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Author: Mandar

What your people managers must do differently during appraisals?

Posted on by Mandar

For many organizations, conducting performance appraisals, or having what some are now calling “performance conversations”, elicits a sense of dread in both the people managers and the employees. The good news is, there are ways to create a valuable forward-looking discussion that improves engagement, retention, and shapes culture. Consider the process on two levels; the macro-level, which involves the company-wide process and structures that support people managers, and the micro-level, which involves managers having a baseline understanding of how to deliver and receive feedback during these conversations as well as throughout the year.  

The process and structures that support performance conversations matter. Commonly, organizations will create an appraisal template to be completed with some instructions and a calendar for finishing the reviews, and that is the extent of it. While you don’t want to over-engineer the process, to make the outcome a thoughtful and motivating one, consider the following:

Is the objective of the process clear and easy to articulate? For example, is the objective to provide employees with feedback about past performance, discuss ongoing development, and gather insights about the employee’s experiences during the performance period? This sounds familiar and probably standard practice for most companies, yet does it drive improved performance, or does it lessen the anxiety managers and employees feel when the time comes to prepare. Is the process used to determine changes in compensation? In either case, that should be made clear.

Since feedback, positive and negative, should be given to employees in real time and not saved for an annual conversation, there shouldn’t be a gap between what the employee believes they will hear and what the manager delivers; does your process test for this? Some companies are rethinking their objectives, and some are scrapping the process altogether, in favor of  alternative approaches to creating ongoing bi-directional feedback. However, with clear objectives and the structures in place to support the process, there is still an opportunity to make these conversations more valuable for everyone. 

Perhaps a more forward-looking and engaging objective would be stated this way, “we want to continually enhance individual, team, leadership, and company performance and as one part of that, we think it is important to invest time (add frequency here) to exchange and align on feedback, set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely), explore career development opportunities, and revisit compensation.” This language introduces a more bi-directional tone and establishes individual performance as only one aspect of organizational performance; it also frames the effort as an investment, rather than an obligatory exercise.

What is the right cadence for a performance conversation? There are schools of thought suggesting the more frequent the better, however if managers are giving constructive feedback in real-time, a more career development-oriented conversation can be effective — not rushed — when done annually. One of the reasons managers struggle with the process is because many companies have made it a “time-of-year” exercise so when leaders have a substantial number of direct reports the whole thing turns into an onerous project tied to a calendar of deadlines. Not only do they have to anticipate some difficult conversations, but they also must put other priorities aside and try to invest thoughtful time into preparing and having the conversations. What usually ends up happening is documents are copied from prior appraisals and modified; all sorts of cutting and pasting is done to save time. Discussion meetings (appraisals/reviews) are cut into shorter lengths of time to make sure deadlines are met. If the reason behind a “time-of-year” process is to align compensation changes with budget or financial reporting periods, consider uncoupling the two. Let managers spread out these discussions over the course of the year by employee anniversary date or other methods. By having fewer discussions more frequently, the process isn’t overwhelming, and managers are continually practicing their tradecraft. 

Do managers and employees have the information they need? Whatever your stated objectives are, make sure managers and employees have the information they need to make the conversation a constructive and non-subjective one. For example, if continual improvement of team performance is part of your objective, managers and employees should have access to the targets and actual team performance on key performance metrics. This allows for an informed and transparent discussion where managers can gain insights into what the employee thinks contributed to achieving the targets… or missing them. Another example might be organizations that want to collect feedback from other collaborators, such as project stakeholders, peers, direct reports, matrixed reporting relationships, and more. There are plenty of inexpensive tools for collecting “360-degree feedback” so if this is an important component of your process, allow time to complete the step and give employees time to review the feedback before the meeting. The more transparent, the less overall anxiety and more trusting the culture.

Are your people managers trained on preparing and holding these meetings in support of the stated objectives? This is where the macro-level structure is married to the micro-level conversations. Consider what every people manager in your organization needs to know and make it part of onboarding with regular opportunities for refresher training. Here are some recommended items for the curriculum: 

  • Understand the Objectives 
  • How to Prepare
  • Real Time Feedback and Aligning Perception
  • Important Data
  • Active Listening
  • Setting SMART Goals
  • Language, Dos and Don’ts
  • Setting Expectations
  • Creating a Career Development Plan

Again, the intention with this training is to make sure the conversations are engaging, and something everyone can look forward to. You may want to include a self-appraisal for employees to complete and share before the scheduled conversation so managers can compare what they have prepared to the perception of their employee. When there are misalignments, it may mean the manager isn’t providing timely feedback, or not communicating that feedback effectively. Training on how to test for this alignment and how to reset expectations during the conversation is important and an area of opportunity for many new managers. Also, understanding what language triggers negative emotions rather than a constructive conversation is not intuitive to all managers so ongoing training to reinforce the “dos and don’ts” can make a big difference. Finally, give managers a chance to practice these skills by investing time for them to meet with each other and role play the conversations; it can be a lot of fun and leaders benefit when learning from each other.

If annual performance conversations have become an unwelcome interruption to your already fast-paced work environment it is something you can change. Don’t be afraid to apply the same innovative thinking you use to shape your products and services. Build something your employees will boast about when they are telling their friends and family what it is like to work at your company. You may just find it becomes a competitive advantage.

Ensuring Efficiency in a Dynamic Age

Posted on by Mandar

The last two years, 2020 to 2022, prove how uncertain and unstable life can get. The outbreak of Coronavirus in March 2020 forced all institutions/ organisations to shift from in-office work to working from home till vaccines were made available to the Indian population in January 2021. James Thomas, a partner with Strategy&, a global think tank focused on culture, behaviour and leadership change, in his article, ‘How the pandemic has changed workplace culture for the better. He talks about the rapid shift from in-office to working from home to back to in-office work. He highlights the problems in this rapidity and the abandonment of working in-office. While modern collaborative technology has made working safe and easy, it has reduced human interaction. We come across a struggle in building trust and rapport, a gap in the mindset of leaders and employees, and anxieties and hesitation among employees at all levels. How can a leader  address certain anxieties and ensure efficiency at the same time?

