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Article What If Your Employees Gave You a
Performance Review? From all appearances, performance reviews are a
one-way street. The leader
always appraises the employee. Even
so, it is a beneficial procedure in which both leader and employee
benefit. If you are among the fortunate leaders, you get an occasional
appraisal from your leader, the person you report to. But what if the people you lead could reverse procedures and
give you a performance review? What
if they could measure for themselves how you measure up as a leader?
I suppose there would be some surprises for many of us. But the truth is that
employees are already measuring you and I.
Not formally with a grade when it is over, but in bits and
pieces—assessments all through the workday and often in work-break bull
sessions. If you doubt that
statement, remember that you measure your boss repeatedly when you respond
to his actions, with thoughts such as the following:
It happens on all levels
of life. Off the playing
field, Athletes measure their coaches. They second-guess his strategy.
They question his play calling.
They call him names for his tough conditioning program. They praise
him for being fair-minded and for reminding them occasionally “it’s
just a game, but it’s a game we’re expected to win most of the
time.” In battle, combat
soldiers follow their sergeants, their lieutenants, their generals with
varying degrees of willingness and enthusiasm depending greatly on how
they think their leader measures up as a leader. It is important how you measure up with employees.
The truth is that it is not unusual for leaders to say, “I
couldn’t care less what my people think of my leadership.”
But that is an irresponsible comment at best.
Because what they think does matter.
Because what they think of us often has a lot to do with how
willing they are to be led by us. Just
like the Athletes and coaches, soldiers and officers, government leaders
and aides, employees will work better for leaders they give high marks for
leadership qualities. No
matter how much they complain and criticize, employees want leaders who
know their jobs, who care about them, who challenge them, who can be
trusted, who, to put it simply, lead. If employees find you
lacking in technical knowledge, they want you to compensate in other areas such as in people handling, communicating, problem
solving, etc. If they
measure you, and be assured they do, and find you short in too many
categories, they are not going to be as productive as they would be
otherwise. Now consider some leadership measurements. As a leader, you have been trained, or should have been,
to appraise the performance of your employees.
You know their strengths and weaknesses and either formally or
informally, you measure those employees.
Presume now, however, that the
people you have been measuring will appraise your performance as
their leader. They have been
doing that all along in their minds anyway, but to help you realize what
some of their yardsticks are and how you measure up, presume that they are
giving you a performance review. The
following questions appear on your performance review form: Do you project the image of a leader? Do the people on your shift see you as a leader, the person
in charge? If you
believe that you are an effective leader, you have a far better chance of
being one than if you have a negative self-image.
Merely thinking you are a strong leader will not make you one, but
it will put you on the road to becoming one.
Chances are, if you perceive yourself as a leader who possesses the
qualities needed to lead successfully, you will benefit greatly from the
resulting self-esteem and will project the image of a leader.
The leader image then will be reflected in a strong, confident
voice when you speak, whether it is a monthly meeting with other leaders
or in one-to-one conversations with employees as you make assignments,
conduct training, or announce changes that are upcoming in your
department. The opposite is
true of course. If you
project a weak self-image, you are likely to sound unsure of yourself when
making assignments, explaining work rules, or dealing with worker
problems. If you think the
people on your shift would give you a poor grade on your overall image as
a leader, you will do well to take a hard look at how to improve that
image and to project the image of a leader. How do you measure up on staying calm during the storm?
When there is a blow up, employees often learn first hand how
their leader behaves in an emergency whether it is a fistfight that has
broken out, an accident that has caused serious injury, or damage to
costly equipment. How you
respond to any such crisis will influence how your shift measure you on
your ability to stay calm and proceed with maturity. If you can keep your head when those about you are losing
theirs, the people on your shift will admire you for your maturity and see
you as a leader. Staying calm
includes acting decisively for often your swift response is necessary.
Acting with a cool, clear head will keep a bad situation from
becoming worse. Are you a chronic critic or do you give due credit?
Two youngsters who aspired to become star golfers took their
lessons from instructors at the same golf course, and usually within
hearing distance of each other. The
contrast was a significant one. One
instructor carped without end at his pupil for his mistakes, “No, I told
you to keep your head down.” “Didn’t
I tell you to bend your knees slightly?”
“Stop trying to kill the ball.”
“You’re still not keeping your arms straight.”
The griping went on and on.
The other instructor called attention to his student’s mistakes,
but he was patient, he spoke kindly, and when the student executed well,
he got a pat on the back. In
time, the first student became so discouraged he decided not to play golf. The other student quickly improved and looked ahead to
playing on his high school’s team.
