ILRMD504: Leading People to Higher Performance

Transcription

ILRMD504: Leading People to Higher Performance
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MODULE OVERVIEW
Module 1: Motivating for Achievement
Welcome
This course is designed to give the experienced and inexperienced supervisor and manager a good understanding of the
scope and skills required to motivate and lead others. The course is built around experiential learning which gives you, the
participant, an opportunity to translate the learning to your work environment. We hope you enjoy this experience and ask
that you bring many real workplace issues and situations to the discussions. It is our goal that these discussions lead you
to potential solutions or additional learning by covering action that did not work and why. In addition, we encourage you to
participate. It is through your participation that you can maximize your learning. Welcome to Motivating for Achievement.
After completing this module, you will be able to:
Define motivation and discuss why it's important to a supervisor
Assess your own motivators
Use effective communication to determine individual motivators
Recognize the indicators of motivation
Align motivators with organizational objectives
Determine nonfinancial motivators that support the goals of the organization and of the employee
Identify motivational opportunities in work assignments
Identify characteristics of someone who motivated you
TOPIC OVERVIEW
Topic 1.1: Effective Motivation
Learning Objectives
What Is Motivation?
A motivated employee is committed to doing the job well and is prepared to put energy and effort into it. Motivation varies
in nature and intensity among individuals, depending on the particular mixture of influences they feel at any given moment,
and these influences are bound up with their needs.
Why Is Motivation Important?
Motivation is vital in any job if individuals are to give their best to it. Assuming that all employees are given ample
opportunity for good performance (correct tools, work methods, and so on) and have the necessary skills, their relative
effectiveness depends on their motivation. Getting people to the workplace ensures attendance, but attendance is not
performance. What affects performance is the motivation that makes employees willing to put in their best effort.
Over the past two decades or more, research in the workplace has repeatedly shown that managers have a misperception
of what motivates their employees, and that managers use ineffective motivators-with the best intentions-when trying to
leverage more or better work from their staff. This can actually be discouraging to the staff, and frustrating for the manager
trying to meet higher productivity targets.
Attitudes and behavior at work reflect motivation-or the lack of it. Be aware of what your colleagues and employees are
telling you about their motivation levels! Listening can go a long way toward creating effective motivation.
Employee Motivators
A group of employees was asked to prioritize a list of ten factors that motivated them in their work, with 1 being most
important and 10 being least important. Then a group of managers was asked to rank the items on the same list,
prioritizing what they felt motivated their employees. Included here are the results of the survey for both employees and
managers.
Notice the differences between what employees thought was most important and what managers thought was most
important to their employees. This presentation investigates the motivations on this list in depth, and talks about how a
manager can affect each of them.
Transcript: Employee Motivators
Help always available with problems
Your help is not supposed to be a crutch. The manager should not solve problems as much as help to facilitate problem
solving. A manager is not only an ear for problems, providing assistance and direction, but also, just as importantly, a kick
in the pants to tell employees that they can work on the issues themselves, with the right guidance and resources. An
approachable manager is someone who will not be critical of the employees' concerns, but will listen and be helpful.
Personal loyalty
Managers should be loyal to their employees and to the organization. Good managers understand that employees are
human and make mistakes, but this doesn't diminish their loyalty to their employees. A manager's loyalty will, in turn, build
loyalty on the part of the employees.
Promotion/growth
Managers should be committed to providing as many opportunities for growth as possible to their employees. Good
managers recognize that promotion is important, and do not stand in its way, even if it means an employee leaves the
department to accept a better opportunity in another area.
Job security
It is often the little things that a manager says and does that give employees their sense of job security. Managers must
convey the impression that the company is organized and efficient, and provides future job security. A manager who is
disorganized, unfair, and unstable creates the impression that the company is the same way.
Appreciation and recognition
Recognizing employees for their work improves productivity and morale. The appreciation and recognition may come in
different ways: not only by saying thanks, but also by praising an employee's efforts to peers and higher-level people
within the organization. Giving assignments that compliment interests and skills is another tangible way to show
appreciation. When annual reviews are completed, recognizing strengths and accomplishments and giving developmental
goals will also show appreciation and recognition.
Interesting work
Employees respond to work that challenges them to enhance their development and utilize the skills they possess. They
appreciate opportunities to work with other interesting and talented colleagues who may enhance their knowledge and
skills. And they appreciate work that they find personally gratifying.
Involvement in work & decisions
Employees appreciate being consulted regularly regarding work-related decisions. Good managers take advantage of
their employees' expertise and knowledge of the job, and solicit their contributions regarding current and future procedures
and processes.
Good wages
Everyone wants to be paid a fair wage for his or her efforts. However, some people perceive a fair wage differently than
others. There are employees who say they care only about the check and nothing else. This may in fact be true, and if so,
there's nothing you can do about it. But there are others, perhaps even a majority, who say that money is the only thing
they care about; but what they mean is that they believe that money is the only thing the workplace can offer
them-everything else they might want from a job is unattainable. Your job as a manager is to uncover what really
motivates such employees and try, to the extent that you can, to provide it.
Good working conditions
The days of the sweatshops are all but over. People expect to work in a safe and comfortable environment that does not
inhibit their ability to be successful. If it's hot in the summer, the air conditioning should be working; if it's cold in the winter,
the heat should be on. The work area should be well ventilated. If you work in an area apart from your employees, don't
assume that just because you're comfortable, your employees are as well.
Appropriate and tactful discipline
Disciplining an employee should be the option of last resort. Did you first inform the employee of his or her difficulties? Did
you work with the employee to improve his or her performance? If the answers are yes, and your efforts were to no avail,
then be sure to discipline the employee from a developmental perspective in order to improve performance. Make sure the
discipline is timely, conducted in private, and includes an opportunity for the employee to share his or her view of the
situation. As part of the disciplinary meeting, be sure to establish a plan of action for moving forward to improve
performance.
Why Do You Work?
The key element of the second survey in the activity titled "Why Do You Work" is the fact that the company has a
notoriously bad reputation as an employer. When people are asked how much money it would take for them to leave their
current position and go to an employer with an outstanding reputation, the amount is usually significantly less than the
results in our survey. This reinforces the fact that money is not the only motivator.
In the national results of the survey that asked participants to rank factors related to why they work, money was not the
most important. It wasn't even among the top three. This suggests that, given a fair and adequate salary, it is other
non-monetary factors that are more important. Different employees value these factors differently. As a manager it is
important to recognize what is a high motivator for one employee may be a low motivator for another.
What drove your decision regarding the amount of money it would take to move to an organization that did not have a
good reputation as an employer? Did you consider issues such as quality of life, flexibility of work schedule, the number of
hours you'd be required to work, the number of sick days you'd receive, the opportunity to help others, and learning
opportunities? Did you wonder whether you'd be hassled if you wanted to leave early to attend your child's soccer game?
Were you able and willing to assign monetary values to these issues?
Don't assume that money is everything. Certainly it means a lot, and to some people it may mean everything. But there is
more to working and to life than money, and what motivates you may not motivate everyone else.
Ask the Expert: Why Is Motivation Important?
Transcript: Why is Motivation Important?
Our department meets its performance goals. Why do I need to understand employee motivation?
Motivation is a feeling of commitment to making sure that work is done well, and being willing to put the needed energy
and effort into it. It varies in nature and intensity from person to person, depending on the particular mixture of work and
personal influences on an individual at any given moment.
Motivation is vital in any job if individuals are to give their best to it, and to their producing above expectations. Assuming
that employees have the necessary skills, and are given correct tools and work methods, their enhanced effectiveness
depends on their motivation.
A motivated staff wants to do a great job, whereas a working staff is occupied with what they have to do. As managers,
our lives are easier when employees work without continuous supervision and instruction, and when their commitment to
quality work keeps obstacles to that goal from impeding the process. Our work is made more difficult when we need to
make sure that non-motivated employees are actually working efficiently. Departmental performance is improved when the
motivation of some employees helps to strengthen everyone's motivation and increase the group's effectiveness. So, is it
worth it to understand employee motivation?
We already expect our employees to do their best. How do motivated employees make a difference?
First, if people are committed to their jobs-rather than just responsible for them-they will take extra interest in the details of
the job. Small things-such as unnoticed minor repairs, timely notification about maintenance issues, pending schedule or
resource constraints, or informal news from around the plant-that unmotivated employees will overlook, will be addressed
by motivated employees. Committed employees go out of their way to deal with problems before they can impact their
intention to produce quality work.
People who are committed to their work are always seeking help to improve it-it's more than just having ideas, it's doing
something with those ideas to improve some aspect of the job. Process improvement reflects positively on the entire staff,
especially on the manager that leads a motivated group that keeps coming up with workable ideas and higher productivity.
When the dust settles, the credit falls to the manager who created the staff, environment, and work attitude that led to the
improvements.
How do I get my employees to feel committed to performing the menial parts of the job?
When people are committed to their work, they aren't selective about which elements they're committed to-they have
interest in the work as a whole: productivity, tools, workplace and peers. Committed people will be more active in
performing all aspects of their job. They're the ones who make recommendations to improve everything, from technology
to printer paper. They're the ones who pick up trash in the parking lot because it reflects badly on the workplace.
But there are always tasks that nobody really wants to do. Although motivated people will do a better job on the menial
stuff, they still won't be excited. So, utilize their commitment to the job and their interest in the workplace to improve the
less-desirable task. Ask them to come up with better ways to do it. Relate its purpose to overall productivity, and help
them to understand why it has to be done. Ask for ideas on the overall process that might affect why that task has to be
done the way it's currently done. Also, don't keep giving an undesirable task to the same person if it's in more than one
person's job description. If nobody likes the task, it should be shared just like the desirable tasks. The employee
understanding that all tasks are assigned fairly builds trust in you and increases motivation in the staff.
TOPIC OVERVIEW
Topic 1.2: Motivational Indicators
Learning Objectives
Do you come to work every day expecting every work experience to contribute to your long-term career goals? Do you
relate every insignificant success or failure to the lifestyle of your family? When you look at the backlog of work on your
desk, do you think, This endangers the stability of my employment and well-being? No. These are conscious motivators
and goals, and we reflect on them intentionally and only periodically.
When it comes to motivation, sometimes it is much smaller issues that matter most to employee performance. Instinctive
motivators are the little, nonfinancial, near-term factors that create positive attitudes and the happy satisfaction of
employees who want to return the favor. This isn't rocket science; it's an attempt to help you realize that sometimes it's the
little stuff that helps-and hurts. Employees who have positive attitudes and are happy in the workplace volunteer their best
efforts and are less likely to be looking for another job.
Choose a Car
One of your recent hires, Jimmy, has won distinction as the employee of the year. The company has had an outrageously
good year, and wants to emphatically show its appreciation for its employees. Aside from increasing everyone's annual
bonus beyond anyone's reasonable expectations, they've decided that the employee of the year should not receive the
NYC weekend/Broadway show package that they usually award, but should instead receive-a new car! They've narrowed
the list of vehicles to six very specific models, and, since you're Jimmy's boss, you get to investigate his preferences-but
without letting on that he's won the award and the car!
You decide to ask Jimmy four carefully crafted questions that should give you all the information you need to make a good
selection, because honestly, you don't work directly with Jimmy, and don't know him that well.
Question 1: Do you have any children?
Question 2: What do you do when you are not working?
Question 3: What kind of car do you drive most?
Question 4: How far is your daily commute?
Debrief: Choose a Car
What influenced your decision? Take a look at the criteria you established for making a selection - how many of them did
you 'hear' from Jimmy, and how many did you 'extrapolate'?
