Organizational Change Articles

THE 99TH PERCENTILE

Each day people strive to:

• Do their jobs well
• Get through the day
• Reach their goals

But what do they do better than anyone else?  What does their team, organization, company do so well that no one else could possibly compete?

WHY DON’T WE ASK THE QUESTION?

In a recent client meeting, we discussed the idea of increasing productivity and effectiveness in the organization.  I asked, “Why do you want to do that?” “What is the reason we want to be more effective”.  As you could imagine, there were some quizzical looks.

“What would you suggest?” the CEO of the organization asked me.

“Well,” stalling a little for time. “Maybe we could think of something a little different.  What is it that we are better than 99% of other companies doing or providing?  What can we do, as an organization, do help our folks manifest that?”

“I’m not sure what that is,” the CEO admitted.

“Maybe we should focus on figuring out what that is.  Being effective and productive will be a natural outcome.”

After working with a number of organizations, I felt like another conversation aboutbeing more effective and productive was like telling school-kids to get into a straight line for lunch in front of the bathroom.  It was a conversation that didn’t really make sense.

It seemed silly to me that there was time and energy spent on trying to be better at something we were not even sure mattered.

“Let’s figure that out.” The CEO responded.

STRIVING IS NOT ENOUGH

As we took the journey to determine what, if anything, the organization was better than 99% of all others a reoccurring issue arose.  Words.

At our first update meeting, a few of the senior executives brought up some ideas:

• We strive to be the best at customer service
• We strive to be the first choice of our customers

Strive?  How does one strive, I thought.  Could you pull a hamstring striving too hard?  Is that inspirational?  Would a World Cup Football/Soccer team put that up on the locker room wall – We are Striving to Be the Best in the World?

Let’s all think about that….The answer to that would be NO.  Striving is a concerted effort not to fail.  No employee will be moved by that.  You are either 99% better than any other organization or you are not.  If you are not, that is okay.  But be honest about it.  There is no partial credit in business.

The decision was made to eliminate striving, trying, intending, attempting, etc.  from the end result.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ARE NOT THE BEST?

The question that many of the managers and executives asked was, “What happens if we say that we are 99% better than anyone else at (fill in the blank) and we are not? Won’ that be demotivating?”

“That is a great question.  The short answer is no.” I said.  “Let’s just say that you proclaim you are 99% better than anyone else in the world at making coffee.  There is a taste test done and it ends up that you are not.  You come in 3rd, so you are better than 90% of all other companies at making coffee.  Is that bad?”

“No, but that is not what we want.” Stated one of the executives.

“True, but now you know where you are and can either accept it or work towards making it so.  That is when you are going to look for how to be better and more effective by eliciting your employees’ help.  That is where the magic is.  You already have the knowledge internally.  All they need is a spark to make it real for them.”

HOW DO YOU FIND OUT?

The very best method to determine what your organization does better than 99% of all others is to ask.  It may not be what the core business is or even what the desired “best” would be.  But, the magic is in finding out.  I suggested that the client ask:

• Customers
• Vendors
• Employees
• Loan providers/Creditors
• Advisors
• Their Spouses

It is a great idea to ask face-to-face if possible.  If not, a survey will do.  Make it easy for the folks answering the questions.  Let them be as honest as possible However, this is not just a whining session.  There are thousands of questions to ask, but three that are needed:

1. What is it that we do better than anyone else in our industry?
2. What is it that we are known for?
3. What is the one thing that we are known for that we would not be proud of?

This will give you a good flavor for what the organization does well and not so well.

WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT IT?

The mistake that most organizations make is that they bring in external consultants to figure out how to grow marketshare and increase their effectiveness. Consultants can help, guide and give advice but cannot and should not do the work.  Coming from a consultant, that sounds crazy.  But, it is true.
This work needs to be headed up by and resourced with internal people.  Nothing is worse than having an external person set direction for an organization.  They have no stake in the end game.  Not to mention that there is natural push-back internally.  It is a GREAT idea to have a consultant or consulting company resource a “non-core” activity. For the future success and continued growth of the organization it is vital that a vast majority of the effort comes from within.

