Do you have any problem employees, ones that you wish you could either fix or fire?

Wondering how best to work with them to push them one way or the other, so they’ll either get better…or get out?

Of COURSE you have problem employees. We ALL have problem employees. They are hard to deal with, and often hard to NOT deal with. But there’s a solution, or at least something that can get you moving in the right direction.

In this month’s Change This newsletter, there’s a great PDF available for free download that will help you. It’s called How to Turn Around Problem Performance in Five Questions or Less, by Jim Bolton, the president of Ridge Training.

The 5 simple (but not easy) questions are:

1) Does the person know what’s expected?
2) Has the person performed to standard in the past?
3) Have you already addressed the performance problem more than once?
4) Does the person have the capability of performing to standard?
5) Is the person coachable?

And there’s also some bonus questions that you need to ask yourself as a manager. I’m not going to share those here, as you need to read them in the context of the entire article.

What are YOUR best tips for dealing with problem employees?

Photo credit to Donna Grayson

“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.”

Obviously it’s not a new problem, since the above was written by John Locke in 1690, and I’m sure you’ve come up against it more than once.

People go to extreme ends to

• preserve the status quo;
• avoid change;
• indulge a not-invented-here mentality; and
• ‘buy IBM’ (it’s better to be safe than sorry).

The attitude wasn’t original in 1690 and the MAP that fosters it will still be around in 2090.

But despite yards of books and thousands of article and blogs (my own included) on creating change in a company, too many people still don’t get it.

They believe, or want to believe, that if all the right words are said it will happen.

They keep looking for a magic bullet instead of looking in the mirror.

But the only bullet around is the one they need to bite, the one that says that

• change must start with themselves and that it starts with how they think;

• nobody acts differently without thinking differently; and

• talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words, and the actions must be sustainable.

What’s really in your mind will eventually come out, either in word or action, people will notice and they won’t forget.

Plan now to start down the road of success remembering that it’s a journey, not a destination.

And hold close the words of Mohandas Gandhi, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Change has come to TME, too, and this is my last post. It’s been fun and I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.

I also hope you will join me at MAPping Company Success for discussions about culture, motivation, management and an added focus in 2011 on entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurs.

Remember as you go forward in your career and your life that it really is all in your mind and, as a manager, to change what they do, change how you think!

Best wishes, health and happiness in 2011.
Miki

Stock.xchng image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/582071

I don’t have inspiring warm stories from my childhood or wisdom imparted to me by parents or relatives to share with you, but I will share three gifts I gave myself.

I grew up in a judgmental world and those judgments came from many directions—family, teachers and classmates, and finally bosses and colleagues—none of which did much to build self-esteem or confidence.

As the Talmud says, “We do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.”

‘As we are’ refers to our MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™).

Moreover, we see it as we are on that particular day, at that particular moment, and it changes even as our MAP changes, minute to minute.

But those changes can’t be forced upon us—we have free choice regarding what to create internally and which to accept and reject externally.

Choosing means being aware, but by setting up three basic filters you can automate much of the process.

• Life happens, people react and act out, but that doesn’t mean you have to let their act in.

• Consider the source of the comment before considering the comment, then let its effect on you be in direct proportion to your respect for that source.

• Use mental imagery to defuse someone’s effect on you. This is especially useful against intimidation. Do it by having your mental image of the person be one that strips power symbols and adds amusement. (One that works well and that I’ve shared with many people over the years is to picture the person, first thing in the morning, perched, straining, on the throne.)

I hope you will accept and use these gifts; they have stood me in good stead for decades.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend.

Stock.xchng image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1128251

This little exercise should be done at least once a year. More often is better.

top-10

List the five most important things that you want your manager to do for you.

Now list the five most important ways in which you want your manager to treat you.

If you no longer have a manager think back to when you did.

Now think about how often you do them for your own people.

What’s your score?

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samchurchill/4182826573/

In the book, The Orange Revolution: How One Great Team Can Transform an Entire Organization, coauthors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton relay a story of a team that adopted a mascot – a purple water buffalo – to help define its values.

Scott O’Neill, president of Madison Square Garden Sports tells how team members were inspired after seeing a video of a water buffalo fighting for survival in South Africa. In the video, captured by tourists, a pride of lions attacks a herd of water buffalo and separates a baby from the rest of the fleeing herd. They catch up and corner the baby on the bank of a lake. As they begin gnawing on the baby water buffalo, a couple of alligators swim up sensing an opportunity for an easy meal. One grabs hold of the buffalo’s hind leg while the lions pull on his neck. The lions win the tug-of-war and drag the baby further onto land. Then an interesting thing happens. The herd of water buffalo regroups and returns to come to the aid of the baby. They buffalo approach the lions tentatively and eventually overtake them freeing the baby water buffalo, who amazingly is able to walk away.

O’Neill sees the video as being analogous to corporate America, and to life. Team members asks themselves, “Who do we want to be?”

• Do we want to be the tourists that just sit around and watch things happen?
• Do we want to be the lions that prey on the most vulnerable?
• Do we want to be the crocodiles that take advantage of those that are down?
• Do we want to be water buffalo – active participants that rally around one another and look out for the good of the group? 

Symbols and the stories they represent can be valuable tools. They can define teams, reminding them of shared commitments and galvanize them behind common causes. I’d be interested in hearing from other managers that have had similar positive experiences with symbols.

Flickr photo credit  http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenpig/178017800/

Stephanie Luetkehans said, “Having it all doesn’t necessarily mean having it all at once” and that’s good advice for all those clamoring to manage beyond their experience. Notice I said experience, not time, not skill.

