IMPROVING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE through workplace coaching docx

IMPROVING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE through workplace coaching a practical guide to performance management EARL M A CARTER FRANK A McMAHON imp' employee performance fb 9/12/05 10:46 am Page 1 0-7494-4464-9_FM_ii IMPROVING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE through workplace coaching Earl – In memory of Percis Kilcoy Smith and George Minto Carter, and the gang who exited 42 Todd Street; and to Bernice Carter (nee Pridmore) and Sarah Rachel Carter for their inspiration, support and long lunches over two generations. Frank – To my wife Pauline, children Penny, Dale and Kirsten, granddaughter Chloe, and my parents Bill and Ella. 0-7494-4464-9_FM_ii 0-7494-4464-9_FM_iv IMPROVING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE through workplace coaching a practical guide to performance management EARL M A CARTER FRANK A McMAHON London and Sterling, VA Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or any of the authors. First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2005 by Kogan Page Limited Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN United Kingdom www.kogan-page.co.uk 22883 Quicksilver Drive Sterling VA 20166-2012 USA © Earl Carter and Frank McMahon, 2005 The right of Earl Carter and Frank McMahon to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 0 7494 4464 9 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carter, E. M. A. (Earl M. A.) Improving employee performance through workplace coaching : a practical guide to performance management / Earl Carter and Frank McMahon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7494-4464-9 (alk. paper) 1. Employees—Training of. 2. Employee motivation. 3. Mentoring in business. 4. Labo r productivity. 5. Performance standards. I. McMahon, F. A. (Frank A.) ll. Title. HF5549.5.T7C298526 2005 658.3’14—dc22 2005019168 Typeset by Digital Publishing Solutions Printed and bound in Great Britain by Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale 0-7494-4464-9_FM_iv 0-7494-4464-9_FM_v Contents About the authors vii Introduction 1 1. Managing people 15 Who is the approach for? 15 Key features 16 A purpose-built approach 21 2. Getting started 25 Establishing clear expectations 26 The development process – code of conduct 32 The development process – performance standards35 3. Preparing to coach people 41 Setting the scene for workplace coaching41 Job design/work organization 44 Performance-based selection 45 Induction 46 What is a workplace coach? 46 4. Operating as a coach on the job 53 Providing informal feedback on the job 55 Key features 56 The quality and integrity of evidence 57 0-7494-4464-9_FM_vi 5. Operating as a coach during a formal review 61 Providing formal feedback off the job 63 A: Designing a structure for a formal review (feedback) 65 Preparing for a formal review 70 B: Conducting a formal review 72 6. Developing coaches for managing people 83 A: Learning design 85 B: Training design 96 Summary 106 7. The road to goodbye: when dismissal is the only solution 109 Background 109 Conduct and capacity to perform 110 8. A risk management approach to people management 123 Analysis of approaches to people management 124 Identifying the risks 124 Developing treatments for identified risks (an insurance policy and a driver for continuous improvement) 127 The costs 129 9. Preparing your workplace 135 Barriers to improving people management 136 Getting started 137 A reminder of the nine principles 139 The last word 142 Appendix 1: Terminology 143 Appendix 2: Case study in the production sector 145 Appendix 3: Case study in the service sector 151 Appendix 4: Managing and rewarding the performance of senior managers Index 171 157 vi Contents Earl Carter is Principal Consultant and Managing Director of Workplace Training and Development Australia, National and International Consultancies. His QPDS (Quality People Development System) approach links organization and job needs to continuous employee development, particularly through learning, assessment, coaching and mentoring. Earl has worked for many organizations in industries such as coal mining, brewing, drilling, pile driving, steel, forestry, superannuation, university, packaging and petrochemical. He has held positions in private enterprise, government and universities. Frank A McMahon is Principal Consultant, Management Development Australia Pty Ltd. He has implemented people-based performance improvement projects in many organizations ranging from large transnational/multinational companies (including Phillip Morris, Exxon- Mobil, BHP-Billiton, Telstra and Brambles) to significant Australian-based companies in the food, timber, mining and service industries (including Kraft, Forestry Tasmania, AMP, Federal Hotels and Nabalco). Frank has provided consultancy services for the Australian Department of Social Security (now Centrelink) and worked for both the Victorian and Tasmanian state governments in senior administrative positions in education and continues to provide consultancy services to local government organizations in Australia. He has also held the posts of course designer and visiting lecturer at Monash University (Mt Eliza) and the University of Tasmania. About the authors 0-7494-4464-9_FM_vii 0-7494-4464-9_FM_viii This page intentionally left blank Introduction BACKGROUND We have been talking about people management (or the lack of it) for over 20 years. The key questions we asked were these: ࿖ Why did the management of people never seem to work properly in most of the organizations we had worked in? ࿖ Why were the greater majority of organizations unable or unwilling (or both), to develop standards of performance and/or a code of conduct/ behaviour (let alone maintain them!)