The simplest way to do so is to lead by example by managers being present in the office, just being there shows effort. Thomas talks about how face-to-face interactions are necessary for building trust. It makes it easier for managers and employees to gauge social, and non-verbal cues. It helps in understanding that which the person in front might not say explicitly. Being present demonstrates a commitment by employees and leadership alike.

Another crucial step in ensuring efficiency is developing a solid two-way line of communication. Leaders, managers and internal communications professionals have an extremely important role in keeping employees connected and engaged. The impact of the pandemic has taken a significant toll on employees’ personal, social, and professional lives. Overwhelming fears around health, safety and job uncertainty are continuously leading to anxiety, frustration, and low employee morale.

 While leaders can and must provide context and guidance at the beginning of a project, employees too must make an effort to convey their doubts or any kind of reservations they may have. Leaders are required to check in more and learn ways to support their employees in moving forward.  This can be done by giving them the space to take ownership of their jobs and allowing them to complete their work how they think is best. Leaders can also communicate the importance of discipline and boundaries. This is crucial for organisations or companies that are functioning in the hybrid mode. People working from home tend to get less productive over time, they lose their frame of reference and task orientation, and the boundaries between working and signing off become blurred and they can’t ‘switch off’ or ‘log out’. Here is when leaders can step in and create distinctions between the time to work and the time to rest. Organisations need to lay particular emphasis on restoring employees’ emotions and trust, to maintain productivity and employee engagement. Support from the managers, leadership, HR, and internal communications, are some of the prerequisites for ensuring employees’ productivity and business success. 

An article written by Kristina Martic on ‘How to Ensure Productivity in the  Post-Pandemic World’ emphasises the apparent importance of focusing on your employees’ physical and mental health, she also talks about businesses building a continuity plan. It is believed that employees function and perform well when they feel secure and their productivity depends on how well a company or a business is prepared to deal with a similar crisis. Business Continuity Plans are crucial because without a plan a workplace will not have a clear sense of how to return to business as usual.

Leaders must develop an overall workforce strategy and action plan that puts people first. Which further requires a strategy around how to best deliver and communicate it to your employees. Again, effective communication is key to making a recovery faster, protecting company assets and minimising losses.

Employees’ productivity and overall performance have been disrupted by the pandemic and by cultural and social challenges linked to the current tendency of working in the hybrid mode or a socially distanced set-up.  How leaders, managers and organisations as a whole support their employees and help them to stay connected has a major impact on company culture and employee experience. Employees need to be given an easy way to communicate and collaborate with their peers and managers. Leaders and internal communications professionals have to be the ones leading the transformation towards more open and transparent workplaces to boost employee productivity and success.

As trust and transparency in the workplace are some of the most in-demand traits employees are looking for in their employers, they not only influence employee productivity but also enable employers to attract and retain talent in their organisation. A study conducted by Great Place to Work shows that when millennials work in a high-trust culture they are 22x more likely to in their company long term.

Living in uncertain times leads to confusion in all areas of life, particularly in the workplace, we see a lack of clarity which ultimately leads to failure and not only a loss to the company or organisation but also to an employee or team’s confidence/morale. Therefore, it is important to set clear targets and expectations beforehand. Setting clear goals fuels employees’ productivity, commitment and motivation, providing the freedom for them to act independently within the defined boundaries. 

Managing or leading is a tedious task that becomes tougher when your team works from different locations. Jennifer Robinson’s work ‘Covid-19 Has My Team Working Remotely: A Guide For Leaders” stresses the importance of enhanced leadership and manager communications. She talks about leaders allowing managers to guide and handle their teams in their way. She suggests the formation of individual professional relationships. Such practices help managers know their employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Managers must also be sensitive and aware of certain mental health issues which snowball into disorders if we are not careful. For example disorders such as Generalised anxiety disorder and Depression. These disorders are sadly rampant in our society and are often ignored, they manifest in different ways and at times have devastating consequences to the psyche of a person.

Managers/leaders or any person dealing with people or is just in a line of work that requires them to interact with people must make the effort to educate themselves on what such issues are and how they manifest in our daily life. Disorders like anxiety and depression at times manifest themselves in the form of physical symptoms like a headache, sweating, or when a person constantly shakes their leg etc and an extreme manifestation of anxiety takes place in the form of panic attacks which occur can occur without a trigger as well. While disorders like depression go unnoticed because of how normalised their presence and effects have become. We also come across something known as High-functioning mental illnesses, it basically is that a person may be leading a ‘normal’ life, they study, have a job, friends etc but what goes inside their mind, the war and panic they fight every second goes undetected simply because they don’t display the typical features of being ill. Mental health/disorders sensitisation has become all the more important after the outbreak of Coronavirus. Understanding, becoming sensitive towards and addressing such issues is of utmost importance to everyone working under/for a company. Companies must ensure that there are provisions for employees that help them deal with such issues. Provisions can be made in the form of breaks, taking/giving employees a day off, employing educated, sensitive mental health professionals or ensuring that members of your Human Resource team are well aware and sensitive, time must be taken out to address issues that can be life-threatening, and should be destigmatised. Only then employees will know that they are seen as human beings and are understood and then they will perform efficiently even in troubled times.

Dunning Kruger Effect: Why managerial effectiveness in India is broken

Posted on by Mandar

Unless you are a mentalist and can read people’s minds, it is likely that you rely on your perceptions – when it comes to understanding what people think about you. This is true for me, you, and almost everyone.

Research conducted by Great Manager Institute with 4,296 Indian managers, over the last 6 months reveals that unfortunately these perceptions that managers carry, are largely INACCURATE. 

