Performance Management Cycle

Big Brothers Big Sisters Managing Employee Performance

Manager’s Guide Performance Management Cycle

Conduct Development Set Planning Departmental Organizational Goals Direction: Description Strategy Set Objectives & Operational Competencies Planning Culture

Review Job Recognize & Description, Reward Set Objectives Performance & Assess Organizational Competencies Needs Monitor Development Performance Planning Provide Feedback & Consequences Coach

Monitor Performance Assess & Provide Review Feedback & Performance Consequences Coach Encourage Progress: Assess & Review Performance

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 2 Performance Communication Principles

If you ask people what they want most from their jobs, more than likely they’ll tell you they want to feel good about themselves and their work and to know their jobs are important. They want to be involved in their jobs and they want to be treated with respect. In every aspect of managing employee performance there are four principles to keep in mind. In your communications with employees, you should aim to: . Maintain or enhance their self-esteem . Listen and respond with empathy . Ask for their help and encourage involvement . Share your thoughts, feelings and rationale

When these principles are used effectively they communicate that you are committed to building confidence, instilling trust and providing whatever it takes for people to do their jobs as competently as possible. Here’s how these principles play out in the performance cycle: . When you are establishing expectations (objectives, performance standards and competencies): o Encourage cooperation and commitment to actions o Establish a climate of openness and trust o Provide support for achieving objectives and demonstrating competencies o Emphasize the need for individual contributions in achieving BBBS goals . When you help people perform successfully by providing feedback, coaching and tracking progress: o Help people stay on target toward achieving their performance plan o Ensure continued commitment to objectives and competencies o Increase involvement and self-management o Promote continuous development and improvement . When you review performance: o Promote dialogue and mutual decision making o Increase involvement as people review their own performance o Encourage development as people look for ways to improve performance

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 3 Developing Performance Objectives

What is an Objective? An objective is a statement of what you aim to achieve… the outcomes. The benefit of setting objectives is so that everyone is in alignment with what needs to get accomplished so your efforts are expended on what is really important. Furthermore, by clarifying with your employee upfront what effective performance looks like, there is more of a chance the two of you will be aligned when their performance is reviewed at the end of the year.

How Many Objectives Should I Have? Typically, employees should have 3 to 6 major outcomes or objectives they are targeting to achieve during the year.

What is the Process for Setting Objectives? After reviewing the agency’s goals, the Department Manager sets the department’s goals and then each employee in the department drafts a set of objectives for their job to discuss with their manager. Then, the employee and manager will determine what their objectives should be for the year.

Can Objectives Change During the Year? During the year, you and your employee may determine that some or all of their objectives should be modified. You may eliminate objectives or add objectives. Also, as business circumstances change and/or as your employee begins implementing the objective, they may discover that what constitutes success for that objective changes. For example, a new opportunity may arise that becomes a greater priority to the agency. Or, perhaps, it is discovered that the agency isn’t “ready” to implement a particular project your employee was assigned to work on and the project changes or deadlines change. Often, as an employee starts working on a project, they make discoveries that may indicate they need to modify what constitutes success. This is why discussing objectives with an employee is not a one-time event… it’s a conversation that should occur throughout the year.

How Do You Write an Effective Objective? In reviewing an employee’s draft objectives, ask yourself: . Is it written as an outcome? Does it describe what they are looking to achieve? Or is it simply a task or job responsibility? For example:  “Write grant proposals” is a job responsibility or a task. An objective would be: “By December 2009, grants written bring in 30% of the agency’s targeted revenue.”  “Make match support contacts” is a job responsibility or a task. An objective would be, “All matches should be contacted once a month.” Or “Average

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 4 match length of matches in caseload should be 12 months for school-based and 24 months for community based by the end of year.” . Does it reflect how success would truly be measured? When you consider your Department’s objectives and our values as an agency, what kinds of criteria would reflect success for the objective? For example, success might be reflected in terms of:  Quantity. How many of something the employee does? For example, the number of partnerships or prospects or the % improvement in retention rate  Impact on Customers. For example, satisfaction scores of Bigs or partners  Decrease in Errors  Increase in Revenue, Decrease Costs, within Budget, Money Saved  Improvement in System or Process Performance. For example, turnaround time or response time  Description of a job well done. Sometimes it is very difficult to measure the accomplishment of a goal. In that case, they might be able to describe what an effective job looks like. This way, you and your employee will be on the same wavelength.

