Hello gentlemen,
I guess I haven’t given the advice sought. I apologize. It is always difficult to advise not knowing all the specifics about a given situation. Still, I believe that there are many things far too common in business practice and are a safer bet to expect and to advise upon. Don Winton once caught me giving advice I didn’t believe in. He was right to do so, and I thank him for that. So, I hope I haven’t made matters worse by raising my opposition to the idea. I will continue to try and present fairly my opposition. Please feel free to disagree and try to change my mind. I enjoyed reading both of your posts and the comments you made. Pretty well thought, in my opinion.
Senior Management in Zeno’s organization: an unknown Quantity. Perhaps they are asking out of ignorance, or perhaps with a plan. I can not tell, but I suspect it is because they lack a method.
To set one’s measurables: sounds pretty good to most folks! Many would accept the task graciously. But dig a little deeper, I think many would come to the conclusion that it is not what it appears to be.
Christopher mentions the opportunity to prove your personal ethic or work attitude. An individual must create measures that will prove to his superiors that he is worth his salary. As he points out, set the bar too low, management will frown. Set it too high, miss the mark. A lose-lose proposition. To hit the mark, a person must determine a mutually acceptable goal with management. What will it be? Also, what is management’s role in all of this? Management’s job is to lead, manage, and supervise. By making this request, which is it that they are doing? Personal ethic and work attitude have a lot to do with work environment. What environment is management creating here? A bad one I fear. Additionally, they place the burden of proof on the individual, not themselves. This is wrong. Your job is to meet the needs of your subordinates, to lead, manage, and supervise and improve the System, nurture and motivate your people. This is also senior management’s charge. So the fear is that we may not recognize where we need to improve. Some one needs to kick us in the pants. Fair enough, but this activity initiates movement, not motivation. It has a short-term effect. Motivation is what should get the job done. Will a performance evaluation motivate or create movement? Continual guidance is the solution, not the annual review.
So now the dubious task of selecting one’s measurable or trying to convince senior management that there is another way. Which is easier? Setting one’s measurables. This isn’t my advice, in general. An individual must make this hard decision independently in consideration of all the facts. I can only offer an alternative perspective.
To set one’s measurables to me is a compromise. Lose-lose rearing its ugly head again. But people have mortgages to pay, children to feed and clothe, and the need for security. They will almost undoubtably compromise. Horrible, but true. All of us have done it, or are doing so now. We should resist this as best we can, but by no means am I saying quite your job foolishly or flat out refuse to establish measurables and get fired! Collaboration is the right way. It is also more difficult in Western Management. We must learn to collaborate. To do so, we must create the AIM and work together to achieve it.
The AIM is common to everyone in the organization. Having managers in various departments creating their own targets for performance deviates from the AIM of the organization. It works against it. As Deming has phrased it, “Managers heading this way and that way can do a lot of harm!” Working independently leads to unwanted internal competition, manipulation of numbers, sub-optimization of the System, and worse. It doesn’t take long before people figure out how to, or that they have to, manipulate data in order to achieve personal recognition. Budget money will be rewarded to those who ‘apparently’ have shown positive gains, where areas truly needing the money are left out. Andy mentions that he sees nothing wrong with having the chance to help establish measurables. I would agree that participation is a needed element, but it should be considered when setting the Organizational AIM and not for individual performance metrics. Communication is ESSENTIAL!
Selecting a personal development goal is a good idea. Blending it with the measurables, perhaps making the best out of the given situation. Everyone should have a personal development plan, IMHO. People should “preserve and nurture the yearning for learning that anybody is born with.” WED. But do so on your own terms. Learning and improvement MUST mostly be intrinsically motivated.
Christopher points out that Management may be showing their ignorance about a given position by making this type of request. I believe he has this right. What bothers me most about this statement is that it is too often true. What bothers me secondly is that management makes little personal attempt to learn about it either. That is their job! Anyone needing to hear this is in the wrong position. Your statement about other management learning something from ones individual performance measures may be true. Almost any situation presents a learning opportunity in my opinion. But what does Senior Management learn from results that in the first year show a positive gain, in the second a loss? Do we have a trend here? One year, a decent raise. The next: perhaps probation. In order to develop a true understanding of a persons performance, the individual would need years of data to determine effectiveness. Nobody waits that long to be fair! So fudging the numbers becomes the norm, the way to keep your job and keep the raises coming in. This is learned by most quite quickly! The wrong type of learning.