Which instructor would your workers say you resemble—the chronic
faultfinder or the instructor who knew the value of praise for a job well
done. All complaints and no
praise make for a discouraged employee and a poor leader in the eyes of
the employees. Are you growing as a leader? A
key point when you are conducting a performance review for a person—is
the employee growing on the job, sharpening his skills, increasing his
contribution to the company’s overall efforts to increase profit and
operating more efficiently. The
people under your direction look at you wondering whether you are growing
or standing still. Again,
they cannot give you a formal appraisal to grade you on how you are doing,
but the evidence accumulates in your day-to-day leadership.
Let’s say you are the daytime shift supervisor and your
colleague, Will Zobrowski, is the night shift supervisor.
Zobrowski is younger than you, but already has been tagged a
“comer.” He stays right
on top of operations at the plant, he communicates well with other
departments, he buys the manager and industry publications to read, he has
attended two workshops to your none, and he frequently takes the lead in
discussions at supervisory meetings.
He is also lining up a course of study at a nearby community
college. Meanwhile, you are
just too tied up supervising to find time for such self-development
activities as your nighttime colleague takes on. What would your grade be for professional growth?
The workers would give Zobrowski an “A,” no question about it.
Would you get an incomplete? Given
the chance, can you raise that grade? Are you helping employees grow? If
employees distinguish easily between a leader who is intent on
self-development and one who is spinning his wheels, it makes sense that
they will distinguish between a leader who is interested in their growth
and one who does not care. Helping
employees grow in their jobs may be the one best investment you and your
company can make. And you do
not necessarily have to send them to workshops to help them grow.
Some companies help young and inexperienced workers develop their
skills by teaming them with veteran employees who know the ropes and are
glad to share their knowledge and skills. The opposite of the
leader who wants employees to grow is the leader who cannot be bothered.
“Let them do their jobs and I’ll do mine and we’ll get along
fine.” If that is your
philosophy, employees will give you a failing mark on this part of your
review. How do you measure up when it comes to working with your peers?
A point you should have been emphasizing since your arrival on
the leadership scene is that at their productive best, the people on your
shift must work as a team. You
have reminded them of the need for teamwork when you intervened in their
arguments, when they complained about assignments, when the workload
seemed heaviest. But have you
been setting the example in teamwork?
What about your relationships with other leaders?
After all, you are a member of the leadership team.
Your shift can sense from your attitude about other leaders how
much of a team player you are. If
you try earnestly to work with other departments, talking with them in
private about solutions to problems rather than making public negative
comments, you will sound more convincing when you talk with your employees
about teamwork. Are you respected or merely liked?
One of the toughest high marks for a leader to earn is in a
“course” called popularity versus respect.
Unfortunately, too many leaders do not score well on this point.
Benny Tolliver had his sights on a leader’s job the first week he
went to work. Because he was
outgoing, he quickly made friends with fellow employees and joined them in
after-work activities such as bowling and softball.
Then Tolliver got the leadership job he wanted and his manager
cautioned him, “Benny, you’re a member of management now, so you
can’t be one of the boys any longer.
Can you handle that?” Tolliver
replied with a smile, “I’ve been laying the ground work all along.
I told the guys
our relationship might change in some ways if I got the team leader’s
job. When the appointment
came, I didn’t have to remind them.
They came to me and said they were pulling for me and looking
forward to working with me.” Despite
a few bumps along the way, Benny made the change successfully. Not all leaders can handle the change after they have worked
in the ranks. They let
favoritism in assignments show and they are reluctant to discipline old
buddies. Respect is tougher
to achieve than popularity, but respect is a cornerstone of leadership.
Popularity is like a house built on sand, it just won’t last.
The bottom line—it takes more courage to earn people’s respect
than to merely persuade them to like us. Are you a communicator or a mumbler?
When you conduct an employee performance review, one of the
first characteristics that will surface is the employee’s ability to or
inability to communicate—to speak up promptly and clearly or to hem and
ha and mumble. Now flip the
coin and it is the employee measuring you, his leader, on communication.
This appraisal takes
place not in your office, but when you make an assignment, change
instructions, point out a mistake, announce goals, or any other situation
when you are conveying or receiving information.
You demonstrate how well or how poorly you communicate.
Few traits are more important to a leader’s image as his effort
and ability to communicate. What
kind of grade would your employees give you on communicating? Not many A’s are likely on this score. But an A can be earned. Most importantly, are you impartial? Maximum performance will not be possible if word gets around that you play favorites when you make assignments and mete out discipline. If employees rated performance points on your appraisal one through ten, chances are, they would rate fairness and impartiality as number one. Because certain assignments are labeled “most unwanted,” you must make certain they are shared by one and all. Also, you must take care not to ride the “good horses” more than others just because they are “good horses.” Even if your employees give you D’s and F’s on other performance points, being consistent on discipline and demonstrating impartiality on assignments will still get you a passing grade. |
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