. Is it SMART? Effectively written objectives satisfy 5 criteria whose first letters spell the acronym SMART.  Specific: Objectives must be clear and unambiguous. They should be written in terms of major outcomes, clear and concise, able to be clearly observed.  Measurable: Objectives should be quantifiable where possible and should answer the questions: What is the desired outcome? How will the employee measure the results? How will the employee demonstrate that they are complete?  Achievable: Objectives should be realistic and attainable by average employees. They should neither be out of reach nor below standard. Each one should be realistic given the available resources, other responsibilities, etc. and within the employee’s sphere of influence.  Relevant to the agency vision, mission and strategic business plan. Each objective should be consistent with the agency vision and business plan and most should align directly with a stated agency objective or departmental goal.  Time bound: Objectives should include a deadline by which they must be completed.

How are Objectives Rated? Mid-year and again at the end of the year, you and your employee will formally talk about and document the employee’s progress on achieving their objectives. You will rate

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 5 your employee on the accomplishment of each objective at the end of the year as well as their overall performance. The employee is not asked to do a self-rating, as it’s usually the experience that when both employees and managers rate employees, the performance review discuss focuses on debating ratings versus talking about performance. National’s rating categories are: . Does not meet minimum standards . Accelerated progress needed . Solid performance . Pace setting performance . Led to breakthroughs Your agency will establish your own rating system. The above is just one possibility.

What is the Rating Based On? How you rate an employee on an objective may depend on a number of factors, including: . To what degree they accomplished the objective . How difficult the objective was to accomplish . To what degree there were obstacles preventing full accomplishment . To what degree did they wisely use resources when accomplishing the objective . How much supervision they needed in accomplishing the objective . How they went about accomplishing the objective and what impact did this have on other people and other projects

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 6 Competencies

Why Are Competencies Important? Have you ever known someone who gets results, but in the process alienates people and takes shortcuts that negatively impact other departments? That’s an example of someone who may achieve their objectives, but doesn’t demonstrate effective behavior or competencies. If you only measure someone on their objectives, they may get their results, but at the expense of someone else… or at the expense of long-term results. The other reason competencies are important is that, if you demonstrate the competencies important to your job, you will be more likely to achieve your objectives. When a manager gives feedback to an employee, he or she gives feedback on the how of performance… on how well they demonstrated a competency or competencies. When a manager coaches an employee, he or she coaches them on how they can better use their competencies.

What is a Competency? There are two parts to a performance. Objectives/deliverables are what you achieve and competencies are how you achieve your objectives/deliverables. There are many definitions of the term competency. The simplest way to think about competencies is that they are categories of skills and behaviors that distinguish superior performance. Basically, there are three categories of competencies: job specific, leadership and general: . Job-Specific competencies apply to the skills needed to perform a specific job well. For example, a grant writer needs the technical or job-specific competencies to write persuasively to obtain funding. An IT professional needs the technical or job-specific competencies to troubleshoot software or hardware problems users have. . Leadership competencies refer to specific organizational skills and behaviors like managing change, managing people and strategic thinking. . General competencies refer to skills and behaviors such as interpersonal skills, attention to detail and planning and organizing.

What Does a Competency Look Like? Each competency is defined by a set of behaviors that specifies what you’d see someone doing that demonstrates high performance on the competency. For example, here is a competency that a manager might have:

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 7 Planning & Organizing: Able to help others prioritize their work and manage their time effectively; hold others accountable for creating adequately detailed project plans; coach others to follow up and monitor projects and help them see the benefits of doing so; plan ahead to make sure critical resources are lined up; set and stick to an agenda in meetings to avoid wasted time.