Consider question #3: "What kind of car do you drive most?" Jimmy mentioned a Camry, so, did you pick the Accord
because it's closest in general features to a Camry? Did you pick the Accord because people who like Japanese cars stick
with Japanese cars? Did you avoid the Accord because Toyota owners are loyal to Toyotas, not Hondas? Did you
consider the price and worth of these cars? Would it have made a difference in your choice if you were told that all of the
cars you had available to choose from cost within $5,000 of each other?
Look at your reactions to the other questions. Did you interpret "back roads" to mean rock-strewn dirt paths, or neatly
paved but narrow residential roads? Is "a 45-minute drive" a long trip or a typical outing for you? How many children did
you feel the need to fit in the new car - one, or an indeterminate number up to . . . 3? 5? Did you consider if a hockey gear
bag and sticks might be able to fit into the car or not?
How many of these 'deductions' are actually more reflective of your perspectives than of Jimmy's? Could your deductions
lead you to make a selection that satisfies what you thought you heard more than Jimmy's real use for the vehicle?
Regardless of what you actually chose, let's assume you chose the Dodge Caravan. So, amid great pomp and
circumstance at the next company meeting of all staff, the CEO calls Jimmy up on stage, announces the award, and the
screen goes up to reveal his brand new Dodge Caravan! Jimmy is speechless, especially since someone had leaked the
information to him about what was going to happen, and said the car list that was being considered. Jimmy was secretly
envisioning a BMW Z4 Convertible. He collects himself gracefully and acts appreciative and surprised, but is secretly
disappointed. Has this once-in-a-lifetime motivational and recognition opportunity failed? What did it achieve? Could it
have had far greater impact? How?
While this example may sound a bit far-fetched, it's not. Remember that you have direct control over your staff's
employment and salary (which can amount to more than the value of that car each year) and future (which, to the
employee, can amount to more value than any car will ever have). You have the opportunity to recognize, reward and
motivate according to the desires of the employee with more than pay and create opportunities for them to learn the skills
they'll need to complete their pictures of their own success. But, if you provide what you think are the right opportunities,
and they see the opportunities they really want pass them by, your efforts can actually be counter-productive.
To really understand what employees want to achieve in their current employment, you can't guess, or, like the "Employee
of the Year" award, you'll fall short. Both the individual's and the department's performance may be reduced as a result,
especially if you guess wrong repeatedly with the entire staff. You need to establish a dialogue with the employees in
which they can let you know what work activities they enjoy doing, what they want to learn, where they want to go from
here, their career goals, and provide opportunities that meet these personal objectives. Don't forget to verify your
understanding by asking probing questions, and checking back over time to re-confirm. It will maximize employee interest
in exceeding expectations (the organization's and their own), and departmental performance, as well. And, it costs a lot
less than buying each of them the wrong car.
Transcript: Choose a Car
One of your recent hires, Jimmy, has won distinction as the employee of the year. The company has had an outrageously
good year, and wants to emphatically show its appreciation for its employees. Aside from increasing everyone's annual
bonus beyond anyone's reasonable expectations, they've decided that the employee of the year should not receive the
NYC weekend/Broadway show package that they usually award, but should instead receive-a new car! They've narrowed
the list of vehicles to six very specific models, and, since you're Jimmy's boss, you get to investigate his preferences-but
without letting on that he's won the award and the car!
You decide to ask Jimmy four carefully crafted questions that should give you all the information you need to make a good
selection, because honestly, you don't work directly with Jimmy, and don't know him that well.
Question 1: Do you have any children?
Yes, I have one daughter; my wife and I hope to have a few more sometime, but we are not sure when.
Question 2: What do you do when you are not working?
I play hockey for a local club team, and I like to go out to the movies. My parents live a 45-minute drive away, and they are
getting on in years, so I spend a lot of time with them too.
Question 3: What kind of car do you drive most?
We used to have two cars, but we have been sharing one car for the last year. It's an older Toyota Camry. My wife was
doing freelance work out of home until recently, but recent work involves traveling to clients, and our daughter has just
started school, so it's getting complicated getting everyone to their destinations in the morning.
Question 4: How far is your daily commute?
Twenty minutes over back roads, or twenty-five if I go out to the highway before I turn towards town. That's what I do when
the weather gets bad.
Debrief
What influenced your decision? Take a look at the criteria you established for making a selection - how many of them did
you 'hear' from Jimmy, and how many did you 'extrapolate'?
Consider question #3: "What kind of car do you drive most?" Jimmy mentioned a Camry, so, did you pick the Accord
because it's closest in general features to a Camry? Did you pick the Accord because people who like Japanese cars stick
with Japanese cars? Did you avoid the Accord because Toyota owners are loyal to Toyotas, not Hondas? Did you
consider the price and worth of these cars? Would it have made a difference in your choice if you were told that all of the
cars you had available to choose from cost within $5,000 of each other?
Look at your reactions to the other questions. Did you interpret "back roads" to mean rock-strewn dirt paths, or neatly
paved but narrow residential roads? Is "a 45-minute drive" a long trip or a typical outing for you? How many children did
you feel the need to fit in the new car - one, or an indeterminate number up to . . . 3? 5? Did you consider if a hockey gear
bag and sticks might be able to fit into the car or not?
How many of these 'deductions' are actually more reflective of your perspectives than of Jimmy's? Could your deductions
lead you to make a selection that satisfies what you thought you heard more than Jimmy's real use for the vehicle?
Regardless of what you actually chose, let's assume you chose the Dodge Caravan. So, amid great pomp and
circumstance at the next company meeting of all staff, the CEO calls Jimmy up on stage, announces the award, and the
screen goes up to reveal his brand new Dodge Caravan! Jimmy is speechless, especially since someone had leaked the
information to him about what was going to happen, and said the car list that was being considered. Jimmy was secretly
envisioning a BMW Z4 Convertible. He collects himself gracefully and acts appreciative and surprised, but is secretly
disappointed. Has this once-in-a-lifetime motivational and recognition opportunity failed? What did it achieve? Could it
have had far greater impact? How?
While this example may sound a bit far-fetched, it's not. Remember that you have direct control over your staff's
employment and salary (which can amount to more than the value of that car each year) and future (which, to the
employee, can amount to more value than any car will ever have). You have the opportunity to recognize, reward and
motivate according to the desires of the employee with more than pay and create opportunities for them to learn the skills
they'll need to complete their pictures of their own success. But, if you provide what you think are the right opportunities,
and they see the opportunities they really want pass them by, your efforts can actually be counter-productive.
To really understand what employees want to achieve in their current employment, you can't guess, or, like the "Employee
of the Year" award, you'll fall short. Both the individual's and the department's performance may be reduced as a result,
especially if you guess wrong repeatedly with the entire staff. You need to establish a dialogue with the employees in
which they can let you know what work activities they enjoy doing, what they want to learn, where they want to go from
here, their career goals, and provide opportunities that meet these personal objectives. Don't forget to verify your
understanding by asking probing questions, and checking back over time to re-confirm. It will maximize employee interest
in exceeding expectations (the organization's and their own), and departmental performance, as well. And, it costs a lot
less than buying each of them the wrong car.
Motivated or Not?
A high degree of employee motivation will often be indicated by:
High performance and exemplary results
Energy, enthusiasm, and determination
Cooperation in overcoming problems
Willingness to accept responsibility and accommodate change
Willingness to help others
Lack of motivation will often be indicated by:
Poor timekeeping and high absenteeism
Apathy and indifference
Exaggeration of disputes and grievances
An uncooperative attitude and a resistance to change
Continual pressure for more money
TOPIC OVERVIEW
Topic 1.3: Motivation and the Organization
Learning Objectives
Determine nonfinancial motivators that support the goals of an organization
A majority of managers surveyed report that money is the #1 motivator of employees. More money, more work; better pay,
better product. It seems like a simple equation. However, employees surveyed report that money as a personal motivator
falls somewhere in the middle of a 10-item list, and often appears lower than the middle. Employees repeatedly point
toward involvement in their work, challenging assignments, and other elements as ranking above money.
The one thing most managers have the least control over is payroll, but when they look to motivate staff, they nonetheless
try to tweak the system to reward workers with more money. The irony is that these managers tax their own authority and
the system to provide financial incentives to people who don't value them, but would value any of a number of nonfinancial
rewards.
Obviously, mismatching incentives like this will do little to enhance performance, or to perpetuate exceptional effort.
Managers must make use of more powerful motivators, ones that people value and want consistently, and which
managers can readily access and provide.
Aligning Individual Motivators with Organizational Goals
Manager Misperceptions
Over the past 2 decades or more, research in the workplace has continually shown that managers have a misperception
of what motivates their employees, and that managers often try-with best intentions-to use ineffective motivators when
trying to leverage more or better work from their staff.
Money as a Motivator
For the last 20 years, managers have reported in surveys that the #1 motivator of employees is money. More money,
more work. Better pay, better product. Simple. Yet, in that same time period, surveys of employees have shown that
money as a personal motivator falls somewhere in the middle of a 10-item list of what they perceive motivates
them-sometimes lower than the middle. Employees repeatedly point toward involvement in their work, challenging
assignments, and other elements that managers would do well to take note of.
How Can You Use This Information?
You can dismiss this information as a national average that has nothing to do with your staff, but the larger your staff, the
more likely it is that this information does represent its average response, and even in a small staff, this information often
applies. So, how can you use employee interest in involvement and challenging assignments, and put it to a strategic use
benefiting your company ? Can you really quantify this information and apply it to both individual and departmental
performance improvements? Can you actually set higher expectations for individuals and have them appreciate the added
load? Have you ever noticed that the word "departmental" is comprised of the words "depart" and "mental," i.e., to leave
your senses?
Motivation Is Internal
As noted elsewhere in this course, motivation is an internal desire. If you can provide motivation, you can call up the
desire of the person not only to perform the task, but to perform it well. It cannot be stated too many times that employees
chose to accept their jobs-the jobs were not forced upon them-so there has to be a reason why this job is better for them
than other jobs, a reason why they opt to stay. What is that reason? What expectation is this job fulfilling that other jobs
cannot? How can you add to that reason and increase the employee's desire to perform above expectations?
Money as Motivator, Part 2
Money comes up over and over as a way managers believe they can increase employee motivation, so let's examine that
motivation in depth. If there was one thing that the employee was certain of before accepting the job, it was the pay. So
the pay, bonus and salary increase schedules met an expectation up front. Some people may have higher financial
expectations than others, but these expectations are met when they walk through the door-or, they don't take the job. In
addition, trying to change the pay scale might create an unnecessary new expectation for the employee-and for other
employees. And it can become difficult to meet that new expectation for all employees (and, you will have to meet it or
defend it to all employees at some time!). What other reasons could the employee have for taking the job and staying with
it?
What Do Employees Really Want?
Many employees are on a rung of their careers that they see as partway up the ladder. They either expect to become
more proficient in their trade, or to become proficient enough to take on a position managing others in that trade. For the
practitioner, there are always more tangible skills that can be learned, and opportunities to gain technical credentials
(training/education) and work experience. These people welcome the opportunity to learn more about their work, and to
take on new challenges and show their increasing expertise. They are looking to you to provide the learning and the
opportunities in work assignments to prove they can tackle more difficult tasks. It's a win-win situation for them and for the
organization if you give them both the learning and more challenging tasks.
