Are Appraisal's finished?

Picture this, it is the final quarter of the year and a manager's mind turns towards annual ritual that is the year end appraisal. Now I don't know about you but many employees and their managers dread this event. Research I undertook in 2012/3 found that of the 30+ companies I spoke to, respondents indicated that they felt that the appraisal systems utilized in their company was disproportionately expensive to administer, overly complex and a bureaucratic box ticking exercise that often failed to deliver value.

Although it was never intended this way, too many employees found that performance feedback from their manager wasn't always forthcoming during the year and it wasn't unusual for performance issues to be raised at the year end and the conversation would deteriorate into an 'argument' over a numeric performance rating, rather than a constructive discussion on past and future performance. Interestingly this was more prevalent in larger companies, with complex performance management systems, in comparison with smaller companies with a less formal. As one respondent said, "We don't really have a performance management system, I simply review individual and team objectives with my team each week and we work on areas which need extra support or assistance."

But since then have organizations taken the opportunity to rethink the way organizations assess and manage performance?

The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) highlighted that midway last year services firm Accenture decided to scrap the annual appraisal for it's employees, joining companies such as Microsoft and Gap in moving towards a more informal methodology for feeding back on performance achievement. In addition companies such as Google, Facebook and Netflix have scrapped appraisals entirely. 

However, those companies doing away with formal appraisals aren’t abandoning performance management entirely. A culture of more regular, informal feedback was often the approach being used. By managers pointing out problems as they arise, employees have the opportunity to address issues proactively to make an immediate difference to the business. In our workshop Managing the Unmanageable www.managingtheunmanageable.ca we focus on developing and supporting managers to do just this in a supportive way.

However simply getting rid of appraisal reviews won't solve the problem, as CIPD, CEO, Peter Cheese says: “If you’ve got managers who think their job is telling people what to do, and beating staff up all the time, then just stripping out the formal procedures won’t work. You’ve got to build the organization’s dynamics to create a more trusting environment.”

What's your experience of annual appraisals?

Is the conflict you need to resolve hot or cold?

Mark Gerzon drew on 20 years of experience of conflict management in his article in Harvard Business Review back in June 2014, in which he explored the concept that before you can start to resolve a conflict you need to first establish whether to conflict is Hot or Cold.

Mark defines "Hot" as "when one or more parties are highly emotional and doing one or more of the following: speaking loudly or shouting; being physically aggressive, wild or threatening; using language that is incendiary; appearing out of control and potentially explosive."

"Cold" he defines as "when one or more parties seem to be suppressing emotions, or actually appear “unemotional,” and are doing one or more of the following: muttering under their breath or pursing their lips; being physically withdrawn or controlled; turning away or otherwise deflecting contact; remaining silent or speaking in a tone that is passively aggressive; appearing shut down or somehow frozen."

He goes on to explore specific strategies for dealing effectively with each possibility. To read the full article visit:

https://hbr.org/2014/06/to-resolve-a-conflict-first-decide-is-it-hot-or-cold&cm_sp=Article-_-Links-_-Top%20of%20Page%20Recirculation

Stop! You're doing it all wrong!

In the second of his articles playwright, theatre producer and corporate coach, Ken Cameron describes the process of "Forum Theatre" that we utilize on the workshop "Managing the Unmanageable", a revolutionary approach to skills development.

"You wouldn’t think that a style of theatre developed by a Brazilian political activist would turn out to be a useful tool for business leaders around the world. But it is.

Managers who know that they are facing a difficult conversation with a challenging or unmanageable team member, have learned the value of role-playing. But Forum Theatre allows you to take role-playing to an extra level.

In Forum Theatre a scenario – in this case a difficult workplace conversation – is shown twice. During the replay, any member of the workshop is allowed to shout 'Stop!', step forward and take the place of the participant who is struggling. They then have to show how they would change the situation to enable a different outcome.

In our workshop we go one further, and use professional actors to make the role-play as close to the real situation as possible without having the real people in the room with you.

The strategy is the closest you can get to having the real conversation." 

Bluegem Learning will be partnering with Ken Cameron from Corporate CultureSHIFT in hosting "Managing the Unmanageable" - an introduction to the art of having difficult workplace conversations, on February 26, 2015 at the Kahanoff Centre in Downtown Calgary. 

This will be a highly interactive experience for managers & supervisors using Forum Theatre as an experience to build capability and confidence. For further details checkout 

www.managingtheunmanageable.ca

Does Your Team (Metaphorically) Run Away When You Start Speaking?

Stop Letting Fear & Discomfort Prevent You From Having Those "Difficult Conversations" at Work.

I'm delighted to announce that Bluegem Learning will be partnering with Ken Cameron from Corporate CultureSHIFT in hosting "Managing the Unmanageable" - an introduction to the art of having difficult workplace conversations, on February 26, 2015 at the Kahanoff Centre in Downtown Calgary. 

This will be a highly interactive experience for managers & supervisors using Forum Theatre as an experience to build capability and confidence. For further details checkout www.managingtheunmanageable.ca

Ken is a highly talented and successful playwright and theatre director, who uses his twenty years of creative and corporate experience to coach business leaders on how to access their creativity and increase their profitability.

In the first of a series of articles relating to this workshop Ken talks about having "The Conversation".

"People naturally fear change.

And as mammals whose brains were forged on the savanna in the company of large speedy predators, we are programmed to run away from what we fear.

The way the brain works is worth acknowledging when its time to have “That Conversation” with your Team.

There are many things we are programmed to fear.  We fear things that threaten our existing status. We fear ideas that demands new skills which leaves us feeling uncertain. Change might imply a new corporate structure, which has an impact our ability to make autonomous decisions. It may mean that new employees arrive while familiar faces depart, affecting our relatedness. And change is almost always perceived as being unfair to some and privileging others.

You can see that with so many triggers so close at hand, it’s easy to elicit a flight response and cause your employee to shut down just s your trying to being “That Conversation” about their performance.

Wouldn’t it be better to assuage those triggers: and make them work for you?

I’m pleased to be participating in a workshop with Russell Stratton of Bluegem Learning called “Managing the Unmanagebale” that gives leaders the tools to have “That Conversation” properly."