Improving Performance Management Conversations

1. Improving PerformanceManagement Conversations Through the use of DiSC Terry Snider Performance Management Consultant

2. What is Performance Management? Performance management is a cyclical conversation; it starts with engaging employees and setting expectations, moves into continuous feedback, and ends with an assessment only to start again with new expectations. Managing employee performance never ends, the conversation just changes as the employee grows.

3. So where is the skyscraper? • OK, this is where it gets a little strange, but have faith and it will make sense in the end……….and now let’s join Charlemagne!

4. Charlemagne takes a stroll As the story goes, Charlemagne is walking along the boulevard one day and comes upon a stone mason working on a construction site, ………….. Now mind you in those days, engineering technology was not what it is today.

5. The Big Picture---Why? • The mason is sipping his Starbucks coffee and smoking a cigarette and staring at a pile of stones. Charlemagne says – “What are you doing my good man?” The mason responds “I’m laying stones”. • He continues down the boulevard and sees another mason working on the same site. His work is very good and he is working quicker than the first mason. So Charlemagne asks him “What are you doing? What is going on here?” “I’m building a wall”, he replies.

6. The Big Picture---Why? • He continues his stroll and comes to a corner where another he sees another mason, he is fascinated by this man …….he has such a natural rhythm, applying the mortar, adding the stone, more mortar, more stone, smoothing everything out. He is whistling a tune and is moving almost like a dance. Charlemagne says – “What are you doing?” without missing a beat, the mason smiles and says “I’m building a cathedral”. (The very first skyscrapers) • Who would you rather have working for you? Someone who knows what do or someone who understands why they are doing it?

7. From the Cathedral to the Mission Most people would think that it’s important that employees understand the mission of the organization, it’s part of engaging employees…..once they understand why something needs to be done, get out of the way! Well, understanding the mission is part of it and understanding the employee is just as important. An exasperated Henry Ford was heard to say “Why? When I want to hire a pair of hands, do they send me a whole person?”

8. So how does all of this relate? While cathedrals and skyscrapers may be awesome buildings to look at, they have hidden and often complex structural supports i.e. arches, beams, cantilevers, buttresses etc. Awesome employees are no different, they bring their invisible pre-programmed structure to work also, and learning how to interact with each employee is crucial to helping them develop, grow and produce.

9. How can the application of DiSC help you manage performance? • The use of DiSC can take your relationship with your employees to another level. • Numerous studies over the last ten years have confirmed that the direct relationship with one's manager is the strongest of all drivers of employee engagement.

10. Why DiSC? • The purpose of DISC is to help you understand yourself and others. The profile provides a framework for looking at human behavior while increasing your knowledge of you unique behavioral pattern. • The goal of this approach is to help you create an environment that will ensure your success. At the same time, you will gain an appreciation for the different motivational environments required by other behavioral styles.

11. What is DiSC? • DISC is the four quadrant behavioral model based on the work of William Moulton Marston PhD (1893–1947) to examine the behavior of individuals in their environment or within a specific situation (otherwise known as environment). It focuses on the styles and preferences of such behavior.

12. How does it work? DiSC classifies four aspects of behavior by testing a person's preferences in word associations, DISC is an acronym for: • Dominance- emphasis is on shaping the environment by overcoming opposition • influence- emphasis is on shaping the environment by influencing others • Conscientiousness- emphasis is on working conscientiously within existing systems to ensure quality and accuracy • Steadiness- emphasis is on cooperating with others within existing circumstances to carry out the task

13. What’s in it for you as a Manager? Building TRUST Trust is the mortar that holds the stones (relationships) together. Without trust you don’t have a relationship DiSC can help provide…….

14. Insight into Your Team’s Behavioral Preferences • Understand the work environments that are most and least comfortable for your employees • Develop a stronger sense of their task-oriented and relationship-oriented work habits • See how employees dominant characteristics can be both strengths and drawbacks • Help them understand how others interpret their actions • Learn the strategies to understand, influence, and relate to them • Understand the sources of their frustrations at work, if they are consistently required to behave in a way that is incompatible with their personal style • Learn more about their fears and behavioral tendencies when under pressure • Understand what motivates your employees in their relationships and find ways to maximize this motivation.

15. A Common Language to Understand and Discuss Team Personality • Learn a better, simpler model to understand the complexity of team behavior • Organize your teams experience with co-workers, friends, and loved ones into a usable format • Create a common language to discuss your team’s subjective experiences

16. Dialogue About Personal Preferences and Differences • Understand that differences do not necessarily lead to conflict • Create a safe forum to discuss differences and how they contribute to work results. • Create a culture of acceptance around diverse interpersonal styles

17. Relating to Individuals with Different Personalities • Understand that although people need to adjust at times, their preferences are not necessarily wrong • Develop new team communication strategies and contracts about communication • Withhold judgment to see a situation from multiple perspectives • Adapt your personal tendencies, when appropriate, to facilitate harmonious relationships • Increase empathy and compassion for the perspectives and struggles of others • Deliver performance feedback in a less threatening fashion • Reduce misinterpretations of interpersonal behaviors

18. Next Steps • Charlemagne was curious about the mason’s observed behaviors and if he had access to DiSC, he may have been an even greater leader. • If you are curious and want more information on how the application of DiSC can help you manage performance …….then contact Terry Snider at 613-329-9451 or at TerryJSnider@gmail.com