Category Archives: People Matters

Posts related to the people side of strategy and operations

Executive Assessment, Focus, People Matters

How to Drive Elite C-Suite Performance

September 1, 2015 Peter DiGiammarino Leave a comment

In a traditional performance evaluation, someone is assigned to compile and review with each executive a summary of her/his strengths, contributions, growth, and opportunities for improvement. The traditional process has many weaknesses which are summarized in this article recently published by Flevy.com, such as:

Compiling a quality performance assessment is difficult; consequently it often gets put off to be done at the last minute but it also takes time to do a good job and time runs out.

Assessment content tends to be arbitrary based on ability, skills, and perspective of the reviewer and may not represent the best thinking or interests of the team.

Reviewers tend to avoid raising and dealing with tough matters that should be addressed aggressively because it is uncomfortable and they are not trained or motivated to do otherwise.

Continue reading How to Drive Elite C-Suite Performance →

Executive Reviews, Get Clear, People Matters

How to head off unwanted voluntary attrition and what to do when it happens.

May 18, 2015 Peter DiGiammarino Leave a comment

When an employee departs voluntarily it is almost always unanticipated and unwanted. Too often, though, leaders rationalize that employees who leave voluntarily were marginal and will not be missed.

To keep the best on board, and to head off after-the-fact rationalizations, ask managers now to identify employees they would least like to lose. Go on to also ask what is being done to keep each and every one of them engaged and on track to success in the organization. Follow up to make sure what needs to be done is actually done.

When any employee leaves of their own choosing, assign a senior person with no stake in the case to speak with the departed. Use the survey questions in the form linked to the above graphic to draw out what happened, why s/he has decided to leave, and to be sure whatever needs to be unearthed and learned is brought to light. Continue reading How to head off unwanted voluntary attrition and what to do when it happens. →

Job Search, People Matters

What to do when an employee no longer cuts it.

May 11, 2015 Peter DiGiammarino 1 Comment

Before terminating an employee for poor performance, first double and triple check that the real problem is not that expectations are undeveloped, unclear, or not understood and aligned with abilities and interest.

Resist the temptation to reassign the person to another part of the organization in order to not have to deal with the matter. Instead collect, consolidate and review input from the team with respect to what they are good at doing, what they have recently contributed, how they have grown, and what they should focus on doing and accomplishing next.

Validate that the assignment is a good match with employee skills, interests, and experience. If it is, but performance lags, it may be due to distractions or lack of drive. Talk through with the person, tweak incentives if needed, and, if lack of attention and effort is the problem, insist they focus on what has been asked.

If lack of performance is due to shortcoming of ability, consider taking one of the following courses of action:

Develop in the person skills that are needed but that are lacking. Be careful, though, to stop short of trying to teach a fish to fly. It is usually better to further develop and capitalize on existing strengths than to overcome weaknesses that essentially define who a person really is. Note: see Gallup’s Strength Finder and Max De Pree’s Management is an Art for further reference along these lines.

Complement with strengths of others. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and no one can be good at everything. Getting the full breadth of skills required covered through the mutual contributions of a team of strong performers is often the best way to get the best results.

Reassign to a job that is better matched to their strengths and interests as long as the value of doing it is enough to warrant the associated costs.

Help them find opportunities to apply their strengths in an organization more likely to have need for what they offer. It may initially seem cruel to let someone go, but it is often a blessing as they know the fit is not right, feel they are living an inauthentic life, and will be relieved to get on track to success in a job for which they are better suited.

Termination is required when a person’s odds of success approach zero or when there is too little time or money left to pursue the remaining chance. While every situation is different, the following tips are likely to help things go more smoothly:

Script the words you will use to communicate the decision. Practice aloud a day or two ahead so you can manage your emotions and deliver the message with care and composure. Review the script with a trusted advisor to confirm that the decision is clear and unambiguous.

Here is an example of an opening script from an actual executive termination:

I want to talk with you about our path forward.

I appreciate your efforts and support over the past several months. During that time, I have worked to clarify what the team needs from each member and how we will move forward. I have also listened to you and learned more about your goals, what matters to you, and where you get energy.

My conclusion is that there is not a good fit between you and the roles available on my team.

I have therefore decided that you will leave the organization, and we now need to plan your transition. I want to manage your departure with care and respect, support you through the transition, and minimize disruption for you and the team.

Review recent formal and informal performance assessments to be sure a decision to terminate is not out of sync with prior messages. Frame what is communicated accordingly.

Consult with your Human Resources department to get coaching on local laws (e.g., to comply with cases that might evoke actions due to discrimination) and company customs and precedents. Line up mechanics for out-processing; e.g., to pay accrued but unused PTO, arranging COBRA insurance coverage, 401k processing, collect key cards, etc.

Have someone from HR present when you communicate the termination. Get right to the point with as few words as possible. The longer you delay and beat around the bush the harder and more awkward it will be. Follow your script to get the message out.

The first reaction is likely to be: “You’re firing me?” Patiently, calmly help them work through these five inevitable stages of emotion:

o Denial (this can’t be happening)
o Anger (you can’t do this)
o Bargaining (what if I …)
o Grief (woe is me)
o Acceptance (I get it).