As a result, gaps exist between our self-perception and the team’s perception – the Dunning-Kruger effect. This effect suggests that we tend to overestimate our competence in areas where we lack information resulting in lack of managerial effectiveness in India.

I have some interesting data for you below:

We asked 4,296 Indian managers to rate themselves on their ability to:

Candid Communication (Giving straight answers to questions)
Involvement in Decisions (Taking the team’s opinion in work-related decisions)
Reliability (Keeping their promise)
Care (Moving from transactional to relational
Expectation Setting (Proving clarity on expectations)
…..and 12 more areas

And we were surprised.

More than 70% of the surveyed managers rated themselves way higher than what their team members experienced, in all the above areas.

Why?

An in-depth understanding of ANYTHING takes years of study and practice – formally or informally. I’m a management graduate and I have been trained to develop good marketing plans. 

However, I don’t recall learning about setting clear expectations, involving people in decisions, or any of the points mentioned above.

And that’s precisely why I was compelled to write this. 

Nobody wakes up in the morning, with the intent of being a “Bad Boss”. 

70% of managers don’t know that they aren’t managing effectively, and those who know may not be doing anything about it (the KNOWING-DOING GAP). This results in a lack of managerial effectiveness.

You can read the full report on leadership blindspots here.

In the end, we end up being a country where people are universally unhappy with managers.

Guide to Designing a good leadership development program

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What is a leadership development program? It is a process that helps in expanding the capacity of individuals/employees. Developing a program or structure helps in the execution of an organization’s strategy. Leadership development is that which helps organizations harness the talent they already have and require for the future. The world is expanding and evolving and the workplace must adjust and adapt accordingly. Organizations don’t stay the same, making it all the more important for them to have leaders who can lead, manage change find new opportunities, and execute strategies irrespective of the circumstances. Our 5-step guide to designing a leadership development program will help you create a program to meet all your needs.

Leadership development programs are a way for organizations to invest in internal growth and train employees with higher potential to take on senior positions. But, what we think of as ‘good’ leadership qualities and skills associated with it have changed. The sooner organizations realize the importance of agility, the better leadership program they will be able to develop and implement.

In the process of developing a leadership program, the most important tool required is context. Organizations need to know the skills and the type of experiences they require or skills and experiences that are most relevant to the future of their organization. One needs to anticipate or consider what the future holds for them. What types of challenges is the company likely to face? What will be the key skills the company needs from its leaders moving forward? If the company plans to grow through acquisitions or they’re aiming to onboard new clients or partners, then sales and negotiation skills might be two areas to focus on in the program. 

Robert Half in his blog How to Create a Successful Leadership Development Program shares certain steps or activities an organisation can undertake to successfully create one. He starts by talking about getting familiar with what an organization lacks. Such a program should start by 

Defining a company’s leadership needs

The 1st step in our guide to designing a leadership development program is to start by looking for gaps in leadership. For example- if a manager or someone occupying a senior position is leaving or retiring, besides the position being vacant what other skill or attribute will you be missing out on?

Or set your program according to the goals you wish to achieve. Adjust it according to the company’s short-term or long-term strategic goals and develop your leaders accordingly.

Secondly, he talks about developing leaders and not training them. To develop someone means to make use of the talent or gift a person might have, to make it stronger and more effective. While training a person typically means, shaping them into a certain mould or training them to be or perform in a certain manner.

Develop, don’t train

Robert Half urges readers to remember that leaders can be developed and nurtured, they aren’t manufactured, and there isn’t one formula for making them. Hence, the need for personalised leadership development programs. When one is creating this, one should think about how a participant can be placed in a situation and how it will help them learn and grow.

Examples include giving candidates the opportunity to step up when other leaders are away or to collaborate with colleagues in other departments on a special project.

Formal Development Methods

Mentoring, training and organisational planning, with individual activities such as job rotation, job shadowing and project leadership make a leadership development program effective. Classroom training, such as MBA programs, and online courses might also be part of a formal program.  Providing support to participants through ongoing feedback and coaching can be helpful, especially when it comes from senior managers.

Identify Potential Leaders

Potential leaders may be anywhere in your company, but identifying them isn’t always easy.  One should be careful in using resources. Just because someone has demonstrated excellent work in his or her current position doesn’t mean that person will evolve into a leader for the business. Have an open mind, and be willing to look beyond the most obvious candidates.

An effective leadership development program should be able to polish all the “diamonds in the rough” in your organisation and give employees the skills and confidence to ascend the career ladder. Even if a person doesn’t take up the senior position or leadership role they’re being offered it’s alright, just make sure that all employees are aware of the leadership development opportunities available in an organisation and have an opportunity to take advantage of them.

Focus on Retention

While leadership development programs serve as long-term staffing strategies besides other benefits, one must also be careful to not lose certain valuable employees one has already scouted. This can be done by offering promising employees compensation to match their developing skills. One must consider holding regular face-to-face meetings with future leaders to ensure they’re satisfied with their career path and feel engaged. An employee rewards system, in which staff members earn incentives such as letters of appreciation from higher-ups for specific achievements long after the program has ended, can also positively impact retention.

Leadership Development programs are required to ensure that organizations always have capable people especially those who have been working with them for a longer period of time and are aware of the intricacies. It is also easier to grow or find leaders within your organization than to find others from outside. Such set-ups also bring about a boost in an organization’s bottom line. It makes sure that there are more people who understand the high-level strategy and are equipped to take on business challenges. 

Secondly, you’ll be saving on turnover costs. When employees know that management has made an investment in them and that they not only have opportunities to grow but that there are available roles to grow into, they are more likely to stay. 

Another factor that positively impacts company financials is increased productivity. Employees who feel nurtured and who can see a future for themselves at the company are much more likely to be engaged in their work, thereby motivating others toward increased productivity as well. 