How Do You Incorporate Competencies into a Performance Management System? Competencies have been defined for VPPs and four other program roles that are used in selecting high performing employees in those roles. Competencies can also be incorporated in performance management systems. That is, in addition to being expected to achieve objectives or goals during the year, employees are also expected to demonstrate specific behaviors. If your agency decides to hold people accountable for specific competencies, the first year performance on competencies may not figure in the overall performance rating. Rather, to start with, they are used “for development”. This means that the competency and associated behaviors are listed on the appraisal form, during the year the employee gets feedback on them and at the end of the year the manager and employee write a summary of how the employee has performed in those competencies. There is no rating. For example: Competency Self Assessment Manager Assessment Planning and Organizing. This is a strength of Elmo’s that Able to help others prioritize he’s not only been able to share their work and manage their within the team, but within the time effectively; hold others agency. He created a project accountable for creating management template and used adequately detailed project project management software that plans; coach others to follow up has proven successful for other and monitor projects and help projects. All of his projects have them see the benefits of doing been on time, risks and issues so; plan ahead to make sure have been identified and managed critical resources are lined up; proactively. He is also mentoring set and stick to an agenda in someone to take over his role at meetings to avoid wasted time. managing the ABC project so he can move on to other challenges. That person has been stepping up beautifully in part because of the project management system and excellent file keeping that Elmo has put in place.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 8 Notice in the example that the manager talks about the impact this competency had on achieving objectives. He basically summarizes the behavioral examples he/she has collected. During your employee’s performance review, if they had defined competencies, you’ll talk with them about which one or two competencies or skills he or she will target for improvement and come up with a plan to improve their performance on them. In the next section, we’ll describe what a development plan might look like and the different options there are for developing employees. Once managers are used to providing feedback on behaviors, the agency may decide to rate employees on their competencies. Typically, competencies are rated on how frequently they are demonstrated. The agency may decide that a certain % of an employees overall performance rating depends on how they did on competencies. For example, perhaps 60-70% of the employee’s rating depends on what they achieved (their goals or objectives) and 30-40% of their overall rating depends on performance on competencies (or how they achieved their objectives).

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 9 Development Planning

What is an Effective Development Plan? An effective development plan identifies in a very specific way what behaviors the employee is targeting to develop and is also very specific about how they will go about improving them. Here is what part of a development plan might look like for someone for whom Planning and Organizing is not a strength. An effective plan is developed collaboratively by an employee and his/her manager. Ask the employee first for his/her ideas before providing yours. This manager needs to learn the skill himself prior to being able to coach his team in this area. Competency Development Actions Target Resources Needed Development Area Date Planning and 1. Talk with Elmo Butler and End of Manager will talk Organizing: adopt 3 or 4 project 2nd Q with Elmo Butler Needs to use to management and his boss about learn project tools/techniques for use in working with me management tools my Accelerating Revenue for upcoming project. projects 2. Observe Elmo Butler run a project meeting and have him observe me in launching team meeting for Accelerating Revenue project. 3. Read book, “Essentials of Project Management” and talk with manager and Elmo about insights.

Notice that the development plan includes learning from experience, not just reading a book or going to a course. “Lessons from experience” are often the greatest teachers as long as the employee has a thinking partner to reflect on the lessons learned. The following pages have a variety of different options for development. Share these with your employee to give them some ideas.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 10 Options for Development There are so many ways to develop someone! There are five categories to develop someone while they are in their current role. Following are the categories and examples of developmental assignments under each. Small Projects and Start-Ups which emphasize persuasion, learning new content quickly, working under time pressure and dealing with groups of people not worked with before. Such assignments may or may not emphasize individual leadership, depending on whether or not the person is in charge. Examples: . Task force on a pressing business problem . Plan an off-site meeting, conference, fundraiser . Handle a negotiation . Present proposal to management . Start up something small . Supervise assigning office space . Make presentations . Write PR releases or communications to media . Serve on new committee . Launch a new program . Assign project with tight deadline

Small Scope Jumps and Fix-Its, which emphasize team-building, individual responsibility, dealing with the boss, development of subordinates and time pressure. In these situations, the person should be in charge of people for a short period of time or are responsible for dealing with a specific crisis or problem (an “undoable” project, cost- cutting) where high conflict is likely. Examples: . Manage ad hoc group of inexperienced, less than competent people, former peers . Manage ad hoc group in a rapidly expanding operation . Manage ad hoc group in a static operation . Manage a group of experts in which you don’t have as much expertise . Deal with a crisis . Assign a project in which the last person who tried it failed . Supervise cost-cutting . Resolve conflict among warring subordinates . Make peace with an enemy