Here is a good process to implement:

1. Create a compelling strategy around the 99% effort –

• A promise for Life – Abbot Laboratories
• Relax, it’s FedEx or FedEx and forget it

2. Align your culture to the strategy
3. Tap your internal brain power to realize the strategy
4. Check in with key stakeholders (those folks you asked earlier) to see how you are doing
5. Revise your efforts based on your progress
6. Repeat

Are you ever done?

No. The effort to become and stay at the top 1% of all your competition is a never ending battle.  It is not only worth fighting but the only way to ensure that your organization stays creative, engaged, profitable and productive for the long term.

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Do you deal with an organization or service provider whose performance is lacking, but somehow you continue to accept their poor performance? If you honestly think about it, you’ll probably answer “yes.” But don’t fret too much because we all do it to some degree. But why do we put with mediocrity and worse?  What is the benefit from it?  What can we do about it?

Do smart people really allow themselves to be in a bad situation for prolonged periods of time?

How long did you let it go on?

Bad marriages, hostile workplaces, and even unsafe living conditions are just some of the things that we see and read about on a regular basis that show us that we put up with unsatisfactory conditions in our lives.  Most of us know people and deal with these levels or poor performance in our lives much of the time.  We can see that these low-level providers are unproductive at best and unhealthy at worst.  We often complain about them, much of the time.  But seldom do we work up the courage to alter them.  We do this because of something called “learned helplessness.”

Learned Helplessness

Based on a theory discovered by Martin Seligman, people who see themselves in situations where they have no control are reported to have higher stress levels and lower productivity. 

It can be related to the workplace easily:

An uncontrollable situation can be harmful to a person even without it being physically painful or recognizable to them. Feeling helpless can do serious damage to motivation in any situation, even those filled with luxury and privilege. An example of this is the poor little rich boy whose daddy does everything for him.  As a kid he breaks a window with a ball, and daddy fixes it.  He gets regrettable grades in school but gets into college anyway because daddy gave a big donation.

After graduation, he gets a job with a big salary and a corner office in daddy’s firm. He has learned that
Surprisingly, the poor little rich boy’s situation is similar to the unhappy worker suffering under a hypercritical boss.

While the worker is overloaded with criticism and the rich boy has an overabundance of goodies, both lack a sense of control. Neither feels they can influence what happens to them. Seligman emphasizes in his research on learned helplessness that it is not the quality of the situation that causes feelings ofhelplessness and depression. Even though we tend to think that the cause is punitive circumstances, situations filled with rewards can also lead to the same debilitating learned helplessness and depression when the person does not have to perform to get those rewards.

When we don’t feel like we have control, the workplace can be “toxic”.  Given the economic situation, there are many organizations, departments and teams where employees perceive a sense of learned helplessness.  True or not, it can be detrimental.  It can lead to simple forgetfulness, decease in attention to safety and outright aggression.

What can a leader do to impact organizational learned helplessness?

1) Determine what is vital to the organization’s success.

Identify the critical keys to the organization’s (company, group, team, etc.) success.  This is not a simple undertaking, but one that is necessary to long-term and sustainable success.  It is akin to Jack Welch’s belief that GE should be in the top 3 of every industry it played.  Or, it could be like Lexus’ “beat Benz”.  Many organizations try to be too many things to too many people.  They think by taking on more they can please many but end up disappointing instead.  Organizations should focus on what they do well (core competencies).  Find ways to expand them and do them even better.

2) Uncover the trends in your organization

Too often trends within the organization, including learned helplessness, are unknown at best and accepted at worst.  In order to shed light on the current situation it is vital that an engagement study is conducted.  The results of the study will uncover the nature of the organization and highlight issues/opportunities.  It will show where learned helplessness may lie within the organization and where things are exemplary.

3) Acknowledge what is so.

The road to recovery from any bad place starts with acknowledging where you are.  It is very important to not be overly harsh nor sugarcoat the situation.  If your team or organization seems to be in a pattern or viscous cycle of:

• Constant personal problems
• Failure to meet deadlines
• Chronic business partner or internal customer issues

Then it is time clearly state what the problem is and what it is costing you. Quantifying the cost is the first step to understanding what you are losing by keeping the status quo. The status quo in many cases is the enemy of altering the pattern of learned helplessness.  Even if the current situation is not desirable, the “devil that you know is better than the devil you don’t” to most people.