Hope you found our 5-step guide to designing a leadership development program useful. You can also explore how our leadership assessment and development platform can be integrated into your leadership development program to help you build great leaders at scale.

One reason employee recognition programs fail – Manager

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“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
–Mother Teresa

Recognition being a fundamental human need also holds immense strategic prominence within the organizational context. When employees are recognized and valued for their good work and achievements, their morale and productivity get a boost which in turn, positively impacts overall organizational culture and performance. Research further suggests that employees who receive frequent recognition are more likely to be highly engaged with their organization, maintain better relationships with their managers and peers, and are more aligned with organizational goals. 

Recognition also helps employees see that their organization values them and their contributions. This is especially relevant in today’s dynamic ecosystem where organizations are continuously undergoing waves of change. Employees look forward to building some sense of security. Recognition imparts that sense by reinforcing their value to the company, encouraging them to continue their good work. Unfortunately,  research by Harvard Business School showed that more than 80 percent of employees do not feel recognized or rewarded at work. Lack of recognition may prove costly; research by Forbes established that lack of recognition by managers is one of the biggest reasons for employees quitting their organizations.  The rising number of employee resignations due to lack of recognition is compelling organizations to take employee recognition programs rather seriously.

The good part is – many organizations are realizing the direct impact of recognition on organizational performance and therefore, allocating separate budgets for the same to ensure the lack of budget is not the reason employee recognition programs fail. A recent forecast report on ‘employee recognition system market analysis’ posits that the Global Employee Recognition System Market size is valued at USD 11.1 Billion in 2021 and is projected to occupy a market size of USD 34.1 Billion by 2030. In India also, there has been an increased focus on Rewards and Recognition (R&R) programs; the share in spending is expected to grow from 20% in 2016 to 35% in 2025 of overall employee rewards spent. 

Setting up a program for success

In the past couple of years, the nature of recognition programs has evolved and today employees want to be recognized and rewarded in innovative ways. The onus of designing and executing an impactful recognition program mostly lies with the HR heads, however, several questions come to the mind of HR heads that need to be addressed before rolling out any recognition program:

  • How will the organization respond to the rollout?  
  • Will it have buy-in from the key stakeholders?
  • Is the program well-aligned with other strategic priorities?
  • Will there be sufficient budget allocated for the program?
  • Will managers respond positively and encourage their teams to use it?
  • What are some of the innovative and novel ways to recognize employees? 
  • Will the programs have the desired impact?
  • How will I measure the impact of the program?

HR heads need to work in close conjunction with the ‘managers’ to ensure the success of recognition programs. While there are many reasons employee recognition programs may fail, one key reason is the manager.

Ascertaining the efficacy of recognition programs- successful or failing?

However, despite all the planning, and sufficient budget, it has been observed that the efficacy of recognition programs remains questionable; many programs start off well but their impact fizzles out mid-way and then these fall flat towards the end. There are myriad reasons for the failure of recognition programs; in this article, we will mainly focus on the role of managers, one of the most important factors determining the success or failure of these employee recognition programs and also one of the most cited reasons for employees quitting their jobs. Managers are critical members of the employee recognition process because they are the leaders who maintain the most constant contact with their team members. Why are managers the main reason employee recognition programs fail?

Manager’s lack of involvement and support

Managers hold the key to the successful planning and implementation of employee recognition programs. However, it has been observed that often line managers are not fully involved during the initial stages of the program; they are either busy handling other commitments or perceive these programs as yet another HR initiative. This skepticism and indifference cascades down to their team members and hence participation doesn’t happen wholeheartedly. It is advisable that HR heads involve managers right from the conception stage till the culmination of the recognition program. Also, their opinions should be sought and reservations should be addressed.

Manager’s dilemma- recognition vs. reward

Most organizations create a clear distinction between recognition and reward. While the responsibility of creating and implementing a good reward system (better bonuses, one-time incentives, individual and team awards, on-stage/event based/ trophies from senior leadership, gift vouchers, holiday packages, etc) lies with the HR team, the actual act of recognizing – who among the employees deserve the award, actually falls on the line managers. And that is where many organizations fail to recognize deserving performers from the pool of employees. 

One way to ensure that the good performers are actually recognized is to actually take feedback from the larger ecosystem – direct managers, indirect managers, direct and indirect reports, clients, customers, vendors, etc. Unfortunately, most organizations take a shortcut by delegating the recognition part only to line managers who may or may not have the full knowledge about the actual performance of their direct reports, or in the worst case might have personal biases towards a few. This paves the way for the perceived lack of unfairness and dissatisfaction. Hence it is highly recommended to conduct employee performance reviews diligently to make an informed and well-rounded decision. Managers will also feel more accountable and objective. This will also promote a culture of fairness and equity.

Lack of team buy-in

It is often observed that employee R&R programs are conceptualized without taking any input from the employees, resulting in a lack of enthusiasm toward the program. It is important that managers explain and clarify the needs and objectives of any recognition program to its team members and conceptualize any program after a dipstick with the team members. Managers can collect team members’ inputs through pulse surveys which can then be shared with the HR team to come up with the most innovative program that sustains the interest of team members.

Inability to harness the power of technology

Inability to harness the power of technology: Recognition processes can get cumbersome and monotonous over a period of time. Work-force dynamics have also changed and we see younger and more tech-savvy employees entering the workplace placing different demands from the program. Managers need to put in some extra effort to make it interesting. By leveraging technology, managers can automate and digitize the operation-heavy processes. It is critical that the process is kept simple and intuitive so that employees are willing to take part in it.

Lack of personalized R&R programs

Lack of personalized R&R programs: Many managers think of recognition programs as a one-size-fits-all solution and thus employees’ preferences are not gathered while planning the programs. Today’s gen-z generation is very vocal about what they want. Some employees like public recognition, while others may prefer to go on a short trip while others may desire gift vouchers. Managers may acknowledge this and come up with a personalized program that would involve some ‘human touch’ to make team members appreciated and deeply valued.

