Managing People to Achieve Results

Nelson L. LayagProject Director

nelsonl@compasspoint.org

Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence Initiative®Neighborhood Excellence Leadership Program® May 17-20, 2011

What makes things happen in your organization?

Photo: Garrett Coakley, Flickr

Photo: Steve Rhodes, Flickr

Photo: ReSurge International, Flickr

• Responsibilities of a supervisor• Delegation• Coaching • Effective Feedback• Elements of an effective evaluation

process

Topics

“CompassPoint – We’ve got frameworks & matrices”

Photo: St. Gallen Symposium, Flickr

REFLECT

BESTSUPERVISION

MOMENT...as a

supervisor or supervisee

Managing

vs Leading

Managing

ANDLeading

HonestForward-looking

CompetentInspiring

“Credibility is the foundation of leadership” - Kouzes & Posner

Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

MODEL the WayINSPIRE a Shared VisionCHALLENGE the ProcessENABLE Others to ActENCOURAGE the Heart

How do your management practices influence and/or support your leadership practices?

Supervision & Nonprofits

The ultimate responsibility of a supervisor is to help the employee manage his/her relationship with the organization so that each is successful.

Strengths-based

Multiculturalism

Organizational Culture

Political Framework

Leadership beliefs

Field or Mission

Expectation Setting• Reviewing & revising job

descriptions• Delegating responsibilities• Reviewing & revising

performance work plans• Creating professional

development plan• Assigning a project• New staff orientation• Setting annual goals

Mutual Regular Communications

• Identifying & resolving problems

• Giving timely appreciative and developmental feedback

• Discussing current projects/workload & upcoming deadlines

• Coaching

Ongoing

Performance Review

• Quarterly performance review meetings

• Annual performance reviews• Setting annual goals

No Surprises

The Managing People Framework

How much time do you spend “supervising” people?

How much time do you spend “supervising” people?

How much time do you spend “supervising” people?

How does the “lens” influence practice?

Strengths-based

Multiculturalism

Organizational Culture

Political Framework

Leadership beliefs

Field or Mission

Expectation Setting• Reviewing & revising job

descriptions• Delegating responsibilities• Reviewing & revising performance

work plans• Creating professional development

plan• Assigning a project• New staff orientation• Setting annual goals

Mutual

Setting and Communicating Expectations

In order for employees to understand your expectations, you have to communicate them in terms of BEHAVIORS or OUTCOMES.

I’m a strategic thinker and

problem solver

Photo: Rebekah Pavlovic, Flikr

I’m a strategic thinker and

problem solver

Sshh…strategic thinker and

problem solver at work

Being on time for a 9:30 meeting

Setting and Communicating ExpectationsExpectation BEHAVIOR

Professional Arrive to work and all meetings on time; adhere to dress code guidelines; ensure all written communications are error free and use appropriate tone that considers the audience.

Respectful Greet people in the hallways; treat colleagues as internal customers; clean up your area and do your part to keep the common area (e.g. kitchen) clean.

Accountable Meet all deadlines; come prepared to meetings with minutes from the last meeting, questions about the agenda and ideas to contribute to the topic; respond to requests in a timely manner.

Groups of 3

What does it look like when someone is . . .

creative?proactive?strategic?

Delegation Framework

Situational Leadership

© 2003. Ken Blanchard Companies. All rights reserved. For a more in depth understanding of matching leadership styles with development levels see Situational Leadership II by The Ken Blanchard Companies. The accompanying diagram above is derived from Situational Leadership II.

Do you consider all these factors to determine how to delegate responsibilities?

Regular Communications

• Identifying & resolving problems• Giving timely appreciative and

developmental feedback• Discussing current

projects/workload & upcoming deadlines

•Coaching

Ongoing

Why Coaching?

The mark of effective leadership is not an individual who “does it all”; rather, it’s the full leadership team that fuels high performance over the long haul.