Actions That Match Employee's Motivators
People who aspire to become supervisors or managers seek a different kind of development and work opportunity. They
will need to understand the organizational and operational structure of your operation, who to contact and work with, how
to manage outside vendors and resources, and effective interpersonal skills to work with employees and peers. They will
appreciate being groomed to lead project teams, to communicate group assignments, and to coordinate others and
interact with people outside their role and department. They might be looking for more visibility and recognition for leading
projects or teams. They want you to provide them with responsibility for projects, rather than technical assignments or
skills-building opportunities. They want to learn to manage, and to get the chance to take over some of your
responsibilities. If you provide these opportunities and train them for diverse functions, it can free up your time to do your
own management function more effectively.
Other people may enjoy working with creative teams, working alone in research or solo production, working with numbers
or data, orchestrating schedules or vendors, teaching others, problem solving, improving process, or engaging in other
pursuits that are part of their job functions and can contribute significantly to group productivity. You need to understand
what work activities they want to do and provide the development and work opportunities for them to advance these skills.
Assigning tasks to people who want them helps ensure that those tasks will be done with more commitment and quality
than if they were simply handed out to whomever has the time or the ability to do them. Being sensitive to your employees'
aptitudes and interests can also refine your staffing efforts, so that you can hire people with the needed aptitude(s) to fill
real performance and productivity voids, rather than someone with a well-rounded resume of related skills and with
unknown aptitudes.
Matching Employee Career Paths to Company Goals
Another role of the supervisor or manager is to take a step backward from the work process to maintain a top-level view of
the work. As you identify individual motivators, you have to keep in mind organizational goals and commitments and plan
to merge the elements of all of them. Consider, for example, that a new product line will be rolled out three months from
now, and that its launch will require workers with certain skills and aptitudes-in particular, knowledge of specific software
or machinery, and an aptitude for creative problem solving in debugging new processes. Both of these are development
opportunities that might motivate some employees who like learning new software or tackling a highly visible new
challenge. This situation might also require some balancing of expectations on your part, so that you can train an
employee who likes programming database software in the project management software that will be needed to complete
the upcoming project.
Knowing the work activities that interest individuals can also make it possible to identify the employee who might be most
adept at and inclined to tackle a new assignment. Keeping an eye on the organizational goals and making sure that you
have properly motivated staff available to meet those goals can make you and the organization more efficient and
productive.
Personal Motivators
Faculty author Tom Willet once worked with a manager who had been frustrated for years trying to recognize and motivate
a particular employee. This employee had been with the company for over 20 years, had perfect attendance, and
performed slightly above expectations, year after year after year. The part that confused the manager was that the
employee had been in the same position for 15 years, and had turned down a number of offers of promotion. Now, he was
over-qualified and entrenched. There were no performance problems, but nothing outstanding either. The manager was at
his wit's end-nobody could feel good about being in the same job for 15 years! Could they? How could the manager help
this employee to pick a direction and improve his employment situation?
After working with both the manager and the employee for a while, Tom managed to find the answer. The organization
where these two worked was located where a number of states were within 20 miles of each other, and the organization
had a number of small offices in each state, but only one in the state where they worked. Because the offices were small
and turnover was low, every promotion offered was in another office across state lines. The commute would have been
nearly the same for the employee, so that was not the issue. The true issue was that the offices in each state were
members of different HMOs and had decidedly different health plans. The employee was currently on the best plan of the
bunch, and had some grandfathered insurance arrangements carried over from when he started working with the
organization many years ago. This was the snag. He had a family member who was chronically ill who received excellent
coverage under the existing plan. If this employee took any promotion at all, he would have to transfer to a different plan,
and the change would be very stressful for him and his family, because it would jeopardize his sick relation's easy access
to affordable care. So he was happy staying right where he was. He enjoyed the work, appreciated being recognized as
unparalleled in knowledge due to his immense experience, and his most important need was being met. The manager
didn't have a chance at promoting him, and never would.
The moral of this case study is, when trying to figure out how to motivate your employees, you often need to do a
surprising amount of work to really understand which incentives will get the best performance from them. When aligning
motivators, both financial and nonfinancial, with organizational objectives, you have to make sure you understand why
employees make the choices that they do.
Top Motivators
Work-group leaders, managers, and supervisors are often called upon to motivate their teams. As leaders in the
organization, they are able to influence the environment in order to maximize employee performance. However, they also
may be ineffective at motivating work teams and individuals. Why?
Managers and supervisors may fail to motivate team members if they lack important knowledge about what motivates their
team, or the ability to use that knowledge. For instance, they may fail to motivate if they don't know that factors such as
responsibility, challenging work, and opportunities for growth and development are very good motivators. Or, supervisors
or managers may know which motivating factors are effective, but feel that these factors are outside their control.
Here are five top employee motivators that supervisors and managers can control:
Full appreciation of work done
Feeling of involvement in work
Sympathy for personal problems
Interesting work
Challenging work
Research and practical experience in industry have shown these to be the most powerful motivating factors. Note that
pay, status, and terms and conditions of employment are not on the list! Studies have shown these to be the least
powerful motivators.
Ask the Expert: Money Doesn't Always Matter
Transcript: Money Doesn't Always Matter
How do I identify nonfinancial motivators (NFMs)?
Depending on your existing rapport with your staff, this could take some time. You need to get them to be honest about
what they like about their work, what they want to know more about, what doesn't thrill them, and how they feel this job
helps them move ahead with their careers or lifestyles. The information that's offered may be limited at first, and it will take
some action on your part to build their trust that you're serious. Be prepared to make positive use of the information you're
given, and to keep asking. In time, as people observe changes in the motivators provided, they will understand the level of
your sincerity and seriousness.
Both formal and informal performance reviews are great opportunities to ask some of these questions. Follow through with
questions about which aspects of the review they valued, which they didn't, and why. Historically, performance reviews
may not have been used in this fashion, so the responses you get early on may not be positive or forthcoming. Time will
need to be part of the solution.
Once you've taken the proactive step to build open communication between yourself and your staff, listen! Listen to what
the staff brings up on their own, their issues about work, their concerns and their ideas. These are the elements that are
important to them-both "good" important and "bad" important. Ask confirming questions to make sure you really
understand what they are saying.
I've figured out what my staff likes to do-how do I hand out the tasks that nobody wants?
Let's start at the top: We're all here to get a job done. So, don't get confused about the goal. The employees know it's
about getting the job done, and one of the few things they were sure of when they were hired was their job description and
some of the specific tasks they'd be doing. So, don't think that trying to provide opportunities for them to perfect what they
want to do absolves them (or you) from the aspects of their jobs they don't like.
In case either you or they try to ignore aspects of their work, take a minute to do a performance review and walk back
through the job description and expectations. Let them know that performance is measured on all expectations, not only
the ones they achieve easily. During formal and informal reviews alike, don't forget to reemphasize the basic job functions
and expectations.
The daily grind is made up of lots of repetitive tasks, and everything can't be gratifying and motivating. Balance the
motivators according to need: if you want someone to pick up a new or undesirable task, balancing the assignment with a
NFM might be persuasive. If you want to recognize good performance, start with an NFM-the sooner, the better. Think
before handing them out; let people know there's a reason and a goal behind them.
How does working with my staff's NFMs help me?
If your staff feels that you work for them, they'll work for you. If they believe that you try to understand what they need to
get out of their work and try to provide it (within your ability and the limits of fairness), they'll make your life easier, and
step up and help when the going gets tough or the deadlines get tight.
By opening two-way communication regarding work expectations, by discussing how their efforts support organizational
goals, and the real restrictions of your abilities, you ensure that employees will only ask for what they realistically can
expect, and that their unrealistic requests will decrease.
Also, if they believe that you're playing fair and trying to support them, they'll be more accommodating in accepting
assignments because they'll trust that you're handing them out fairly and that their turn (and everybody else's) will come
around. This will reduce resistance to unsavory assignments, improve performance of all tasks, and reduce your hands-on
supervisory and follow-up time.
What if an employee makes it clear that there's only one motivator for him or her: cash?
Sometimes, it is about money. If the employee is trying to save up for a major expense like a house, money will a the key
motivator. But, eventually those issues will be resolved, and the employee's priorities will change. Offer what you believe
he or she wants, but stay alert to observe when their needs change-and when their NFMs change, too.
Formulas for Motivating People
Transcript: Formulas for Motivating People
Louie's Luxury Autos is a car dealership in an upscale suburb that sells new and nice-condition, late-model sedans and
sport-utility vehicles. Louie started the business 15 years ago after years of working in car sales for a major American
dealership, and continues to run Louie's himself as general manager, sales manager, service manager, and financing
specialist. The dealership sells about 100 vehicles per month, and employs 8 salespeople.
Tony has worked as a salesperson at Louie's for three years. He has an immense knowledge of Louie's vehicles and their
competitive attributes. Tony is the "walking database" for all the other salespeople's responses to customer questions. His
quick reference abilities are so good that he knows all current features and dealer promotions. Louie asks him to help
place orders for new vehicles; there's no need to look up availability or product codes-he just asks Tony! Louie
appreciates the added contributions Tony makes to the dealership, and has increased Tony's salary to reflect this. The
vast majority of all salespeople's income comes from commissions, not salary, so the raise is more a recognition than a
reward. Tony likes the recognition he gets from other salespeople and customers for being so knowledgeable, but there's
a drawback to his skill that annoys him.
Since Tony gets tied up helping other salespeople and their customers, ordering new vehicles, and even training new
salespeople, he spends less time on the sales floor working with his own customers than anyone else, and his sales
figures prove it. Compounding the problem, his sales approach is to listen carefully to customers and answer their
questions, trying to develop a personal rapport. As a result, he tends to sell fewer cars per hour on the floor than his
colleagues. He gets the dealership's highest customer satisfaction numbers, but this is a distant second priority to Louie
(who believes in the more traditional push-for-the-close sales approach), and to be honest, to Tony himself.
As in most dealerships, bonus criteria are set monthly, and bonuses and performance reviews (consisting almost
exclusively of sales performance) are handed out on the first few days of each month. Everyone counts each penny,
celebrates big sales, and tallies their bonuses. Louie encourages this atmosphere of competition among his sales people
by having a large running tally of sales in the break room, showing each salesperson's results. Again this month, Tony is
nearly last, only ahead of one rookie who is three weeks into his first sales job. He is rather sullen, expecting the usual: no
bonus and a check that doesn't reflect his real contribution to the dealership sales numbers-heck, it's just enough to cover
his mortgage, a fact that his wife readily points out month after month. Louie has prepared the reviews and bonus checks,
and Tony's performance issues have become an immediate issue. Louie knows Tony is a better salesman than his
numbers reflect-he might be the most knowledgeable and customer-friendly salesman Louie has ever seen. There must
be something he can do to kick Tony's performance into gear.
Louie waits until closing so he can speak to Tony with as few people around as possible, and calls him into the office.
Tony is sullen.
He knows what's coming: he knows that his sales numbers have fallen from almost average to "nearly the bottom" over
the last 3 months. Louie starts the discussion the same way he's started so many before:
Louie's statement to Tony:
" Tony, you're a great guy, and you contribute a lot to the dealership's success. But, again this month, you missed the
bonus level, and your sales numbers are very low-6 cars. It's got to be tough to make ends meet on sales like that. You've
proven to be the most knowledgeable salesperson, and have the highest customer satisfaction numbers in the dealership.
You've got all the right stuff, so what's the problem? I've also noticed that you've lost that spring in your step. You seem to
move a lot slower when I ask you for something; you're a little short in your reply to other salespeople. I dunno; you just
don't seem to care anymore."