Not measuring the impact of the program

You can’t fix what you can’t measure! If managers don’t know what’s working well vs. what they need to improve upon, the recognition program will become redundant and lose its fervor. Managers need to show the ‘Return on Investment (ROI)’ of these programs to their key stakeholders, including team members. Gathering real-time data and collecting employees’ feedback through formal pulse surveys or informal catch-ups will help establish causation.

The prime objective of employee recognition programs is to facilitate a culture of appreciation and recognition, and managers are the key components of this to ensure they do not fail. They need to be actively involved in the process from its inception till its culmination. With changes abound, employee recognition programs also need to evolve and adapt to the changing organizational priorities, technology, and employee preferences. HR partners as well as the manager need to work in tandem to ensure they do not become the reason employee recognition programs fail. They should invest in processes and tools that would streamline the recognition programs and invite more acceptance and active participation organization-wide.

5 Reasons why your company needs a real-time feedback

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Many business leaders feel their company needs to shift to collecting real-time feedback. The discussion regarding the obsoleteness of the annual performance review system has intensified in the last few years. The uncertainty springing up from the pandemic, fluctuating markets and demands, and radical digitalization have made it crucial for any company to adapt and transform, keeping up with the pace of time. While the state of the world today is challenging every preconceived notion we have of predictability, companies are on the lookout for impactful structures and systems to deliver better results. Waiting for a good twelve months to suggest improvements or show appreciation does not seem like one of them.

The VUCA world today demands agility more than anything. Even though the term has become a popularly inseparable part of business conferences and discussions, when it comes to the groundwork, there is no grounding. It appears to linger in the air, solely in words. However, this is not the universal truth either. A lot of companies like Accenture have completely denounced the system of performance management review to adopt something called the Real-Time Feedback system. A system that caters to changing needs and times of the world of work.

What is Real-Time Feedback System anyway?

Remember how infuriating those times make you when your partner brings up a topic from months ago in an argument that you have no memory of? 

Precisely how resentment and helplessness build up annoyance in your employees too when check-ins are experienced long after the task is completed. In another case, there can be the hindrance of recency bias as well. This kind of bias refers to the neglect of the participation and work performed in the initial months of the financial year. It, unconsciously or consciously, derives an impression of someone and their work from the relatively recent time frame when the final review is being constructed.

Now that the failure of a long gap in work and feedback is identified, it will make it easier to gauge the importance of Real-Time Feedback. In extremely simple words, it means, delivering feedback instantaneously concerning the work at hand. This model of effective communication does not just take the form of a harbinger of healthy relationships amongst teammates but also helps in the progress of individuals eventually leading to better business results. To remove the lag between the time work is delivered and the time feedback is collected, every company needs a real-time feedback system in place.

Let’s break down the real-time significance of this real-timing of feedback

The Boomers are gone, why should the system stay?

The employee strength, now and in the coming time will be dominated by Millenials and Generation Z. For generations who esteem ethics and values of an organisation in high regard and, to say in the slang, “take no shit”, it is important for managers to buckle up to work with them. Additionally, these generations are also known for their demands for clarity and transparency. 

What one can derive from this psychological shift in employees is the need to emphasise the aspect of ‘instantaneousness’, whether in appreciation, recognition, or suggestions for improvement. Importantly, these generations are also highly up to the minute with learning and development owing to the quickly shifting nature of work and qualifications for a job position. Real-Time Feedback helps nurture the culture of learning in an organisation. 

Humans are ever-changing just like the times, the new-gen recognises it

The once-in-a-year celebratory nature of providing feedback to the employees is anything but positively fruitful for the new generation. The system of Real-Time feedback recognises it and presents itself as an opportunity to set up itself as an effective alternative. Humans are fickle but also ever-growing, ever-changing. 

Giving feedback for something that happened months ago is futile. The person has grown, changed and transformed. Henceforth, the best way to improve performance is to venerate this non-static nature of your employees and equip them with feedback exactly when the problem or extraordinaire surfaces.

Nothing can beat transparency and effectively saying it out loud in forging a healthy manager-employee relationship

Ambiguity, vagueness and not effectively communicating so as to ensure both parties are on the same page can easily make interactions between the two sour and salty. Sometimes, it is, in fact, unintentional. Both operate from a perspective that they have not identified and therefore, not verbalised to even themselves yet. The system of Real-Time Feedback counter-attacks this human tendency. It forces employees and managers to deliberately think and evaluate every emotion they might be experiencing with respect to the work done or given. It pushes them to be certain of their impression of the task or person at hand. 

Quipping each other with instant feedback as the identification process concludes helps the one at receiving end also instantly go through the suggestion and evaluate their position. As utopic as this sounds, effective communication can most definitely forge an extremely healthy manager-employee relationship. This, then, eventually leads to better performance as flaws and perfections are quickly laid down and space is given for introspection. 

If it had to be said in short, it boosts employee engagement given the constant communication and supply of motivation and will to do better with clarity.

Goodbyes to Panic and Anxiety

Especially after the pandemic, companies have begun to understand the vitality of taking care of their employees’ mental health along with that of physical. Various organizations launched projects to ensure that their workers were doing well. However, a much-neglected facet where panic and anxiety seem to become best friends of the employees is the day of review. The unknown haunts, whats, and hows about the once-in-a-long-while review from the manager might lead to sleepless nights too. 

To tackle this, every company needs a  Real-Time Feedback system. It eliminates these troublesome feelings. The consistency of feedback can help them mentally prepare for the project just executed, not a variety of it they performed over a long course of time. It will also help them not fret over where they stood all year or month long with respect to their OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). A regularity in closures and expectations expressed can clearly be a game-changer!

