But these employees are well worth the extra effort
Everyone wants to be seen as a high performer at work. After all, they get the most generous pay increases and the first chance at promotion.
The confusion begins when you try to sort out the truth about what high performance looks like. The behaviours associated with performance include creativity, innovation, risk-taking and initiative. But managing an employee with these attributes takes more of a leader’s time and skill. Employees are catching on that what they think of as high performance can also get them labelled as high maintenance.
Overworked managers don’t have time to deal with the spontaneity and surprises that top-notch thinkers exhibit. They want low-maintenance employees. Inside traditional hierarchical organizations, high performance means doing the work the boss assigns and creating as little stir as possible.
The short-term productivity gain hides the long-term performance gap. Are star performers those that are easiest to manage? Has the organization sacrificed better performance for low maintenance? Ask these questions to find out.
How often do people disagree with their managers? When everyone on the team always agrees with the manager’s direction and opinions, they are managing up. Perhaps the manager reacts defensively and aggressively when questioned. Perhaps her voice gets stronger because she passionately states strong opinions and people chalk it up to aggression. Maybe she looks embarrassed. How the manager chooses to react will set the precedent for future challenges. On some teams, disagreeing with the boss is the kiss of death. It’s not enough for a manager to say in the team meeting “and if you disagree with this, come and see me later.” Let the team see someone disagree and be thanked publicly for thinking independently.
Has a passive-aggressive culture formed? Outside the immediate team lies the overall company culture. Culture is a shared system of beliefs, values and normative behaviours. It’s not unusual, in a company with a long history, to see people acting passively on the surface while vigorously disagreeing less publicly. Often this is the fallout of periods of downsizing, merging and reorganizing. The fear of job loss can stop anyone from stepping outside the safety zone. When this happens it’s up to the senior leaders to find creative ways to build trust and reward risk-taking. Managers can ensure no one gets punished for thinking differently. And they can protect subordinates if other leaders try to stifle them.
When was the last time someone was rewarded for trying and failing? An organization can gauge how comfortable people are with failure by seeing how often they try something new. Most employees like to be competent, and learning makes them feel incompetent for a time. They need to be supported more when learning than at any other time. When people are asked to try something new, managers should be patient during the learning process. They should continue to support employees and reward them for hanging in, and make themselves more available and visible than usual. Managers should consider failures among subordinates as learning moments and be open enough to recount stories about a time when they didn’t know it all.
Are job descriptions and objectives too tightly written? If the manager, or the HR department, loves documentation, the organization may be giving too much detail of how work is to be done. These documents alone may account for a lack of initiative and creative thinking, especially if they are followed to the letter and used to determine compensation. Of course, clarity around roles and responsibilities is a good thing. The key is to be clear without being prescriptive. Within the team, managers should ask people to work together and be more open to suggestions from their peers.
Is there time for creating and imagining? Everyone is running full speed. It’s not unusual for people to say they don’t take breaks or lunch during the work day so they can leave work on time. Check if staff are taking breaks. Schedule a team lunch occasionally, provide food and let the group brainstorm, play games or just eat and relax. Take a project or problem and play a game where the group finishes the sentence, “What if we….”
Are realists labelled as negative? There are many informal roles in a group. One of them, an important one, is that of the realist. This person stops a group that is running excitedly toward a disaster by pointing out some of the not-so-obvious risks. It can be annoying to be pulled up short on the way to the future. In some cultures, and on some projects, it is not OK to say “this won’t work.” Make sure there is a healthy respect for listening to the realist.
Is money spent fixing problems created by speedy implementations? This is a good indicator there is no process for disagreeing, and the realist is ignored. It can also point to a culture where everything is urgent and the first out of the gate wins. Getting things done efficiently means getting it right the first time. This not only saves money, it can save business reputations as well.
Jill Malleck provides organization development consulting for major change initiatives, HR projects and team building. The above text was adapted from her book Epiphany at Work. For more information visit www.epiphanyatwork.com.
