employee management and flowers

“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms.”

–

Zen Shin Talks

Managing employees may be one of the most demanding … and most rewarding … responsibilities someone can ever have.

Oh.

And also maddening.

Maddeningly not because of the employees but rather because of the insane organizational gauntlets you often have to run in order to report on & assess employees.

Look.

I am all for assessing and evaluating and giving feedback and promoting <or demoting> when appropriate. But what I imagine I am not all for is … well … the competition. I may be naïve but I tend to think an employee would rather think about blooming rather than competing against the flower next to it.

However … we <in the business management world> are constantly attempting to force competition. Maybe we do it under the guise of ‘bring out the best in someone‘ but more likely we do it simply to try and not have to make decision with regard to who should get pay raises and who should get promotions and who should get fired.

<oops … I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that secret>

What I mean by that is with competition we in management don’t have to do shit but praise the ‘winners’ and show how the ‘losers’ should improve <or fire them>.

Well.

That is lazy management.

It may be energy saving … but it is lazy.

The most obvious reason is that not all employees, just as all people in general, thrive in competitive environments. Competition may actually make a great employee suck.

If you don’t agree with that then you have a warped sense of what makes someone really good <as in ‘well, if they aren’t competitive then they are not cut out for today’s business world>. I am not sure I was a particularly good manager … but I do know I not only disliked having my employees compete against each other … I wasn’t particularly fond of employees who purposefully competed against other employees. I liked just having each employee be the best that they could be … and it was up to me, as a manager, to try and make them into a cohesive functional unit.

Anyway.

In addition to competition … we ended up evaluating employees on a Bell Curve.

Now.

This one is just frickin’ insane.

Well.

At least I always thought so.

And I used to argue it was insane until I was blue in the face … but I wasn’t smart enough to be able to show proof it was fucking stupid.

So, while frustrated <and sometimes having the more senior management question my employee management skills> I was stuck evaluating and assessing reviews based on a Bell Curve.

And then a friend of mine sent me an article, The Myth of the Bell Curve, written by some guy at Deloitte named Josh Bersin.

Awesome.

Well-articulated and pretty much shoved the Bell Curve where the sun don’t shine to all those senior senior management type who shoved it up my … well … where the sun don’t shine … all those times:

There is a long standing belief in business that people performance follows the Bell Curve (also called the Normal Distribution). This belief has been embedded in many business practices: performance appraisals, compensation models, and even how we get graded in school. (Remember “grading by the curve?”)

Research shows that this statistical model, while easy to understand, does not accurately reflect the way people perform. As a result, HR departments and business leaders inadvertently create agonizing problems with employee performance and happiness.

Bell Curves. Does the World Really Work This Way?

The answer is no.

Research conducted in 2011 and 2012 by Ernest O’Boyle Jr. and Herman Aguinis (633,263 researchers, entertainers, politicians, and athletes in a total of 198 samples). found that performance in 94 percent of these groups did not follow a normal distribution. Rather these groups fall into what is called a “Power Law” distribution.

A “Power Law” distribution is also known as a “long tail.” It indicates that people are not “normally distributed.” In this statistical model there are a small number of people who are “hyper high performers,” a broad swath of people who are “good performers” and a smaller number of people who are “low performers.” It essentially accounts for a much wider variation in performance among the sample.

It has very different characteristics from the Bell Curve. In the Power Curve most people fall below the mean (slightly). Roughly 10-15% of the population are above the average (often far above the average), a large population are slightly below average, and a small group are far below average. So the concept of “average” becomes meaningless.

In fact the implication is that comparing to “average” isn’t very useful at all, because the small number of people who are “hyper-performers” accommodate for a very high percentage of the total business value.

The article:

The Myth of the Bell Curve: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2014/02/19/the-myth-of-the-bell-curve-look-for-the-hyper-performers/

So.

I find it odd that there are so many articles and management seminars on ‘how to build employee morale’ and coaching and … well … google it and you will have a result in the millions … and yet evaluations may have the largest impact on morale <and performance> than anything else.

We babble nonstop about how employees should take more responsibility, show more initiative and really own their projects, processes and problems.

We babble even more about conflict in the workplace and the constant drama over being ‘over worked’ <workload>.

And we only stop babbling when we wring our hands in desperation with worry over questionable office morale.

Ok <part 1>.

We stop babbling long enough to hire someone to come in and teach us <or give us the tools so we don’t have to do anything but get to tell employees what they are doing wrong and what they need to do to perform> things like this:

•             Simple and straightforward tools for inspiring accountability

•             Keys to helping employees turn ideas into action

•             Proven ways to get more effective execution from your employees

•             How to increase performance by overcoming accountability obstacles

•             Effective tools and best practices to coach accountability

•             Dos & Don’ts to create a culture of productivity

Ok <part 2>.

