1

the idiot-proof coaching tool for managers

Why are we asking you to shut up?

We believe that to be the best leader you can be, you need to be a fearless, bold, effective coach on a daily basis. We also think the key to you being a great coach is to talk less, not more.
So we created the Idiot-Proof Coaching Tool for Managers: a very simple way to quickly coach anyone through any situation. Heres what we think you need to be a kick-@*! performance coach... 1. 2. A willingness to engage and coach daily as necessary. Dont delay, coach today. Effective use of the Idiot-Proof Coaching Tool. We want you to mix in your own personality and style, but you have to stay true to the tool. That means shutting up from time to time and letting the employee take control of the conversation. The ability to deal with the 100 sidetracks that will be thrown your way as you coach your team members. Pesky things, those employees; they dont always make it easy on you. They try to throw you off your game - sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. No Pass-Throughs: If you want to be a superhero coach, you wont be able to bitch about the company or the department head you work for (which is what we define as the pass-through). Youll need to own all the reasons you provide when you ask for more performance, and link company strategy with the career goals of the team member. Simply put, you cant blame others when youre asking for improvement - you have to own it. You have to continuously migrate team members up the performance chart via your coaching over time. Bad to good, good to great, you move them. Youre a coach. Thats what youre paid to do as a manager of people.

3.

4.

5.

Like everything else in your role as a manager, its not easy. You can have strong knowledge of how to coach, then that one nasty variable - the other person - can blow your game to smithereens. Its OK though, were here to help. To start with, this e-book contains a series of color paper-style coaching tips from Sonar6; some very practical and worthwhile advice to kick off with. Then youll want to check out the recorded version of the Idiot-Proof Coaching Tool introductory webinar we held recently...

Lets get started!

Kris Dunn, Fistful of Talent

The Coaching Tips...

Ratings are out!
Joris Luijke, Global HR Director Atlassian

... borrowed from sonar6

.com/colorpapers

Go beyond the rating scale if you want a really productive performance conversation...

Please shut up
Kris Dunn, hrcapitalist.com Managers, sometimes you just need to zip it...

Know thyself
Tim Sackett SPHR, EVP HRU Technical Resources, timsackett.com

You cant talk to others about their failings if you have no idea what yours are...

How Angry Birds made me a better manager

Success is about teams, not individuals...

Accentuate the positive

Steve Boese, steveboese.squarespace.com Its actually OK to discuss peoples strengths in reviews...

The manager-miner metaphor

Recognize achievements, publicly...

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Trish McFarlane, hrringleader.com and cofounder of HREvolution thehrevolution.org

The 10% cure for frustration

Kick the bucket...

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Ratings are in! Or something...

OUT!
Its almost impossible to talk meaningfully about someones performance as a whole (Nicola, I thought you did great last year). So instead most performance conversations are broken down into chunks & at Sonar6 we call these chunks factors. For example a factor might be a hard performance metric, like sales, or a softer behavior, like teamwork. People typically get a rating on each factor, and there are a million different types of rating scales, which many smart people have put lots of effort into designing. But for the purposes of this coaching idea the actual rating scale is, er... kind of irrelevant.

And this is why...

good communication skills

contribute some new ideas

Nico

la

usually a good listener

friendly!

do my share of the work

5 5

Teamwork 8 9 10

Imagine you have a rating scale from 1 to 10 (like I said it really doesnt matter), youre dealing with a factor of teamwork, and your employee Nicola has rated herself a 5. I usually
lead group discussions...

The best way to get to the absolute core of understanding how Nicola views her contribution to teamwork is not to ask her to explain why she is a 5. Its to ask her why she isnt a 4.

Teamwork
4 4

Your communication skills have really improved

Why? Because that forces her to think about the incremental stuff she did: the things that made a difference. Which is a lot more specific, and a lot more useful. It also tells you the things that Nicola thinks are important for this factor.

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The best part is that this then sets you up for the obvious follow up question: Why werent you a 6?
How can we make that happen? I could coordinate tasks more efficiently!

Teamwork
4 5
6 6

Why is this a cool question? Because it allows you to start the development discussion. What are the tangible things that she could have done better? Can we work together to do those things from now on?

You dont need to use this approach for every factor, but its particularly useful if you and your employee have a difference of opinion. If that ever happens!

Please shut up.

Often we get a clearer understanding of our own goals, ambitions and weaknesses just by vocalizing them: quite a useful technique to have in the performance review toolkit! But too often review discussions end up being all manager, all the time. The poor employee barely gets a word in edgewise, and the chance for that clearer understanding is lost. Please... shut up If one person is talking for more than half of the review (and face it, thats unlikely to be the employee) its not a conversation; its a lecture. So try this: stop talking at employees at review time. Its much more useful to prompt with something open-ended and just listen to what they have to say. Sure, with some people that might mean the occasional uncomfortable silence before they fire into action. Get used to it. Be zen.
Tell me about your moth... performance

Heres an example: Our manager, lets call him Tim, is a Tims savvy tech guy who has been promoted up the ranks and is gaggle now in charge of a whole gaggle of savvy tech guys. Since managers are people, whether they understand their own strengths and weaknesses can change how they approach feedback and coaching. Most people know their strengths, but for most of us its a lot harder to acknowledge our weaknesses and allow for them when dealing with others.
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Tim is technically brilliant - or he wouldnt have been promoted - but that means he can get a bit impatient with his team, most of whom are a bit slower than Super Tim on the tech-uptake. This isnt a hanging offence: even tech guys can have strengths in other areas (and if we wanted a team of Tim-clones we would just go to those guys who cloned that sheep that time.)
REV IEW

And if youre dealing with under-performance there is a further reason to zip it...

