Introduction
Are you tearing your hair out because your training’s not working? Do you feel that you can’t understand your employees? Why not try an engineering approach for better results? Each of the following statements flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Yet each of them is absolutely true.
A Bad System Will Beat A Good Performer Almost Every Time
Please accept this idea. It can’t be overemphasised. Some academics and gurus want you to believe managing people is a vexing, unpredictable, complex business. That’s how they keep their jobs. They want us to believe that we need them to help us fix our “people problems”. We don’t. We need good systems.
Good employee performance results mainly from good engineering. A dash of psychology helps. But only a dash. Good engineering requires
- crystal clear objectives supported by
- sound systems designed to achieve the objectives and
- simple processes to implement the systems easily.
Forget most of the behavioural science hype. Leave that to properly qualified experts. First, get the people system right.
“If They Can Do It With A Gun At Their Head, They Don’t Need Training”
I can’t remember who said this. Harsh? Inhumane? Brutal? Maybe all of these things. But it’s worth thinking about. If you see it as brutal consider this. Do you test your people before subjecting them to training? Are you absolutely certain that they don’t know and can’t do what they’re going to “learn” in the training? Have you considered how you could help them improve performance without training?
To put it bluntly, training will improve employee performance only with people who don’t know and can’t do. The problem with people who aren’t performing is often that they “won’t do” rather than “can’t do”. That’s an engineering problem. Training won’t fix “won’t do” problems. You must grasp this concept to successfully manage employee performance.
Consequences Are Often The Key To Engineering Performance
A client called me recently about how to improve the performance of his salespeople. In discussion, I discovered that each salesperson had to complete and submit 9 documents with each sale. Just imagine: You close a sale. Your reward is to complete 9 lengthy forms! That’s gold-plated performance punishing. Most of us dislike completing only one form. Talk about constructing negative consequences!
A single mother on a pension recently told me that she “saved up” so she could afford the most expensive plumbing company in town. “They treat me so well”, she said.
In both cases, the expected consequences determined the performance. This occurs even if they’re inaccurate and unfounded. Real consequences based on experience are even more powerful.
When your people perform the way you demand, what’s in it for them in their terms? Think about that in their terms, not your terms.
The Simple Keys
The keys to managing employee performance are unbelievably simple.
- Focus on performance, not behaviour
- Emphasise outputs over inputs
- Ask what rather than how
- Put results before processes
- Provide the biggest rewards to the superior performers.
You can make sensible decisions about methods and processes only after you’ve defined the desired result you want.
Truly, it is that simple. I didn’t say simplistic. I didn’t say easy. Just simple.
Don’t be too concerned with procedure manuals. Focus on engineering performance. Design the job and the systems that support it so that employees cannot fail. When you do, your job as a manager will be much easier. And you’ll be able to stop playing psychologist, motivator, father or mother confessor: roles which require considerable skill which few managers possess.
Of course, to focus on performance, you must know exactly what you’re trying to achieve in your business! Develop a clear and specific business focus. You’ll be amazed at how well you can manage employee performance when you do.