- Sylvia Yee, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

A process of supporting individuals to make more conscious decisions

The ultimate goal of coaching is to help someone move to a new action or

behavior while learning, growing and developing.

Coaching is…

Coaching is not…

Ending, losing,letting go

The neutral zone

The new beginning

Action Learning Model

Action

Learning

Reflection

Superficial Listening

Fix-It Listening

Four Kinds of Listening

Self-Referential Listening

Engaged Listening

Photo: Nancy White, Flickr

Exercise: Engaged ListeningSpeaker: What do you love about being a leader?Listener: Practice listening at the deepest level

(engaged listening). - • What do you love about discovering what you are capable of?• What do you love about the challenge?• What do you love about how you are learning and growing?• What do you love about mentoring your staff?• What are the talents and strengths that give you the most joy?• Who are your partners and how important are they to you?

Debrief

Listener: • Did you slip into other types of listening?

• What did it feel like?

Speaker:• What did it feel like to have someone listen

without interruption?

Inquiring

• Who?• What?• When?• Where?• How?

• Is?• Can?• Are?• Will?

• Why?

90%

1%

9%

Exercise: Open-Ended Questions• Speaker: Share a best moment in your leadership or

in your life. A peak experience -- A time when you were feeling confident and challenged in a good way.

• Listener: Use open-ended questions to help draw the story out of the speaker.

What WhereWhen WhoHow

Regular Communications

• Identifying & resolving problems• Giving timely

appreciative and developmental feedback

• Discussing current projects/workload & upcoming deadlines

• Coaching

Ongoing

Photo: kat selvocki / lemony kickit

Giving and Receiving Ongoing Feedback

1. Timely (as soon as possible)2. Specific (what has occurred and the

impact)3. Focus on behaviors, not on person’s

character4. Impact (i.e. It Matters)

Supportive or Positive FeedbackInstead of :

“You really handled that tough situation with the client well. Thanks, you’re awesome!”

Photo: Sasha Wolff, Flickr

Supportive or Positive FeedbackTry:

“I really want to tell you how impressed I was with the way you handled the client’s problem. You were able to calm him down by being patient and letting the client see that you were willing to take the time to help him. That helped get to the issue at hand and then you were able to direct him to the right person who could help. Thank you.”

Photo: Sasha Wolff, Flickr

Supportive or Positive Feedback

Instead of : “You were great in that meeting,

thanks.”

Supportive or Positive Feedback

Try: “When you were clear and concise while

explaining your idea at the meeting, it really helped the management team to focus on key points and understand the benefits of your proposal more clearly. That will help us make a well informed decision on this idea. Thank you for being so prepared.”

Exercise: Feedback

• Speaker: Share a piece of feedback with listener

• Listener: Help speaker to do the following– Remove judgment (positive or negative)– Stay objective– Use specific, observable language– Add meaning or impact

Corrective/Negative Feedback

• As soon as possible • Connect the behavior to the impact • Be specific and avoid generalities• Give feedback in person when able. Email or phone

messages can also be appropriate• Be prepared to engage in problem solving• Express confidence (positive statement) that the

person can correct her/his behavior. Not to be mistaken for positive feedback.

Go Low Carb on the Feedback

Go Low Carb on the Feedback

Corrective/Negative Feedback

James, I would like to speak to you for a moment about today’s meeting with our funder. When you don’t prepare properly, it comes off as unprofessional. This hurts the image of the organization and our ability to secure the funding we need to support our mission. Thank you for listening to this feedback, I really think you can be great in this role.

Corrective/Negative Feedback

You: James, I would like to speak to you for a moment about today’s meeting with our funder. When you don’t prepare properly, it comes off as unprofessional.

James: What do you mean?

You: Well, there were a few major typos in the budget and you didn’t have the information about the total service numbers for last year.

Corrective/Negative FeedbackJames: I did show you the draft of the budget.

You: What do you think you need to be better prepared?

James: Maybe next time we can go over what we should prepare for this meeting the day before so I understand what we need. I can also get someone to look over the material for any mistakes too.