4) Align strategy/uncover culture

Next it is vital to begin the work of aligning strategy and culture throughout the organization.  This can be accomplished in a number of different ways but should not be taken lightly.  The first step is to educate and communicate to leaders.  Due to changing need of employees, having a powerful on-line tool is critical to making this a reality.  Of course, a comprehensive game plan- including communication, tools, etc. – is necessary.  The first six months is critical and can work to make the cultural/strategic alignment a reality.

5) Show managers /leaders there is another way

Probably one of the most important methods of breaking out of organizational learned helplessness is to educate leaders/managers about alternatives.  It is vital to have consistent and readily available training and tools to show managers how to do things differently. Making it easy to understand and implement is important.  Not that the change itself is going to be easy but the “how” must be easy to find and use.

6) Reward innovation and smart risk taking

There is a saying – “People do what they rewarded to do”.  That is true, but even more true is that people are compelled by what others rewarded for doing.  This is where the rubber hits the road.  True innovation should be rewarded.  People and teams that get results in different ways SHOULD BE REWARDED.  Unless it is either illegal or demeaning, innovation must be cultivated and encouraged actively.  This goes hand in hand with smart risk taking.  People should be rewarded for failure if they tried something that did not work and helped the organization learn.  Of course the risk cannot have sacrificed organizational reputation, clients or be unethical.  Outside of that, risks and the people that take them should be commended.  Taking smart risks and stretching to be innovative is a sure fire way to break the cycle of learned helplessness and make sure it doesn’t come back.

Can you break the cycle?

There a numerous instances of organizations breaking out of the malaise of learned helplessness.  Although not an exact science, the organizations that were able to get past LH used some combination of the six steps outlined.  Ford Motor Company is a perfect example of a company that has broken the cycle of learned helplessness.  Hundreds of teams have accomplished this feat within companies.  Go ahead give it a try, if couldn’t get any worse…

Is your organization suffering from Learned Helplessness?  What are you doing to determine if your organization’s state? Or are you just hoping that things will work themselves out? 

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Do you ever wonder if we are in the age of corporate insanity?  Einstein said that the definition of insanity was trying the same thing over an over again and expecting a different result.  Corporations seem to do this frequently.  It is as if they are using the same beat no matter type of song they are playing.

A recent example of learned helplessness in organizations is the use of layoffs to prop up profits and drive stock prices.

Even though it has been proven time and time again that layoffs do not work companies still use them as a method to cut down costs.

(For those of you unfamiliar with Learned helplessness – A term developed by Martin Seligman, pioneering researcher in animal psychology, to describe what occurs when animals or human beings learn that their behavior has no effect on the environment.)

Of course when business is lost costs need to be cut.  For most organizations the majority of costs are in people.

Therefore, the quickest and easiest reduction is to eliminate them.  But, that has been proven to reduce productivity, creativity and loyalty to the organization.  Then when the economy picks up, which it always does, employees leave as quickly as possible.

Can you feel the stupid?

But, in the defense of these companies, that is common wisdom.  It is like bloodletting used to common practice among physicians.  Now it seems ridiculous, but at the time it was an acceptable and even promoted practice.

What to do then?

Look for a way out of the learned helplessness pattern  – grow the business.  That’s right; actively look for ways to get more and different customers.  Successful companies grow their businesses and take market-share in down economies.  There is no way to cut or reduce expenses to grow the business. You can’t cut your way to profitability…ever.

Here is an easy (and therefore hard to implement) way to break out of this learned helplessness cycle:

1. Find out what the state of the state is

An organization can only improve when it knows the truth about itself.  It is important to look for an organizational and customer assessment or survey that will give a sense of how engaged the organization and customers are to the strategy.

2. Give managers the tools to drive engagement and find new ideas (for revenue and cost containment)

Front line leaders are the key to driving success and growing the business.  It is IMPERATIVE to give them the tools in a practical, easy to use method.  This same tool should be used to drive alignment and find new areas/ideas for growth.

3. Push accountability for growth down to the lowest level

Don’t try to make all the new ideas come from one part of the company. No one department has the lock on creativity (another example of learned helplessness).  Organizations that grow, like 3M did with Post-Its, look for ideas from everywhere. Give everyone ownership to innovate and grow. It will drive passion and increase loyalty.