Let’s steer the way for the new ones to settle faster

Commonly, companies consider one month as a learning period for every new employee giving them space and time to settle in and understand the ins and outs of the work at hand. The challenge every manager deals with is how to reduce this learning period and make the new employee as productive as an older one with minimal guidance. If not, then, at least accelerate this process.

A revolutionary solution is Real-Time Feedback. The more consistently the person will be evaluated and communicated with the expectations concerning the results, the more clarity they will harbor. It will also help them understand the culture and proceedings of the team or organization faster than they themselves slowly observe. 

If it can be said, it just takes one change in the system for a tortoise to turn into a hare. And, in this story, the quick and steady wins the race!

Is a real-time feedback survey one of the pressing needs of your company? Know more about our leadership assessment and development platform that helps you incorporate real-time feedback surveys to measure the effectiveness of your people leaders. To schedule a demo, click here.

1 thing CEOs can do to achieve profitable growth – help managers bring employees’ personal best

Posted on by Mandar

“How can I achieve profitable growth?” is a question all CEOs are constantly asking themselves. It is fair to say that the likelihood of achieving optimal growth and profitability rises as a company’s workforce is performing at its personal and professional best and It is also true that your front-line managers can be positioned to accomplish just that. There are three parts to this winning equation; it starts by understanding what employees need to perform at their personal best. Next, you need to understand how this changes the expectations of a manager from perhaps what it is today. Finally, you have to be committed to training and empowering front-line managers to deliver on those needs.

Employees bring their best into the workplace and can help CEOs achieve profitable growth when these 5 important conditions exist.

Trust

Research shows that high-trust organizations perform better than their competitors. When employees trust the organization they work for, they are more likely to engage proactively in the work. For your employees, their managers are the face of the organization and are best suited to build that trust. Managers have to display transparency and authenticity in how they interact with their teams and as with any relationship, earn employee’s trust.

Belonging

People have an innate yearning to belong; they may satisfy that need many ways, be it a church, a book club, sports team, etc. When people feel they belong they commit themselves to whatever the mission of the organization is, and that includes their employer. While you don’t want the work environment to feel like a cult, you do want people to feel part of a team with shared goals and accomplishments. To the contrary, when people don’t feel they belong, they are more likely to search for other employment, or simply do the bare minimum they are required to do.

Balance

More than ever, workers want to better balance their work life and personal life and are seeking flexible schedules, remote or hybrid options, and even more casual attire when possible. While pay and benefits remain an important incentive, employees want to know that their employer recognizes the importance of their health and happiness at work and outside of work.

Fulfillment

Intrinsic motivation comes from oneself and a desire to learn, be challenged, or demonstrate achievement, even without reward. Tapping into these motivations is an important tool in bringing top performing employees into the workplace and it starts with hiring. If, for example, one of your managers learns during an interview that the candidate has a strong desire to learn something new, and the position that is open will have a lot of opportunities to learn, then the candidate will be more likely to get fulfillment out of their work.

Reward

Reward doesn’t just mean pay and benefits, although those are important extrinsic motivations. Extrinsic motivation is the opposite of intrinsic and requires some external stimuli to trigger a behavior, which may be a reward or recognition of some kind. When managers understand how to use the levers of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, they are more likely to inspire top performance in their team members.

Now that you have a roadmap for bringing out the best performance in your employees, how does it change your expectations of managers? Trust, belonging, balance, fulfillment, and reward are not likely the focus of front-line managers when they start work each day, but it can be. Once your frontline managers understand their role helping employees meet these needs, it will be a big step forward in optimizing growth, profitability, and performance. Supporting managers by clarifying these new expectations is important and it can start by letting them know they are process experts and managers, but also people coaches. Their knowledge and influence over processes is one expertise many of them may already have, but how to coach employees and help them get what they need from work might be a very different skill set.

What can CEOs do to achieve profitable growth?

You know what employees need to perform at their best, and you know that frontline managers are best positioned to deliver on those needs. There is a shift in expectations, and it is an important time to equip existing and new managers with the skills they need to coach their teams for success. The data suggests that Investments in leadership training are increasing but without the commensurate improvements in impact; this is largely due to program design not being aligned with specific company needs, nor recognizing that half of the global workforce are now millennials and Gen Zers, who require a more tailored and tech-enabled form of engagement. Leadership training should be designed to turn managers into coaches because that is what employees are wanting; without it, engagement and retention suffer. Programs should be designed that give managers the soft skills needed to build trust and create a sense of belonging to a team. They have to display authentic respect for work-life balance in an actionable way. Managers also have to become motivational experts by learning how to detect aligned intrinsic motivations during hiring, as well as being a stakeholder in designing the company’s reward systems.

People aren’t easy; we are complex beings who want to belong, have purpose, thrive in our relationships, and be recognized for our efforts. Work alone, is not how we meet these needs, but it is certainly a large part of it. More forward-thinking companies are beginning to put the needs of their employees first and are seeing the positive effects on the overall growth and success of the company.

Summary

CEOs must ensure these 5 important conditions are created to help managers get the best out of the employees and achieve profitable growth. Making the shift from a more traditional model of frontline management that monitors people and processes, to a renovated model that turns managers into process experts and people coaches, requires a committed investment. Start by talking to your frontline managers and asking them how they are spending their time. Get a strong sense of where the gaps in their skills might be and how much time is being spent on things that take them away from supporting their teams. Design a training program that has specific measurable outcomes and then continue to refine it based on those measures. Use a leadership assessment tool that will let you know what your employees feel about their managers. Your investment will reap a substantial reward.  

