“I’m slowly becoming a convert to the principle that you can’t motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.” Scott Adams

If a business wants to be effective in this (or any other) economy, the key is to make sure employees can be as productive as possible. This can be accomplished by using effective performance management and making sure that employees are able to make informed decisions.

What role does performance management play?

It is impossible to hit a target that is not identified. Employees need to know what they are expected to do, how well they are expected to do it, and how their performance will be measured.

For example: A newly hired trainer in a consulting firm was told that he was expected to meet with clients, identify their training needs, design a training program and deliver it to the satisfaction of the clients and the supervisor. The supervisor would wait until the trainer had delivered a new program twice (to work out some of the bugs) before sitting in to observe the training.

When the first session of the training went terribly, the new trainer did not wait for the supervisor to come to observe the third session. He went to the supervisor immediately to discuss the problem and identify some solutions.
The employee took responsibility for his performance, which is what a supervisor wants.

Why do employees need to understand the back story?

Performance management will tell employees what they should do, when they should do it, and how well they should do it. It does not necessarily tell them the reason behind the task or assignment. Without knowing this, it is very difficult for the employee to make effective decisions.

For example: The owner of a printing company complained that delegation did not work with his employees. When pressed for an example, he explained that he had recently needed to leave the plant. He called one of his employees into his office and explained that a customer would be calling about a printing order. The owner told the employee what he should say to the customer when the customer called.

Obviously, the owner did not tell the customer what her side of the script should be. When the customer called, the customer asked a question that the employee was unprepared to answer. The employee was afraid to make the wrong decision, so he made no decision.

The owner pointed to this situation as an example of the failure of delegation. It was actually a failure of communication on his part. This wasn’t intentional. The owner had had many previous conversations with the customer. He just forgot that the employee did not have the benefit of that information. If he wanted the employee to really be able to serve the customer effectively, the owner needed to explain the background and context of the customer situation. Just providing a script of what to say was insufficient.

If we want employees to be productive, we need to give them what they need to know so that they can take responsibility to monitor and improve their own performance and make decisions to fulfill delegated duties.

May your learning be sweet.

Deborah

Tip #337: If You Want Employees to be Productive: Help Them Feel Important

Posted on August 23, 2010 by admin

“Three people were at work on a construction site. All were doing the same job, but when each was asked what the job was, the answers varied. Breaking rocks, the first replied. Earning my living, the second said. Helping to build a cathedral, said the third.” Peter Schultz

If a business wants to be effective in this (or any other) economy, the key is to make sure employees can be as productive as possible. This can be accomplished by helping employees feel valued and important, as well as helping them see the big picture.

Why should businesses help employees feel important?

An employee who feels valued and important is much more likely to come to the job with pride and do the work as well as humanly possible.

For example: A group of managers were taking a tour of an assembly line for a pen manufacturer. They asked each person along the line to explain their responsibilities. Then they came to a woman who had the very obvious task of buffing the clips and placing them on the pens. Since they knew that she had seen them talk with everyone else, they asked her what she did. They fully expected her to simply tell them that she put the clips on the pens.

However, what she said was this: “I am responsible for the image of our company. If the clip isn’t buffed so it shines and if it isn’t perfectly aligned on the pen, then the person who purchases our pen will have a rumpled lapel pocket- and that is not the image we want for our company.”

Someone in the company had taken the time to imbue this woman’s work with great dignity and importance. The additional benefit is that, if they need her to temporary assist with packaging the pens, she is going to be equally committed to doing a good job. Why? Because she doesn’t want her perfectly buffed and aligned clips to be scratched or jostled in transit.

Why is seeing the big picture essential to employee performance?

It has a huge positive impact on productivity and quality when employees understand the consequences of their performance.

For example: During a lead worker training program for an assembly plant that made anti-lock brakes for cars, the trainer determined that the participants never walked new hires down the entire line so that they could see the final product. They simply showed them what to do at their point in the assembly process.

When asked if they thought it might be a good idea to show new hires the final product, one woman strongly agreed. Her daughter and granddaughter had recently been in a car accident and the anti-lock brake saved their lives. The woman was awestruck that she might have helped to manufacture that anti-lock brake. She finally realized that what she did on the job could have life or death consequences. Clearly, this insight would give even the most mundane assembly job a sense of importance and purpose.

If we want employees to be productive, we need to dignify their jobs and help them see that their performance has a significant impact on the success of the organization.

May your learning be sweet.

Deborah