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 11 Small Strategic Assignments, which emphasize intellectual pressure, influence skills and a lack of credibility in some area. Having to report on findings and attempting to influence higher level managers should be a feature of such assignments. Examples: . Summarize new trend/technique; present to others . Write a proposal for a new approach . Write a speech for someone higher in organization . Write up a policy statement . Study funder needs . Postmortem on failed project . Study innovation of another organization or agency . Interview funders, partners or Bigs on their view of specific services

Coursework/Coaching Assignments, which emphasize missing something one needs to know and intellectual pressure. Examples: . Teach a course or workshop . Teach someone how to do something they are not expert in . Teach someone how to do something they are expert in . Design training course . Do a self-study project . Attend a course . Spend a day with an expert on some job aspect . Study new technical area

Activities Away from Work. Examples: . Become active in a professional organization . Become active in a volunteer organization . Become a Big Brother or Sister . Join a community Board . Act as a consultant on a problem/issue outside job . Coach children’s sport

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 12 Feedback

Why Is Performance Feedback Important? One of the major reasons for unsatisfactory performance by workers is a lack of feedback to them about the work they are doing. In fact, it has been estimated that approximately 50% of the nonperformance problems in organizations occur because of the lack of feedback. Staff don’t know how well or badly they are doing. If a staff person thinks he or she is doing okay, he/she has no reason to change.

Effective Feedback—Timely, Balanced and Specific Effective feedback answers the often unspoken question, “How am I doing? If employees know what their competencies and related behaviors are (that is, they have specific expectations about how they need to behave), they can get feedback from a number of sources: clients, peers, other managers, donors, partners. However, whether or not a job has defined competencies, employees need feedback from their managers. When they perform effectively or need to improve, tell them and provide specific feedback on what they did well or not so well and why. Your feedback is important. It helps determine whether people meet objectives and demonstrate competencies. For the best results, your feedback should be timely, balanced and specific. . Timely. As soon as possible after an incident occurs. The incident is still fresh in the person’s mind, so feedback will be more meaningful. . Balanced. Mix positive and negative comments throughout the discussion whenever possible. Too much negative feedback might make people defensive and unwilling to communicate. On the other hand, if you recognize all the good performance first and save corrective comments for last, people might feel as though you ‘set them up’. After giving corrective feedback, end the discussion with a plan for improving performance. Work closely with the person on the plan. The more the individual contributes to it, the more committed he or she will be to carrying it out. . Specific. A vague comment—“You could have done a better job on that call”— doesn’t identify a specific problem. It doesn’t say what was wrong or how to improve, and it’s not the type of feedback that will help someone achieve an objective. Similarly, general praise—“Good job on that call!”—doesn’t specify what the person actually did well and should continue to do.

Specific Feedback through Complete Behavioral Examples—STARs It might seem difficult to provide feedback because it relates to behaviors or skills that can’t always be quantified. As a result, people often base their feedback on opinions or feelings rather than fact. However, there is a way you can provide objective, reliable and significant feedback on competencies (whether the competencies have or have not been spelled out for a job). Use complete behavioral examples, or STARs. A STAR provides

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 13 a complete picture of a person’s behavior. It includes details about the Situation or Task, the Action, and the Result (STAR). Here’s a STAR: “I want to give you some feedback about how you handled that situation when the Big was considering ending the match (Situation). You asked the Big about his reasons and determined that he thought his Little didn’t like him anymore. Then you shared with him how the Little talked to you about how much his Big has meant to him and the specific things the Big did that he valued. You also explained to the Big that it’s normal for 12 year old boys not to express appreciation and that the Big shouldn’t interpret this as meaning he wasn’t having an impact (Action). As a result, the Big decided to continue the match. This will really help you achieve your match retention goals for the year (Result).

Sources of STARs You can collect STARs on performance from: . The employee themselves . Direct observation . Written material . Third-party reports

However, you might not always get complete behavioral examples. But without them, your feedback could be inaccurate and less meaningful. To collect all the information, you need to determine which elements of the STAR are missing and ask follow-up questions to fill in the gaps.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 14 Coaching

The Purpose of Coaching To coach is to “convey a valued person from where he or she is to where he or she wants to be.” In the simplest of terms, masterful coaching involves expanding people’s capacity to take effective action.

In essence, the purpose of coaching is to help people change. If there is no change, then the coaching has not had any impact. To facilitate change, you must understand people’s real needs. Often, however, what the problem the employee says they need help with is rarely the underlying issue. The employee’s real needs emerge through a process of co-discovery in which all sources of information are explored within the context of the employee’s life and work.