? ࿖ Why was senior management not more insistent on day-to-day/hour-to- hour feedback, which seemed to work extraordinarily well for those managers who practised it? ࿖ Why was individual/group development so poorly managed? It is fair to say that there are thousands of answers to these questions (mostly legitimate) and we could write a very large book attempting to provide all of them and suggestions as to how things might change. Not surprisingly 0-7494-4464-9_INTRO_1 [...]... that pushes performance and behaviour away from the ‘sackable’ zone The key to our performance management approach is coaching and ‘real time’ feedback (continuous workplace performance improvement), done by individual line managers Effective coaching practices depend on these line managers 8 Improving Employee Performance Effective coaches = good performance management = few sackings = good workplace. .. Our approach to coaching is unique as it demands line managers use both remedial and developmental roles (how you get people up to excellent performance) Under our approach, line managers are not performance supervisors but performance coaches This is critical for anyone seeking to gain maximum value out of implementing a system that will deliver improved employee performance Workplace coaching is the... ‘unacceptable’?) 10 Improving Employee Performance Best practice in managing people relates to early intervention and an effort to correct underperformance, or recognize excellent performance at the first available opportunity Managers must actively coach their people if they are to improve With commitment to engage in regular coaching plus some skills training, anyone can be an effective coach Providing the coaching. .. of excellent performance; a plan to eliminate poor performance We now turn to Chapter 2, getting you started in the development and implementation of workplace coaching, in particular the processes associated with performance standards and a code of conduct based on work expectations NOTE 1 As consultants we become the planners, along with selected managers and employees We apply our coaching strategy... But there can be no guarantees as there is always the exception to the rule and/ or the fall-out from human error Improving performance management systems We have written a deliberately tough-minded approach to improving performance management systems in the workplace Our system will fit any workplace It builds on years of practical experience which are the credentials of our approach A total quality... founder of TQM, that performance appraisal ought to be eliminated Many TQM proponents claim that performance appraisals were harmful.5 A competencybased learning (CBL) approach is also promoted… we use it Our hope is that effective coaching delivered to the standard we have created keeps most employees well away from the possibility of being sacked for poor performance and/or behaviour Poor performance and... accountability for performance in their workplace and lead their team members through the processes to put a quality people management system in place The communication should not be about consulting and convincing managers and team members that people management is necessary It is about ensuring that they become committed to this particular approach (using workplace coaching with predetermined performance. .. taking a break – it is part of ‘what we do around here’ every day Good performance management becomes a habit of successful workplaces 22 Improving Employee Performance This approach thrives as part of everyday organizational life when there is confidence that it is: fair; consistent; honest; developed with the involvement of employees Giving and/or receiving positive or negative feedback should not... in an article ‘Appraising the performance appraisal’4 said, ‘some experts, in fact, recommend eliminating the performance appraisal altogether We agree The people who get them don’t like them The people who give them don’t like them Why should we do something no one likes or thinks is effective?’ 4 Improving Employee Performance Daniels goes on to say that the research on performance appraisals ‘has... involved in getting the right people on their team through performance- based selection and induction We make it clear that workplace coaching is the cornerstone of this approach to people management and describe the features of a coach, the activities involved, the principles that support the activities, and how and where these activities are applied in the workplace Chapter 4 How a manager operates on . IMPROVING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE through workplace coaching a practical guide to performance management EARL M A CARTER FRANK A McMAHON imp' employee. McMAHON imp' employee performance fb 9/12/05 10:46 am Page 1 0-7494-4464-9_FM_ii IMPROVING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE through workplace coaching Earl – In memory