If you have agreed to be my coach, to turn me into a champion ice skater, the first thing you notice is that my skates are untied.
As a habit, I am sloppy about my equipment. The knots in my laces are loose and within minutes, they come apart and the laces drag the ice. As my coach, you want to be positive, but my laces are untied. Do you ignore this weakness, or is it part of your obligation, as a coach, to deliver some negative feedback?
This is not a rhetorical question.
Most people don’t know that I am a championship ice skater.
At least I will be, if you agree to be my coach. As my coach, you have many responsibilities, this is the first.
Woody Allen says that half of making progress in life is just “showing up.” The first responsibility of any coach is to make sure team members show up. I cannot get better unless you show up for practice. So, if you are going to be my coach and turn me into a championship ice skater, your first responsibility is to make sure I show up for practice.
How is your team showing up for practice?
We have two scholarships available for next week’s (Aug 17) kickoff at Working Leadership Online. Coaching Performance – Time Span and Highest Capability. If you would like one, please respond to Ask Tom.
You see the person relax. You know they are capable of more. But they stop, take a break, coast. Compared to their peers, head and shoulders above. So they get head and shoulders above and put it in neutral. You are the manager.
How can you bring this person to a higher plane of performance?
A skill is made of two things. There is a technical knowledge piece. That’s the stuff we go to school for. That is what is taught in textbooks. And it is necessary.
The other piece is most often overlooked, and that is practice. Technical knowledge and practiced performance make a skill. What is your role as a manager, as a coach, in making that happen?
In our coaching series in Working Leadership Online, so far this summer, we have looked at
We finish the series, kicking off next Monday, August 17.
We have reserved ten invitations for a free scholarship. If you would like to receive an invitation, please respond to Ask Tom.
“I am still uncomfortable with confrontation,” Lauren explained. “There is a knot in the middle of my stomach.”
“How long have you felt this way?”
“About a week,” she said. “He is not doing his best. I saw that. I only started to feel uncomfortable when I knew I had to say something to him.”
“So, your stomach is your guidepost?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Your stomach is a valuable detector. Here is one thing for certain. If your stomach is upside down, it is likely you are dealing with a real issue. If your stomach feels fine, you can be assured you are avoiding the real issue.”
Lauren felt fine until the point of confrontation. While she observed underperformance, she was fine as long as she avoided the issue. Your stomach is a valuable detector. What issues are you avoiding?
Managers contribute to underperformance by avoiding the issue. Managers hope. I am here to tell you there is no hope. There is only the conversation.
In our Working Leadership Online program, I asked a participant to describe the benefit of the Field Work related to accountability.
“Getting over the fear of having the conversation. I was scared it would spiral out of control. The meeting went nothing like I anticipated.”
We provide a proven model to deal with underperformance, but the biggest obstacle is still the fear of confrontation. Our model not only addresses the underperformance, but also the fear on the part of the manager. Here are the essential steps.
Except for the last step, this is a monologue, lasting less than 60 seconds. There are some other ground rules, but this is the core. Now, check your fear at the door.
“Why are you avoiding this conversation with Curtis?” I asked.
“I know I should talk to him, but I just don’t like confrontation. His production is below par. I don’t think he is doing his best. But if I talk to him, he might get upset and his production might get slower,” Lauren explained.
“How do you define confrontation?”
“Curtis screws up and I call him on it.”
“And?”
“And he will try to defend himself with excuses. I will have to argue with his excuses. I will have to force my reasons against his excuses. I just want to avoid it,” she protested.
“What if you changed your definition of confrontation to a search for the truth. Instead of excuses, let’s find out what the real problem is and see if Curtis can fix it?” I suggested.
Sometimes, the way we understand a single word can change the way we see what we do. Many people avoid confrontation because it brings uncomfortable images. If we can see confrontation as a search for the truth, we can have the conversation with a more productive purpose.
I heard back from Michelle Malay Carter last week about a post we highlighted last week on Time Span. In her response, she posed this dilemma.
“We find that managers, even when they believe the concept is credible, struggle to articulate tasks in Time Span.”
I find the biggest difficulty in understanding Time Span is over-thinking it. Most managers make it way too difficult.
Time Span is simple. It is the Time part of every goal. A goal is a “What, By When?” That’s it. Time Span is the “By When” part. Michelle was correct. Most managers focus on the “What” part of the goal. The “By When” part is often an afterthought. But it is the “By When” that we need to pay attention to. It establishes accountability and calibrates the complexity of the goal.
When you think of the Time Span of any task assignment, just think about the goal, the “What, By When?” and you will have it.
From the Ask Tom mailbag:
Question:
I listened with interest at your last Time Span workshop. How come we never heard of Elliott Jaques before? He makes so much management sense, yet he seems to have been a best kept secret.
Response:
Elliott is seldom included in the management literature, yet everything we know about organizations and organizational structure rests on the shoulders of his research. But if you look hard, you will find outposts, practitioners who continue his legacy.
Michelle Malay Carter writes often about Elliott and the principles contained in his research. Here is an excerpt from Mission Minded Management.
“Managers have double accountability. They, as employees themselves must bring their best to bear and give their managers their best advice, but in addition, they are accountable for the output of their team.” Read more.
“Why does Taylor think he is getting a raise?” I asked. Dana had talked to Taylor about coming in late everyday, but her Positive Sandwich sent a mixed message.
“I didn’t want to upset him by coming down too hard. I need him to change his behavior, but I don’t want him to be angry at me,” Dana replied.
“Why do you think he would be angry?”
“No one likes to be criticized.”
“How can you deliver the message, the direct message, without criticizing?” I challenged.
“I don’t know,” Dana relented. “Everyone is late sometimes, but this is beginning to have an impact on the rest of the team.”
“So, there is some criticism that needs to be stated. Remember, there are only two people in this conversation. How can that criticism be put on the table without you being the critic?” I pressed.
Dana’s face relaxed. “I can describe the behavior and ask Taylor to describe the impact of the behavior.”
“And what if Taylor’s analysis of the impact is weak?”
“Then I will have to ask him a better question,” Dana nodded.
Most managers feel they have to be the critic and often criticism (a judgment about behavior, a judgment about effectiveness) needs to be stated.
Effective managers get to the same place by asking questions.
Dana was almost trembling when I showed up. The color was gone from her face. “I don’t think I did that right,” she finally spoke.
“Step me through it,” I asked.
“I had to talk to Taylor. He has been coming late, dawdling on the work he is supposed to get done, really snippy with everybody around him, like he has a chip on his shoulder.”
“So, what happened?”
Dana shook her head from side to side. “Well, I tried to be positive first, then the negative part, then finished it off with another positive. But I don’t think I got my point across. He thinks he is going to get a raise.”
The Accountability Conversation often sends mixed signals. Managers enter this conversation with cross purposes. From the team member, Managers are looking for
One of these usually fails.