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Issue 19 · 30 April 2010
A personal message from Joan
Welcome to the April edition of my newsletter. An interesting month, I’m sure you’ll agree, and I do hope any of you who suffered from air travel problems are now safely home and not totally bankrupt.
At last! We’ve finally completed the revamping of the website www.10mmt.com and we’re already getting feedback that it is much more accessible and easier to navigate (which is rather spiffing as that’s exactly what we were aiming for). I’d love to hear what you think. Secondly we’ve now developed our two new training programmes ‘Sky Rocket Your Management Confidence’ and ‘Motivating Your Staff to Improve Their Performance with Positive Criticism’. You can read the details here.
In last month’s newsletter I wrote about the importance of focussing on behaviours when giving criticism in order to improve performance. In this month’s article I wanted to share an example of that behavioural focus based on some work I did with a client in the education sector (and I know many of you aren’t in that sector but I think the ‘lessons’ are easily transferrable). As ever, I’d love to hear your feedback.
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"My staff member is boring! How can I tell her?"
Some time ago I was asked by Colin, the Head of a large secondary school in London, to give him some advice and guidance on dealing with a number of staff performance problems. We talked about a number of issues and finally he began talking about a teacher he labelled ‘mind bogglingly boring.’ Here’s how the conversation began:
C: Now this staff member is driving me nuts
J: What is she doing, or not doing, that is giving you a problem?
C: It’s just that she’s such a boring teacher
J: Give me an example?
C: OK. I dropped into one of her lessons this week as part of my observation schedule. Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen such a set of bored pupils in my life. Half of them were asleep, a group of them were writing SOS messages on the window (in their own blood) and one kid was trying to make an escape tunnel, using a biro.
J: Really?
C: Well no, but not far off. Now I’m guessing you’re going to say to me ‘Oh for crying out loud Colin, just sit her down and tell her she’s boring.’
J: Do you think that would work?
C: No.
J: Me neither.
C: Ha! I knew you wouldn’t be able to help me with this one.
Of course telling someone ‘you're a boring teacher’ or ‘the pupils find you boring’ won’t work. Feedback on personality traits or characteristics is just too hard to understand and too hard to accept (in case you missed it, I outlined why in last month’s article on how to give positive criticism – with the focus on behaviours.
So what do you do?
The first step is to articulate the behaviours - not your interpretation of the results of those behaviours (as Colin had).
The question I asked Colin was What are you seeing the teacher doing, or not doing that has led you to label her as ‘boring’?
Here’s some of what he came up with:
She did not:
- Make enough use of the available IT facilities – minimal use of the interactive whiteboard to show videos, on line resources, etc.
- Use enough research / problem solving exercises
- Explain the learning intention – what she expected the pupils to be able to do as a result of the lesson
- Use enough group discussion techniques
Where are we now?
By thinking ‘behaviours’ we can now move from the highly subjective and judgemental statement / thinking:
‘My staff member is boring’
To the much more objective and non-judgemental statement / thinking:
‘My observation is that my staff member is not demonstrating the use of a number of tools and techniques designed to engage the pupils.’
Which means we can move from feeling, as Colin did, that the situation was too difficult to address — who would be prepared to tell someone they were ‘boring’, or that ‘clients find your presentations boring’? — to seeing that when we talk behaviourally no performance issue is ‘out of bounds.’
So what next?
Having articulated the behaviours that are causing a problem (in this case not using a range of tools and techniques to engage the pupils) the next step is to articulate why these behaviours are causing a problem. We do this in order to help the staff member see the need for change and improvement. So using Colin’s example:
Results
Disengaged pupils = Low level of attainment
Consequences
Poor academic results – the consequence to the pupils
Poor league table results / reputation etc. – the consequence to the school
In next month’s newsletter I’ll talk more about the power of well described results and consequences and how you can use them.
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Joan recommends
Motivating your staff to improve their performance with positive criticism – a blended learning programme
I've been designing and delivering ‘traditional’ training programmes on this topic for many years (here's some of the delegate feedback from programmes I’ve delivered in the last couple of months). I have now designed a blended learning programme which includes:
AN INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP
A two hour, high energy, motivational, workshop
SELF MANAGED LEARNING
Using the DVD ‘Motivating Your Staff to Improve Their Performance with Positive Criticism’
INDIVIDUAL TELE COACHING SESSIONS
Delegates receive three 30 minute telephone lazer coaching sessions
Why have I designed this solution?
So often traditional management training courses concentrate on motivation and imparting knowledge and then… that’s it!
In this blended learning solution the manager is also helped to apply the knowledge they gain, and to significantly develop their skills.
The outcome? Not only will the manager improve their own performance, they will improve the performance of their staff members. High impact, flexible training that really makes a difference.
Read the full details of the programme or contact me to discuss. Of course if you would like to discuss the ‘traditional’ programme, just let me know!
Very best wishes
Joan
Enjoyed these articles?
Do you want to use my articles in your newsletter or website? You can but please include the following text and link to my site:
Joan is the author and presenter of the 10 minute management toolkit. Her monthly newsletter is full of tips, hints and ideas on how managers can learn how to motivate their staff to high performance.
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