Mmhmm. Yep. Mmhmm. Sure. Ok.

many

...And if we look at issue 37b we see there have been multiple occasions where someones requested support and your followup time has been in the unacceptable range, once it seems you were playing Minesweeper, which is odd because I prefer Solitaire and nobody really plays Minesweeper any more, but in any case we lift your performance and improve response times. Now on to the issue of your TPS reports, were using new covers on them now. Did you get the memo? Your reports are usually on time but you need to follow the new requirements because weve set a new standard and need everyone to follow it.

Know Thyself
If you never stop yapping, the team member receiving the feedback is uninvolved and off the hook. All they need to do is listen, nod occasionally, and then go right back to doing things the way they always have. You didnt involve them in the conversation, you told them what to do. Why would they listen? Why should they change? Let your employees talk. Please, please... shut up.

Tim

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When it comes time for Tim to review his team, it can go either of 2 ways: Tim fails to account for his impossibly high standards and comes down hard on those who take more than 2 minutes to learn a new tech trick (these guys dont actually suck, they just arent at Tims technical level.)
I appreciate your thorough approach & your documentation is a really useful resource.

Epic Fail

Fail

Meh

WinThis is youWin Epic

2 Tim recognizes he needs to be more realistic in his

expectations and tailors his conversations accordingly.

Tims feedback has more credibility if his employees understand their contribution to the teams success, and arent just getting hammered for not being a Tim-clone. And Tim is able to give this feedback because he knows his frame of reference. Understanding (or at least appreciating the existence of) differences within teams is the key to useful feedback and effective coaching: the best team isnt the one with a bunch of identical people; the best team is the one with the people who fit together the best. And managers? When it comes down to it, your job is really about getting the best from your team, not the best from your individual employees... # 4! ng tip coachi

How Angry Birds made me a better manager

All managers should be making use of individuals talents, but great managers play a bigger game; they understand the potential of entire teams. Performance reviews typically look at individuals, but managers are responsible for the output of a team, not the teams components. A great manager needs the skills to manage combinations more than people, and the skills to plan for the short term and long term development of these combinations.

Angry Birds taught me to see my employees as a flock

multi-taskers solid workers problem solvers

closers

coordinators

the team

I picture my team as a flock of birds. Were trying to get eggs (the projects were working on). Theres a bunch of evil green pigs in the way: time consuming screw ups, budget blow outs, shipping problems and other annoying stuff. I have to motivate my team of employee-birds to solve the pig-problems. My team has different skill sets. I pair my newbies up with more experienced people, and mix skill sets to solve problems more effectively. To do this I need a really clear idea of what my people are good at - that Steve can do a bunch of things at once, and Helen can clear whats left of a project in record time.
the flock-team
and gets the job done!

e knocks off th blems pesky pig-pro

When we kill the pigs, solve the problems (using metaphorical explosive crates and rocks) and meet our targets, we go out for a beer. Another level successfully completed. Managers need to utilize skills collectively, over time, and understand how strengths and weaknesses work to produce the most effective team. Its about knowing how to mix your red birds with your blue birds. Businesses are run by teams, large and small. The success or failure of projects (and even the whole business) rests on whether these teams perform well. Looking at the performance of each person is important, but you really need a view of how the whole team works: how the combinations of people work, and which teams out-perform others (and why).

Accentuate the positive...

One of the most common coaching mistakes managers make is zeroing in on weaknesses and trying to fix them to help employees improve. Which makes sense on the surface - if your radios not working perfectly, you twiddle with the aerial or replace a transistor or whack in another battery - you fix whatevers broken so its performance improves. Most people are a wee bit different from your average radio though...

(youve got to)

You cant always fix whats broke

For most of us, our core competencies are pretty well developed by the time were in the workforce. That means its going to be an uphill battle to improve our skills in an area where were weak (those of us whove tried to learn a programming language with minimal technical aptitude can attest to this). Its far less of a struggle to take something were already good at, and make us Even Better at it. Leveraging our strengths takes less time, costs fewer resources, and faces less resistance - because we already do it, we like it, we know were good at it, and we get good feedback for it (which makes us happy, so we do more of it).

When were good were very very good

The fact is, most of us know how to do our jobs. Or most of our jobs. Most of the time. The stuff that really makes us happy is the stuff were best at. If were really good at painting huge murals, well be at our happiest, most engaged and most productive when were painting huge murals, not analyzing the paints and solvents budget.