Choices for the next statements from Louie, and their consequences
Louie statement #1: "Tony, we've talked about this a thousand times before, and it seems to be getting worse. I've given
you the best shifts, called you when I was short-handed, done everything I could to give you more opportunities to sell,
and no results. As much as I hate to do this, I don't see any choice. If you don't end up in the top half of the sales numbers
this month, I'm going to have to let you go. I'm not asking a lot-someone with your skills should be consistently on top. I
want you to stay, but I've got to see some improvement. Get out there and snap this losing streak, O.K.?"
Consequences of this choice:
Tony nods sheepishly (and disgustedly), doesn't bother to reply, and leaves Louie's office. Tony feels this was just another
pointless pep talk, except this time he has been threatened with being fired. Tony thinks this whole thing is Louie's fault.
So, Tony's performance and attitude both dip further, and by the end of the month both he and Louie know what's coming.
Feedback for this choice:
Louie did what he thought was fair. He took a great performer who was showing poor performance, set a low bar for him
(according to his track record), and gave him reasonable time to clear the bar. All this makes perfect sense, except that
Louie didn't look at why the performance had slipped in the first place. People want to do good work; they get a sense of
achievement from meeting or exceeding expectations. So assuming that an employee just decided to start doing poor
work, and that the employee can change it on his or her own, is frequently incorrect. As with Tony, a performance problem
frequently starts with a barrier to doing the quality work he most wants to do. Tony's barrier was a little too much
"appreciation and recognition" that was actually just added responsibilities that made it impossible for him to perform his
core job well-a barrier to his success. And Louie had created that barrier.
This does not represent the best way to improve Tony's performance. Please explore a different strategy.
Louie statement #2: "Tony, you seem to be spending more and more time on administrative stuff, so much that you can't
sell cars anymore. I pay attention, and I see where you're putting your effort, and I think I know what you need. I'd like to
make you an offer. This place is a handful to run, and it's getting to be too much for me by myself, as much as I hate to
admit it. Look at this desk! It's a disaster, and I can't even tell you what's at the bottom or what deadlines I'm missing. I
need help. So, how about if I make you my assistant manager? Salaried-no sales, so you can spend all your time on the
administrative stuff you enjoy, and not worry about the paycheck anymore. It won't be as much as you'd make as a decent
salesperson, but hey, it's been a while since you saw a good commission check, hasn't it? Well, whaddya say?"
Tony tries to act appreciative and pleased as he leaves Louie's office, but he's baffled by this development. Because Tony
believes that he is the best salesperson out there, and because he likes sales, he doesn't see the wisdom in being moved
out of sales. He feels he'll never see another decent paycheck or CSI award, and he won't be able to keep up his skills.
Tony can't see this working out for himself in the long run.
So, Tony's attitude dipped for a day or two, but then seemed to brighten, which pleased Louie. He wanted Tony to stay,
and to be happy there. Two weeks later, Tony responded to Louie's offer-by giving his notice and letting him know that
he'd accepted a sales position at another dealership. Louie was shocked and angry, and fired Tony on the spot.
Why did Tony quit? True, he felt a sense of appreciation and recognition from being the answer-man, and for being on the
inside of the business end of the dealership. And Louie observed and tried to reward that. But he assumed that Tony was
growing into a new area of the business, a natural career advancement step. To Tony, it was an amusing sideline, and the
extra knowledge certainly helped his sales efforts, but he wanted to be a salesman-the best salesman. Unlike many
people in entry-level and sales positions, Tony didn't want to move up into management; he was happy where he was.
Louie's assumption that salespeople-including Tony-want to move up the organizational chart was inaccurate, and Louie's
idea did not interest Tony. He needed to both observe Tony's motivators, and confirm them through discussion.
Louie's strategy did not achieve the intended outcome. Please explore a different strategy.
Louie statement #3:"Tony, you know the numbers for last few months, so I'm not going to ask you to go over them again.
Let's jump back a year or so and look at those numbers. You were the best; you outsold the next two salespeople
combined. Your expertise and assistance with administrative stuff makes everybody's life easier-especially mine. So I
want to ignore the past and look forward: What can we do to get your numbers back up? I know you want it, you know this
dealership could use it, and we both know you can do it. There's got to be something keeping you from making a fortune
selling for me. What is it? What specifically do you think is keeping your sales down? What can I do to help get you get
back on track?"
Tony tells Louie that he hadn't thought of things that way. He says he spends a lot of time doing ordering and inventory, so
he's not on the floor selling as much as he might be. He asks if Louie can schedule some time for him to be working in the
back of the house, and some time to be on the floor. That way he can do one or the other, but not both-because both just
doesn't work.
Louie does three productive things in short order with this question to Tony: he assumes that the employee wants to do
good work, he involves the employee in trying to identify barriers to his own success, and he uses positive communication
and feedback. Notice that Tony doesn't want to do less work, or give up any responsibilities; he just wants to sequence his
work more effectively so he can sell more cars. And if Tony sells more cars, Louie sells more cars. Help the employee
succeed. It builds loyalty, trust, and commitment. And when the employee produces more, your department produces
more. Involvement in work is a strong motivator, and a win-win situation for the employee and the organization.
Louie's strategy was quite effective. If you haven't already, please explore the other strategies and their likely
consequences.
Louie statement #4:"I give you the good shifts-you don't sell anything. I give you extra shifts-you don't sell anything. I'm
keeping the money assignments away from everyone else because you're the most qualified, but I expect you to sell.
That's the whole point, isn't it? Selling? Well, it's not fair if you're not going to step up for yourself and me, so I'm gonna
change the schedule. From now on, you go into the lottery with everybody else, and you get whatever shifts come up. If a
peach assignment like a show or sponsored event comes up, I'm gonna have to give it to somebody with good sales
numbers-it's the only way the dealership will survive - and that's somethin' you should give some real thought to: survivin'.
How's the savin's account doing lately? Until you start sellin' again, I'm gonna have to hold this line with you."
Tony walks out of the dealership dejected. He mulls over the idea of working the graveyard shift with the rookie. If there's
anything he really doesn't want, it's a bad schedule. And he wonders if he will even make enough to cover the mortgage.
Tony feels he's being forced into a decision here, and the decision is to quit.
Louie is punishing Tony for his sales productivity, just as he would any other salesperson. But Tony is far more than a
salesperson. He trains, orders, inventories, and a number of other things. Tony knows this, but Louie seems to have
forgotten. Tony feels that he's excelled at a wide variety of assigned and voluntary tasks, yet he's being assessed on only
one. He's highly motivated to provide more than his job description outlines, but without some recognition of those efforts,
his extra effort will dry up.
Plus, Louie uses closed-ended statements and doesn't look for any feedback to test his assumptions or facts. Don't be like
Louie when you are faced with a difficult situation; you need to use open-ended questions, and provide opportunities for
feedback in order to identify people's motivators, and confirm that you're on the right track when rewarding or correcting
behavior.
Louie's strategy did not achieve the intended outcome. Please explore a different strategy.
Module 1 Wrap-Up
Congratulations on completing Module One.
Please review the following list of learning objectives; then, if you have not already completed them, proceed to the
evaluation and discussion for Module One:
Discussion
Evaluation
To successfully complete this course, you must complete all module evaluations and required discussions.
Having completed this module, you should be able to:
Determine nonfinancial motivators that support the goals of the organization and the employee
MODULE OVERVIEW
Module 2: Positive Confrontation
If you put a little extra effort into understanding your workers, if you go out of your way to tailor an assignment to the
preferences of the person it is given to, if you take the time to notice when your employees are working beyond your
expectations and to thank them for it, do you think they will like their jobs better? When you need them to perform for you,
will they be there?
The same is true when dealing with performance issues that require positive confrontation. A little bit of care, sensitivity,
and planning when dealing with problems or performance can go a long way toward improving the receptiveness of
employees to your message, as well their performance afterwards.
Identify common pitfalls to conflict resolution
Discuss steps for using confrontation as a motivational and developmental tool to manage more effectively
Use confrontation as a motivational and developmental tool to manage more effectively
Identify the consequences of avoiding confrontation
Apply a five-step process to resolve conflict
Apply effective strategies to resolve workplace tensions
Describe appropriate uses of progressive discipline
TOPIC OVERVIEW
Topic 2.1: Confrontation as a Motivational and Developmental Tool
Learning Objectives
When the word "confrontation" is used, most people think of conflict, argument, or of some form of negative exchange.
When a positive mind-set is employed, confrontation can become a productive learning experience for all involved. A
confrontation that has mutual education as its goal not only can help employee performance, but can give you the
opportunity to discover and learn about important issues in the work environment that you might not have discovered
otherwise.
Consequences of Avoiding Confrontation
When an issue or a situation is dealt with in an up-front and timely manner, it becomes much easier to resolve in an
unemotional way. Even if there is defensiveness on the employees' part, the chances of that defensiveness dissipating
quickly are far greater when it has not built up over a long period. When issues are dealt with promptly and positively, the
employee can see that the manager is not being unkindly critical, but is rather trying to be helpful and to ensure that the
employee has every chance to succeed. When there is a long build-up of frustrations, explosive emotions are more likely.
The chances of achieving a positive outcome are greatly diminished when each of the parties is preoccupied with trying to
be right.
Transcript: Consequences of Avoiding Confrontation
Introduction
When new employees begin work, their first day is often full of novel activities such as meeting new people and learning
about the organization. Sometimes new employees spend several days away from their normal workplace in a company
orientation program. When they arrive back, they are either put to work or they are given a "buddy" to show them the
ropes. All too often at this point supervisors or managers will disconnect from new people and allow themselves to resume
their focus on their daily activities and responsibilities.
The Beginning
This is exactly what occurs in this story. When Tom hires Pam, he is very busy, and variously preoccupied and distracted
with other issues and employees, so he leaves her brief orientation up to one of the other people in the department.
Before long, Tom notices that Pam consistently arrives several minutes late for work. He looks at his watch and is
annoyed, but since his attention is on other things, Tom keeps his criticism to himself.
The Issue Builds
As the weeks pass, this pattern of lateness continues. Pam is frequently late, but not every day, perhaps only once or
twice a week. Over time, the other employees notice the pattern and begin to question, privately at first, then to each
other, why it is being allowed. There are conversations like this one around the water cooler:
By-standing employee: There she is, late again, and where's Tom, he's never around-or he just doesn't care that Pam is
always late. This is ridiculous.
Tom in the meantime is still busy, and goes about his business, no longer even registering the fact that Pam consistently
arrives late.
The Crisis
About six months go by, and Pam's lateness has become routine. Late one afternoon Tom gets this message on his voice
mail:
Ellen: Tom, this is Ellen. Listen, there have been several scheduling conflicts for the executive committee and we decided
to move the presentation of the strategic plan of the new product line from 3 p.m. tomorrow to 9:30 a.m. I am sure this isn't
a problem; see you in the morning.
This strategic plan has been the focus of Tom's efforts for several weeks. The company has given him the responsibility of
developing it and it has become an important presentation for him. Once he completed it, he gave the presentation to Pam
to format the charts and graphs. Tom had asked her for the disk today so he could load it on his laptop, but Pam said she
had one last thing to do with it, one final aesthetic touch, and she would give it to him in the morning. She has left for the
day, and nothing more can be done, so Tom puts on his coat, and heads home, worrying.
The next morning, Tom is pacing the office floor. His arms are folded, he is looking at his watch and at the door looking for
Pam. The clock goes to 8:55, 9:00, 9:05, 9:10, and finally 9:15. Tom becomes angrier and angrier. Finally at 9:23 Pam
strolls into the office with a coffee and a bag of breakfast as if there is not a care in the world. Tom launches towards her
and says with arms waving and in a very hostile posture:
Tom: Where the heck have you been! Do you realize what time it is? How am I supposed to get the things I'm supposed
to do done if you don't have the decency to get here on time in the morning? I can't believe you're doing this! What's
wrong with you!
