I hope you find comfort in my latest Talent Management blog post where I explain why we shouldn’t fear change. In this post, I also debunk the myths that surround it and discuss ways you can achieve meaningful change in yourself and in others.
‘Performance’ Articles
How to Kick Start Your Career
There is no better way to start out the New Year than to be invited to CNN. I had the pleasure of sharing some tips for kick starting your career for the New Year. Whether you are looking for advancement or still seeking employment in this difficult business climate, I hope this CNN video offers you some ideas for making the most of your career and finding the positives in your work environment.
New Year’s Resolutions: Beware!
The origin of New Year’s Resolutions can be linked to pre-Christian times in Rome, thousands of years ago. So every year about this time, I ask audiences where I speak how many made New Year’s Resolutions. What I have noticed is that fewer and fewer have gone through the ritual. Does that mean that fewer people are interested in carrying on this ancient tradition? I think not. In fact, it’s been reported that more than half of those that proclaim resolutions fail at realizing them. The reality is that most people who make resolutions don’t keep them – many don’t keep them even for a day.
The primary mistake people make in making resolutions is that they think that changing some personal behavior or habit is simply a matter of will power or “making up your mind.” It is as if people who fail don’t grunt enough, don’t have enough resolve (how do you get more of that?), are not really serious (How can you increase your “really seriousness?).
The real mistake lies in not planning or managing consequences well. It is easy to resolve to quit drinking, lose weight, start exercising, etc. but it is harder to plan consequences that you will actually be able to self-administer to get the behavior change you seek. Therefore, the resolution is nothing more than a goal, and goals aren’t reached by grunting, wishing or talking; they are reached when you have consequences that support the behavior change.
Here are some practical suggestions to help you be successful should you want to carry on the New Year’s Resolution tradition.
- Plan consequences for behavior change. Allow yourself to do things that you like contingent on a certain accomplishment. In other words, if you resolve to do some project in your house, commit to getting it done before you sit down to watch your favorite TV program.
- Set very small sub-goals. The more, the better. If weight loss is a target, set a goal of no more than one pound a week. The trick is to set a goal that you are almost sure to reach. Less than a pound is ok if you can reliably measure it on your scales. Smoke one cigarette less per day; walk around the block. No goal can be too small at the beginning.
- Post a graph of your progress at home or in the office where everyone can see it. Set the parameters so that progress is easy to see. Tell family and co-workers what you are doing. Use social media to show results. Put the graph on Facebook, Twitter, etc. The more people who see your progress will reinforce you for it and in return you will be more motivated to keep at it.
- Celebrate every success (every goal accomplishment), no matter how small. Reward yourself. Publicize your small accomplishments. “I am one step closer to finishing that big report.”
- In addition to rewards that cost money (buying something for yourself, dinner at a fancy restaurant, a movie, some new software for your computer, an iPad, etc.) think of rewards that have a low cost or have no financial cost. Use the “IF I do X, then I will do Y” contingency. Or, “when I do X, then I will do Y.” If your resolution is to clean the attic, basement or garage, simply say, “When I put something in the trash, I will watch T.V, answer my email, play a computer game or go to McDonalds for breakfast.” You will be surprised how quickly you finish the task with this simple start as long as you maintain the contingency “When…then.”
By the way don’t do it in reverse which most people are tempted to do, that is, “I will work in the attic after I come home from McDonalds.” I call that bribery since it reinforces the wrong behavior. You get the reward for promising to do the behavior, not for actually doing it. Not a good plan.
Most failures to reach personal or work goals result from poor goal setting and from failure to plan positive reinforcers for success. If you start the New Year with small goals and a multitude of reinforcement, 2012 may be your best year yet!
Personal Responsibility within a Behavioral Approach
Guest post by
Judy Agnew
We have received much positive feedback on our book Safe by Accident and we are delighted that so many people find it helpful. There is one issue that some people are struggling with so we want to take this opportunity to clarify. Some readers are having trouble reconciling our discussion of the influence of organizational/management systems on at-risk behavior and the concept of personal responsibility for safety. The question is: if at-risk behavior is found to be influenced by management-controlled organizational systems, does that let the frontline performer off the hook?
