When did accepting mediocre performance become the new normal?

 

Everyone is talking about what the “new normal” is in our post-recessionary period.

Is it getting by with fewer employees, being more nimble on execution, or learning how to be more responsive to customers. In the “new normal”, do employees have higher expectations, customers bring more demands, and suppliers want to partner on a more intimate basis.

Here’s one that’s got me scratching my head:

When did accepting mediocre performance become the “NEW NORMAL?”

Why do so many managers and executives accept the fact that their team cannot deliver the outcomes desired (and that are appropriate for that team). This links back to my previous blog post titled “Are You Over-Paid?” and my blog post titled “Let’s Give it Another 30 Days.”

I’m asking this tough question now in every CEO and key executive presentation I deliver. What happens when I ask it?

The temperature drops in the room.

No one can look me in the eye  – everyone looks down – as if to pretend I had not asked the question in the first place

The silence after the question is so powerful it’s almost deafening.

After a few awkward moments of silence, the executives around the table look at me with a look that says “how dare you mention the elephant in the room.”

Why are you so afraid to discuss your acceptance of average and mediocre performance by the people on your team?

I return to the “argument” I presented in my blog post titled “Are You Over-Paid?” Imagine that 50% of what you do is the work your team should be doing. Sally is only doing 65% of her job, Mark is doing 75% of his job, and Julie is doing 80% of her job. Your picking up the slack among those 3 that cannot do their FULL job. You’ve dummied down their job responsibilities, taken their work on your shoulders, and violated Michael Gerber’s E-Myth no-no: Stop working in the organization (team/department) and start working on your organization (team/department).

The new normal should NOT be the acceptance of mediocre performance – it should be the REFUSAL to accept mediocre performance. “Good enough” shouldn’t cut it.

Here’s a tough question that will literally cause your heart to skip a beat: How do your employees view you as their boss:

“My boss is okay with average and mediocre performance. He thinks good enough and just getting if our focus.”

“My boss sets high standards and holds everyone accountable. I’ve accomplished more by working for my current boss than I ever imagined possible.”

Which one reflects how your direct reports think of you as their boss?

Barry Deutsch

Are You Playing the Game of Let’s Give it Another 30 days?

Ready to cringe?

Ready to seek a big rock to hide under due to complete embarrassment?

Here’s the scenario – the embarrassment factor comes when you realize you’ve been playing this game.

You’ve hired what you believe to be a “rockstar” performer for your team. Unfortunately, it’s not panning out to be true (which studies show happens about 50% of the time).  Where do you think we got the title of our book – You’re NOT the Person I Hired?

Being the good manager that you are – you sit down with your new employee at the end of 30 days and explain that their performance is just not “cutting it.”

Oh – did I mention you really like this person. You like how hard they are working. You like their energy and enthusiasm. Your families have met a couple of times and you grab the occasional beer together after work.

You explain that performance must get better – you know the mantra – work smarter not harder. Get me the results. Do whatever it takes. Your job is in jeopardy.

Your faltering rockstar says “I get it. Don’t worry. I’ll deliver the results you want.”

The little voice in your head says “let’s give it another 30 days.”

30 days go by and performance has not improved. You once again sit down with the employee and basically have THE SAME CONVERSATION again. Same response from the employee.

Once again, you say to yourself: Let’s give it another 30 days

How many of you are still playing the Let’s give it another 30 days game? Only now it’s 3 months, 6 months, a year later.

When I do my “You’re NOT the Person I Hired Workshop for CEOs and Key Executives, almost everyone around the table will raise their hand and admit they are playing this Let’s give it another 30 day game with at least 1 employee.

Why do we do we play this game?

• Do we continue to accept sub-par performance because we’re afraid we’ll look terrible for making a bad hiring decision?
• Are we afraid of the confrontation of “making this person available to industry?”
• Do we shy away from going through the hiring process again  – perhaps rationalizing it through the old adage “better the devil I know than the one I don’t.”

I’d love to hear from our readers and followers – why do you put up with continued poor performance, missed execution month after month, and a lowering of your standards as time marches forward?

I’m sure at least one member of your team came to mind as you were reading this article. What’s your plan to resolve the performance gap and stop playing the “let’s give it another 30 days” game?

Barry Deutsch

Do you Inspire Others to Self-Motivate?

I am firm believer that you cannot motivate others – they need to self-motivate.

In looking back through my archive of motivational articles, I re-stumbled across this blog post on inspiring others by Scott Ginsberg. Scott wrote an article on his blog “Hello My Name is Scott” titled “The Matt Foley Guide to Motivating The People Who Matter Most.”

Scott put forth 4 ways in which you can inspire others to self-motivate. I liked the manner in which he framed this critical element of success for coaches, executives, and managers.

I don’t do his article justice through my summary – you’ve got to read the full article for yourself. However, here are the 4 key areas Scott laid out to inspire others to self-motivate:

1. Compassionately take people’s hiding places away from them.
2. Recognize when inspiration isn’t sufficient.
3. Delete the demotivators.
4. Focus on passion as the great prioritizer.

As a coach, executive, or manager you have the power to inspire the people around you to self-motivate.