Don’t fall into the trap of cutting to save the organization.  Focus energy on increasing customers, growing market-share and keeping the customers you have.  The rest will take care of itself.

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

BEST PRACTICES AND METHODOLOGIES WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS ARE USEFUL AND EFFECTIVE. IT IS NOT REALISTIC TO THINK THAT EVERYTHING MUST BE CREATED OR INVENTED IN AN ORGANIZATION.

But, it’s important to leverage strengths and weaknesses of the organization to select and implement the practices that will have the greatest positive impact. Making sure to involve key individuals will increase the likelihood of success and reduce the chances of “practice rejection.”

I often hear this phrase when a solution is proposed, a recommendation is offered, or at the start of a project.

That phrase is like a mantra or excuse to:

• Refuse to try a proven approach
• Be unwilling to  adopt a suggested change that has shown to improve performance or
• Believe that somehow market forces will not affect the company.

After implementing a big change within a company, the company’s typical reaction or response to the change is to:

• Drift back to what is known
• Focus on “what got them to the dance”
• Focus on what they thought made them successful

What if  the tactics that the company has always used to be successful are no longer effective? Worse yet, what if those tactics are the cause of the organization’s current state of malaise, or even to the verge of forced change?

THE HORRIBLE TRUTH

“The horrible truth is that at the core, most organizations are not really all that different.  

Yes, each company is unique just like people are. Within each company, you find diverse personalities.

These personalities portray specific characteristics that make people act a certain way in groups; enabling them bond well together or bond poorly together when then they face adversity. But, like people, companies at their core are not that different.

“This is why the best practices are in fact, best practices.”

They work well in many different situations. The problem is that when they are adopted, the adapter tries to do it exactly like it is written. This does not take into account the uniqueness.

THE SHOE HAS TO FIT

Let me use this analogy to help you understand…

I’m about 5′ 1″ tall. For a man, this is considered short. I love to workout. One could say that it is a passion of mine. If

I operated like some organizations, I would workout the way an NBA star would, changing none of the criteria; doing the workout exactly the same way.

In this situation, I would quickly realize that this workout does not “fit” for me, due to my height and body structure.
This would result in me getting angry. I would put all the blame on the workout, and potentially gain the mentality that “all workouts suck,” and that none of them work since none of them seem to work for me.

The problem with that statement is that it is not finished. The statement should be:

“None of them work for me, because I didn’t alter them to fit me and my uniqueness.”

This is what makes the glass slipper fit. As professionals in organizations, it is incumbent upon us to put our focus on learning about ourselves, our strengths, our weaknesses, etc.

“This attitude should be a minimum requirement.

Then we need to take the best practice, and modify it to accentuate the strengths andmitigate the weaknesses.

It could help us build “muscle” around the weaker parts.  

This coincides with what happened when I started to run. I built the muscles strong around my knees to reduce the chance of injury. Companies need to do the same with the human components of their organizations.

INCREASING ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

Here are some tactics to increase organizational effectiveness:

• Learn about yourself and your organization
• Acknowledge what your organization excels at
• Elaborate on what your organization does best
• Find out why your organization is best at what they excel at
• Find out what you are exceptional at doing

Acknowledge your weakness.

Yes, I said weakness.  It’s not an opportunity, it’s a weakness. That is like saying my height is an opportunity. It does not acknowledge reality…

Employee and customer surveys, coupled with internal and external interviews, is a good way to acknowledge your weakness. The combination will give you insight to your strengths and weaknesses.

Take on new practices, programs, and initiatives that make sense and willpositively impact your organization by doing these things:

1. Using what you know about your organization by analyzing “best practices“.

2. Eliminate those that are not a good fit, because they either don’t key in on your strengths or they don’t take into account your weaknesses.

3. Be clear about why you need it. What is the problem you are trying to solve. No problem? Don’t make one up, a real one will come along soon enough.

4. Once you have the reason and the practice

5. Modify the practice to fit your uniqueness. Make sure that it is culture sensitive.

6. Integrate the practice fully – embed it into performance structures, celebrate those that embrace it, and work hard to make it part of the “everyday” of your company.

