Far too often leaders conclude that the employee is the problem and the leader must train, transfer, threaten, discipline or replace them. Assuming that defective people are the root of all performance problems is as illogical as assuming that bad batteries are the root of all automobile malfunctions. There may be need for changes by the employee. The problem may very well be the battery. But good leaders, and good mechanics, realize that batteries and employees are part of a system. If the mechanic is only interested in assigning blame, then blaming the battery is easy. If, on the other hand, the goal is to fix the car, the mechanic had best conduct a more careful assessment. The goal of the new leaders should be to fix performance and to succeed performance must be carefully analyzed.
Geary Rummler and Alan Brache in Improving Performance point out these elements must be involved in any analysis of performance, if change, rather than blame is the goal:
- Performance specification
- Task support
- Consequences
- Feedback
- Skills/knowledge
- Individual capacity
To clarify we should look at each stage in the analysis a little more closely.
The first phase of analysis addresses the question of whether performance standards exist and if so, are they clear? If they are clearly stated, does the employee understand them? If the standards are vague or if the employee does not understand them, the review might very well end there. The solution may be clarification and not elimination.
The second area of analysis requires a review of the flow of resources. Did the material arrive on time? If there are problems upstream those problems should be addressed. Leaders must explore whether there was sufficient support for performance.
The third area of analysis is to examine the consequences of performance. What happens if employees do things right? What consequences are wired in to support positive performance? It is essential for the new leader to examine the timeliness of feedback about employee performance. Feedback on performance should be frequent, relevant, accurate, specific and understandable.
Whenever there is a performance problem the new leader must ask if the employee has the knowledge and skills needed to perform the tasks in question. If not, coaching or training may be the right solution
Finally, does the person have the individual capacity physically, mentally and emotionally to perform. Even good people have performance problems under great stress. The new leader does not leap to blaming, rather, they solve problems.
