Issue 2.7 of Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential with Kevin Eikenberry

Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential
Issue 2.7 - February 14th, 2005 - ISSN: 1551-6571

In Kevin's Own Words

Setting Clearer Performance Expectations

The annual performance review.

Stating this phrase guarantees some reaction for anyone who has ever had one, or had to give one as a supervisor or manager. In my experience in working with organizations, that reaction is seldom positive.

Listen to Kevin discuss how to accept compliments.

The concept behind the performance review or evaluation is a good one. It is a chance for someone to discuss their accomplishments, get feedback on their progress, and build a plan for continuous improvement. The idea makes sense, which is why every organization I’ve worked with has these meetings between a supervisor and an employee.

Unfortunately, while the idea is sound, far too often, in execution, these meetings are ineffective at best, and counter-productive at worst. While there are many reasons why this is true, one of those reasons is that supervisors don’t know how to do one of the most critical parts of this event effectively – setting clear performance expectations.

Without clear expectations from the previous year, the discussion becomes too subjective – one of the major (justified) reasons employees don’t find these reviews valuable. Without clear expectations set for the coming year, people don’t know what to work on throughout the year, beyond vague generalities or assumptions. This then sets them up for yet another largely subjective review next year.

Some Criteria

These expectations should be:

Connected to the goals and objectives of the organization
Clear and agreed upon
Developed jointly

Applying these three criteria to the expectations you set during these meetings will improve the relevancy and clarity of the expectations. And by jointly developing them you improve the commitment of the employee to both the process and the expectations themselves.

Getting There

Once you know what successful expectations will look like with the criteria, the next question becomes, “how do we get there?” Here are some tips to help you identify, clarify and agree to performance expectations.

Start with organizational goals. Help the employee understand department and organizational goals. Discuss how their work can positively impact the achievement of those goals. Use that perspective to develop any performance expectations that directly link their work to those goals.
Ask questions. One of the biggest mistakes you can make during a performance review meeting is to do all of the talking. Get the employee to discuss their expectations and goals for the coming year. Start by asking questions – especially open ended ones. Perhaps you have some very specific things you want to include - you can add your items later in the conversation. Ask first and ask often.
Be quiet. If you are going to ask… you have to be quiet and listen. Be patient. They might not have an immediate thought – or they may be scared to say much if this is a different approach than they have experienced in these situations before. Ask the questions expectantly, rephrase them if needed, be patient and keep your mouth shut. If you are going to jointly create these expectations, you have to let them talk.
Acknowledge their feelings and perspective. You may not agree with everything they say. You may see their proposed expectations missing the mark slightly. Remember this is a conversation. Don’t judge too quickly. Even if you want to influence them to a different view, acknowledge how they feel, even if your feeling is different.
Challenge them to stretch. One of the best things we can do for people is encourage them to stretch their performance. Help people raise their expectations a little bit more. How do you know it is a stretch? When is feels like a challenge, but isn’t unbelievable. Setting expectations of improvement levels that people can’t visualize achieving is likely beyond a stretch. Set expectations that raise the bar a little – and that drive people towards their potential.
Be specific and descriptive. The expectations need to be descriptive and clear. If they are vague, they are open to interpretation and won’t be met to anyone’s satisfaction. Make them specific and write them down.
Restate and clarify. The meeting can’t end until you have agreement on the expectations, and you can’t get agreement unless they are clear. Review the notes that have been written down, and make sure that you both agree that they say want you want them to say, and that when you both read them in 2 days or 2 months, that they will still mean the same thing.
Gain agreement. Get people to commit to the expectations that have been created. Give space for them to share concerns or frustrations, but leave with a commitment to work towards these expectations. Your organization may want people to sign their performance reviews or plans. Beyond those requirements, having people sign their expectations and agreements is a powerful piece of people committing to achieve something. So consider having people sign, even if it isn’t a part of your organization’s process.

Taking these steps will help you create job expectations that will meet both the organization’s and the individual’s needs. It will also be a springboard to helping make those performance reviews more valuable – for everyone.

Final Note

Perhaps as you read this list you didn’t see anything earth-shattering or new. If so, my question to you is are you doing all of these things, even though you know them?

Yours in Learning,

Kevin Recommends

ChangeThis.com

Two weeks ago in Issue 2.5 I wrote about Seth Godin’s latest book, Free Prize Inside. This week, I feature a website started based on one of his ideas.

ChangeThis.com is an idea clearinghouse. The articles that are posted are called manifestos and are designed to be spread widely. The site’s philosophy is that great ideas will spread, and the bad ones will just sit there. Click HERE to read the site’s manifesto.

If you go to the home page, you will find at least one manifesto on a topic that matters to you – they are categorized into business, culture, technology, and others. You can also submit a proposal or vote on proposals of interest to you. Writers of proposals that are popular with voters will be asked to create new manifestos.

I recommend this site because there are some very well written pieces here – thought provoking and definitely worth reading. You can read them from the site, download them as PDF files, or email them to others – and it is all very easy to do.

Not all that I have read are great, but some are, and enough are interesting and thought provoking that I find myself visiting for more. Besides, it is hard not to recommend something devoted to the spreading of ideas – especially when it is so well done.

p.s . I wrote this review a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have submitted a proposal, which has been accepted. You can READ it now and if you would like it written, please click the button to vote for it!

You Ask...Kevin Answers

"I have noticed you use an arrow in your logo. Is there any significance to it?"

- Shannon W, engineer

I have been asked about the arrow many times. The great thing about this question is it gives me a chance to talk about why the arrow isn’t just a logo…

The spring arrow represents our beliefs about learning and human potential. Learning is a circular process. We learn or experience something new, determine how that applies to us, integrate that lesson in our actions, which leads to a new experience or result. Then the cycle repeats! More than circular though, we believe that learning can be an upward spiral propelling us towards our potential.

The spring arrow represents the work we do every day to provide the tools, knowledge and experience to help organizations, teams and individuals spring forward towards their potential.

Click HERE to ask Kevin a question.

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The Kevin Eikenberry Group
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