Pam: What's wrong with me? Don't you mean what's wrong with you?
WHAT...IN...THE…WORLD…IS...YOUR...PROBLEM? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Did you not get
your coffee fix this morning-or did you OD on it?
From your perspective, is there anything wrong with Pam's reaction-yes or no? Think through why you feel what you do,
and then continue reading
Is Pam's behavior justified?
If you chose yes, you would criticize Pam for her unprofessional response to a colleague and boss. Though clearly
prompted by Tom's rage, her spirited retort was still inappropriate.
If you chose no, you understand that from Pam's perspective, this day is no different from any other day she has arrived
late to work. If Tom's issue is with Pam's lateness, it's fair for Pam to ask why it is suddenly a problem this morning, when
it has never been a problem before.
How this could have been avoided through positive confrontation
This nasty situation could have been avoided by a positive confrontation very early on. Let's flash back to the first day that
Pam was late, only this time let's have Tom put aside what he was doing, go over to Pam, and initiate a conversation
about the requirement and expectation that she arrive on time.
Tom: Good morning Pam. I noticed that you were a few minutes late getting to work today.
Pam: I know; I'm sorry, but I had a problem this morning-my husband was called out of town suddenly by his job. He said
it would just be for a few weeks, but I'm worried it may go on longer than that. With him gone, I don't see how I'll be able to
schedule my time-my mother is living with us, and her health is very bad. Can we talk about a way for me to be a little
flexible in my starting time so I can take care of the things my husband would normally have done in the morning?
Instead of an angry and disgusted outburst and a project in jeopardy, Tom could have had a productive encounter with
Pam, where the cause of her tardiness could have emerged and its remedy been easily negotiated.
Positive Confrontation
What Is a Confrontation?
Often, the word "confrontation" makes us think of conflict. However, a confrontation does not have to involve conflict.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines confrontation as "a face-to-face meeting." In the context of the workplace,
a confrontation might take place when one person does something-either deliberately or inadvertently-that causes or
directs another person to examine, question, or change some aspect of his or her behavior.
What Are the Desired Results of a Confrontation?
A confrontation, when handled well, is an opportunity for feedback, help, and cooperation. As feedback, it offers an
outside check on an individual's behavior. Confrontation can be helpful because it responds to an individual's need to
know where he or she stands. Confrontation can be cooperative because a team that is constantly helping its members to
improve their performance is going to become an increasingly stronger group.
Confrontation as a Leadership Tool
Confrontation is an opportunity to openly and honestly evaluate an individual's performance. Consider it as a motivational
tool you can use to change behaviors and to increase good performance.
Ask the Expert: Confrontation Doesn't Equal Conflict
Transcript: Confrontation Doesn't Equal Conflict
How is confrontation different from conflict?
It is important to view the goal of confrontation in a different light. Most people view confrontation as conflict, discipline, or
as an intervention to correct a problem situation. However, if it is viewed as a necessary developmental tool to help people
improve their performance, then the element of conflict is removed. Granted, there are times when the recipient of the
feedback is not open to the information. This need not stop you from giving the feedback, and from helping its recipient to
understand your intent is to help, not to criticize.
Why are people always defensive when I confront them?
More often than not, people's defensiveness is a by-product of their misconception that feedback is intended to rebuke
rather than to improve performance. In addition, when an opportunity to provide feedback is delayed for an extended
period of time, the response from individuals can be defensive, because they may no longer remember the incident in
question, or because they may be suspicious of your motivations for the delay. One other point: if you hold back a criticism
for an extended period of time, chances are that when it does come out, it will do so in an emotional way. Your emotion
also contributes to employee defensiveness.
When I am doing a performance review, my employees should know what's coming. They should anticipate the
issues we will talk about.
Have you ever had a performance review done on you by your boss and been surprised by something that was in the
review? If it has happened to you, chances are good that you got a bit angry and wondered why it took your boss so long
to communicate with you. Many times, people don't know they're doing something that's against standard operating
procedure. By providing them with immediate feedback, you have an opportunity to correct their performance and also to
discover where their misinformation about company procedures may have come from in the first place. It is very positive
and designed to help.
Why not just discipline the employee? Chances are they are just going to fall back into the same way of doing it
anyway.
If you discipline the employee first, you have not fulfilled one of your basic responsibilities as a supervisor: to help
employees to improve their performance. Your first response to seeing something wrong should be to inform the individual
of the problem, not to write them up. People need to be given the chance to learn the correct method and to improve
before they are punished.
I should not have to confront my employees; my staff is very good at what they do-why should I upset them?
That's great, and you are fortunate to be in that position. However, have you taken the time to show your appreciation for
their superb performance? We have concentrated on discussing the conflict part of confrontation, but there is also
confrontation that tells people they are doing a good job. Yes, that's confrontation as well. In addition, by doing so, you are
reinforcing good performance and behaviors. Many times employees don't have a clear idea what good performance looks
like and they hunt for the answer. When you see them displaying it, reinforce it; it will stick longer.
Once I have had my discussion with the employee, is my job done? Can I move on to other things on my agenda?
In the short term, that may be right, but you cannot allow yourself to believe that a single interaction is sufficient to
permanently alter an employee's behavior. You need to follow up after the fact to ensure employees are demonstrating the
changes you have suggested and to address any practical obstacles they may have encountered to the implementation of
their new behaviors. If they are struggling, they may need you to guide them through a difficulty or to coach them through
the period of transition.
Steps to Successful Problem Confrontation
10 Keys to Successful Problem Confrontation
The following steps outline a process for successfully resolving problems by confronting employees.
1. Own Responsibility to Solve the Problem
Take and own responsibility for the issue. If you don't, nobody else will-and the problem will go unresolved.
2. Be Clear About What the Problem Is
Know and document the facts. Present only facts and specific examples in a confrontation. You want to discuss
what really happened and move directly to correcting related behavior or situations. You don't want to get mired in
an argument about whether-or if-something really happened.
3. Don't Attack
If you start the confrontation with an attack, the result will be defensiveness and possibly a fight. Don't attack!
4. Don't Confront as a Prelude to Discipline
Discipline is an admission of failure. When you confront employees with the intent to discipline them, or as a means
of avoiding the problem itself, it usually means that you haven't taken responsibility for addressing the problem,
correcting behavior, or teaching your subordinates. Your first response to a difficulty should not be to take
disciplinary action, but to communicate that a problem exists and implement steps to change the behavior that
caused the problem.
5. Be Polite and Don't Become Emotional
A display of emotion may indicate that you have allowed negative feelings about the situation to build up, and that
you have not taken the time to gain a proper perspective after a recent event.
6. Confront to Educate
A confrontation can provide a learning experience not only for the person you confront, but also for you. If you
listen, you may discover that there is a legitimate reason for the behavior you observed. For example, perhaps a
task was done improperly because that was the way this person was taught to accomplish the task. A confrontation
that has education as its goal can give you the opportunity to discover such issues and help you to correct
problems at their source. In addition, you may learn something important about the work environment.
7. Determine the Cause of the Problem
Find out from as many people as possible, including the employee, about the problem you wish to address. What
was done? What was not done? Establish the cause of the problem before you attempt to recommend a solution.
Answer questions such as the following:
What does the employee know how to do?
Did the employee have all he or she needed to do the job?
Was the employee given conflicting instructions or advice?
Was the employee acting against you or the company?
Give Clear Guidance and Check for Understanding
Be sure the directions for resolving the problem are clear and stated in a way that is easy for the employee to
understand. Be clear, but don't oversimplify. Check to be sure that the employee understands your directions. Ask
the employee to demonstrate the agreed-upon solution.
Monitor Performance
Monitor the employee's performance for an agreed-upon period of time.
Give Ongoing Positive Feedback and Praise
As you monitor the employee's performance, remember to give positive feedback and praise. Tell the employee
how he or she is doing. Is the employee's work satisfactory? Excellent? Not up-to-par?
TOPIC OVERVIEW
Topic 2.2: Resolving Workplace Situations
Learning Objectives
It's not unusual to want to avoid conflict. It is a common response to push an issue aside, hoping that the problem will
work itself out. However, this response usually proves ineffective in the long term, because problems generally resurface
and get worse when they aren't dealt with.
Can you define the problem behind the conflict? It is important to define this problem through your observations and
through an examination of the facts you uncover before you take action. Ask probing questions to get the details you
need. Often, the more you listen, the more details you will get. You may find that other topics will surface in the course of
gathering your information, but stick to the original problem-and fish through hearsay and embellishments for facts! After
you've solved the problem you can assess which additional issues it might be important to pursue.
People closest to the problem are the ones most likely to come up with a practicable solution. Consult with them, and
integrate the information they provide into your action plan. Make sure you agree to a clear schedule for performance
change and follow-up review. Write down the key elements of your plan, and get key participants to initial or acknowledge
them.
Conflict Resolution: Common Pitfalls
When collecting more information about a dispute between the people who work for us, we arrange meetings and
sometimes speak with others involved who we think can give us an added perspective. Before doing so, however, it's
important to consider thoroughly the implications of these actions.
Transcript: Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Scenario introduction
Sally is the manager of a large retail store chain. Sally recently conducted an inter-departmental meeting in which she
observed counter-productive behavior involving Amy and Jeff, two supervisors in related but different departments.
The Meeting
Amy's uncomfortable body language initially caught Sally's attention: she refused to make eye contact with Jeff when he
spoke, and whenever he made a light comment or small joke, Amy rolled her eyes in disgust.
Evidently, Jeff also noticed Amy's body language-at one point in the meeting, he made a sarcastic comment to her about
her "loud and clear" non-verbal behavior. The tension continued to escalate until finally, in a fit of exasperation, Jeff
offered the following: "Amy just can't lighten up-she wants to control everything and everybody."
Choking back tears, Amy sputtered, "You see, see what I mean? This guy is a loose cannon and needs to be reined in," at
which point she rose from her seat and stormed from the room.
Conflict Resolution
Sally makes an appointment to speak with Amy about her behavior in the meeting. Amy feels that Jeff is unprofessional:
he frequently makes comments and jokes that are inappropriate to the workplace, and all too often these jokes seem to be
aimed at her, which she feels undermines her authority in her department. She thinks this has gone on long enough and
something has to change soon. Sally says she will deal with it.
Each of the following options explore various conflict-resolution strategies:
Confront the "Problem Personality."
Sally: "Hi Jeff, how are things going?"
Jeff: "Fine. Is there something wrong? Because I need to get back to the salt mine. We have a big day in front of us-you
know we have that football pool to deal with." (Jeff chuckles in acknowledgement of his own joke.)
Sally (not amused): "Well, yes. I'm getting concerned as a matter of fact that your behavior is starting to cross the line,
and I guess your little joke about the football pool is an example of exactly what I mean. I've gotten several complaints that
your jokes are inappropriate and offensive."
Jeff: "Now wait a minute, where are you getting this from?"
Sally: "That's not important. What is important is that your behavior is out of control. In order for you to continue to be
successful here you need to tone it down."
Jeff: "Are you telling me that I may get fired if what you perceive as bad behavior is not changed?"
Sally: "What I'm telling you is that the behavior has to change. If it doesn't then I will have to take action."
Jeff: "I get it! That Amy is so annoying - she's been in here talking to you, hasn't she?"
Sally: "No, but again, it is my expectation that you will be toning it down, got it?"