To some extent this is a philosophical issue. The notion of personal responsibility is embedded in our culture. It is present in our judicial, political and social systems and has served us well in many respects. In a work setting, telling employees that they are “responsible for their personal safety” at work is helpful as a broad antecedent. It sets the expectation that each person must do what they can to protect themselves and others. The question is what specifically are they responsible for? Telling miners they are responsible for their own safety and then sending them into a mine that is poorly ventilated and structurally unsound is absurd. They cannot be responsible for their own safety under those conditions because they do not control them. We think everyone will agree with this extreme example. The difficulty comes with less extreme examples. Workers who are trained in procedures but don’t follow them consistently, for example. Our position is that there is shared responsibility in most cases. Our concern with the notion of “personal responsibility” is that it sounds like an easy solution to a very complex problem. We are sure that some of you have told employees in your organization that they are responsible for their personal safety. We assume since you are reading this, that hasn’t solved all your safety problems. Antecedents rarely do.
So where does personal responsibility fit in?
Let’s back up. The goal in safety is to prevent injury and illness. If we say that people are responsible for their own safety, then it follows that if they are not safe, they are to blame. Our point is that blaming people for things that are, at least to some extent, outside of their control does not accomplish the goal. If it did more organizations would be perfectly safe by now. But let us be very clear: we are not suggesting that accountability (a synonym of responsibility) is bad. Accountability is essential in safety. However, it is critical that organizations first determine WHO should be accountable for WHAT. The word, accountability, is often code for whom to punish. The issue is not who should be punished but what actions will correct the situation so that it will not recur. Although punishment is appropriate under certain circumstances, we see too often that organizations punish only the person at the point of the accident without fully understanding the systemic issues that have contributed. This is not only unjust, but it fails to rectify the situation.
Systems are designed and maintained by people. Therefore, there should be accountability for those who control the systems to change the systems if they are faulty. Once the systems are changed then everyone who works in those systems should be held accountable (positively reinforced for engaging in safe behaviors and corrected when they are not). This is not about absolving personal responsibility–quite the opposite. It is about establishing accountability, at all levels, that will lead to true improvement. Frontline performers need to be held accountable for those things under their control. They should be responsible for reporting hazards, providing feedback to keep peers safe, participating in safety meetings, talking to management when systems make working safely more difficult, offering solutions, and working to improve their own safe behaviors. Frontline performers will be more successful in “taking personal responsibility for their safety” if they work in partnership with management and those who control the organizational systems within which they work.
Just do it!
Guest post by Christina Simms
Understanding why we procrastinate and how to beat it.
Having trouble whittling down your To-Do list? Do you find yourself saying (albeit with confidence) “I’ll get to that tomorrow.”? You aren’t alone. Procrastination seems to be the one thing you can almost always count on people getting done. But why do we seem to keep putting off for tomorrow what we could do today?
Every week I go through the same routine. I make a to-do list with the good intention of crossing everything off. I do the easiest, quickest things first; mark them off with a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and typically leave the more complex, challenging to-do’s for tomorrow. Before I know it, two weeks have passed and my list is that much longer.
People procrastinate on all sorts of things. We put off taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, doing our taxes, mailing Christmas cards. Most of the time, we find ourselves avoiding tasks because something about doing them is tedious, unpleasant, time consuming, or in some way negative. The science of behavior, specifically behavior analysis, provides not only the answers to ‘why’ but also how we can overcome our own procrastination.
The science of behavior tells us that it is consequences that determine whether or not we will do something again in the future. If you receive a negative consequence as a result of something you did (ie. a behavior) then you are less likely to do that behavior again in the future. Alternatively, if there are positive consequences associated with something you have done, then you are more likely to repeat that behavior in the future.
Many years ago, Aubrey developed a tool to examine consequences called the PIC/NIC Analysis®. Again, the science tells us that consequences can be positive or negative, immediate or future, and certain or uncertain. The most powerful consequences are the positive/immediate/certain and negative/immediate/certain ones. In this age of instant gratification, procrastination has become even more prevalent. Lots of things are competing for our attention and the ones that win are the PICs because, frankly, they are more reinforcing to us. College students turn to Facebook instead of starting their 20 page papers, kids spend hours hooked on video games instead of cleaning their rooms, and 9-5 workers choose catching up on their favorite TV shows over an evening work-out.