It’s the depth that’s forged in the fires of actually doing a job in a variety of economic times. This was enormously obvious during the recession (or slow-down or whatever it was called) after the dot-com bubble burst.

There were many talented managers with a decade of experience who were geniuses at finding special talent when it was in short supply, but who had no idea how to locate it when it was buried among thousands of resumes.

Nor did they know how to support their people through round after round of layoffs, let alone how to lay someone off themselves.

They had no idea how to sell to businesses that were tightening their belts, curtailing budgets and, in general, running scared.

And they weren’t very good at doing more with less.

It wasn’t even their fault—during their entire career they’d never had to do any of those thing.

It happens when you enter the workforce at the start of a long upturn.

For those developing their skills in this downturn, it’s just as true.

Yes, it’s easier to make the transition from too little to too much, but the management habits ingrained when times are tight don’t always play right after they improve.

As the song says, “what goes up must come down” and then goes back up again and that’s true in every segment of the work world.

From talent availability to product demand it’s either too much or too little—I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it being even.

And that’ is the best reason for building your company or team with as wide a diversity of experience as possible.

Do that and you’ll be ready for whatever economic vagaries come your way.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/3000698446/

In the book, The Orange Revolution: How One Great Team Can Transform an Entire Organization, coauthors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton refer to five traits that are common among the best managers – those that achieve enhanced business results. They refer to them as “The Basic 4+ Recognition.” Here they are…

• Goal Setting (knowing where you are going)
• Communication (wise use of your voice and ears)
• Trust (believing in others and being trustworthy)
• Accountability (doing what you say you will do)
• Recognition (appreciating others’ strengths)

Nothing incredibly earth-shattering, right? That’s actually the point. That’s why they are called “basic.” They are the fundamentals. The authors go on to say, “They are so fundamental, in fact, that most of us have skipped over them in our quest to achieve transformational results.”

There is a relentless pursuit of some silver-bullet management/leadership technique that will revolutionize the field as we know it. There is nothing inherently wrong with reaching higher, but we should not do so at the expense of the basics. In fact, we can’t succeed at any of these grandiose endeavors without the basics. We can’t just leap frog them. We can’t play Beethoven without mastering the scales. Similarly, we can’t set a vision for our organization if we don’t exhibit the characteristics above. We may be able to create a vision, but no one will follow it, and that won’t do us much good.

After reading my first book, Lead Well and Prosper, which concentrates on the fundamentals of management and leadership, a fellow author commented that there was no breakthrough. My response, “Precisely.” That’s exactly why I wrote it. We already have the answers. We just need to do what we already know we should be doing.

Sounds easy enough, but we all know that the fundamentals aren’t easy. There are no short cuts. We need to put in significant time and effort to improve. A touch of courage is required as well. Let’s commit to getting better at the basics prior to (or at least in parallel with) going after more lofty goals.

Flickr photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/imageme/3207990883/

It’s that time of year and managers are thinking about what to give their people and still stay within their budget.

What you give says a lot about who you are.

• Really good company swag – $4.50 – $25/person
• Department party – $300+
• Your time and interest – priceless

And if you’re the CEO think about this—

• Company party – $500 – $X-thousand
• Walking the talk of a world-class culture – priceless

I’m not suggesting that you eliminate the parties and other material gestures, but that you give serious thought to adding intangibles—the kind that improve innovation, productivity, retention and morale.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiancee1980/4400468395/

In Get Smart, the movie based on the TV series with the same name, Maxwell Smart dreams of getting out from behind his desk and becoming a field agent for the secret counter-intelligence agency called CONTROL.

After multiple attempts he finally passes the field agency test only to find that he does not get the job. His boss tells him, “I need you where you are.” Max responds, “So what you are telling me is I’m not getting the promotion because I’m doing such a good job.”

There’s a bit of irony in this scene as Maxwell Smart is played by Steve Carell, the actor that performs the role of the bumbling boss on the hit TV sit-com, The Office. Carell is subjected to the type of stunt that we’d expect his character, Michael Scott, to inflict on a member of his fictional staff at the Dunder Mifflin paper company.

Although this scene is fictional, the situation is very real. Managers tend hang on to team members too long which thwarts their growth. It’s usually because they get comfortable with the way things are. Why introduce disruption on the team and endure the hassle of finding new opportunities, interviewing for open positions, training up replacements, etc.?

Yes, it takes a lot of time and effort to develop team members, but it happens to be a major responsibility of a manager. Avoiding this critical activity will not just hinder the growth of employees, but it will also hinder the long term productivity of the team. 

Lead Well.

Flickr photo credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/shevelov/1101034959/

I’m a bit ambivalent about Thanksgiving along with many other holidays, such as Mother’s Day. While I understand and even agree with the idea of honoring a certain attitude, it seems hypocritical when the attitude exists only on that day.

Sadly, many of the people most vocal about a holiday are the same people whose actions during the rest of the year belie their holiday attitude.

That said, here are my suggestions regarding Thanksgiving.

No matter how bad things are in your corner of the world give thanks that you are alive to read this.

As long as you’re breathing you have a shot at changing your circumstances or improving someone else’s.

Several years ago I had a terminally ill friend. Her final Thanksgiving act was to sign papers consigning all her useable body parts to an organ donor program; she died just a few days later.

Her action infuriated her family, but she had made sure they couldn’t stop her choice. She died knowing that others would live because of that choice.

Which brings us to my second suggestion.

Remember the words of Plato, “Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle,” and follow the advice of Anne Herbert, “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty” every day.

Get in the habit of doing one small, unplanned thing every day—drop a quarter in an about-to-expire meter; pick up a piece of litter; help someone across the street.

Just think of the difference in our world if everyone did just one random act every day.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3386629036/