CLIENT SERVICING

1. Demonstrates a breadth and depth of knowledge of our services / products

2. Applies sound professional practices (as agreed / set down in …)

3. Provides advice which peers / manager would consider appropriate

4. Produces accurate advice / strategic plans that address the client’s needs

5. Gains the confidence of the client by demonstrating that the advice given has been accepted and applied

6. Applies a range of strategies which have contributed to developing long-term relationships with clients

7. Demonstrates a full understanding of the clients business

8. Effectively uses time and resources so that commitments made to the client are achieved and deadlines met

9. Client feedback reflects a high level of satisfaction     

Would you like to see more descriptions of behavioural performance objectives? Then take a look at ‘The Managers Toolkit – 176 Behavioural Performance Objectives’ http://www.10mmt.com/e-books/ A gold mine of information and a quick and easy way to describe what you want from your staff so that you can get what you need from your staff

Joan Henshaw is the author and presenter of the video management training series ‘The 10 Minute Management Toolkit’ – the flexible, cost effective and time effective way to help managers learn how to motivate their staff to high performance. Want to learn more about how to motivate staff to high performance? Watch videos and claim your free e-book at http://www.10mmt.com

 ‘ASSERTIVE BEHAVIOUR’

 1. Demonstrates the ability to clearly explain their thoughts and opinions

2. Expresses thoughts and opinions using ‘first person’ language

3. Verbally distinguishes between fact and opinion

4. Articulates the reasoning behind their thoughts and opinions

5. Seeks to understand the thoughts and opinions of others by asking open questions, using probing questions to achieve clarity

6. Demonstrates understanding of the other persons thoughts and opinions by reflecting back their understanding and summarising

7. Identifies and expresses what they see as differences of opinion and checks that others agree

8. Seeks ideas for solutions from others

9. Offers solutions

Would you like to see more descriptions of behavioural performance objectives? Then take a look at ‘The Managers Toolkit – 176 Behavioural Performance Objectives’ http://www.10mmt.com/e-books/ A gold mine of information and a quick and easy way to describe what you want from your staff so that you can get what you need from your staff

Joan Henshaw is the author and presenter of the video management training series ‘The 10 Minute Management Toolkit’ – the flexible, cost effective and time effective way to help managers learn how to motivate their staff to high performance. Want to learn more about how to motivate staff to high performance? Watch videos and claim your free e-book at http://www.10mmt.com

Some years ago I worked with the MD of a commercial publishing business. I had spent a day facilitating a business planning session with him and his senior management team. At the very end of the day, and apropos of nothing as far as I could see, he did the following:

1. Pushed back his chair onto two legs and opened his own legs, thereby elevating his crotch area to roughly the eye level of his team sitting opposite (I know this sounds unlikely, but he managed it).

2. Held out his arms and made ‘come on’ gestures with his hands (hold arms straight out, palms upwards, and flex fingers repeatedly towards palms – give it a try and you’ll see what I mean), frowned and then said:

“Feedback, now, from you to me. Tell me what you think of me.”

Stunned silence.

3. After the senior management team (sans delivery of feedback) had left, he said to me:

“D’you know. That always happens. Why don’t people ever want to give feedback to their managers?”

What’s the problem?

a) If you’ve managed to visualise the body language from my description, you’ll have noticed some pretty obvious lack of congruence between that body language and the verbal message. Clearly, there’s little point asking for feedback if your body language is screaming ‘don’t tell me, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.’

b) The ‘what do you think of me’ question is just too tough. With a question like this you are asking for feedback on yourself – your characteristics and personality. The ‘what do you think of me as your manager’ is a little better, but not much. Most people find it difficult to give this type of feedback because it’s just too personal.

So how can I ask for feedback on my management style?

The answer is make it easy (or at least easier) by making the question ‘low risk’. You do this by asking for feedback on your behaviours – what you do, not who you are.

Here’s a really neat way to ask for feedback from your staff:

“I’d really appreciate some feedback on the way I’m managing you. So, is there anything I could do differently that would be helpful to you?”

Not only are you asking here for behavioural feedback, you’re asking for a way forward by asking what they would like to be ‘different’.

And, of course, you’ll be using congruent body language because you’ll be genuinely interested in the response.