This may sound like common sense, but if we all understood so well how behavior works, we wouldn’t be in danger of becoming Procrastination Nation. I turned to Dr. Aubrey Daniels for some wise advice about how to beat procrastination and get things done.
It is tempting to start by picking the low hanging fruit, but Dr. Daniels warns against this common practice. Instead, he suggests an alternative method to working through your To-do list. Start by making a list of everything you need to do. Next, rank the items from most desirable to least desirable. Now comes the hard part— start at the bottom of the list! If you can get yourself to do the worst half of the list first, finishing the other half will be a breeze. Dr. Daniels also recommends using the Premack Principle. Tell yourself “when I do this (undesirable task), then I can do that” (something fun and enjoyable). Of course the key to both of these solutions is to practice self-control, something that may take time to improve. Changing your habits can be hard to do, so start small and don’t forget to reward yourself as you begin to notice changes in how you approach your projects at work or chores around the house.
For more on the Premack Principle and PIC/NIC Analysis® read Performance Management: Changing Behavior that Drives Organizational Effectiveness
Engaging Employees: Do You Have What it Takes?
In my latest Talent Management Blog, I define employee engagement as doing that which needs to be done above and beyond that which is required in the job. Do you know where your employees stand on engagement? Click over to learn how you can determine which of your employees are stepping up to the plate.
Engagement Made Simple: 5 Ways to Test Your Employees’ Level of Engagement
Lean: The missing piece is behavior
For many years the lean champions who have been through our Performance Management classes have all said the same thing, “This is the missing piece.” Most of them had experienced the same problem — after a short time, interest and enthusiasm for the initiative began to wane. They found themselves prodding, pleading, and even threatening in order to keep things going. Managers began to question why the initial gains were slipping or in some cases why they disappeared altogether.
No initiative can be implemented or sustained without behavior. I have said many times that every organization should be constantly “leaning.” It should be built into the organizational DNA – the way they do everything. Why would any company not want to eliminate waste?
The problem is that when exposed to the “lean” training, employees are excited about it because it is positively reinforcing to learn new things and to have a change from routine work offered by the training session. However, if the reinforcement is novelty, it only lasts a very short time. After you have done one or two projects, everything new is old again. Unless you build positive reinforcers into the lean process, it becomes like every other initiative that began with a promise but ended with a question.
Without an understanding of reinforcement, a worthy initiative frequently ends in a premature death.
Read more about sustaining your gains at www.sustainyourgains.com
Twitter: More than a Social Platform—An Effective (and cool!) tool for building fluency in Pinpointing
Guest Post by John Green
Without fail, one of the most challenging tasks managers and leaders face in building coaching fluency models is developing pinpointing skills. I see it consistently with my new clients during their upfront training sessions, as they struggle with being clear about “what they want”. What they come to learn is that guiding them from the global high-level, often-subjective “feedback” to something that is a bit more specific and objective is probably the most important skill they need to build.
As I check-in with these same clients over the years I consistently hear that “pinpointing is hard” and a skill that they have to continuously work on. It is no surprise that the more they practice the better they get.
As coaching models continue to move to an increasingly virtual environment, this skill becomes even more critical in shaping the behaviors that will have the desired impacts. Effective virtual coaching models should emphasize increasing both the quantity (do more coaching) and the quality (improve the value of your coaching) of their fluency.
By increasing touch points, coaches can increase the quantity of their coaching and therefore, how the skill of clear, objective coaching (pinpoints) influences the quality of these interactions.
For example, many of my clients are using text messaging as an effective tool for increasing touch points. Both coaches and performers like the flexibility and ease of using this technology to “communicate” on critical performance issues.
Twitter takes it a step further to enhance pinpointing skills. Because Twitter has a 140 character limitation per “tweet” it is an excellent tool to shape the pinpointing skill. Here are two real life client examples:
A Pharmaceutical Sales client moved towards a virtual field trip model in lieu of the infrequent and highly formalized traditional Field Visits.
- Pre-call Planning: “What is the one thing you want your physician to do or say today?” (65 characters)
- Post-call debrief: “Tell me one thing you learned today about your physician’s prescribing habits?” (77 characters).
- Touch Point: Who is your most important call today? Can I add any value to your call plan?” (77 characters).
- Pinpoint: “Develop a question that will allow your physician to share her view of your product,” (87 characters).