It helps for you to frame the separation as giving the person an opportunity to get on track to success elsewhere. More often than not they experience relief because thet have quite likely has known for some time that things are not going well.

The session in which you communicate the termination should be in a private work space where you can get up and leave when done. Never do it in your office where you would have to end by asking the terminated employee to leave or leave them alone in your office. It is far better for you to be the one to leave and for the HR representative to stay and help with mechanics.

Schedule the meeting for first thing in the morning or last thing of the day to minimize disruption to other office activity. Never terminate on a Friday; far better is to do it on a Monday or a Tuesday to give the luxury of time during the active work week to reach out to others for help and support.

If personal, physical, or information security are at risk it is even more important for someone from HR and/or security to remain present as they collect their things and are escorted out.

Decide what you need from the person beyond the point of termination. Ideally you will need nothing because once you have communicated it is over, their allegiance is to themselves and they need to get on with their lives. The best strategy is to get them all the way out ASAP. No transition. No phase out. Just out.

Decide on and document separation terms:
- What they can take (e.g., computer, documents, data, etc.).
- Non-disparagement, non-compete, non-solicitation in exchange for severance.
- Allowance to cover, and/or a referral to, third-party help with resume preparation and job search, a reference, counseling, and extended company-financed insurance benefits.
- Access to infrastructure such as office facilities, administrative support, email access and forwarding; etc.

Prepare, lean-in to the discomfort, and be thoughtful and compassionate. Letting someone go is hard but when it is the right thing to do it is far easier than the drag on performance and growth from continuing to employ a sub-par performer. Having let go an employee is a badge of honor and a credential for life. In the end it also helps the person, those s/he cares about, the organization, and yourself.

For more on how to terminate an employee:

References that may be helpful to terminated employee:

Compensation, Executive Transition, Finance Matters, Get Aligned, Grow, People Matters

Paying Fair: Four paths to fair pay and succession for private venture executives.

April 25, 2015 Peter DiGiammarino Leave a comment

Background

Public company equity-based pay practices, such as stock, restricted stock, and employee stock options are often a poor fit for private companies committed to reward leaders for performance and growth and to motivate leadership and capital succession.

Equity based programs that make sense and work well in a public company come with many ills for private companies: they can be costly, tax-inefficient, static, ineffective, and sometimes downright unfair. In the worst case, equity pay practices can derail the owners’ plans for growth and succession.

Dynamic synthetic equity presents a more tailored solution for private companies interested in leadership and capital succession. Restricted stock and employee stock options often distort outcomes for private companies. Consider that:

The underlying stock price in a private company gyrates as owners enter and exit from, for example, a living or a death buyout or even a recapitalization. Stock price can jump 50% – unjustly rewarding the owners of true equity awards.

Continue reading Paying Fair: Four paths to fair pay and succession for private venture executives. →

Focus, Manage to Lead, People Matters

Empowering Leadership: Cultivating Accountability and Growth in Your Team

April 21, 2015 Peter DiGiammarino 3 Comments

I tell everyone who works with, or for, me that they are never to do something because I told them to do it. I do not want or expect anyone to do what I ask just because I told them to do it. Instead, I insist they do what they do because:

They understand what they are doing.
They know why it makes sense to do it.
They believe it is wise and right to do.
They want to do it.

The objective is to make them (as opposed to me!) accountable for what they do and to help them grow through the experience. Soon I will not have to ask them anymore because what I want done will be internalized and we can move on to the next stage of growth.

If I ever ask them to do something that they do not understand, agree with, or want to do then I beg them to tell me about it so that we can talk it through.

An approach that demands people to do something, but that does not take time to be sure those being told understand and agree with doing it, may seem more like what a CEO should do. It is not and this explains why:

When things do not go quite right it is too easy for the person to let themselves “off the hook” as they say, either out loud or to themselves, that: “I only did it because the boss told me to.”

It is a human tendency to do what you are told to do by persons in positions of authority. However, when you follow an order, you do not necessarily have to:
1. 1. Understand what is going on.
  2. Consider the goal and come up with alternative actions that move towards achieving it better, more efficiently, or faster.
  3. Decide on an action to take.

That is, following an order removes the obligation to know, think, or decide. You just do what you are told and assume, hope, or trust that someone smarter, or someone in a position of higher authority, has made a good decision.

The limit of this is that people do what you tell them to do and little or nothing else! A growing organization requires people to think for themselves, to generalize, and to apply broadly lessons learned.

The leader in a growing organization can be, and often is, the constraint to growth. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix: rather than telling subordinates what to do, the leader should spend the bulk of their time helping the next generation of leaders develop to the point where they operate independently; thereby freeing up the leader for strategic initiatives and other actions that only they can perform.

CEOs who thrive on the heady sense of power that comes from knowing that their staff will do their bidding are consistently out-performed by those who do just the opposite and expect employees to think and act for themselves in pursuit of company performance and personal development.

IntelliVen