Building Employee Performance Plans

Often leaders are certain employees know what is expected of them only to find out during performance reviews or discussions that the employee was not well informed of the expectations for performance and behavior.

It is recommended that leaders take the time to build performance plans for each job description they are responsible for.

In our Supervisor Boot Camp, the manager is taught how to put the Coaching for Excellence model to work. 

The model first calls for creating performance expectations.

 

This does not have to be done in a vacuum; instead, ask for and seek input from employees. Use the job description as a guide. Standards and expectations are about the requirements for each job position. It’s about the conditions that must exist before performance can be rated satisfactory. Performance standards and expectations are important because they minimize ambiguity and they allow for more objectivity when providing feedback during a coaching session or during a performance review. Expectations can include rules, outcomes and tasks. Once the expectations have been created the next step is to effectively communicate them.

Expectations have a powerful impact on our performance. Expectations have a direct link to behavior and outcomes. One of the most common reasons for low employee morale and performance is poor communication of work expectations. Expectations are the basis for developing a written, negotiated employee performance plan. Expectations are consistently a part of training and coaching. 
 

Expectations need to be conveyed in writing. When the leader fails to provide a written list of expectations because the assumption is the employee knows what is expected, we cannot be surprised when those expectations are not met. 

It is best if everyone in the company is clear about the overall strategic plan and company goals. Employees need to see how their responsibilities and expectations contribute to the company’s goals. The leader’s job is to communicate expectations clearly and not allow assumptions room to grow. 

Still learning,

Honey

www.interaction-training.com

                                     

                               

What to do About Generational Retention

One of my colleagues that I truly admire, Trent Fleming, wrote in his blog last week about Generation Retention. This topic concerns every financial institution but especially the rural communities.  Here's what Trent shared...

Generational Retention

This material originally appeared on my Rural Economic Revitalization Blog at www.arkansawriverwriter.blogspot.com The Des Moines Register recently reported that 50% or more of those expected to inherit farm land will sell it.  This reminded me that Generational Retention remains a key to the continued viability of many community banks. I will expound on each of the three key issues, but I felt it appropriate to include this general post as a reminder:

General Transfer is a key issue for most rural banks. One challenge these banks have is relationship retention. If you've taken the first step (and some are frankly afraid to look) and found that many of the heirs to your current deposits are "somewhere else" then you realize the challenge. Two parallel tracks are necessary. First, address the heirs who are still local. Reach out, through parents if necessary, to form relationships and help these heirs learn that your bank can be a valuable tool for managing the assets that will be left to them, be they a business, land, or simply deposits. Second, put together a plan to reach out to absentee heirs with essentially the same message . . . we are here to help you manage your inheritance. Your plan for resident and non-resident heirs is comprised of three main parts: relationship (a face); services; and technology.

Generational Retention: Relationships

In keeping with the theme of what community banks can do to preserve relationships as older depositors die off, my last post indicated there were three keys. This time, lets look at the first key - the Relationship Factor. If you want to keep banking relationships beyond the current generation, you must - well before a "transfer inducing" event occurs - establish solid relationships with heirs. This starts early in life . . . even during elementary school. Kids savings programs, and financial education, can serve to implant your brand into kids thinking. As kids grow older, work with mom and dad to make sure the kids feel that the bank is a trusted friend and adviser. We'll talk more about technology in a future post, but it is essential in staying connected to these youngsters if they leave home. Hosting events, or webinars, regarding estate planning, generational transfer, and asset management will strengthen your position as that trusted adviser, and make it easy for heirs to look to your bank for money management advice and services. That's the goal . . . when parents retire or pass away, you want to keep your relationships with the family money, the family business, the family farm. Building strong relationships is the key.

Generational Retention: Technology

Lets look at the second of the three keys to retaining banking relationships across generations: technology. Banking has been quick to adapt many new technologies, and a lot of them are customer facing. From the advent of automated teller machines, through voice response systems, to today's mobile banking platform, customers are demanding, and banks (most of them anyway) are providing a variety of technologies to make access to information and transactions simple and painless. A large part of maintaining and preserving relationships with heirs and potential heirs is ensuring that it's easy for them to do business with you. This includes Internet Banking for individuals, and Internet cash management for businesses, along with remote deposit capture for those customers who still handle checks as a primary payment method for their business dealings. The rising popularity of Smart Phones makes mobile banking - as an extension of your Internet Banking product - a must.