Analysis
In choosing to speak only with Jeff, Sally failed to achieve a balanced understanding of the problem. There may also be
aspects of Amy's behavior that contributed to the problem. By acting only on the basis of what Amy told her, Sally risks
alienating Jeff, with the result that his performance is likely to deteriorate rather than improve. The consequences of
listening only to the messenger can be severe.
Finally, when you begin by saying, "It has come to my attention …" or "Someone has told me …," the first response of the
person with whom you are speaking will be to ask from whom you got your information. They will not hear the rest of what
you have to say because they'll be busy trying to determine the source of the complaint. To the extent possible, take
ownership of the issue yourself. Get the information you need for you to be able to say, "I have seen…," not, "Someone
has told me …"
Bring the Warring Parties Together
Sally invites Amy and Jeff to her office to talk about their differences. She begins the meeting by welcoming them and
asking if there is something going on between them that needs to be discussed.
Jeff: "Not to my knowledge." Then, throwing a sidelong glance at Amy, he adds, "Unless you want to discuss the office
dress code."
"See what I mean?" Amy exclaims. "This is exactly the kind of inappropriate behavior that I can't stand anymore. He's out
of control!"
Sally calms Amy down, then turns to Jeff.
Sally: "Jeff, what did you mean by what you just said? Are you saying that Amy's use of the dress code is inappropriate?"
Jeff: "No, no, You see, this is what steams me about her-she can't take a joke, she is so uptight!"
This touches off a loud and violent argument between Amy and Jeff that Sally is unable to control. She wonders what went
wrong.
Analysis
It would seem to make sense to bring the parties in dispute together to mediate their differences. However, such a
meeting should be part of a larger strategy characterized by information gathering, pre-planning to try to solve the issue
without a meeting, planning for a group meeting if that doesn't work, and then implementing group rules during the
meeting.
Certainly you can bring the disputants together to gather additional information; however, it is better to try to accomplish
this individually. After establishing the perceptions of the individuals, it's easier to plan an interaction. Your role is not to
solve the conflict; your role is to facilitate the resolution of the difficulty. After gathering information to get a good
understanding of the source of the conflict, you can help the individuals find a way to resolve their conflict. For example,
you can coach them as to how they should respond when the other person is exhibiting the behavior they find annoying.
If you do need to have a group meeting be sure both disputants are aware of the meeting and its purpose. Once together,
establish the ground rules and make sure both parties understand them. Then employ the model that we have been
reviewing. A by-product of this meeting should be the creation of an action plan both for the disputants and for you.
Speak with the Disputant's Subordinate
Sally calls a meeting with Lance, a subordinate of Amy's, to discuss how Amy interacts with others. Lance is very
uncomfortable throughout the meeting and not forthcoming in responding to Sally's questions. Sally thanks Lance for
speaking with her and ends the meeting early. She concludes that Lance's focus is too narrow and that he doesn't look
beyond his world.
Analysis
In the interest of collecting more information about a dispute, we sometimes go to people who we think can give us an
added perspective. Before doing so, however, it's important to consider thoroughly the implications of such a strategy.
In this case, Sally met with someone two levels below her in the organizational hierarchy. From Lance's perspective, he is
being called into the office of his boss's boss and is being asked to comment on the behavior of the person to whom he
reports. His discomfort is certainly understandable. Moreover, should Amy discover that Sally has gone behind her back to
one of her subordinates, she is likely to react with anger and resentment, which will make it that much more difficult to
resolve the dispute.
Initiate a Strategy of Progressive Intervention
Sally calls a meeting with Amy to discuss what steps Amy has taken to address her working relationship with Jeff. Amy
tells her she tried to confront Jeff about his behavior, but Jeff refused to treat the matter seriously. Sally coaches Amy on
how to approach Jeff a second time. Amy tries this approach but reports that she was unable to make any progress.
Sally then decides to meet with Jeff to gain a better understanding of his behavior. She discovers that Amy did not
approach her conversations with Jeff in the manner to which they had agreed, and that Amy herself exhibits inappropriate
behavior in her interactions with Jeff.
On the basis of this more complete understanding of the situation, Sally arranges to speak with both Jeff and Amy
together. Prior to the meeting, she coaches each of them to ensure they don't exhibit counterproductive behavior during
the meeting. She establishes clear ground rules and develops a plan for follow-up action at pre-determined time intervals.
Analysis
This approach provides a better opportunity for resolution of the conflict and improved relations and performance.
Conflict Ground Rules
Conducting Controlled and Productive Conflict-Resolution Meetings
A conflict has been identified; now you must resolve it. A well-run conflict-resolution meeting may be the first step toward
implementing a solution.
Using the four simple ground rules outlined below, you can proceed systematically to the source of the conflict.
Implementing these rules might reveal information that confirms your initial impression of the problem. However, doing so
might also help you uncover an unexpected source of the problem, and lead to a complete reevaluation of the situation, as
well as to a very different solution.
In any event, these ground rules will set the stage for discussing the conflict in a way that promotes sharing, trust, and a
commitment to working toward a common goal.
The Four Ground Rules
Rule #1: Everyone will be open and honest.
Rule #2: Everyone will have a say and be heard.
Rule #3: Everyone will listen without argument or negative reaction, keeping a positive caring attitude.
Rule #4: Opinions and feelings must be supported by facts or examples of specific behavior.
Post these rules at the start of the meeting, and explain what each one means. Invite questions about them, and then
make sure everyone agrees to abide by them. Finally, reassure the participants that the purpose of the meeting isn't to
find fault or to assign blame, but to identify the source of the problem so that everyone can work together effectively to
solve it.
These rules may well represent a change from the way previous meetings have been conducted, or from the way the
participants typically communicate with one another-especially when they're on opposing sides of the conflict! You may
need to jump in and stop participants from interrupting, introducing rumors or unverified examples, or speaking in
uncooperative or antagonizing tones. This may be difficult, but necessary in order that all involved may present their
complete information so that a mutually agreeable resolution might be reached.
Properly implemented, these rules will help you resolve conflicts while creating a positive, team-oriented environment.
GAPCo
Help Doris, a manager at the Great American Pickle Company (known as "GAPCo"), resolve a dispute between two of her
department heads.
Progressive Discipline
Always take care to observe the principles of industrial justice. To do this you must maintain consistency in three key
dimensions:
Day-to-day
Person-to-person
Department-to-department
You must also keep these values in mind as you work:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Fairness
Progressive actions
Burden of proof
Avenue of appeal
Steps in Progressive Discipline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Verbal counseling
Verbal warning
Written warning
Suspension
Termination
How to Ask Questions Like a Pro:
1. Try to avoid asking closed-ended questions-ones that could be answered with a simple yes or no.
2. Choose your words carefully so they're a true reflection of the kind of response you're looking for.
3. Follow up with targeted, probing questions if an initial answer misses the mark or doesn't go into as much detail as
you'd like.
4. Finally, learn what to do when someone simply refuses to talk.
Module 2 Wrap-Up
Congratulations on completing Module Two.
Please review the following list of learning objectives; then, if you have not already completed it, proceed to the evaluation
for Module Two.
Evaluation
MODULE OVERVIEW
Module 3: Leadership
The job of the leader is to provide his or her followers with
what they cannot provide for themselves.
The task of the leader is a difficult one, because leaders have a singular role in organizations. Leaders rally their staff and
give overarching guidance and vision to team leaders, team members, and to the company at large.
Leaders need to carefully assess the following things as they impart direction to and outline tasks for their employees:
Development Level
Competence
Experience
Commitment
Development level is the level of knowledge and commitment your employees need to possess to perform a particular
task without supervision. When leaders articulate a goal, they need to be keenly aware of their staff's ability to achieve it.
Competence is the combination of a person's ability and experience. This attribute can be developed with the appropriate
direction and support.
Experience is the knowledge or skills gained from education, training, and time spent performing the job or task.
Sometimes an experienced staff member on a team otherwise new to a task can make a huge difference in their project's
final outcome.
Commitment is the attitudinal factor. It is a combination of confidence and motivation (willingness). Confidence is a
measure of a employees' self-assuredness-the feeling that they can perform tasks well without much supervision.
Motivation is the interest and enthusiasm employees exhibit in performing their tasks. In this final category, a leaders'
attitude, drive, and approach to explaining tasks has a tremendous impact on their staff's commitment.
In this module you deal with all these issues, and learn to identify and apply the essential tools you'll need to be effective
as a leader.
Recognize the capabilities employees need from you as a leader
Apply a practical model for utilizing different leadership styles
Describe the interrelationship between supervising, managing, and leadership techniques
Balance directive and supportive leadership styles to develop employees' performance
TOPIC OVERVIEW
Topic 3.1: Leadership Styles
Learning Objectives
Recognize the capabilities employees expect you to have as their leader
High but realistic expectations from leaders result in high-level performance from their followers. Good performance can
be expected for as long as this cycle can be maintained. But the opposite is also true: leaders can create an ineffective
cycle of low expectations resulting in low follower performance.
Because leaders can have a significant impact on their followers, it is important to start developing your employees early.
When people are new to a job or project, and still have few job-related experiences, your investment in training and
coaching will require comparatively little effort, while yet having a profound and lasting influence on their behavior. On the
other hand, those employees who have already established their own way of doing things will typically require more time
and attention, because they have to unlearn inappropriate behaviors as they learn appropriate ones.
We do not turn into different people when we leave home and enter the workplace, even though we often learn to act out
different roles in these two environments.
-Everett T. Robinson
Exploring Leadership Styles
Managers and supervisors must employ a variety of approaches when dealing with employees or groups of employees.
The same style or approach does not fit all situations or all teams, and managers must adapt their approach to the details
of the situation. There will be times when it is best to be collaborative, other times when it is best to remain in the
background, and yet other times when being very directive will yield the best results.
Transcript: Exploring Leadership Styles
The Scenario
Cathy is the critical care nursing supervisor for a large rural medical center, Suburban Special Surgery Center. She
oversees the nursing operations for three departments: ER, trauma, and neo-natal.
Each of these three departments has developed its own employee culture and its own typical employee. The ER is a
high-turnover department with many new entry-level staff members, most of them right out of nursing school. It is the
medical center's practice to move ER nurses who have had a short term of duty and have gotten familiar with the facility to
the trauma center, where they have the sort of experiences that make great nurses. The neo-natal facility is where many
of the senior nurses choose to go. They enjoy interacting with the babies and their parents, and treasure the atmosphere
unique to that part of the hospital. They also appreciate that they are allowed an autonomy commensurate with the diverse
knowledge that has accrued to them in many departments over the course of years.
The Scenario, pt2
Hospital administration has just conducted a centerwide management staff meeting which Cathy was a part of. In the
meeting it was announced that each department would be reviewed to produce a basic picture of their operations and
reviewed again in one year with the goal of documenting improvements in the following areas: levels of patient care,
professional and support staff turnover rates, and departmental financial performance in relation to budget. This report will
generate recommendations at the year's end from each of the operating units on how the hospital should change in order
to meet future demands on its resources. Cathy has to inform the staff of each of the three departments she manages of
these upcoming reviews.
Leadership Narrative #1
The hospital has posed a challenge to us. We all know the state of health care in this country and in particular in this
institution. We have been asked by the administration to improve our performance in the following areas: patient care,
employee turnover rates for professional and support staff, and variance to budget; and they are also asking for our
recommendations for how the hospital should change in order to meet future demands on our resources. They are
approaching this by first conducting an audit of our operations to get a baseline. Then, after one year they will reaudit to
make note of improvements. I realize this is a difficult task given all that we have to deal with, especially as we're
short-staffed already. I want to provide you with an opportunity to think about this, so ask me and others questions, and
then I'll set up some working sessions, first with the nursing staff as a group, and then with the support staff as a group. I
would like everyone to get together at some point so we can further brainstorm how we will approach this challenge. It is
my intent that all of us together come up with a plan that we can call our own and that we check our progress along the
way. As we proceed, I would like your recommendations on how we can improve or how we need to modify the process.