Coaches must be skilled at adapting their methods, techniques and approaches to the needs of the people they coach. Most coaches consistently fail in the fundamentals of listening, empathizing and probing (asking questions) even when they think that is what they are doing. Instead, they revert to advice giving, problem solving and theorizing. This is a human tendency in all kinds of helping situations, a tendency to want to fix the problem. All of us have grown up with an implicit model of coaching that is fundamentally flawed. We have learned how to help others while receiving instruction, advice and guidance from our parents, teachers, religious leaders, scoutmasters, athletic coaches who, for the most part, take a directing, authoritarian approach.

Coaching Style Preferences Research tells us that most people who coach prefer to use a directing approach which involves observing us perform and then telling us what they think, good or bad, about how we’re doing and what we could be doing differently. At best, they are experts in their field. They know more than we do and we benefit when they share their insights. Directing managers may ask insightful questions and be good listeners, but their fundamental modus operandi is to direct us toward the path they think we need to take. If they are right, and we submit to their will, then we may perform better and profit from the experience. This approach to coaching is appropriate when the manager is more of an expert on the topic, when the situation is hazardous, if there is one way to do something or if there is little time for coaching. Directing coaching is also the right approach when employees ask for advice and when it truly is what they want. Most managers prematurely decide what the employee’s issues are, direct the conversation according to that assumption and frequently discover later that they were wrong.

However, most employees want their manager to be a “thinking partner” (developing). That is, they want their manager to ask vs. tell. They want their manager to solicit their perceptions and ideas, ask probing questions, listen and guide them toward their own answers. The best developing managers have an elegant repertoire of questions and know how to ask the right questions at the right time to evoke insight. This is the real key to success in this type of coaching. Questions that merely elicit facts are not particularly insightful. Insightful questions are those that provoke the employee into questioning why something is the case or what the implications are of various courses of action or that capture the imagination by getting the employee to think of possibilities.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 15 What Directing Coaches Do What Developing Coaches Do

. Are to the point . Ask for self observation and perspective . Are specific and outspoken about what before giving feedback and opinions they want people to do . Ask open ended, insightful questions that . Give positive feedback make people think for themselves first . Provide direction . Probe deeper into the individual to better . Take an assertive and active role in the understand how to help coaching process . Minimize lecture . Tell experiences based on examples when . Allow employees to make the final coaching decision for what they need to do and take responsibility for their decisions

Dialogue The work of coaching is done largely through conversation. In fact, over the period of time a manager works with an employee, there will be many conversations. Together, these conversations constitute the dialogue between the manager and the employee. Dialogue is a process of discovery.

One commonly thinks of dialogue as a conversation between two or more people or as the words spoken by characters in a work of fiction. The term acquired a more specialized meaning in the 1990’s when a British physicist and philosopher, David Bohm, found that many of the world’s problems occurred because people talk at cross-purposes, don’t examine their assumptions, are unaware of how their perceptions influence their thought processes and try to prevail in conversations by imposing their “truth” on others.

The most fundamental coaching skills are asking and listening. Being attentive to the employee, really hearing what’s being said and being facile at asking insightful questions take managers a long way. However, to create a rich and insightful dialogue, managers must also express empathy, give feedback, reflect on what they’ve heard, make generalizations and advise and confront.

Many managers are not skillful at dialogue, probably because they are talkers and advice givers by nature. They have a strong need to assert their knowledge or be in control of the situation. Other managers become so immersed in the conversation that they can’t step away from the flow of the dialogue and think about pacing, disclosure and the give-and-take of information as employees progress toward insights. Ultimately, this is what dialogue is about, helping employees gain insights about themselves that they would not have had without the dialogue. Without these moments of insight, employees are unlikely to change and grow.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 16 A Typical Coaching Scenario Following is a typical coaching scenario. The manager is well-intended, but, see if you can determine where he misses the boat before you turn the page.

