Managers often tell me that they focus most of their managerial attention on the “numbers” part of their staff’s performance. They set objectives for producing the right amount of work on time, meeting a deadline, achieving the % increase in sales or the £ of savings. They monitor the numbers and, sometimes, they give feedback to their staff about their performance against those numbers. It makes some sense. But what about the behaviours?

I've been meaning to clarify with you what I meant by 'assertive behaviour'

Well the theory is, according to the managers, that they can’t effectively manage the behavioural element of a person’s work e.g. the way the person manages their time, the way they build and maintain relationships, their ability to be solution-focussed, because these behaviours are subjective and unquantifiable. Therefore they cannot be measured and subsequently managed. But here’s the rub:

Why manage behaviours?

1. Behaviours are crucial to the success of your business. Can you be successful without your staff demonstrating the ability to manage their time, build and maintain effective relationships, develop practical solutions and so on?

2. Because managers also tell me they regularly judge their staff on their ‘attributes’ without being able to clearly define those attributes as behaviours. They say “he’s just not committed enough” or “she’s not a team player” or “he lacks creativity”. Without being able to define what being an “effective team player” looks like in practice how can you help the staff member improve in this area?

Managers know, of course, that behaviours are crucial to business success. What they sometimes don’t know is how to describe those behaviours.

How to define behaviours

Here’s a three-step process for defining the behavioural elements of the job:

Step One: Identify the Crucial Behaviours

The key questions to ask are:

• What are the behaviours that differentiate us from our competitors?
• What are the behaviours that contribute most to our success?
• What behaviours must a person demonstrate to be successful in this job?
• What do I want from the people I manage?

Step Two: Define the Behaviours

Having identified the behaviours, here are some methods for defining those behaviours. The overriding question you are seeking to answer is what does this behaviour look like demonstrated in practice?

Here are three approaches:

1. Think of someone who already demonstrates the behaviour. If, for example, you are trying to define “creativity” think of someone you consider to be creative and then note down the behaviours that person demonstrates in that area.
2. Ask yourself the question what would it look like? What behaviours would creative people demonstrate in your business? What would creativity look like in practice? What would a person need to do for you to consider them to be creative?
3. Turn the question around by asking what do people who aren’t creative do, or not do? You might think of someone who you think is totally lacking in creativity. What are the behaviours they are demonstrating, or not demonstrating, that makes you think of them in this way? It’s strange but it’s often easier to define what ‘it’ looks like done badly rather than done well.

Step Three: Writing the Behavioural Performance Standards

The skill here is in the language used and the discipline lies in the ability to focus on observable behaviours. In short, if you can’t watch someone doing ‘it’ or see the evidence of them having done ‘it’ then it’s unlikely you’ve described a behaviour.