Don't Compare Your Employees to You

"My employees don't work as fast as I do." "My employees aren't as interested in their jobs as I am." "My employees just don't have the same eye for quality as I do." "My employees don't have my strong work ethic." "I don't delegate because I can do the work faster and better than my employees." "I don't have confidence in my employees because they don't work like I do." "I don't trust my employees to do the job the same way I would." "I won't be happy until my employees give it 110% like I do." "I can't understand why my employees don't have the same enthusiasm for the work as I do." "I know how to get the fastest performance, the best quality, and on-time delivery; that's what I expect my employees to do."

I frequently hear these and other similar comments from supervisors talking about trusting employees. Or delegation. Or motivation. Or attitudes. Or performance appraisals. Or you-name-it. And frankly its the wrong perspective and point-of-view.

Outstanding workers are often promoted into first-line supervisory management positions because they do a very good job. But not every employee is as capable, and qualified, and interested in doing the work of the department as the supervisor was and is. Yes, it would be great if everyone could do the job to the standards of performance modeled by the supervisor. But that is simply not realistic. When it comes to evaluating individual employees, how they compare to their supervisor's abilities and performance is not a meaningful measure.

The performance requirement for each employee must take into account their knowledge, skills, capabilities and training. Is each employee working to her or his full potential? If they are, and performance is average or greater, that's good. Does the employee have untapped potential? That's good too if we can motivate and coach them to use those additional talents. Is the employee's full potential below average, but within acceptable parameters? Then we'll probably keep them. Is the employee's full potential below average and not within acceptable parameters? Then we'll probably need to transfer them to a different job or let them go.

What if the employee is operating below full potential? The question becomes "Can we motivate and coach them to change?" If so, that's good. If we can't coach them to a higher level of performance but their present (below full potential) performance is average or above average, then sadly we will probably have to accept that. But they will have to accept the corresponding lower evaluations and pay adjustments, lower than they could receive if they worked to their full potential. If the employee is operating below full potential to an unacceptable degree and doesn't want to change, then we'll probably need to let them go.

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Occasionally we include topics of general interest, topics about Dan Pelley's background and experiences, and a rare occasional rant. We welcome your comments on this or any other post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Dealing With Personalities

Sometimes in dealing with employees, we encounter issues of personality. It may be a personality trait or characteristic that we simply don't like. Or it may be a personality trait or characteristic that other people (such as co-workers) don't like and thus complain to you. Should this be included in a formal or informal performance review? Does it warrant counseling or even stronger disciplinary measures?

Here's the key question to consider: "Does the personality trait impact the department, or does it simply annoy you?" If the personality trait impacts the department, then consider this: "Is it truly disruptive to performance and/or offensive to others, or are others intolerant because they don't happen to like the person?"

Generally speaking (and it is hard to be general about this), personality issues should only be dealt with when the result is a very definite work related performance issue or when a reasonable third party would conclude that the behavior, trait or characteristic is offensive and not acceptable in the workplace.

It's a fine line and there's no perfect answers. For example, do they simply lack good manners (probably not an issue) or are they rude to others (probably an issue)? Do they mumble to themselves when working alone and others complain "that's weird" (probably not an issue) or do they have a loud voice that disrupts the thought process and conversations of others (probably an issue)?

If it's a department performance issue, you'll need to deal with it by way of a performance review and/or disciplinary measures. If its a simple annoyance you'll have to decide how much effort you want to put into attempting to get them to change their behavior weighed against the idea the the co-workers and you will just have to accept it, live with it, overlook it, get over it and move on remembering that each us probably have our own little annoying quirks as well.


About me: Dan Pelley is an educator specializing in management training and development programs for supervisors and other first-line managers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI). The issue recited is often raised by participants in his "Effective Performance Appraisals" and "Handling the Difficult Employee" seminars. These programs can be presented in-house at your company. Contact us to learn more.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Continuous Performance Appraisal

Have you ever felt this way? "Oh darn. Time to do a performance appraisal. How can I possibly remember what the employee has done in the last year? This is so hard. I hate this."

You’re going to feel that way unless you stop making performance appraisals something you do once in a while. Instead, make performance assessment and evaluation a continuous part of keeping your department or business unit running. Then when it comes to review time your official performance appraisal should contain no surprises. It will simply be a summary of what you and your employee have been talking about day to day. Good things and bad things, little things and big things should be embraced by the performance appraisal.

But how do you keep track of these things as they happen?

Many companies ask their managers to maintain a confidential performance note file for each employee. The encourage their managers to update these notes whenever a significant performance element takes place. These confidential note files could be in the form of a secure notebook, a set of secure file folders, or secure computer files where the manager can document significant performance elements as they happen.

When you do a good job of keeping performance notes on an on-going basis, you won’t have the burden at review time of trying to remember and reconstruct what happened in the past. Your official performance appraisal of the employee will be less of a chore. Because you've maintained those on-going notes, you can concentrate your appraisal review time on preparing an accurate performance summary based on the information you already have.

So, if you are not already keeping performance notes on an on-going basis, I suggest you start that process today. If your company discourages or forbids you to keep performance note files, you may want to ask your Human Resources department why (since there seems to be a general trend among companies to use them).


About me: Dan Pelley conducts training programs for supervisors in the New England states, with a concentration in Massachusetts (MA), Connecticut (CT) and Rhode Island (RI). His 4 hour "Effective Performance Appraisals" program can be presented on-site at your location. Call for quotation.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.