Jan is the new Director of Program. As she’s trying to learn more about how the agency does match support, she’s been listening to how some of the MSS do their match support contacts. She noticed that one of the newer MSS doesn’t ask many questions when she calls the Bigs. She basically asks how the match is going and then, shortly afterwards, ends the call. Jan also noticed that the retention rate of Cindy’s matches is much lower than that of her more experienced colleagues. Jan opened the coaching session and began the process of discovery that would help him understand Cindy’s needs. After the preliminaries in their discussion, Jan asked about her approach to doing match contacts.

Jan: Cindy, as you know I’ve been listening to how the Match Support Specialists on the team handle their match contacts. I noticed that on the two calls you had just now you spent just a few minutes with the Bigs. I want to know more about your approach.

Cindy: Jan, I have so many calls I have to do. I can’t spend too much time on these calls. I think my caseload is too high.

Jan: Let’s talk about what you are trying to accomplish on these calls. Why do you think they are important?

Cindy: Well, I’m supposed to make sure the match is going well. So, if the Big and Little say the match is okay, I say, “That’s great and… that’s it.”

Jan: I think you need some training in how to ask better questions of the match…

Question: What mistake did Jan make in coaching Cindy? What should she have done differently?

Turn the page for the answer.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 17 The above is a typical coaching scenario. Jan thinks the real problem is Cindy doesn’t have the skills she needs to coach the Bigs. However, she jumped too quickly from preliminary problem identification to solution. In her desire to be helpful, Jan is like a problem-seeking missile. As soon as she detects a problem, she hones in on it and tries to solve it. In doing so, she is making a rookie coach’s mistake: treating effects rather than causes. Consider what Jan defined as Cindy’s problem; she needs skills in coaching. This may be the case, but more likely this is a consequence or outcome of some underlying problem; it is not the problem itself. Until she understands the root causes, she cannot truly be helpful to her.

Now let’s take a re-look at this scenario and see what it sounds like when Jan engages in a true dialogue with Cindy and helps her get to the heart of the issue.

Getting to the Heart of the Issue: Exploring the Problem Jan: Let’s talk about what you are trying to accomplish on these calls. Why do you think they are important?

Cindy: Well, I’m supposed to make sure the match is going well. So, if the Big and Little say the match is okay, I say, “That’s great and… that’s it.”

Jan: Cindy, help me understand something. What happens if you sense the match isn’t going well? Has that ever happened? (Note: You need to know whether this situation or behavior is unusual and, if so, why. This is called exploring context.)

Cindy: (reflecting) Yes, when a Big tells me they might end a match, I try to find out why and convince them to hang in there.

Jan: Tell me about a call like that.

Cindy: Yesterday, I got a call from a Big who wanted to end the match. She was really upset because her Little just sits there and won’t say much. I got a little bit more information and then called the father. The grandmother answered and told me the Little’s father was in the hospital and the Little is really worried that he might die. That’s what happened to her mother. When I spoke to the child, she said that her Big meant a lot to her…. Then I called the Big back and told her what was going on. We had a great conversation about how the Big just needed to be a little patient right now and that this is typically what happens …. The Big said she didn’t have a lot of experience with quiet children in general, so we talked about how she might… She decided not to end the match.

Jan: That’s really good. Yet, how come you didn’t use this approach with the calls I heard.

Cindy: Well, I used to have conversations like this with all my matches, but then I was told by my old manager that I would need to handle a bigger caseload because we’re short staffed. So, I figured I would only spend time with matches that were just about ready to close…. I didn’t know what else to do.

Jan: That’s a real dilemma. I can see it’s upsetting to you. Well, we’re going to bring in some Fellows from Xavier School of Social Work to handle some matches. I don’t think we’ll need to add to your caseload.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 18 Cindy: That would be great. I really want to help Bigs and Littles have stronger relationships and prevent matches from closing prematurely. That’s why I took this job.

The above scenario illustrates the importance of asking good questions to probe beneath the surface… to “diagnose” what’s really going on. In Cindy’s case, she had skills in coaching and knew what to do, the problem was she thought she’d need to err on the side of quantity at the expense of quality. Through the coach’s skilled questioning and by the coach clarifying expectations, she was able to resolve her dilemma.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 19 Coaching Format On the following page is a simple format for coaching someone. In essence, it is a problem solving model. When you are functioning as a thinking partner with an employee, you, in general, want to help them solve their own problems. The first two stages are about identifying the real problem which is usually the bulk of the conversation. The second two stages are about generating solutions and selecting an action. It is important in the second stage to try to identify what the facts are because when people first start talking about an issue or problem they may not be clear or coherent about what’s really going on. They just know their side and their perceptions. Also, in the first stage, people may share emotions which can cloud the facts.