I use this element of leadership as one of the core areas I probe into when I am interviewing executives and managers. As you may recall, leadership is one of the key areas to predict future success for those in a role where they manage others. Some of the leadership interview questions from our Success Factor Methodology include:

• How do you specifically inspire others to self-motivate?
• What techniques have worked best for you and are now part of your portfolio of inspiring your direct reports to self-motivate?
• Which techniques have been a dismal failure?
• What do you do to learn about the latest tactics and methods around inspiring your direct reports to self-motivate?
• Describe a couple of examples where you’ve had a boss or peer that did a great job of inspiring motivation? What did they specifically do in that example? What elements of those tactics have you adopted as your own? Can you give me 2-3 examples where you’ve applied those tactics in the last few months?
• How to specifically build inspiration to self-motivate into your coaching and one-to-one feedback monthly conversations?
• When you interview candidates for roles on your team – how does the candidate get a precise understanding of your ability to inspire motivation?

 

Could you pass this interview? Do you believe in your heart that it’s your responsibility as a manager, executive, leader, owner, founder to inspire your people to self-motivate? If so, where would you rate yourself on a ten point scale – 1 being weak and 10 being you’re a poster child for inspiration.  Do you know how to inspire your direct reports to self-motivate? Do you apply these techniques ALL THE TIME or only as passing thought? What would your direct reports tell me about your ability to inspire self-motivation?

If you cannot inspire your direct reports to self-motivate, you’ll never succeed as a great manager or executive! Now were digging into the realm of culture, retention, employee satisfaction, employee motivation, employee engagement, and ultimately – performance.

Is it time to re-examine how you manage and lead? How do you specifically inspire others every day?

If you would like to read Scott’s entire article on how to inspire others to self-motivate, please click the link below:

The Matt Foley Guide to Motivating The People Who Matter Most

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Download our FREE Hiring Assessment to determine if you’re doing a good job measuring and evaluating candidates, especially those in leadership roles where the ability to inspire self-motivation is important.

Are You Over-Paid?

You’re probably thinking – how could Barry make such an outrageous statement. Over-paid – Ugh! I’m actually under-paid.

But wait a minute – are you being paid for the outcomes you deliver or is it one of entitlement for the position you hold?

Why am I even asking this question?

In a presentation of our “You’re NOT the Person I Hired” program to a group of Vistage CEOs and Executives today, I challenged the group to be introspective about what they were being paid for in their companies.

In a common issue raised during our program, a number of CEOs and executives complained that they were not doing what was expected of them by their board, boss, investors, family members, shareholders, and other executives. Instead they were too busy to do their work since they were doing some of the work of their team.

Why do you accept this scenario? Don’t answer that just yet. We’ll return to that question in a moment.

In most cases, when a subordinate is really good at 70-75-80% of her job, but cannot do the other 30-25-20%, you will NOT fire her – you’ll just “dummy down” the job scope. Now you’re left with a problem to solve: Who is going to do the other 30-25-20% of the work that just got lopped off her expectations?

You can’t ignore the work – it’s still must be done – you can’t sweep it under the carpet or hope it goes away. In the vast majority of cases, it’s YOU as the boss who gets to pick up the slack. No one else has the time – you’ve already overloaded the entire team by cutting the department staffing right down to the bone.

One of the greatest frustrations that I hear as I talk to 40-50 groups of CEOs and executives every year in Vistage, TEC, management retreats, and association conferences – for the past 15 years – is that they are frustrated over their own jobs – these CEOs and executives cannot do what the organization needs them to do since they are buried at least 50% of the time doing the work their subordinates should be doing.

This doesn’t pop up and bite you on the backside all of sudden. It’s a gradual declining slope of your effectiveness as a leader and impactful contributor. Over time you’ve picked up 7% of Sally’s job, 9% of Mark’s job, and 12% of Paul’s job.

It’s the same concept that Michael Gerber talked about in his best-selling book, The E-Myth. Gerber suggested that many CEOs and executives fail because they allow themselves to work too deeply in their business or department (such as doing the work their team should be doing) and not focusing on what their contributions should be based on their capability, skills, and knowledge.

Of course, you can do it faster, quicker, and more accurately than your subordinates. You’ve been in their shoes as you came up the ladder. But is that really effective leadership when you let them off the hook of accountability/responsibility and do their job for them?

Before you know it, half of what you do every day, week, and month is the work you’re team should be doing, but they’re not strong enough to do it. So, instead of taking action and putting people into roles that can deliver the required expectations, you’ve allowed yourself to become OVER-PAID for the work you do on behalf of your subordinates.

Have you allowed this scenario to play out over last few years? How many of your direct reports have allowed this to happen to them? Imagine every executive, manager, and supervisor in your business is only 50% effective and significantly over-paid since they are doing the work their subordinates should be doing.

Starting right now – what’s your plan to correct this dysfunctional element of your culture where you dummy down employee jobs, take over their responsibilities, and keep them around – especially at their old salaries. Imagine getting 70-75-80% return for every dollar you invest in salaries.

I’d love a job where I could get paid 100% for a 75% effort and impact.

Did I make an effective case for why most CEOs and executives are over-paid?

Barry Deutsch