their values in order to make work meaningful and thereby attract, motivate and retain excellent people. There must be a balance with people, values and business in order to create sustainable results.

When core values are clearly defined and articulated, they become living values that get communicated and reinforced continually. In the absence of repetitive reminders of these values other implicit and negative values can take over, such as individual ambition at the expense of team work. The only insurance against such undermining is to reinforce values in both language and actions.

The business author, John Miller, reminds us  that every leader in a company should ask these questions regularly:

1. How can I reinforce and communicate our core values on a daily basis?

2. How can I create and communicate a clear vision for the part of the business that I manage?

3. What can I do to help others understand how our values drive our strategies?

4. How can I provide the people with whom I work with clear performance objectives that support our values?

5. How can I create an atmosphere in which people feel included and valued?

6. What can I do to ensure that everyone is heard?

7. How can I help my people succeed?

8. How can I show people they’re important to our success?

9. What can I do to maximize the talents of those who work with me?

10. How can I help people learn from their mistakes?

11. What can I do to ensure that people have the knowledge, skills and tools they need to be successful?

12. How can I build better relationships with my customers?

13. How can I increase the value my customers receive?

14. How can I build better relationships with my suppliers?

15. What can I do to build strong relationships with the local community?

As an Executive coach, I ask each of you, how does your attitude then affect your answers to any of John’s questions?

What might I do to help you create an environment where your people are excited about the organization’s  results as you are?

Share your ideas with those involved in this blog to help make a difference.

To your continued success,
Coach Nancy

Listening may be the most difficult skill to master when communicating effectively. But master it, we can!

The non verbal part of communicating is the most telling. Try this for a fact:

Research has shown that only 7 percent of what we take in from a speaker is from the actual words; the rest is non-verbal. The tone of voice of the speaker accounts for 38 percent of the message received. Over 55 percent of our perception of the message comes from the speaker’s body language.

This would mean how something is said is far more important than the actual words. This also means to be a really effective listener, one must “listen” to the non-verbals as well. This means being tuned in to what is being said and what is not being said.

Which brings this discussion to a really important part of listening: asking questions. It is not enough to assume you know what the person means. Non-verbals can lead you to “hear” something that is not being said. Asking questions deepens the discussion and explores more of what the person means.

Some useful questions are:

• “Can you give an example of this?”

• “Tell me more about that…”

A good listener should be making eye contact with the speaker about 60 to 80 percent of the time, at least in Western cultures. Nodding and shaking the head is usually appropriate to indicate receptiveness and understanding. Of course, it also indicates agreement or disagreement and can therefore interrupt the speaker

Rarely do people take the time to reflect on the quality of their listening skills. In fact, the only time we may become aware of them is when there has been a breakdown in communications, but by then we are in defensive mode instead of learning mode.

How well do you listen? When was the last time you asked your spouse, your boss, or a trusted peer for feedback on your communication skills? For most of us, this is far too risky.

Talking with your personal coach can help you practice active listening and is a safe way to improve without risk.

Let me know how you work on effective listening as you move to effect positive change.

To your continued success,

Coach Nancy

Want to be more successful? A leader is successful how…?

Success is defined in so many different ways but one fairly consistent theme we hear people say about success is everyone wants IT. Describing that IT is what becomes sticky. It means different things to different folks.

We put so much of our time and effort in to achieving success yet when asked if success equates with happiness, many people look bewildered. Ever hear people say, “I am successful because I have a big house, a good job with a title, a neat bunch of cars but I am so disheartened and unhappy. I am always looking for something more. What am I missing?”

Success is not a destination; it is a journey, a state of being, and a way of living.

We may attain parts of success as a result of our work, our personal endeavors, our thoughts and actions. But true success is not measured in tangibles as much as it is defined as the achievement of our anticipated outcomes.

Success is really the accomplishment of our own predetermined goals and ambitions, surrounded by our beliefs and values.

Mother Theresa was one of the most successful people in the world. Why? She had little, if no personal possessions, yet she fulfilled her dreams by knowing what she wanted to do and why. Her goal of diminishing poverty and struggles for children around the world with a driving sense of purpose defined her success.

Defining success becomes much easier if we clearly identify what it is we truly want and why. If whatever that want and why is leads us to long term happiness and satisfaction, we will have achieved success. Knowing the why becomes the driver for true success and the more clear that is for a person or an organization; the easier it becomes to achieve success.

Need to discuss your pathway to success with an empathetic mentor? Go to my website to signup for further info . www.profitablebusinesscoach.com

Ever notice the body language of those we are speaking to? You can tell in an instant whether they are listening or not? Suppose they notice that in you too? Of course, they do.
We have to develop the art of listening through a process. The process  is called active listening, this process involves the listener paying full attention to the speaker, and then summarizing or reflecting back what he or she has heard without evaluating or interpreting. This allows further clarification from the speaker if necessary. It also brings in this important element into the exchange:
Speaker A knows what Listener B has heard, AND knows that Listener B is taking the time to fully understand before responding.
This rarely seems to happen in our fast-paced environments where people talk over one another and interrupting is no longer the social faux pas that is was.
In active listening, it is important to learn to summarize and reflect smoothly, without appearing to mimic or repeat back in a robotic fashion. Useful phrases are:
• “As I understand it, what you are saying is…”
• “So your point is that …”

Another way to ensure you stay focused as an active listener is to keep eye contact when face to face and slow your internal thinking so you can genuinely HEAR what is being said, not what you think is GOING to BE said. Just this simply technique can save mounds of misunderstood discussions.

How do you become a better listener? The same way you become a better cellist- practice , practice , practice. Your people will learn to listen by watching you. Why not even discuss how to listen more effectively with them. Sure can’t hurt.

Next time , we will cover non verbal communication and how this affects the responses people get.

To your continued success,

The Profitable Business Coach Nancy

In our last post we discussed the fact that listening is one of the most crucial, if not the most crucial aspect of communication. So why don’t they listen to me? Maybe because people speak 130 words a minute but our thinking speed is 500 words a minute…lots of time to become distracted. Chances are THEY listen the same way you do.

One important way to improve is to figure out what interferes with your active listening skills,  aside from the above statement. How do you slow your processing so you hear what is actually being said?

First, let’s talk about what other things interfere with effective listening — and consequently result in poor communications and poor interpersonal relationships:
• We don’t clear our minds before entering into a conversation or listening to a person’s presentation. Many people will multi-task, especially while on the phone. Even in a face-to-face exchange, some people multi-task in their heads, solving problems and making lists while the other person gets to their point (which we have decided we already know)!

• We experience emotions which distract us from listening further. It doesn’t take much of a trigger for our feelings to pop up. A look, a phrase, and we are off and running with anxiety, fear, or anger. Our ability to listen is seriously impaired when we are distracted by feelings, especially those we wouldn’t want to admit to.
• We are thinking about our reply. We are so concentrated on making a rebuttal, or on sharing a similar experience, we cease listening to the speaker, and may not even hear important information that makes our response inconsequential or inappropriate. We miss opportunities to build and strengthen relationships by jumping in and speaking too soon.
• We are thinking about the subject from our own perspective rather than trying to understand it from the speaker’s point of view. Our perception may so differ from the perception of the talker that a totally different interpretation of the information may occur. Our minds need to be open and exploring new information rather focusing on what we know.
While everybody “knows” how to listen, not everybody practices effective listening techniques which can rapidly improve communications, strengthen relationships and form strong interpersonal skills for work and family success.

Next time let’s discuss what is involved in active listening. Until then, remember that leading others starts by leading yourself first.

TO YOUR CONTINUED SUCCESS -

Your Profitable Business Coach Nancy