The bolded question in the third column of the chart below is the basic question you ask, but we’ve included a range of other probes you can use to help the employee think things through.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 20 Stage Goal Questions to Ask What’s up? Ask questions to What happened? confirm What seems to be the trouble? understanding What do you make of_____? How do you feel about_____? What concerns you most about______? What seems to be your main obstacle? What’s holding you back from_____? What’s so? Testing thinking to How did you reach that conclusion? agree on facts What do you mean by______? Tell me more about it? What else? What leads you to conclude that? How would you summarize your efforts so far? How is it working? What’s Generate What do think you might do? possible? possibilities for How do you want _____ to turn out? action What do you want? How do you suppose you could improve the situation? What are you thinking of doing about it? What if it doesn’t work out the way you wish? If you do____, how will it affect______? What else do you need to consider? What are some options/alternatives? What are the pros and cons of that approach? What do you think of these various alternatives we’ve been discussing? Let’s go! Confirm action plan What have you decided to do? What do you think you should do next? Who should you involve? When will you do____?

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 21 Performance Appraisal

Preventing Problems at Review Time . Identify expectations up front (including what constitutes different levels of performance) and reevaluate regularly; have employee participate in setting objectives. Objectives should be SMART. . Provide feedback on a regular basis and connect it to the impact on departmental/agency performance and achievement of mission/vision. . Solicit feedback from others about the employee’s performance. . Check in with employee periodically about how they are doing and what support they need. Help them navigate challenges if needed. . Encourage candor… especially about bad news. . Confront performance issues early. . Conduct formal interim reviews. . Recognize and reward performance. Use reinforcers and rewards the employee values. . Keep records of performance examples, feedback, conversations about performance. Ask the employee to do so as well. . Don’t hold individuals accountable for poor systems or processes or circumstances outside of their influence.

Differentiating Levels of Performance . Extent to which they achieved their objectives/goals . Complexity/visibility of objectives/goals . Amount of supervision required . How they achieved the objective (competencies) . Ability to navigate challenges . Impact on others and/or on the organization . Are they a role model/mentor/teacher in this area for others?

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 22 Ensuring a Successful Appraisal Discussion . There are no surprises; this summarizes discussions held during the cycle. By this time, people already have tracked their performance, collected data, received feedback from you and met with you regularly for coaching, reinforcing and periodic review discussions. . The emphasis is on continuous improvement and development. Performance reviews often make people uncomfortable and defensive. In this process, the discussion is positive. The key themes are continuous improvement and development, even if a person hasn’t met their goals. . The success of the discussion depends on the successful implementation of the performance management cycle. The success of this discussion also depends on the quality of coaching, reinforcing, feedback and data collecting that has taken place throughout the cycle. . People must be involved and get an opportunity to provide their input. Performance review discussions depend heavily on the other person’s involvement. The individual is responsible for compiling performance data, rating performance, planning personal development and sharing this information with you.

Preparing for the Discussion When scheduling the meeting, talk to the employee beforehand and: . Review what you will discuss and why. . Discuss what the individual must do to prepare for the discussion. . Explain the length and format of the discussion. . Gather and review pertinent data (feedback, meeting notes, coaching and reinforcing discussion notes, action plans or reports) that you have collected. . Give the person any performance data you’ve collected since your last discussion so the employee can review them. Suggest that the employee give you additional information about his or her performance for your review. . Use the information you’ve gathered to complete the appraisal. Record specific data or examples of feedback that will help the individual understand how you evaluated performance. . Before you meet with the employee, review your assessment of the employee with your manager. . Arrange for a private, quiet place, free from interruptions; schedule enough time for the discussion.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 23 Discussion Format- Option I

Since you’ve reviewed the employee’s self-evaluation before writing your evaluation of the employee, you have a sense of where the two of you may agree and disagree. One option is to have the employee review your evaluation of their performance during the meeting and then discuss first where you agree and then were you disagree. Here is a way of framing the discussion.

Introduction Thanks, Sally, for coming in. I’ve been looking forward to the chance to go over this past year with you. I’d like to go through the process carefully, since this will be one of the most important things that we do together all year.