How effective founders make strategy? – By listening to managers who listen to employees

Posted on by Mandar

Every business, irrespective of its size and scale needs concrete direction and a well-chalked-out plan to grow and sustain in this dynamic ecosystem. So how do effective founders make a winning business strategy? Strategy is that ‘well-thought-out’ roadmap that outlines the overall vision, and mission and provides direction to the organization. Organizations with robust strategies are more successful and perform better than others, whereas organizations with no concrete strategic plans struggle. A strategy, which is a long-term plan helps organizations reach the envisioned desired state. It involves intensive planning around the organization’s goals and objectives, markets, products and services, competitors, customers, and revenue. 

Strategy formulation is the most critical and intensive process which is mostly led by the founders and CEOs of the organization. A lot goes into formulating business strategies – from doing thorough market research to developing unique value propositions to creating an effective marketing plan. It is the founder’s responsibility to come up with the most suitable and effective strategy to take their organizations to greater heights. Organizations that have founders/leaders who are committed to their strategies grow faster and are more profitable than their counterparts. 

Unfortunately, business strategies do fail which in turn impacts the overall functioning of the organization. There can be a variety of reasons for strategy failure, like sudden economic downturns like recession or inflation or simply a leader’s incompetence to execute strategy well. Research suggests that there aren’t enough leaders who invest time into strategy. The results of this lack of investment cascade down to leaders in the middle, leaders on the front line, and the workforce: studies point to the fact that the majority of employees do not know or understand their organization’s strategy. It is not a good sign to ensure the sustained success of the organization. What can founders do to build effective strategies and ensure their successful execution?

Key Considerations

Let’s delve into some of the key considerations that should be taken by the founders to develop an effective strategy:

  1. Have a clear vision: Vision talks about the future aspirations- the desired end-state. A clear vision will guide founders to move toward that end state. 
  2. Self-assessment and competitor analysis: It is important to conduct a self-assessment to evaluate the best avenues for business growth and success. Identifying an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will lend 360 degrees view of where your organization stands and what needs to be done to move ahead. At the same time, gathering complete information about your competitors will enrich your perspective.
  3. Set clear, long-term objectives: Prepare a strategic plan that is long-term and realistic. Ask -what is your competitive advantage and what type of products/services would you like to build? Who will be your target audience? What markets would you like to serve, and what operations would you like to undertake to get to your desired future state? At the same time, there have to be specific goals for the business, functions/departments, and also for employees.
  4. Alignment with organizational goals and values: Founders must ensure that the organizational strategy aligns well with other business goals to avoid any derailment in the future.
  5. Measure your results: It’s not enough to simply set goals and forget about it, rather, periodically review and update your strategy and constantly monitor your progress.

Collaborative and holistic approach

Strategy building shouldn’t happen in a siloed manner. Building successful strategies requires a collaborative and holistic approach where founders should closely work with managers as well as employees to identify areas that need improvement and to develop strategies to address these issues. When founders do not want to change their mindset, are reluctant to share their power, and do not involve managers and employees while building strategies, organizations struggle. 

What founders can do?

  • Create open lines of communication: Founders need to encourage managers to share their thoughts and ideas about the company strategy. This can be done through regular check-ins, brainstorming sessions, and team meetings. Managers often have a more detailed understanding of the day-to-day operations of the organization and can provide valuable insights and perspectives that founders may not have considered. 
  • Solicit Manager’s feedback: It is important to actively seek out feedback from managers on proposed strategies and initiatives. This will not only help founders identify potential issues or challenges but will also foster a sense of collaboration and camaraderie. 
  • Soliciting employees’ feedback: Taking employees’ views is crucial for the success of any company. Managers who regularly listen to their employees can provide valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and this information can be used to shape the organization’s strategy.
  • Ensuring alignment: Founders should ensure that their managers are aligned with the company’s overall mission, vision, and values and that they understand how their specific roles contribute to the achievement of these goals. This can help to ensure that everyone is working towards a common purpose and that the strategy is implemented effectively 
  • Presenting the bigger picture: It is often seen that managers and employees are so focused on their department that they miss out on seeing the macro view of their organization. But when founders involve them in strategy-building exercises, they become aware of their organization and its long-term plan. By involving everyone in the process, the company can create a sense of ownership and commitment to the strategy, which can increase the likelihood of its success.

It is observed that people believe in what they see and feel however, the reality might be totally different. While building strategy, founders may place more importance on things they see and feel are right whereas for managers and employees, the other set of things carries more importance. 

This very fact reminds me of a Buddhist parable ‘The Blind Men and The Elephant’ which is a metaphorical tale that illustrates the concept of subjective truth and the limitations of individual perception. In the story, a group of blind men come across an elephant, and each one touches a different part of the animal. One man touches the elephant’s ear and concludes that it’s like a fan while another man touches its trunk and believes that it’s a snake. A third man feels its side and declares that it’s like a wall. Each man has a different perception of the elephant based on their limited experience and perspective. Each man believes that his individual perspective is the whole truth—when it’s only partial truth. The story puts forth the fact that no one person has a complete understanding of a situation. Therefore, we must acknowledge and consider multiple perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of the truth.

However, it is important to understand that ultimately, founders are responsible for setting the direction and vision of the company. While inputs from managers are valuable, founders must be able to filter this information and make decisions that align with the overall goals and values of the business.

To summarize, it is critical to have a strong strategy in place. Founders need to maintain a clear vision and make decisions that align with the overall goals and values of the organization. Open communication, soliciting feedback, and taking a holistic approach will ensure effective strategy formulation.  A well-rounded strategy should be developed with a range of inputs, well aligned with the organization’s broader vision and goals.

Managers Impact on Team Performance, for Better or Worse

Posted on by Mandar

How managers lead has a major impact on team performance; they can bring out the best and create high-performing teams, and they can also bring out the worst, creating a toxic work environment. Managers can best drive top performance by understanding five important needs workers have: trust, belonging, balance, fulfillment, and reward. To make our point, contrast how these concepts can be well-managed, and not well-managed.