Well, I hope I haven’t offended anyone. It was not my aim to do so. So enough of my rant, the floor is for someone else………
Regards,
Kevin
I guess I haven’t given the advice sought. I apologize. It is always difficult to advise not knowing all the specifics about a given situation. Still, I believe that there are many things far too common in business practice and are a safer bet to expect and to advise upon. Don Winton once caught me giving advice I didn’t believe in. He was right to do so, and I thank him for that. So, I hope I haven’t made matters worse by raising my opposition to the idea. I will continue to try and present fairly my opposition. Please feel free to disagree and try to change my mind. I enjoyed reading both of your posts and the comments you made. Pretty well thought, in my opinion.
Senior Management in Zeno’s organization: an unknown Quantity. Perhaps they are asking out of ignorance, or perhaps with a plan. I can not tell, but I suspect it is because they lack a method.
To set one’s measurables: sounds pretty good to most folks! Many would accept the task graciously. But dig a little deeper, I think many would come to the conclusion that it is not what it appears to be.
Christopher mentions the opportunity to prove your personal ethic or work attitude. An individual must create measures that will prove to his superiors that he is worth his salary. As he points out, set the bar too low, management will frown. Set it too high, miss the mark. A lose-lose proposition. To hit the mark, a person must determine a mutually acceptable goal with management. What will it be? Also, what is management’s role in all of this? Management’s job is to lead, manage, and supervise. By making this request, which is it that they are doing? Personal ethic and work attitude have a lot to do with work environment. What environment is management creating here? A bad one I fear. Additionally, they place the burden of proof on the individual, not themselves. This is wrong. Your job is to meet the needs of your subordinates, to lead, manage, and supervise and improve the System, nurture and motivate your people. This is also senior management’s charge. So the fear is that we may not recognize where we need to improve. Some one needs to kick us in the pants. Fair enough, but this activity initiates movement, not motivation. It has a short-term effect. Motivation is what should get the job done. Will a performance evaluation motivate or create movement? Continual guidance is the solution, not the annual review.
So now the dubious task of selecting one’s measurable or trying to convince senior management that there is another way. Which is easier? Setting one’s measurables. This isn’t my advice, in general. An individual must make this hard decision independently in consideration of all the facts. I can only offer an alternative perspective.
To set one’s measurables to me is a compromise. Lose-lose rearing its ugly head again. But people have mortgages to pay, children to feed and clothe, and the need for security. They will almost undoubtably compromise. Horrible, but true. All of us have done it, or are doing so now. We should resist this as best we can, but by no means am I saying quite your job foolishly or flat out refuse to establish measurables and get fired! Collaboration is the right way. It is also more difficult in Western Management. We must learn to collaborate. To do so, we must create the AIM and work together to achieve it.
The AIM is common to everyone in the organization. Having managers in various departments creating their own targets for performance deviates from the AIM of the organization. It works against it. As Deming has phrased it, “Managers heading this way and that way can do a lot of harm!” Working independently leads to unwanted internal competition, manipulation of numbers, sub-optimization of the System, and worse. It doesn’t take long before people figure out how to, or that they have to, manipulate data in order to achieve personal recognition. Budget money will be rewarded to those who ‘apparently’ have shown positive gains, where areas truly needing the money are left out. Andy mentions that he sees nothing wrong with having the chance to help establish measurables. I would agree that participation is a needed element, but it should be considered when setting the Organizational AIM and not for individual performance metrics. Communication is ESSENTIAL!
Selecting a personal development goal is a good idea. Blending it with the measurables, perhaps making the best out of the given situation. Everyone should have a personal development plan, IMHO. People should “preserve and nurture the yearning for learning that anybody is born with.” WED. But do so on your own terms. Learning and improvement MUST mostly be intrinsically motivated.
Christopher points out that Management may be showing their ignorance about a given position by making this type of request. I believe he has this right. What bothers me most about this statement is that it is too often true. What bothers me secondly is that management makes little personal attempt to learn about it either. That is their job! Anyone needing to hear this is in the wrong position. Your statement about other management learning something from ones individual performance measures may be true. Almost any situation presents a learning opportunity in my opinion. But what does Senior Management learn from results that in the first year show a positive gain, in the second a loss? Do we have a trend here? One year, a decent raise. The next: perhaps probation. In order to develop a true understanding of a persons performance, the individual would need years of data to determine effectiveness. Nobody waits that long to be fair! So fudging the numbers becomes the norm, the way to keep your job and keep the raises coming in. This is learned by most quite quickly! The wrong type of learning.
Well, I hope I haven’t offended anyone. It was not my aim to do so. So enough of my rant, the floor is for someone else………
Regards,
Kevin