Setting the Agenda I’d like to start by having you tell me about the evaluation that you wrote of your own performance--- what you felt were the most important items and how you came up with the evaluation that you did. Then I’d like to have you read the evaluation I wrote and talk about the highlights. I think the most productive way to proceed is for us to cover the areas where we both agree first, and then move into those areas where we don’t see exactly eye to eye. I want to explain how I went about evaluating your performance the way I did and give you the chance to ask me any questions you have. When we’ve finished evaluating last year, I’d like to talk about your development plans for the upcoming year. I have some ideas on things you might do to increase your skills, and I’m sure that you have some ideas in this area too.

Starting Things Off Why don’t you start by telling me how you feel this past year has gone?

Wrapping Up the Evaluation Discussion Now that we’ve reviewed your evaluation, let’s summarize the key points we’ve discussed. In general, you feel that [general statement of employee’s reaction to the appraisal]. Is that an accurate summary? In reviewing the evaluation, there are two areas in which I think your performance has been particularly strong: [describe two specific areas of strength that should be continued and enhanced].

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 24 There is also one area in particular that you need to work on improving. That area is [describe the single most important development area in the employee’s performance and explain why improvement is necessary]. That pretty much sums it up for me, Sally. Are there any other questions I can answer for you? [Listen and respond appropriately.] As a final matter, it’s our policy to ask you to sign the performance evaluation to make sure that you’ve had a chance to read and understand it. If you’d like to add any comments, feel free to do so. [Give evaluation to employee to sign.] We’ve already talked about your objectives (and competencies) for next year. I have every confidence you’ll be able to achieve them and continue to contribute to the agency.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 25 Discussion Format- Option II

Open State purpose and importance. Emphasize that the discussion is a summary of performance based on the information you’ve both been collecting throughout the cycle.

Provide the structure. Say: “We’ll take a look at objectives talk about your performance in each of them. Then we’ll talk about any actions that need to be taken. (If they have competencies…) Then we’ll look at each competency and talk about your performance in each. Then we’ll talk about how you’ve done on your development plan.

Clarify (Complete the Clarify and Discuss and Agree guidelines for each objective and competency… if the employee has competencies) Compare actual vs. expected performance. For each objective and competency discuss how actual performance compares to the level agreed to.

Review successes/problems. When the person has met objectives and competencies talk about behaviors that illustrate what he or she did to be successful. This enhances self-esteem and encourages continued or improved performance. Acknowledge the achievement when the person discusses successful performance.

If the person hasn’t met objectives or competencies effectively, be sure to keep the discussion positive to maintain self-esteem. This is a future-oriented discussion; you want to uncover causes of the problem and discuss what can be done about it. It won’t help to just rehash the details. Listen to the person’s rationale and respond with empathy. For example, “You didn’t achieve your match retention goal. Since you’re new, I can understand that you’re still learning how to help strengthen your matches…”

State how the person’s level of performance impacts departmental or agency goals and the agency’s mission. For example, “Your performance has helped us improve our overall match retention rate. Think about all the children’s lives you’ve impacted because of your efforts.”

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 26 Discuss and Agree Discuss performance on development plan. Ask employee to talk about progress. Add your observations.

Develop action plans and follow-up date(s), if needed. The two of you should agree on action plans to enhance successes or resolve problems. Discuss what the person should continue doing and what should be done differently. Seek the employee’s ideas and build on those ideas as much as possible to enhance commitment and self-esteem. The action plan might require removing obstacles or coaching the individual. When you discuss action plans, set follow-up dates to check for progress.

Close Summarize discussion. Ask the employee to summarize or use your notes to recap each action and follow-up date.

Express confidence.

D:\Docs\2017-12-14\0a57c238c64f3a5ca63b9595e5b182ec.doc 27 Handling Two Difficult Situations

If a person believes his or her rating is too low, but doesn’t have data to substantiate a higher rating: . Explain that you understand the individual’s right to question the rating . Ask for data or reasons to warrant a rating change . Refocus the discussion on ways to improve if the person still disagrees after reviewing the data

If people display negative feelings toward you, the process or being reviewed: . Ask for reasons that explain the resentment, listen intently and empathize with their feelings . Discuss concerns openly . Seek ideas about addressing the concerns

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