Research shows that that ‘being clear about what’s expected of them’ motivates staff to perform well. I suppose then, theoretically, then that it shouldn’t really matter how you communicate your need for new behaviours.

But of course it does matter. As I’m sure you already know, most people don’t like having new ideas which relate to the way they work, their behaviours, imposed on them. People usually have more commitment to something they co-create.

Here’s a useful framework for communicating new behaviours.

Communicating new behaviours – 3 steps

Explanation

This is all about setting the context for the change – in this case the changes you need in your staff’s behaviours.

When you want to ask your staff to make a change to their behaviours, the way they work, it’s a good idea to associate this with a change facing the business.

If you want your staff to be more effective team players, how will more effective team playing help the business meet the challenge of the change? Is it about needing to improve efficiency? Will more effective team playing improve customer service?

Most people can understand the need to make a change to their behaviours when it’s related to a bigger change – a business change. It just makes more sense to them.

Exploration

The idea here is to involve your staff in defining what the new behaviours should look like – in order to best build their commitment and motivation. Let’s take the example of ‘effective team playing’.

Options for involving your staff in defining new behaviours

1. Give them your description of effective team playing—as a draft—and ask them to make suggestions for improvement. Here’s a tip: be sure to make the description you’ve written look like a draft. Have some typos, crossing out, and so on. It’s hard to amend something that’s so perfect it looks like the finished version.
2. Give them a relevant description of effective team playing that someone else has written. For example, from a colleague, from a definition you’ve found from the internet or from my upcoming  e-book ‘176 Behavioural Performance Descriptions’ and ask them edit, amend, improve, add. (Contact me for more information on the e-book.)
3. Explain how to define behaviours and ask them to write a draft description of effective team playing.

How do you choose which option?

I’d suggest the most effective way is to ask your staff what they would prefer.

Some staff would really dislike option 1 – they want to define the behaviours (option 3).

Some staff won’t want option 3 – they’d rather you show them what you have (option 1).

Some may want you just to tell them what you want. No problem.

Agreement

This is about you and your staff member bringing together your descriptions of what effective team playing looks like and agreeing a final definition. I’d suggest you then define this as a performance objective and incorporate it into your performance review or appraisal system in the usual way.

And, of course, you’ll need to agree any coaching or support your staff need in applying these new behaviours into practice.

In summary, it’s all about clarity and ‘adult to adult’ conversation.

I’m sure it’s never been truer than with those highly talented, highly sought after Gen Y’ers. On the basis that research suggests that in ten years time these people (who are currently aged up to 28) will make up the largest proportion of the workforce and that demographic trends suggest that in a few years we will have both a talent shortage and a people shortage, how to recruit and retain these people is proving a major challenge for many organisations.

Clearly this is a complex area. One way of exploring how we may need to adapt our management styles and practices is to probe Peter Drucker’s idea that we have to ‘accept the fact that we need to treat almost everybody as a volunteer’.

So here’s a question:

How would you manage your staff differently if, instead of being paid employees, they were volunteers?

I count myself lucky that as president of my local branch of a national charity I get to ‘manage’ volunteers. Reflecting on how I work with these volunteers compared to how I used to manage my staff I’ve identified some key differences:

1. People have much more flexibility around what they do and when they do it.
2. I thank and praise people much more often.
3. I spend significantly more time with our new ‘recruits’ exploring what motivates them – what their specific interests are, what type of work they feel they are most suited to, etc.
4. I spend more time discussing with people how important their work is, highlighting the value of their contribution in light of what we are aiming to achieve.
5. I use a more collaborative decision making process – all decisions are joint decisions in our group.

Now, I’m willing to accept that this list may say more about my lack of skills as a manager than anything else (and it’s been some time since I’ve managed a significant number of people – think Iron Age) and clearly I’m aware that there are some fundamental differences between both the motivations and responsibilities of paid employees and volunteers.

But it’s not difficult to see how the style of management outlined above could have a positive impact upon an employee’s commitment – irrespective of the generation they belong to.

Here she talks about her experience of working with me, the impact it has had on her staff’s performance and, importantly, the impact it has had on her confidence and wellbeing.

Over to Sara….

Taking the right steps with Ladder Consulting

I am the kind of person that finds it easier just to do it myself instead of relying on my staff to do the work. What that means for me is that I am always overworked and tired. What it means for my staff is that they are not challenged and I tend to go through staff without really knowing why.

I met Joan through my business (she’s a member of the gym I own) and one day I happened to mention that I was having staffing issues and she asked me how I managed my staff. I said ‘what do you mean manage my staff? At this point I am just happy that they show up for work.’ And to be honest they are very reliable in that aspect of working for me!

Joan suggested that we meet outside of my place of business and discuss some steps I could take to improve my situation.

I have had different kinds of managers throughout my varied career; micro managers that watch every thing I do; selfish managers that never seem to be there for the staff.

I wanted to be the kind of boss that staff respected and wanted to be a part of my team. So therefore I set out to befriend my staff and let them pretty much do their own thing as long as the job was getting done. But as I said earlier, that meant that I was left to do most of the work.

After my first meeting with Joan I asked her to work with me to help improve the situation. Through the consulting sessions with her I learned that although I was friends with my staff, I did not expect anything from them. I had no set performance standards for my staff so they really did not know what was expected from them. I had staff that gave me exactly what I asked for — nothing!

So with Joan’s help, we designed performance standards that were clear and quantifiable. I started by listing all the duties that I wanted my staff to perform. Joan helped me to categorise and word them in a way that enabled me to communicate to my staff exactly what is expected of them. The performance standards also allow me to evaluate my staff in a professional manner.

Joan coached me through the first meeting where I presented these performance standards to my staff and truly helped me to clearly communicate and engage with them. I had immediate positive feedback from my staff and even enthusiasm for the job they needed to do.

Our workplace is a more positive and fun place to work. Everyone is clear on what is expected of them and the work is now getting done by the people who should be doing the work — my staff.

I am less tired and stressed and I finally feel I am building confidence in myself as a manager.

Would you like to achieve some of the results Sara has achieved? You can trial, for free, a tele-consulting session with Joan.

Contact me and I will send you details of how the sessions work, what you can expect to achieve and how to book a session.

Related posts

• Are you clear on what you want from the people you manage? Are they?
• Managing by numbers is easy — but how do I manage 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.