At any time as we are doing this please do not hesitate to ask questions of me or of anyone else.
Narrative #1 Analysis
In this example, Cathy is demonstrating a collaborative leadership style. This is probably an effective approach to use with
the trauma group: the nurses there are experienced; they understand what their jobs expect of them; and as their skills are
more developed, they may respond very positively to inclusion in the deliberations underway in their department.
Many years ago it was not uncommon for someone to ask of a manager or supervisor, What is your style of management?
Most people thought the collaborative style was the best one for every situation. Today, theories of management reflect an
understanding that different styles are appropriate for different groups of employees. Cathy's decisions reflect this
understanding.
In the ER, the staff is made up primarily of young nurses, whose practical experience is limited within their department,
and nonexistent outside of it. Asked to participate in the resolution of this challenge, their responses will be unreliable at
best, and at worst detrimental to progress.
Lastly, the neo-natal group is very seasoned, and have amassed virtually all the knowledge they need in order to
successfully accomplish the bulk of their tasks. Their response to this style can be mixed, some of the nurses appreciating
the benefit of putting several heads to a single task, others resenting the imposition on their autonomy.
Leadership Narrative #2
The hospital has posed a challenge. We all know the state of health care in this country and in particular in this institution.
This group and others have been asked by the administration to improve performance in the following areas: patient care,
employee turnover rates for professional and support staff, and variance to budget; and they are also asking for
recommendations for how the hospital should change in order to meet future demands on our resources. They are
approaching this by first conducting an audit of our operations to get a baseline. Then, after one year they will reaudit to
make note of improvements. I realize this is a difficult task given all that we have to deal with, especially as we're
short-staffed already. You have one year to work this through; keep me posted of your progress as you deal with this task.
If you have specific questions for me, please ask; if I do not have an answer readily available I will try to get you in touch
with the person who can provide the information you need. If I don't know the right person, then it will be up to you to do
your own research. I will check on your progress at midyear and will be doing a final check before the second audit. Good
luck.
In this example, Cathy is demonstrating a laissez-faire leadership style which is appropriate for the experienced nurses in
the neo-natal group, the majority of whom would welcome the opportunity to be allowed to create the solutions that they
see as best for their group and for the institution.
In the case of the ER and the trauma groups there would most likely be a negative reaction to this approach. The ER staff
would be looking for clear direction and alternatives to consider, and many in the trauma group, though more experienced,
would also be looking for more involved leadership.
Narrative #3
The hospital has posed a challenge to me. We all know the state of health care in this country and in particular in this
institution. I have been asked by the administration to improve departmental performance in the following areas: patient
care, employee turnover rates for professional and support staff, and variance to budget; and they are also asking for
recommendations for how the hospital should change in order to meet future demands on resources. They are
approaching this by first conducting an audit of operations to get a baseline. Then, after one year they will reaudit to make
note of improvements. I realize I have a difficult task in front of me, given all we have to deal with, and especially as all of
our departments are short-staffed already. Here is a list of procedural changes I am implementing immediately and which I
expect to be put into place immediately. (Hands out memos.) If you have any questions about the implementation
strategies I have listed please let me know. I will be around weekly to review your progress on all of these initiatives. If you
have any questions, now is the time to ask. Thanks.
In this example, Cathy demonstrates a directive leadership style. This approach is appropriate to the ER nurses, they
need direction and more constant intervention since they are less able to draw from past experience.
While the trauma group might be initially receptive to this approach, they would quickly realize they have much of the
basic knowledge needed to accomplish the objectives and would prefer to have the opportunity to devise their own means
of dealing with the challenge.
The neo-natal group would be the most opposed to this approach since they undoubtedly have the knowledge and
experience necessary to meet the objective and would much prefer to be invested with the responsibility for its successful
completion. This group would probably be the most vocal about their dislike of this approach since it makes light of their
qualifications and of the history of their contributions to the medical center.
Debrief
In each of the cases above, Cathy demonstrates significantly different managerial styles based on the makeup of the
members of each group with whom she is working. The primary consideration driving her choice of approach is the
knowledge and skill level of the people she is dealing with. The less skilled or knowledgeable they are, the more directive
Cathy needs to be. The more skilled and knowledgeable they are, the more collaborative she can be, to the point where
they can be left to their own devices and she can adopt a laissez-faire style.
Managers and supervisors need to employ a variety of approaches when dealing with their employees. One approach
does not fit all situations, teams, or individual employees. There will be times when it is best to be collaborative, other
times that call for stepping away, and yet other times when being directive and spelling things out step by step is the best
approach.
Ask the Expert: Applying Leadership Skills
Transcript: Applying Leadership Skills
What is the difference between micro managing and being good at following up with my employees?
There is a fine line, and most of the time the line is crossed or, perceived to be crossed when there is excessive frequency
of "checking". Following up can be perceived as micro-managing where there is an absence of check points/milestones
built in to a follow-up schedule. People need to know, what is expected of them so they can provide the desired result, and
the follow-up mechanism.
When working with distant workers and being stretched to the limit myself, how can I give people the kind of
directive leadership they need when I cannot be there the provide it myself.
Distance should not be a limiting factor when trying to employ different styles. The time constraints would, however limit
your ability. Most likely you have not taken the time to work out a plan and structure the job in such a way that people will
understand with great clarity what is expected of them in performance and results. In addition, clarity has to be given as to
how they will get to those outcomes. Once you have outlined expectations and the tasks, you will need to ensure there is
an effective feedback system in place. That system can include a numerical reporting system plus a series of update
meetings where individual(s) can report back the difficulties they are having or those things that are going very well.
Perhaps you can solicit the assistance of a more seasoned person who is local to this individual and can be a mentor or
assist with implementation of the plan.
Do not forget one important key factor, keep the lines of communication open. If the communication breaks down there will
be a snowball effect that will hurt the learning in the short term and prevent a productive working relationship from
developing in the long term.
I have an employee that is very good at what he does, unfortunately he still defers to me on issues that he is fully
capable of dealing with.
This is a time when you need to not do the expeditious thing. When this employee comes to you with a question or
needing a decision that you know he can answer, do not answer the question or make the decision. Ask him to articulate
what he would do or how he would answer the question. When he does, and even if he responds in a way that is different
than the way you would (so long as it is still a viable way of dealing with the situation) accept it help employee work out
details and obstacles and encourage the employee to go forth with it. This approach also works with others that may not
be as tenured and continually come to you for answers. Challenge the employee to express or think about how they would
deal with the situation or go about discovering their own solution. By doing this, you are training the employee to think
more independently. In the short term it is causing you to take more time with the employee, but over the long term you
will be saving time for yourself since there will be less questions and decisions needed of you.
I have a new employee that is resenting me being directive with her. She knows that I am working differently with
others on the staff. Does she feel as though I am singling her out?
Unless you have explained to her your style of managing, she will find it difficult to understand why she is dealt with
differently. You must be consistent and fair in your approach to all of your employees but when providing them the
direction they need to grow in their jobs, there are differences in approach that help facilitate the learning process. Share
your expectations with employee so she can see how to work toward changing your work/managerial style.
Applying Leadership Styles
Do any of you ski? Or have you ever tried to learn something new and complex that it's impossible to get right until you've
gained significant experience? For the sake of this discussion, we will use the process of learning to ski as an example,
but many situations, such as learning the procedures of a new job, or learning a new set of skills within a current job, will
require the same stages of learning.
The Scenario
You have been watching skiing on the sports channels for some time and you find the Olympics particularly exciting,
especially the skiing portion. So one day you wake up and decide, This is it-I want to get out there and go skiing. So you
buy yourself equipment and clothes and head out to the slopes.
Once there, as soon as you get out of the car, the cold crisp air hits you in the face, and you pause before the placid
grandeur of the mountains. The excitement gets a hold of you, but wait-what is the skill level that you have right now?
Realizing that you are a novice, you go to the ski school and get an instructor. Which of the following instructors would you
respond best to?
Someone who gives you little or no direction and is expecting you to learn this sport on your own
Someone who encourages you, explaining some of the rudiments of the sport, while engaging you in an earnest
discussion on how you think you might approach it
Someone who lays out in authoritative detail how to develop the numerous skills needed to be a successful skier
Chances are you want the highly directive person who takes control, because you need a large amount of basic
instruction, and are enthusiastic about learning the basics as fast as you can.
Your requirements change as you learn. By the time you have the basics down and ski smoothly on your own, you'll
probably have a feeling for the reasons why sometimes your skiing goes well and sometimes doesn't. At this point you
might prefer to have an instructor who is more collaborative, a person that you could speak with and to whom you could
describe how things are going from your perspective, to whom you could indicate what is going well and what is not, and
who would respond with helpful suggestions on how to revise your techniques.
Lastly, when you are fully comfortable with skiing, and can handle a wide variety of terrains with skill and speed, you
require a very different kind of instructor. You need an instructor who is a very experienced skier and whom you don't see
very often. This instructor might check in periodically, or you might go to him or her to ask a question or two, to refine
aspects of your advanced technique. At this stage, for all intents and purposes, you are content to practice and develop
primarily on your own.
Leadership Style Choices
This skiing example illustrates three leadership styles: directive, collaborative, and laissez-faire. These can be translated
into the workplace or into any number of other settings in life. When trying to determine the style that should be employed,
your first step must be to get a handle on the job knowledge employees have for their particular job function. This will give
you a good idea of what leadership style might be the best one.
Directive Leadership
Directive leadership is most effective with employees with little knowledge of a particular job. Please, do not assume that
being directive means being dictatorial. Your sensitivity to the humanity of your employees must be everywhere in
evidence if you are going to take effective control; you can be directive without being nasty, insensitive, or bossy.
Collaborative Leadership
After a period of being directive with a particular group of employees, and after they have demonstrated a fundamental
grasp of their responsibilities, switching to a collaborative mode may be appropriate since they now need to question and
to broaden their understanding of their role, and how their job fits into the larger scheme of things. Switch your approach
when you see that employees have mastered the basics and have begun to show signs that boredom or frustration are
setting in. With this two-way exchange going on (collaboration) the employee will grow substantially in a short period of
time.
Laissez-Faire Leadership
Once an employee has gained mastery of a complex skill, it is time to step back and change your leadership style yet
again. You still need to keep contact with the person about their job, but you need no longer directly oversee their every
move. Once you have made the decision to step back, stick to it. You will experience the desire at times, especially if
something goes wrong, to step back in. Avoid taking that course of action, because if you are always stepping back in, you
can put yourself in the position of becoming an irresistible crutch they may come to prefer over walking on their own. One
of the best ways we as humans learn is through making mistakes. Allow people that opportunity.
There is also nothing wrong with telling your employees what you are doing, and why. It is best that they understand the
reasons your leadership approach changes so they can appreciate their progress as you move through the phases of
leadership. This will also ensure they will not become frustrated, or misunderstand the way you deal with them in the
workplace.