Before I get in too much trouble from readers … I am all for improving … well … anything. And if there are some tools which increase the likelihood I can be a better manager … give them to me.

But.

I imagine my main issue is that I have seen far too many senior management meetings where everyone sat around the table <usually very large made of some type of heavy material and surrounded by white men> bitching about how employees don’t do this or that.

And we never looked at each other saying ‘well, maybe they are a reflection of us at this table … or our thinking with regard to the organization and how we manage it.”

And that, my friends, is fucking crazy.

Why do I say that?

Well.

Because it isn’t the employees. It is us.

I say this because I have not encountered one employee in my entire career who didn’t enter the door on day one motivated and ready to rock the world.

Uh oh.

But you ever notice how a new employee’s enthusiasm eventually wears off?

A Harvard Management survey points out that in 85% of companies employees’ morale significantly drops off after their first six months on the job.

For the most part, enthusiasm is determined by work environment, and it can be fostered or hindered by the management.

And maybe it is because so maybe senior people look to inspire and cheer and ‘get in there and show them how it should be done’ and a bunch of other misguided management techniques that employees become so quickly disenfranchised.

In fact … McKinsey wrote an AWESOME white paper called: How leaders kill meaning at work where they clearly outline the 4 typical mistakes leaders make <and I laughed my ass off – painfully I will add – as I saw components in almost every organization I had been part of>.

McKinsey Article: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/leading_in_the_21st_century/how_leaders_kill_meaning_at_work

Anyway.

Here is the deal.

Employee motivation experts say the best way to keep employee enthusiasm moving forward is to “first, do no harm.”

Huh?

Yup.

At minimum … just don’t do anything that demotivates your workers.

Well.

There is a low frickin’ bar.

And most of us screw that up.

And we screw it up in a variety of ways.

Check out these eight “demotivators” I found somewhere online:

–          1. Public criticism.

Pointing out a worker’s mistake in front of others rarely yields a good response. Though some managers think public reproach keeps everyone else from making the same mistake—it usually just makes everyone feel bad.

–          2. Failing to provide praise.

If employees feel like their hard work goes unnoticed, they’ll start to wonder why they’re working so hard in the first place. Be sure to offer praise, both privately and publicly. Even small things, like a thank-you card or a “good job” email work.

–          3. Not following up.

Have you ever solicited ideas, asked what employees think about a policy, or asked your team to draft a proposal? If so, be sure to relay the results, even if the ideas or proposals don’t go anywhere. Asking employees for input without acknowledging it shows a lack of respect.

–          4. Give unachievable goals or deadlines.

Once employees realize they won’t be able to get something done, they’ll think, “What’s the point? I’m going to fail.” Provide goals and deadlines that are challenging, but not impossible.

–          5. Not explaining your actions or sharing company data.

Just because you hold the cards doesn’t mean you should hide them. Explaining the big management decisions will help employees understand your perspective—and they’ll respect you for it. Likewise, sharing key company data such as revenue and profits validates staff contributions.

–          6. Implied threats.

If an employee is producing sub-par work, it’s OK to let them know your expectations. But it’s not OK to threaten their job—especially if you’re threatening the entire team in a public setting. A “do this or else” attitude often has the opposite effect when it comes to motivation.

–          7. Not honoring creative thinking and problem solving.

When employees take initiative to improve something—a company process or an individual task, for instance—don’t blow it off. Instead, take a good, hard look at their suggestion. Don’t ignore it, or you risk losing that employee’s creativity in the future.

–          8. Micromanagement

Perhaps the worst demotivator is micromanaging. Employees need to feel trusted and valued to succeed—and micromanaging communicates the opposite.

All that said.

Employee management.

Think one word.

Flowers.

Think of employees as flowers.

They think about blooming and not competing against the flower next to them.

That means setting individual expectations and meeting individual desires.

And you know what?

We make even that harder than it has to be. What employees want really can be captured in two simple things:

Do the best work I can <and capable of>.

Be the best I can be.

Ogilvy & Mather’s David Ogilvy once said this:

==

“Top people must not tolerate sloppy plans or mediocre creative work. If you join Ogilvy & Mather, we shall teach you everything we know about advertising. We shall pay you well, and do our damnedest to make you succeed. If you show promise, we shall load responsibility on you — fast.

Life in our agency can be very exciting. You will never be bored.

It’s tough, but it’s fun.”

==

That statement not only motivates employees on day one as they enter … but if you manage TO it … they will remain motivated.

And the best part of that statement?

Best work I can do … best I can be <and getting paid for it>. What else can an employee ask for?