7. Throw it out if it doesn’t work! – If you have a practice that is not working, acknowledge it and stop doing it. Make it public that you are doing so, and that you are either replacing it or searching for a new one.

GET BUY IN FROM KEY FOLKS ON THE PRACTICE

• There are key people in the organization, both formal and informal leaders, that influence others. Bring them in early and often to develop and deploy the practice.
• Let them alter the practice to fit the organization
• Make sure to roll it out in a coordinated way utilizing these key leaders to train and communicate it

WORDS OF CAUTION

• Never say that you are adopting a practice because you read it in a book. It doesn’t make sense and it is insulting. Instead, discuss how the practice might work in the organization.
• Don’t try to institute some new management practice without people in the field/front line providing input. Although this is a standard practice, it is not done with enough frequency.

“If it’s not working, don’t keep doing it.”

So, how are you doing at sizing up your organization? Are you dealing with reality when it comes to the true issues and problems that your people face? What can you do in the coming year to help reorganize your teams so that “the shoe fits” properly? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

One of the biggest issues that face many leaders today is the lack of clarity in the direction of their teams and organizations.

This is most evident directly after a big change.

It is not that team members are not well-meaning or that they don’t try to do the right thing, it is that they suffer from something called the “follow the shiny object” syndrome.

Shiny Object Syndrome

This is not a new syndrome, it is one that is pervasive across the globe. It begins when we are children and are shown a shiny object. This shiny thing gets our attention and takes our concentration away from whatever it was that we are occupied with previously.

It takes effort and practice to not be swayed by the shiny object.

Unfortunately for most of us, we fail at this task miserably.

Causing Panic

This is no more evident than a recent client project I was working on. After a very large and comprehensive change to the organization, the first sign that the change was “not taking” caused a panic.

The group was distracted by a meaningless item of shiny proportions that temporarily distracted their focus of attention. It was not even a real business driver; just grumbling from folks that had a hard time with the change underway. As one can imagine, this “shiny object” put my client and their “minions” into a panic and put them scurrying into action.

They began surveying, interviewing, and doing all sorts of data-gathering to determine how well the “change” was going and if the “change” was successful.

Unfortunately, it was so close to the actual implementation of the change-project  that the data we collected was inconclusive. Their well-meaning action started to make me think about what it is about the “shiny object” that has us be so intrigued about it.

Defining the Distraction

In organizations, “shiny objects” are defined as projects or requests or initiatives that take a team or large group of people away from  a critical task. Usually, it is an action that has little up side and sometimes can be detrimental.

3 Reasons

There are really 3 main reasons why new “shiny objects” take our focus away from change initiatives (which might be considered the “original shiny object”)

1. If people cannot tell what the shiny object is they are working toward, they will go after a new one

There is not a clear definition or picture of what success looks like once the change or project or task is complete. We don’t know or don’t have an idea of what the end will look like or feel like.  Therefore, we can’t adequately describe it.
People are left with either making up their own idea of what the end will look like or being left in “the unknown”. It makes people uncomfortable and has them make up things about the change or the project or the task that makes them uncomfortable.

2. Sometimes, things are not shiny enough – The reason for the change was not made clear or is not compelling.

A fundamental of change management is convincing people that change is paramount to the success of the organization.  Oftentimes, it’s the result of showing people how bad it’ll get if there is no change. If there is no compelling reason for the change or that reason is not convincing.
People will be left thinking that it is easier to keep doing what they’re doing or what they were doing before the change…even if that wasn’t working.

3. Too many other shiny objects – There is a lack of clarity within the organization’s hierarchy about the change and its impact.

One of the places that change falls down in many organizations is the all-important communication post change. There is always energy (and sometimes enthusiasm) about the change as it is approaching and even once the change has happened.

It’s a little bit like an afterglow.

But if there is not a clear path to follow and communication about what people should expect they get stuck in the “messy middle”.   It’s imperative that no matter the work effort leading up to the change.

There is constant and regular communication about the change and its impact with the senior leadership team.

There must be a cascading communication plan that hits every employee so that they know what they’re experiencing is normal.

Coupled with training or other tools that help gain the skills necessary to be successful.

Real Life Relationships

Organizations, managers, leaders, employees and shareholders have been conditioned to follow the “shiny object” of the quarterly stock report. They have all been conditioned to focus on the shiny object as important.  Making  it almost impossible to think about long-term success or planning.