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In fact its very unlikely that this approach:
Your maths skills need work. Youre going on a course.

Were getting great exposure from your murals. You need more time to do more. Greg from finance will work on your budgets with you so you can get out and paint.

Is going to result in a better outcome for the team than this one:

Not that you should avoid the negatives completely - after all, if theyre not discussed, how can they be addressed? But youll risk really messing up an employee by taking the one or two things they may have had problems with and treating them with the same importance as the 50 things they did really well.

the manager-miner metaphor

- storyteller!
The most successful organizations have one thing in common; theyre able to inspire their employees, and they recognize achievements. This may sound simple, but so many companies fail to reach higher levels of success because they just cant do these two things. It has to do with a haphazard means of recognizing and acknowledging the good work that employees are doing. Its not that managers dont want to recognize it - its just that they may not have the means to capture the behavior. Thats why managers need to be miners and storytellers.

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Digging up gold
Miners dig through the dirt and rock to find shiny precious things. Being a manager at review time is no different. Managers wont have full knowledge of every task or project employees have worked on, so it becomes their job to mine for this information. Theyll need to talk with internal or external clients, review any conversations theyve had, analyze project goals, etc to find something gold.

Once the manager has this wee nugget they can build coaching and feedback around it, and refine it further by finding challenging work opportunities to develop the raw gold into something truly awe-inspiring. But it doesnt end here. The step that many managers miss is the storytelling component: however great it is to have a manager tell an employee how well they performed, or how awesome their latest work is, its even better when the manager tells other people.

Telling the tale

As a manager, find creative ways to tell everyone what your team is doing. Its by publicly acknowledging their contribution that you give them the non-monetary recognition that reinforces current performance and drives strong performance in the future.

in

ne

r!

So: 1 Dig around and find that nugget for each employee 2 Refine and develop it into something truly precious (ie,
something your organization will really benefit from - maybe a nice necklace) 3 Tell everyone about it, and make sure the employee gets the glory for their creation 4 Everyone benefits!

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the

10% cure for frustration

When youre coaching your staff to better performance you need to listen - actively listen, dont just nod and smile. Make the listening regular, caring and authentic. Build trust. Be empathetic. Connect personally (stop just short of hugging). If you find someones frequently telling you about the frustrations that affect their performance, then those frustrations need to be addressed. Everyone is frustrated by different things - task or people focused, large-scale or small. Sometimes you can solve some of the little frustrations during the conversation. Start by letting people brainstorm their own solutions (maybe with some gentle nudging) and encourage them to be proactive in dealing with the small things that bug them - before those sparks turn into forest fires.

only you can prevent employee forest fires

But you cant always solve every frustration in the space of one conversation - some will be too big, too complicated, left to fester far too long. Naturally we have a suggestion to deal with this...

The bucket lists

Get your Frustratee to make 3 lists*:

A. The sweet stuff. The part of the job that makes them feel proud, satisfied or
accomplished. The day-to-day bits - workable, dont suck, but arent a reason for getting out of bed in the morning ARGH!11!

B.

C. The really frustrating things about the job that are making them crazy - the

*(sometimes just writing the list can offer solutions to little frustrations.)

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RATIN GS
Job knowle dge Work quality Work quantit y Resour cefulne ss Organi zation Time manage ment Interpe rsonal skills Custom er focus Attenda nce Attitud e

1 2 3 4
EMPLOYE
Name: Title: Depart me

E PERFORM

5
ANCE REVIEW
Date:

nt :

Vivam us varius Consect etur Pulvina r

Reviewer:

01/01/1 0 Sed luctus 09

GOALS
Goal 1:

Review Period :

1: Unsatisf actory

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EMPL OYEE

Lorem 3: Meets Expectat adipisc ipsum dolor ions Cura ENTS ing eleifend sit amet, Areas to cong bitur consect improve: 4:Exceeds metus uspend Expecta in etur ligul ue. Viva justo tionsnon isse a Quisq tristi mus turp arcu odio, sed neque 5: Outstand nibh. variu is. Sed facilisis amet ue nonque sem, Pellent ing
COMM

REVIE WER

2: Fair

Comments :

Achieved?

Y/N

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POLIC IES

swe

et

ARGH!

Put these into 3 buckets and then find ways, together, to spend 10% less time on the ARGH in Bucket C and increase by 10% time spent on the sweet stuff in Bucket A. This might mean analyzing the ARGH in Bucket C and making sure its actually necessary, reassigning some of it to a more suitable candidate or diverting incoming requests for more of it to make sure your frustratee has enough time to spend on the sweet stuff. 10% is realistic and achievable - its not radically changing the world (or even the job-related part of it) but its making measurable progress and eliminating real frustrations. Maybe in your next conversation you can figure out how to move another 10%...

Why bother?
Filling Bucket A means spending more time on the sweet stuff, which makes for a happier employee. And overall performance improves when people do what theyre good at; its just better business (see coaching tip #5!)

& theres more where that came from...

sonar6.com fistfuloftalent.com

@sonar6 @fistfuloftalent

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