Packaging and promoting these services is important . . . as a part of your overall bid to serve out of town (and of course local) customers. Put together a brochure (print and electronic) and perhaps a web site to promote your ability to assist families in preserving and enhancing wealth across generations . . . include descriptions of all the ways that you can help. Remember that promoting a comprehensive package casts you in a much better light than waiting to react to requests for services. If you are serious about surviving generational transfer, make that evident to all that do business with you.

Generational Retention: Services

The final of our three keys to success is services. Some of this has already been covered under technology - but there is more to it than that. Business specific expertise is an important part of helping families realize that there may be more value to keeping the family farm or business than selling it. Land management, timber management, business valuation, estate planning, and general business planning advice are all important, depending on the economic landscape in the communities you serve. These capabilities will set your bank apart with current and future generations. For example: the death of the farmer in the family need not mean selling off the land, if you can aid the surviving spouse in leasing out the land for farming. Doing so can provide comfort to the family, by keeping the land, and generate needed income for years to come. There are many examples across many family oriented businesses.

As I stated previously, packaging and promotion is critical . . . as a part of your overall bid to serve the heirs to your current customers. Remember that promoting a comprehensive package casts you in a much better light than waiting to react to requests for services. Again, if you are serious about surviving generational transfer, make it evident to all that do business with you.

About the Author

Trent Fleming serves as a trusted adviser to financial institutions. For more than three decades, he has worked with banks on matters as diverse as strategic planning, business continuity, employee education, and operational efficiency. Fleming's presentations on technology, management, and strategy consistently get the highest marks from his audiences. He serves on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, and regularly contributes articles to industry publications. He also publishes the very popular banking newsletter “Trent's Comments.” Trent holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from Christian Brothers University. More information at www.trentfleming.com or on twitter @techadvisor.

Still learning!

Honey

Learners Wanted!

Google is one the most prized places to work.  People who have applied there report that there's a maze of interviews so rigorous you’d think they were designed to be impossibly tough.  In an article I read in the Houston Chronicle the director of personnel and hiring at the Internet giant of all giants says the overriding theme at Google is: "Perfectionists, overachievers and know-it-alls need not apply." So who are they looking for?  Learners!

The Google campus in California's Silicon Valley is a place where employees are encouraged to take risks, make mistakes, consider alternate theories, weigh new evidence, recalibrate their thinking and, along the way, learn, learn, learn.

Google places a high premium on learning ability and intellectual humility.  Laszlo Bock, who is known in the Google world as the "head of people operations”,  told The New York Times recently that you have to be willing to not dominate a project or run roughshod over a team.  Instead, you should learn from others, own up to your mistakes and lead by relinquishing rather than asserting power, he said. 

So what kind of traits would Google key in on as they look for learners?  Here is the list the syndicated columnist, Ruben Navarrette Jr. penned in his article, Identifying Keys for Mega-Success,  I enjoyed.

Hard work, good grades, fancy degrees and professional contacts don't hurt, but you need more if you're going to get where you want to go in the work world.  Such as:

The ability to listen.  With so many so eager to have our say, it's getting harder to find people who understand the value of keeping your mouth shut and your ears open.

Common sense.  Often in short supply in business and in politics, it’s more important and valuable than sheer intelligence and also has the added benefit of helping cut through clutter and noise.

Integrity.  If you have it, you’ll find that people are more willing to deal with you and better able to trust you than if you don't.

Social skills.  The world is full of smart and capable people, but many are introverts who don't have the ability to interact with fellow human beings.  These skills carry you far.

Perseverance.  If you accomplish everything you set out to do, you’re setting your goals too low.  Failure is a first-rate education, and being successful means not giving up.

I am always on the lookout for good reads and I thank Ruben Navarrette Jr. for providing me one!

What traits do you deliver on?  Would you be described as a learner?

Still learning,

Honey