A Banking/Financial Services client implemented a customer-centric selling model that is a key component to their strategic planning process. Coaches focused on shaping the behaviors that will result in clients perceiving this organization as “different” than other firms vying for their business.
- Touch Point: “What was the next best step for your client identified in your strategy session today?” (87 characters).
- Touch Point: “What was the impact of sending your team the client profile data 2 days prior to the strategy session?” (104 characters).
- Post Call debrief: “What was one thing you learned was important to your client that was not part of your pre-call plan? (101 characters).
Both of these clients have reported that building this tool helps (forces!) them to practice pinpointing. Both the coaches and the performers are becoming increasingly comfortable with this dynamic and appreciate the level of specificity and objectiveness that comes along with it.
The next challenge is to help the performers shape their responses to “fit” the Twitter requirements. (More on this phase in my next posting).
Give this approach a try and let us know how it goes @greenjohnj and @aubreydaniels
For Women Only: When is talking about yourself helpful to your career?
While reading an article from the Huffington Post by Marcia Reynolds titled, When Women Talk about Themselves, They Earn More, it reminded me of something my actress daughter said jokingly that characterized many people she met in the acting business in Hollywood, “I’ve talked so much about me, why don’t we talk about me?”
I have two reactions to the Reynolds article. First, I don’t believe that women who talk about themselves earn more than those who don’t. She presents no data, only her impressions from interviews. Second, I think it is bad advice for a man or woman.
Although she says that most women don’t like to self-promote and she states flatly that self-promotion is not bragging, I would suggest that there is a very fine line between self-promotion and bragging and that it is difficult for most people to differentiate between the two. I don’t like people who brag and don’t think others do either.
To make my point the author says, “In my own career, I survived many layoffs and zigzagged up the corporate ladder through a number of high-tech companies, taking on greater and more interesting challenges each time I moved. I learned early on that self-promotion is not bragging (the author’s opinion). Flaunting (emphasis is mine) my unique core talents helped management determine how best to use me.” I don’t like her already! Do you?
Wouldn’t you hate to be stuck talking to this woman at a cocktail party or even during a break at a management meeting? Listening to fingernails scrape a blackboard would be more tolerable.
Reynolds states that, “They (female executives) possess special and critical traits that qualified them for their roles. Yet they become totally helpless when I ask them to tell me what makes them special.” I would not know what to say if someone asked me what made me special because I don’t think of myself that way. I don’t think many others do either. I would think that anyone who would have a ready answer to the “special question” would not be as special as she thought she was.
The best advice I can give to women, or men, who want to advance and enjoy doing it is to focus on making other employees successful. As Lao-tse wisely said many years ago, “When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’” By focusing on contributing to the success of others, you will gain their trust, respect and support all the way to the top.
Save talking about yourself to someone who cares. Maybe the person staring back at you in the mirror?
Coaching ROI: Approach is Everything
Coaching, like leadership, is one of the most highly ‘Googled’ terms today. It wasn’t long ago that coaching was perceived as something poor performers received as a last ditch effort to improve before they were shown the door. Nowadays everybody wants a coach. I could have told you this day would come, but I have to admit that reading this recent Forbes article alerted me to the fact that the day is here!
It’s not surprising that the status of those being coached is rising. As this article points out, companies are attaching a return on their coaching investment. What concerns me is a clear lack of approach to coaching. Most organizations don’t know what to look for in a coach or in an approach. To get a true ROI for your coaching investment, the coach must use an approach based on the science of behavior. This type of coaching focuses on the critical things that people must do to be successful and therefore a true ROI can be established.
Behavioral coaching builds fluency in analyzing performance issues and therefore equips the person being coached with the tools they need to objectively define and evaluate their expectations, provide timely feedback, and use positive reinforcement to shape the behaviors needed from others. For organizations investing in coaching, it is to their benefit to take a behavioral approach.
A science-based coaching approach is ideal for organizations that are looking to:
- motivate their workforce
- retain their best performers
- improve teamwork and employee engagement
- reduce variability in how work is done
- clarify performance expectations
- increase performance standards
The result will be employees spending more time doing what it takes to achieve and sustain your business goals.
For more information on a behavioral approach to coaching, check out our Coaching for Improved Business Performance certification workshop.