The confusion begins when you try to sort out the truth about what high performance looks like. The behaviours associated with performance include creativity, innovation, risk-taking and initiative. But managing an employee with these attributes takes more of a leader’s time and skill. Employees are catching on that what they think of as high performance can also get them labelled as high maintenance.
Overworked managers don’t have time to deal with the spontaneity and surprises that top-notch thinkers exhibit. They want low-maintenance employees. Inside traditional hierarchical organizations, high performance means doing the work the boss assigns and creating as little stir as possible.
The short-term productivity gain hides the long-term performance gap. Are star performers those that are easiest to manage? Has the organization sacrificed better performance for low maintenance? Ask these questions to find out.
How often do people disagree with their managers? When everyone on the team always agrees with the manager’s direction and opinions, they are managing up. Perhaps the manager reacts defensively and aggressively when questioned. Perhaps her voice gets stronger because she passionately states strong opinions and people chalk it up to aggression. Maybe she looks embarrassed. How the manager chooses to react will set the precedent for future challenges. On some teams, disagreeing with the boss is the kiss of death. It’s not enough for a manager to say in the team meeting “and if you disagree with this, come and see me later.” Let the team see someone disagree and be thanked publicly for thinking independently.
Has a passive-aggressive culture formed? Outside the immediate team lies the overall company culture. Culture is a shared system of beliefs, values and normative behaviours. It’s not unusual, in a company with a long history, to see people acting passively on the surface while vigorously disagreeing less publicly. Often this is the fallout of periods of downsizing, merging and reorganizing. The fear of job loss can stop anyone from stepping outside the safety zone. When this happens it’s up to the senior leaders to find creative ways to build trust and reward risk-taking. Managers can ensure no one gets punished for thinking differently. And they can protect subordinates if other leaders try to stifle them.
When was the last time someone was rewarded for trying and failing? An organization can gauge how comfortable people are with failure by seeing how often they try something new. Most employees like to be competent, and learning makes them feel incompetent for a time. They need to be supported more when learning than at any other time. When people are asked to try something new, managers should be patient during the learning process. They should continue to support employees and reward them for hanging in, and make themselves more available and visible than usual. Managers should consider failures among subordinates as learning moments and be open enough to recount stories about a time when they didn’t know it all.
Are job descriptions and objectives too tightly written? If the manager, or the HR department, loves documentation, the organization may be giving too much detail of how work is to be done. These documents alone may account for a lack of initiative and creative thinking, especially if they are followed to the letter and used to determine compensation. Of course, clarity around roles and responsibilities is a good thing. The key is to be clear without being prescriptive. Within the team, managers should ask people to work together and be more open to suggestions from their peers.
Is there time for creating and imagining? Everyone is running full speed. It’s not unusual for people to say they don’t take breaks or lunch during the work day so they can leave work on time. Check if staff are taking breaks. Schedule a team lunch occasionally, provide food and let the group brainstorm, play games or just eat and relax. Take a project or problem and play a game where the group finishes the sentence, “What if we….”
Are realists labelled as negative? There are many informal roles in a group. One of them, an important one, is that of the realist. This person stops a group that is running excitedly toward a disaster by pointing out some of the not-so-obvious risks. It can be annoying to be pulled up short on the way to the future. In some cultures, and on some projects, it is not OK to say “this won’t work.” Make sure there is a healthy respect for listening to the realist.
Is money spent fixing problems created by speedy implementations? This is a good indicator there is no process for disagreeing, and the realist is ignored. It can also point to a culture where everything is urgent and the first out of the gate wins. Getting things done efficiently means getting it right the first time. This not only saves money, it can save business reputations as well.
Jill Malleck provides organization development consulting for major change initiatives, HR projects and team building. The above text was adapted from her book Epiphany at Work. For more information visit www.epiphanyatwork.com.
