Industry Research: High Performance People Leaders
How Managers Can Coach Their Teams To Better Performance
Posted on 05-04-2021, Read Time: Min
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In his book “Coaching for Improved Work Performance”, author Ferdinand Fournies emphasizes 3 core realities of managing employees at any level of an organization …
- Management is the intervention of getting things done through others.
- Managers get paid for what employees do, not what they do.
- Managers need employees more than employees need managers.
He concludes with, “…the only reason for you to be there as a manager is to do everything in your power to help them be as successful as you need them to be. You succeed only when they succeed.” Fournies’ message is reinforced by two facts that emerged in Gallup’s seminal State of the American Manager report:
- Managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement.
- 50% of employees who leave do so because of their manager.
The question that needs to be asked of every manager is this:
How will you enable the people who report to you to succeed?
Rethink The Performance Review
When an employee is not performing up to expectation, we say that a Performance Gap exists. Their manager is probably aware of that gap, but unless a crisis occurs, little is said until the next Performance Review. There are two major problems with Performance Reviews …
If the employee is underperforming, the work group has had to try and compensate for those deficiencies every day since the last review. But that’s not even the half of it. Performance Reviews themselves are based largely on inaccurate perceptions.
The most comprehensive research on what performance ratings actually measure, involved 4,492 employees who were rated on certain performance dimensions by 2 bosses, 2 peers, and 2 subordinates. It revealed that 62% of the variance in ratings could be accounted for by individual raters’ peculiarities of perception. Actual performance accounted for only 21% of the variance. (Source: Journal of Applied Psychology).
The challenge of under performance for a manager is RIGHT NOW...not at the next Performance Review.
Performance is a WHAT, HOW, and WHY issue. Questions relating to those 3 issues need to be answered when an employee starts a new job, runs into performance obstacles, and when job expectations change. Most important, those questions need to be asked and discussed in conversations that managers have with their direct and indirect reports each day.
Flatter organizations, heavy workloads, tight budgets, and too many direct reports often leave managers with a time crunch. In spite of that and as mentioned, management necessitates “getting things done through others.” Those on the job / in the moment conversations must receive a manager’s highest priority.
If the employee is underperforming, the work group has had to try and compensate for those deficiencies every day since the last review. But that’s not even the half of it. Performance Reviews themselves are based largely on inaccurate perceptions.
The most comprehensive research on what performance ratings actually measure, involved 4,492 employees who were rated on certain performance dimensions by 2 bosses, 2 peers, and 2 subordinates. It revealed that 62% of the variance in ratings could be accounted for by individual raters’ peculiarities of perception. Actual performance accounted for only 21% of the variance. (Source: Journal of Applied Psychology).
The challenge of under performance for a manager is RIGHT NOW...not at the next Performance Review.
Performance is a WHAT, HOW, and WHY issue. Questions relating to those 3 issues need to be answered when an employee starts a new job, runs into performance obstacles, and when job expectations change. Most important, those questions need to be asked and discussed in conversations that managers have with their direct and indirect reports each day.
Flatter organizations, heavy workloads, tight budgets, and too many direct reports often leave managers with a time crunch. In spite of that and as mentioned, management necessitates “getting things done through others.” Those on the job / in the moment conversations must receive a manager’s highest priority.
Engage Through Conversation
According to Gallup, engaged employees give 57% more effort and are 87% less likely to quit their position. Pursuing the what, how, and why issues in daily conversation can help make that a reality. In having those conversations, managers want to find out:
1. Does the employee know WHAT he or she is expected to do?
CHALLENGE: According to Forunie’s research, not knowing the manager’s performance expectations is the most frequent reason for under performance. They may not know …
- Specifically what they are supposed to do.
- The full scope of the job requirements.
- How high a priority it is, especially when other things compete for their attention.
2. Does the employee know HOW to do it right?
This is Forunie’s second most frequent reason for under performance. It typically results from assuming that the employee has adequate knowledge, skill, and expertise. There are several reasons why they might not be equipped to do it right …
- They were never trained.
- Those who trained them were not up to the task.
- The employee was not clear about what he or she needed to learn.
- An experienced employee was asked to “teach” them, but all they did was to “show” them.
3. Does the employee know WHY it needs to be done, and done right?
This goes to the heart of the disengagement problem. It can occur even when the employee knows what to do and how to do it. Since Gallup has estimated that nearly 70% of the American workforce is disengaged, it’s clear that this needs to be a vital part of the conversation. There are several possible reasons for this issue …
- The employee is new on the job or is facing changes in what they have been doing.
- The employee doesn’t understand how what he or she does relate to and impacts the unit’s work flow, the efforts of fellow workers, other work units, external customers, and/or the organization’s mission and goals.
- When they ask, “Why do I have to do this?” They are typically told something like, “Just do what you’re told and quit asking.”
- When the organization’s mission, vision, and goals were posted throughout the organization, it was assumed that employees share the same commitment to those statements as management. They rarely do.
“…the only reason for managers to be there is to do everything in their power to help employees be as successful as the organization needs them to be.” ~ Ferdinand Fournies
Use Coaching to Build Better Relationships
Coaching is a unique relationship that is built on and shaped by conversation. When you take a coach approach to addressing the what, how, and why issues, you empower your employees to close their performance gap without having to tell them what to do. Instead of having to be “fixed,” they accept responsibility for the choices they make and the actions they take.
To create an engaged workforce, managers need to empower employees to take the initiative to improve things by thinking it through and coming to a rational conclusion about the best course of action. Coaching is a new management operating system where giving continual direction and hand holding are out – and empowerment is in.
Studies by Zenger Folkman (The Extraordinary Coach) found that managers who effectively coach in their role as manager, have a disproportionate amount of more employees who …
To create an engaged workforce, managers need to empower employees to take the initiative to improve things by thinking it through and coming to a rational conclusion about the best course of action. Coaching is a new management operating system where giving continual direction and hand holding are out – and empowerment is in.
Studies by Zenger Folkman (The Extraordinary Coach) found that managers who effectively coach in their role as manager, have a disproportionate amount of more employees who …
- Feel like they are valued.
- Are most satisfied with the organization as a place to work.
- Feel like they are given opportunities to grow and develop.
- Are more willing to “put in the extra mile.”
People grow and develop when they are empowered to think for themselves and can make increasingly complex decisions in ever-changing situations. This is the pathway to engagement and commitment...which inevitably leads to better performance throughout an organization.
When managers have the ability to coach and develop those they manage, not only do employees perform better, they stay longer, give more effort, solve more problems autonomously and over time, come to take an increasing amount of responsibility for their contribution to the organization’s success. And those are outcomes worth pursuing...and it starts by equipping managers to engage, empower and develop those they lead.
Sources:
When managers have the ability to coach and develop those they manage, not only do employees perform better, they stay longer, give more effort, solve more problems autonomously and over time, come to take an increasing amount of responsibility for their contribution to the organization’s success. And those are outcomes worth pursuing...and it starts by equipping managers to engage, empower and develop those they lead.
Sources:
- https://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Improved-Work-Performance-Revised-dp-0071352937/dp/0071352937
- https://www.gallup.com/services/182138/state-american-manager.aspx
- https://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Coach-Best-Leaders-Others/dp/0071703403
Author Bio:
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Tim Cosby is the Co-founder and Chief Empowerment Officer at Conversational Management. As a professional executive and life coach for over 10 years, he has personally worked with thousands of managers and leaders to help transform their cultures into collaborative and empowering environments that employees thrive in. |
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