Corrective/Negative FeedbackYou: Good idea. Being better prepared will help our ability to secure the funding we need to support our mission. Thank you for listening to this feedback, I really think you can be great in this role.

Anxiety or Fear?

What are some tactics you can use for support when you need to give developmental feedback?

Performance Review

• Quarterly performance review meetings

• Annual performance reviews

No Surprises

Maria was promoted to Program Manager in late 2007 after one year as a counselor. Since then she has proven that she not only can accomplish the specific duties and responsibilities assigned with that position, but has the ability to be proactive in looking for and implementing ways to improve the organization’s ability to serve its clients. One clear example of this is the I & R database project which has been in the organization’s plan for the last 2 years but which was never completed for various reasons including complexity of the project, costs, and lack of anyone being responsible for it being done. We decided to put this as one of her responsibilities earlier this year and because of her ability to recognize and focus on the client’s needs and level of accessibility she was able to take a simple, low cost approach of using blogging software to make a highly accessible, easily modifiable (and easy to learn) system for looking up I&R resources.

As a counselor, Maria demonstrated a knack for managing conflicts for our youth. She’s brought that talent to her new role, but we recognize that she has never received any formal training (not her fault) in this area and feel she can not only excel in conflict resolution, but could in time provide effective coaching and training to the staff of counselors she supervises. We might consider some formal supervision training as well as part of her professional development plan.

One area of focus we should consider is the quality control issue of our workshops. Maria has been very effective in getting the schedule of workshops completed much earlier than what the past standard has been. However, there have been sacrifices in reviewing the quality of the material in exchange for getting presenters scheduled quickly. We have discussed a process in which scheduling can happen effectively while being able to review content on a timely basis and how the Program Director (me) can be supportive in that process. We will include this in her next version of the workplan.

Elements of an Effective Evaluation Process

• Credible - Based on communicated expectations (performance workplan).

• Reliable – Staff understands the process and it happens.

• Fair - All staff are being evaluated in a similar fashion (not necessarily equally).

• Practical - NOT just paperwork, but matters. Also, not difficult to understand and complete (correctly).

Elements of an Effective Evaluation Process

• On Going - Staff is evaluated throughout the year (even if the paperwork just happens quarterly/annually).

• Transparency - Everyone understands the process, and how, who, when, and what performance is based on.

• Collaborative - Requires points of view from you, the staff person and others who work closely with staff.

Strengths-based

Multiculturalism

Organizational Culture

Political Framework

Leadership beliefs

Field or Mission

Expectation Setting• Reviewing & revising job

descriptions• Delegating responsibilities• Reviewing & revising

performance work plans• Creating professional

development plan• Assigning a project• New staff orientation• Setting annual goals

Mutual Regular Communications

• Identifying & resolving problems

• Giving timely appreciative and developmental feedback

• Discussing current projects/workload & upcoming deadlines

• Coaching

Ongoing

Performance Review

• Quarterly performance review meetings

• Annual performance reviews• Setting annual goals

No Surprises

The Managing People Framework

How are these elements working in your evaluation system?

What is a priority for you to address?

• Responsibilities of a supervisor• Delegation• Coaching • Effective Feedback• Elements of an effective evaluation

process

Topics

How do your management practices influence and/or support your leadership practices?

HonestForward-looking

CompetentInspiring

“Credibility is the foundation of leadership” - Kouzes & Posner

Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

MODEL the WayINSPIRE a Shared VisionCHALLENGE the processENABLE Others to ActENCOURAGE The Heart

How do your management practices influence and/or support your leadership practices?

Managing

ANDLeading

• Presentation and Additional Resources

• Feel free to email (or tweet) me with additional questions

• nelsonl@compasspoint.org• Twitter.com/nlayag . . . And one last thing . . .

George Kissed Paula

“. . . small victories can often trigger a positive spiral of behavior . . .”

What could be your one kiss?