I was recently talking to a manager who was complaining that some of her staff had a tendency to accept work from her which, it later transpired, they did not have the time to do (or at least to the deadline she had set). She just couldn’t understand why her staff didn’t seem to have the ability to say to her ‘no’ or ‘not now’, and she was frustrated by the problems this was causing.

This conversation reminded me of a piece of work a client asked me to undertake, for many of the same reasons as our unhappy manager, which was to train his staff in how to assertively deal with requests.

The following is a summary of the step process I taught his staff and their managers, which they then took on as ‘the way we say no around here’.

Step 1: Ensure you fully understand the request

Ask questions, listen, ask more questions until you are crystal clear on:

• The size and complexity of the task i.e. the level of detail or accuracy needed, how much research needs undertaking, what the ‘end product’ should look like e.g. a two page summary or a full report?
• The deadline – when, specifically, the task needs to be completed (and challenging any ‘asap’ type responses)
• The  importance of the task and deadline

Step 2: Use relevant facts in order to make a decision on whether to accept or decline the request

Such as:

• The time needed to complete the work vs. the time available to meet the deadline
• The time needed to complete work on hand of equal importance
• The relative urgency or importance of other work on hand

Step 3: Assesses the consequence, or cost, of accepting the request as a way of deciding whether to accept or decline

Example:

• The new task would take 2 hours (fact)
• The task I am currently working on will take 4 hours and must be completed by 5pm (fact)
• The task I am currently working on has the highest priority (fact)
• To take on the new task now would mean I would miss the 5pm deadline on the current task (consequence)

Step 4: If you decide to refuse the request, explain that decision to the other party

• Explain that you have a difficulty in meeting the request and why – using the fact
• Explain what the (negative) consequences would be of you accepting the request
• Explain that, therefore, you are unable to accept the request

Step 5: If appropriate, look for some compromise solution

Such as:

• Offering to accept the work – but with a longer deadline
• Offering to accept part of the work
• Offering ideas on how the work could be completed by someone else

Benefits of using the 5 step process

1. With the staff who find it difficult to say ‘no’ or ‘not now’

Sharing this process with your staff gives those who need it both the tools and the permission to say ‘no’ or ‘not now’.

2. With the staff who don’t find it difficult

Of course some staff members have no issue at all with saying ‘no’, and sometimes quite the opposite. The usefulness of sharing the process with these people is that it clearly describes your expectations around how they make the decision to accept or refuse work – based on fact and consequence rather than, say, inflexibility or just not liking the look of the task.

3. When you need the answer to be ‘yes’

Of course it’s all about the dialogue. You, as the manager, may have knowledge of facts and consequences that your staff are unaware of. It could be that their ‘no’ really does need to be a ‘yes’.

The usefulness of the 5 steps, and the dialogue they generate, is the clarity achieved.

The staff member is much less likely to feel ‘dumped on’ or coerced into accepting a task if they have had the opportunity to explain their facts and consequences and if they have had explained to them, in detail, why the new task is a higher priority – based on facts.

As an example, a client has recently asked me to develop a ‘Leadership Skills’ training programme and to outline a plan for ensuring that the learning from the programme would lead to the delegates improving their leadership behaviours.

This is a summary of the plan I have designed for them:

The Plan

Step 1: Define what ‘Leadership Skills’ means at Agency A.

Step 2: Develop performance standards that describe what leadership skills look like in practice.

Step 3: Assess the delegates’ current skills and competency against the performance standards.

Step 4: Prioritise and define as learning objectives the outcomes from the assessment.

Step 5: Design and deliver the training. Introduce the leadership skills performance standards as part of the training. Deliver the training in three sessions with the delegates implementing the skills learnt in each session as workplace projects.

Step 6: Provide coaching to delegates as they implement the skills in the workplace projects.

Step 7: Deliver a review workshop that includes:

1. The identification of any ongoing learning needs and how these will be met.
2. Communicating how the performance standards will be integrated into the performance review system.

Step 8: Ongoing coaching of the delegates by their line manager and management of performance against the leadership performance standards.

Summary

The key is in anchoring the training and learning to performance standards which are then integrated into the performance review system. This means the application of the learning from the training into the workplace is a ‘must do’ rather than, as is sometimes the case, an optional activity. Supporting the delegates in their practice of the skills is, of course, vital.

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.