Therefore, it is critical for change to be successful that the post-change has as much or more concentration than the implementation of the change itself.

Sometimes this makes me think about when I first got married. My beautiful wife was, and is, the most important thing that I have in my life. I pursued her with a single purpose in mind.

And once we were husband and wife, life’s issues began to get in the way.

As with most newlywed couples, we began to see that if we didn’t pay attention to this big change, our harmonious marriage would be difficult and we probably would face many unnecessary trials. So, with this in mind, we made a concerted effort to spend as much time working on our new relationship as we did trying to get in to it. Thankfully, that worked!

Relationships at Work

It is important that we make sure to not manage using the shiny object methodology. It wears people out and tends to make them feel like whatever they’re working on is not important because it’s probably going to change. It gives them little investment in their current project and reduces their ability to feel a sense of completion.

So, what are you going to do to stop running after the shiny object? How are you going to master the elements of focus that really beckon your attention? How are you going to be a master of your domain? I would love to hear your story!
This blog also appears on the Linked2Leadership Blog.  Please visit them!

What’s the matter here? Are we a bunch of Leadership Sissies?

Why can’t we face the truth sometimes and just tell people like it is? If someone has their wheel stuck in a performance ditch, what’s the big problem with telling people that they are not doing a good job? Why are we SO careful about protecting their feelings and not so careful about being honest? Why don’t we just help them get back on the road to performance success? Are we scared? Are we a bunch of sissies?

My Perspective

I was raised to be kind, polite and tactful.  Therefore, I choose my words wisely and work very hard to make sure that I am understood.  But does that preclude honesty?  Does that mean coddling people at work is acceptable?

No, no it does not.  Not only does coddling undermine the individual’s ability, it reduces the productivity of a team and perpetuates mediocrity.

Leadership is about telling the truth

The truth is not mean or callous.  It is simply the truth.  When told in a polite, respectful and tactful manner it can be life changing for a follower or team. When held back from followers out of fear, ignorance, or malpractice, you are being a Leadership Sissy. (Oh… and for the record… don’t be one of those…)

As a consultant, I have seen unworthy people get promotions, rewards and kudos.  It always makes me wonder – What does that teach people?  Does that really benefit them?  Again, I would have to say no.  Telling the truth sets people, teams and organizations free to succeed.  I owe this lesson to Tiffany.

Tiffany was a member of a team that I had the privilege of managing early in my career.  I inherited an established team.  My role was to help the team go from perpetual underperformer to award winning.  It did not take me long to see that, among many other process oriented issues, the team was dragged down by re-doing Tiffany’s work.  Tiffany was well-liked and was a genuinely nice person.  But, she did not do her job well.  Other team members had to cover for her mistakes and had to re-do work she spent too long completing.

Tiffany was one of those employees that perpetually underperformed.  But instead of being reprimanded, coached or terminated, she was moved to a new team.  She had been with the company for eight years.  I was her latest manager. Speaking to her previous managers I heard a common theme.

“Tiffany is a wonderful person, but not very effective.”

Hmmm, I thought.  Why on earth didn’t any of them try coaching her? Or why didn’t they get her training, etc?  The short answer was that they had actually tried everything. But when things got tough, instead of having difficult performance conversations with her to help her learn and grow, they just moved her off their team and on to someone else’s at the first opportunity.

I began to wonder if there was anything I could do.  Like any good manager, I searched for the answer on Google.  To my shock, I found that it takes an average of four to twelve years to fire an underperforming employee.  According to experts, most of that was due to managers being nice instead of honest about performance.  I was determined not to be one of the statistics.

It was a shock to Tiffany’s system when I started holding her to account for her objectives, standards and work completed. 
Tiffany was not meeting any of her objectives or goals.  After 3 months of coaching conversations, write-ups and trips to HR, I fired Tiffany.  She left with a nice severance package and money for job re-training.

Time for a Turnaround

Almost immediately, the team’s performance improved.  Within the first year of my leading this team, they were nominated for an award from a previously dissatisfied vendor.  There was a lot of work that went into this turnaround.  But the catalyst was firing Tiffany.  It set the team free to solve other performance issues.  That team charted the course for the work I do today.