TOPIC OVERVIEW
Topic 3.2: Supervising, Managing, and Leading
Learning Objective
A given in business and in life is that expectations are continually increasing. Organizations aren't satisfied with the same
profits as last year: they want to grow, to gain market share, to beat the competition, and to strengthen their market
positions to ensure their longevity. Not surprisingly, that's what employees want, too-but employees have increasing
expectations of achievement for themselves as well. They want to make more money, learn new things, gain the
recognition of others, and move up in the organization-or in the field (i.e., in another organization). Whose job is it to
satisfy the increasing expectations of both the organization and the employees? Management.
We investigate three levels of management in this topic: supervisory, managerial, and leadership.
Differences Between Supervising, Managing, and Leading
A given in business and in life is that expectations are continually increasing. Organizations aren't satisfied with the same
profit as last year: they want to grow, to gain market share, to beat the competition, and to strengthen their market
positions to ensure their longevity. Not surprisingly, that's what employees want, too-but employees have increasing
expectations of achievement for themselves as well. They want to make more money, learn new things, gain the
recognition of others, and move up in the organization-or in the field (i.e., in another organization). Whose job is it to
satisfy the increasing expectations of both the organization and the employees? Management.
The Role of Managers and of Supervisors
Managers and supervisors are coordinators of the efforts of others, and those others have an endless variety of
experience, capability, availability, and motivations for working. But there are some specifics in how they approach their
jobs that differ.
The Supervisor
Efficient supervisors maintain order and reliability in the functioning of a company. In addition, they schedule people and
work with human resources if hiring is necessary to meet expectations. A supervisor keeps the process intact and alive. A
supervisor asks, When? and Who?
The Manager
A manager's job is to coordinate the efforts of a variety of workers with numerous inclinations and abilities to perform with
a variety of unpredictable resources toward exceeding organizational expectations that are sometimes unclear.
Their work is similar to that of supervisors, but what sets efficient managers apart is that managers are continually looking
for opportunities to improve the process and people to achieve a better result for both. The role of managers is to identify
and remove people's roadblocks to success. A manager asks questions, challenges assumptions, finds areas of
commonality and support, looks at the impact of current decisions on long-term results, rather than just on this quarter's. A
manager tries to realize what the human elements of the process are capable of achieving and works to make those
achievements a reality for the organization and for its people. A manager asks, What? and How?
Successful managers serve two functions simultaneously and seamlessly: They improve the way work gets performed to
increase productivity for the organization, and they improve employees' capabilities and their willingness to do their work.
To perform the first task, the manager has to understand the objectives of the organization, prioritize the work of the staff
accordingly, and ensure that the work is done in a timely and quality manner. This may require some adeptness at
communicating effectively with superiors and other managers, at translating big picture goals into production terms, and at
leveraging resources and task scheduling.
The second function-keeping the staff productive--is an evasive target, and most managers experience their greatest
difficulties trying to hit it.
The Leader
Leaders find ways to build collaborative, productive, and long-term work relationships with others to establish opportunities
for subordinates and peers to maximize their own resources and achievements. Leaders set goals for employees and
provide support for their efforts. A leader asks, Where is our next opportunity for achievement? A leader has a very
different set of responsibilities than supervisors or managers do.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Role of Manager and Supervisor
A manager or supervisor has the role of environment-creator or environment-facilitator, giving strength and enthusiasm to
others and reinforcing their desires to do well and to grow more and more successful at their work.
A manager or a supervisor needs to understand that people's desire to do good work wanes as their tasks become more
familiar and less challenging, and their effort drops accordingly. As employees gain experience and become more
valuable to production, their initiative begins to diminish-just the opposite of what is needed to increase productivity!
Additional Responsibilities of the Manager
As a manager, you need to understand that people need to gain a feeling of interest, of being challenged, of learning
something worthwhile, and of achievement in their work, and that, as employees master new tasks, you need to provide
opportunities for them to recreate that personal initiative to grow.
Managers who figure out that a continual variety of challenging and motivating devices leads to a top-performing staff offer
continual feedback and dialogue with their workers. Doing so is the key to identifying employees' initiative level and the
new professional directions they would have the most interest in pursuing, the key to providing support toward
achievement and recognition of incremental accomplishments when these are needed, and the key to ascertaining
whether any adjustment to an employee's "spark" is necessary.
To create and perpetuate a positive environment, you need to know how effective your efforts to this end have been and
what added input is required to maintain or improve your results. When dealing with people, effective bi-directional
communication is the only workable option for gathering this information.
Unique Responsibilities of Leaders
The role of leaders today is not so much to make all key decisions themselves, but to develop an organization and a
process by which decisions can be made by others.
While managers create opportunities and manage the environment, leaders only provide the direction and resources,
letting employees create their paths and vehicles. This means that, unlike managers who diagnose the needs of their
workers and of their environment and personally direct resources and change, leaders can only set a tone and goal-how
the group members achieve their ends is otherwise up to them. The idea is that they'll take the responsibility to adapt the
environment to their needs, rather than perpetuate the existing process until it is changed for them.
Leaders have to nurture the ability in their followers to establish their own routes, to make decisions, and to challenge and
support their ideas vis-à-vis how well they meet organizational needs. This being done, leaders have only to provide
resources and logistic support for the trailblazing efforts of their employees. There is more personal risk for followers who
decide their own methodologies than for those who merely follow a proven process, so leaders must follow up on the
continued initiative of their subordinates and be available constantly to recognize and immediately support their
achievements and successes.
Ask the Expert: Characteristics of a Good Supervisor
Transcript: Characteristics of a Good Supervisor
Why would a supervisor be expected to have vision? Isn't vision the job of the CEO?
Vision is simply a best-case scenario of how you'd like the areas under your control to be in the future-say, the next one to
three years. To realize your goals, you've got to have some ideas for one or more of the following: improvement, change,
new products or technologies, a wish list for the work environment, or productivity.
Vision changes the reason people work, and what they achieve. If your objective is to keep everything running like
clockwork-smoothly, uninterruptedly and consistently-then that's what the staff will provide. Since you don't talk about
change or improvement, and you deflect conversations on these topics in favor of perpetuating the existing working
process, the staff won't bother you with ideas that you don't appreciate. As long as your behavior frustrates their creativity
they'll keep an eye out for somewhere else to work where they can use their heads.
If you provide a forum where people can use their heads to build something new and better, they'll rise to the opportunity.
By providing vision, you build a context for people's creativity, paint a better picture, and focus their experience and
contributions on the same goal you've set.
Isn't performance feedback part of my job? So how does it differentiate a good supervisor from a satisfactory
one?
Yes, performance feedback is part of (most) supervisors' jobs, but how it's done and the intent behind it change it from a
mechanical responsibility to a productivity tool. If the performance feedback you provide consists of the annual or biannual
performance appraisal, you're merely meeting your job responsibility and missing a great performance-improvement
opportunity.
Feedback that's given every six or twelve months does let the employee know how they're doing in a very general way,
but can be more damaging than beneficial. If your feedback includes negative reviews of assignments from months ago,
and this is the first the employee has heard of your view on the matter, that employee will understandably react with some
surprise and defensiveness. If your review includes praise for a job well done nearly a year ago, the reaction will probably
be, "Well, it's about time!" Leaving a long time between either positive or negative feedback builds resentment in the
employee, in addition to having allowed poor work to have continued for an unrecoverable six to twelve months, or
superior work to have fallen off because it didn't appear to have been worth the effort to the unrecognized employee.
Instead, use feedback frequently, and recognize good work immediately. Address inadequate performance immediately,
too, and offer on-the-spot instruction and support. Redirecting a small error and providing instant recognition for
improvement can prevent a year of unsatisfactory performance, and the employee's resentment of his or her performance
review.
Involve others in problem solving? I got promoted to this position because I'm good at it, and have more
experience than my staff. Isn't it logical that I answer questions and solve problems to expedite work?
Involving the staff in problem solving has three benefits. First, even though you may have a great deal of experience,
years of tenure with your organization, and intimate knowledge of your process, your staff nevertheless works more
closely with the process than you do and are more aware of the current state of that process and of the opportunities for
its improvement. Also, they have job experience that you don't-maybe not as much, but close, and in different procedures
and processes. Their experience outside your process could contribute transferable solutions and improvements that you
could never have thought of. So involving them in problem solving and in improvement ideas can bring a great many
valuable new ideas to the table, giving you a wider set of options to choose from.
Second, if you solve everyone's problems and answer everyone's questions, you create a situation where your staff
defaults to you and avoids making decisions themselves. Every time there's a fork in the road, they will either take you out
of whatever you're doing so you can come solve the problem, or the system will shut down until you can be found to make
the decision. You lose your own time and production time, and permit a situation where nobody is expected to step up and
make a decision but you. If you began to tutor subordinates in handling their own decisions (small ones first, of course),
you could build in them a better understanding of the criteria that you use to make decisions so they could start to make
them-correctly-themselves. And any time they spend making a decision is extra time you don't have to spend on the shop
floor doing somebody else's job.
Finally, involvement in work and being in the loop are two of the strongest employee motivators, and motivated employees
contribute far more effort and produce far better quality work than those who aren't.
"Spokesperson and linkage to other departments" sounds like a stretch. I'm responsible for what happens here; I
can't do anything about the other departments.
There are times when the work of another department has an adverse affect on your department. As an organizational
link, it is the supervisor's role to raise the issue with the other department and to investigate ways to change the process to
allow everyone to benefit.
You're not omniscient, nor omnipotent, but you do know more than your employees do, and you do have occasion to
interact with other bosses and access to plans that affect all departments. Your employees expect you to keep their
interests in mind as you participate in these interactions and to not let your department be the first to get a budget or staff
reduction, or be the last to get an equipment upgrade. And they have the right to expect that you'll share whatever you can
with them, and that you'll give them advance warning when decisions affecting their work are being made elsewhere in the
organization.
Your staff knows that you won't have the authority to change some things that you'll hear and discuss. All they expect is
that you'll do what you can when you can, and that you'll keep them informed of things that can affect them. Their job
security is sometimes decided by circumstances beyond their individual or team knowledge; at that level, you're the only
support and communication channel they have.
Module 3 Wrap-Up
Congratulations on completing Module Three.
Please review the following list of learning objectives; then, if you have not already completed it, proceed to the required
evaluation and discussion for Module Three. To successfully complete this course, you must finish all evaluations and
required discussions.
Discussion
Evaluation
Course Wrap-Up
Upon reaching this page, you should already have completed the three modules that compose the content of this course:
Module 1: Motivating for Achievement
Module 2: Positive Confrontation
Module 3: Leadership
If you have completed these modules-congratulations! You have taken an important step toward understanding the skills
and methods necessary to effectively manage people.
Let's review the course objectives. Having completed this course, you should feel comfortable with your ability to do the
following:
Module 1
Determine nonfinancial motivators that support the goals of the organization and of the employee
Module 2
Module 3
Thank You and Farewell
Anthony Panos
Director of Management Programs
Cornell University
School of Industrial and Labor Relations:
Extension Program
Thanks again for participating in Leading People to Higher Performance. As you have seen, we took a rather novel
approach to trying to describe the intricacies of managing people, and work, and trying to get you to see how you currently
do it and how you might improve your techniques.
We hope that you spent a fair deal of time working with the various exercises and discussions to identify all the learning
that applies to your work situation, and found some awareness and skills in this experience that can improve your
performance as a manger.
One of the reasons that we prefer this experiential learning approach is because this approach resembles the real world.
Managing people is complicated, and frequently presents a number of issues and the same situation as we did in
constructing these exercises.
We hope that by overlapping numerous managerial techniques in each module of the course, you become more
comfortable in discerning and handling multiple workplace issues simultaneously and effectively.
This may be the most important lesson of this course.
Stay Connected

ILRMD504: Leading People to Higher Performance

Transcription

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