What makes that so hard?  Why shouldn’t we be more honest?

It’s not always easy to be honest. Not mean or uncaring, but simply saying what is so about performance.  In my experience I have seen that many leaders are not good at telling the truth about  job good or bad performance.

It is actually easy to set up structures to recognize people that do a good job.  It takes actively concentrating on making an example of those people that do a great job and providing them with the opportunities and rewards.

The alternative to that is mediocrity.

There is only one sure fire way to lose weight.  Eat better and exercise more.  It is the same thing with enhancing performance. Being honest about performance problems shines a light on how to improve them.

That means:

• When someone isn’t pulling their weight, tell them.
• When someone does an outstanding job, make an example of them.
• When someone isn’t right for the job, help them find a new one.
• When someone excels at their job, they should be recognized or promoted, or both
• When someone doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do, hold them accountable.
• When someone is accountable, that should be noted.
• When someone breaks a rule, consequences must be paid.
• When someone mistreats a fellow employee, they have to be dealt with accordingly (regardless of position within the organization.)
• When someone goes out of their way to help a fellow employee, they should be rewarded.

Although there has to be a process, it must be okay to move people out of the organization that aren’t working out.  Otherwise employees will see that it’s acceptable to just get by.  Great companies don’t just get by.

Based on my experience with Tiffany, I often tell clients that employees need to be clear about:

• What is expected of them
• What success looks like
• How performance will be rated
• What will happen if they don’t follow the rules
• That it’s okay to take risks
• That they will be rewarded for doing a great job

Then, managers must be trained on how to provide that clarity.  Managers also be a part of the system and held accountable for their behaviors and actions.

Whatever happened to Tiffany?

I received a letter from Tiffany six months after she left the company.  In it, she thanked me for what I did.  She was now a very successful sales person at a retail store making three times her salary while working for me.  With this news, I was truly happy for her.

Every time I see an under-performing person or group that I am afraid of hurting by being honest, I remember Tiffany.  She taught me that being honest benefits everyone.

Are you telling the truth about performance?  When all else fails, do you look to move people out of the organization that are under-performing? Or do you just pass them along down the dirt road of dysfunction where they’ll slip into the ditch again? If you have one, I’d love to hear your “Tiffany” story!

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Where is the innovation?  Where is the creativity?  What happened to all the pride in work?

You can chalk that up to the growing sense of learned helplessness in the workplace.  What is learned helplessness?

Learned helplessness – A term developed by Martin Seligman, pioneering researcher in animal psychology, to describe what occurs when animals or human beings learn that their behavior has no effect on the environment.

From the perspective of an employee at almost any level in the organization, their ability to control their destiny has greatly diminished, if not vanished entirely.  Whether people have jobs or not, their passion for doing more and being more has been replaced with surviving.  Of course that is understandable.  This is the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Learned helplessness is a phenomenon affecting employees at every level in every organization.  It stems from the lack of impact employees believe they have on the day to day outcomes they are expected to achieve.   When people feel like they don’t have control there is a tendency to:

• Not try new things
• Do only what is required
• Never question the status quo

The problem is that work still has to get done, orders need to be fulfilled, and customers need to be taken care of.  What can be done to shake employees out of the doldrums they are in?
Surprisingly enough, it is simple and therefore difficult to implement.

1. Find out what the state of the state is

An organization can only improve when it knows the truth about itself.  It is important to look for an organizational assessment or survey that will give a sense of how engaged the organization is AND how aligned it is.

2. Give managers the tools to drive engagement and align the culture simultaneously

Front line leaders are the key to driving success in any organization.  It is IMPERATIVE to give them the tools in a practical, easy to use method.  This same tool should be used to drive alignment between the Macro Culture (vision, mission, etc) and the Micro Culture (work team).

3. Push accountability down to the lowest level

Don’t try to control everything.  Organizations that win hold every person accountable for outcomes that forward the business.  Then, within reason, allow them to reach them in the best way possible.  Let employees get work done and get out of the way.  Trying to over regulate or put too many processes in place can stifle creativity.  Where possible let employees make decisions about how to get their work done.  If they don’t deal with that by checking in regularly and helping them correct course.

Of course this is easier said than done.  But the cost of keeping things as they are is too high.

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.