Trust

Managers are the face of leadership for most workers and trust is important. Imagine a manager who is transparent, authentic, and honest with their team. In a high-trust environment, people are not left to guess about their future or what work is valued and what work is not. Workers behave rationally because they are not acting in fear of the unknown, or the suspicious. Workers in such an environment waste less time second-guessing motivations and more time being productive.

Contrast a high-trust environment with the opposite. Imagine a manager who is secretive or deceptive in how they communicate. What is the impact on team performance of managers who say one thing, but do something else, or are caught misinforming their team for a self-serving purpose? In this environment workers start their day with a sense of resentment, maybe even anger; they spend time commiserating with co-workers about their distrust. These teams have high turnover and low retention which is a burden for everyone who stays behind. Just as in any relationship, a lack of trust is dooming.

Belonging

A sense of belonging is important for all of us, and a manager has the greatest impact on creating that sense for their team members. Think about the manager that continually refers to “us” or “we” when talking to employees about the work and accomplishments of the team. Imagine a manager that deliberately invests time in team meetings and activities, or who personally introduces new employees to the team and develops a welcoming atmosphere that reinforces that the employee belongs to a team. In this environment workers share common goals and collaborate on work; they feel a part of something and that adds joy to their work. A sense of belonging is highly valued by workers, even if the work itself is mundane.

By contrast, imagine the manager that rarely references the work done by a team, and focuses more time and attention on individual performance. When a manager creates a culture of “we”, as in management, and “you”, as in employee, they negate any sense of belonging and instead erect a wall that seems impenetrable to workers. Employees in this type of environment will become complacent and do only what is asked of them because taking initiative when they think they don’t belong feels overcommitted.

Balance

Today’s workforce places a great deal of weight on having a balanced life where work doesn’t eclipse their personal life; people are defining themselves less by what they do for work, and more for who they are as a person in all aspects of life. Imagine the manager that shares these values and makes work-life balance a routine part of the conversation with team members. What if the manager is seeking ideas and insights from workers on what they would find most impactful on the balance they seek and then implements more flexible policies where practical. Organizations that empower their managers to create flexible options for their employees are rewarded with higher rates of retention and less turnover.

When managers refuse to entertain ways to create balance for their employees, workers will seek out alternative roles in other organizations. While very few jobs can be completely flexible in every way, rigidity should have purpose. When managers don’t challenge old assumptions and norms by asking for the “why”, their team members see no hope in establishing more balance in their life. These environments are losing their top-performers to more flexible organizations.

Fulfillment

All work can’t be glamorous or steeped in socially redeeming value, however the more a manager can connect the dots between the activities of team members and the cause or mission of the organization, the more likely employees are to get fulfillment in their work. Managers who take the time to understand each person’s intrinsic motivations and offer opportunities to satisfy them will have enthusiastic and energetic teams. A manager will drive improved performance when they help progress their employees’ careers by giving them opportunities to learn new skills.

Managers who don’t understand their employees’ motivations, nor try to, will get little more than minimum lackluster performance. Managers are positioned to know each worker best and when they don’t make the effort to understand what is motivating them, employees are likely to search for other work that satisfies and fulfills them.  

Reward

A manager who uses rewards as a powerful lever to drive performance is more likely to get results. Consider a manager that publicly recognizes performance, advocates for improved pay or benefits, and creates opportunities for advancement. Managers should advocate for teams and people who perform, starting from day one. A manager who places more weight on team performance rather than individual performance will get better overall results.

Not understanding how rewards can extrinsically motivate teams will result in suboptimal performance and sometimes unintended consequences. For example, placing more weight on individual performance than on team performance can result in winners and losers instead of a cohesive team working in sync toward a common goal. Managers who don’t know what rewards are meaningful to workers will find themselves actually driving overall performance in the wrong direction. Employees want to know that their manager is not out of touch and understands their priorities.

Finally, to build trust, create a sense of belonging, find balance, allow opportunities for fulfillment, and deliver rewards, to have a positive impact on team performance, managers have to consider them as interconnected. Too much flexibility in search of balance can impact team cohesion and a sense of belonging. Finding the right rewards means understanding what fulfills each individual. The work of a manager requires nuanced soft skills and investing in their ongoing development will bring out the best in team performance.

How can HR lead feedback implementation by managers?

Posted on by Mandar

Organizations with strong cultures encourage ‘trust building’ by improving one of the core metrics; the ‘employee experience’. Research supports that when employees feel heard at work, they are nearly 5x more likely to put in their best effort and show better retention rates.  Surveys are a great and convenient way to gather feedback and understand how your team members are feeling and what they want from their organizations.  Sound interpretation of feedback and corrective actions will enhance employee experience while misinterpreting the results or failing to act on the feedback may have an adverse effect on employee morale. However, interpretation is not enough. HR needs to make it easy for all employees, especially the people managers to implement the feedback

A survey is mostly designed and conducted to gather employee feedback on various metrics like satisfaction with the current job, leadership, commitment towards the organization, overall engagement, morale, etc. When administered effectively, surveys can throw insightful data around particular departments/business units, allowing leaders to improve the overall workplace culture and employee job satisfaction.  Furthermore, with the information gained from these feedback surveys, HR leaders can build strategies to help motivate employees and increase their overall experience.

Despite the fact that the majority of organizations understand the importance of gathering team feedback through surveys, a lot of surveys and more importantly, the ‘intent’ behind conducting those surveys fall flat for a variety of reasons. 

Reasons these surveys fail

  • Lack of conviction in conducting surveys: when conducting surveys is yet another item on the checklist and leaders as well as employees do not see it as something significant.
  • Lack of planning and communication: When there is no or minuscule planning behind the launch of any survey and very limited information is shared with the employees.
  • Poor design and length of the survey: Not much heed is paid to the design of the survey; either they are very long or very short.
  • Lack of people manager’s involvement: People managers are not aligned with the core intent of conducting surveys.
  • Lack of leadership buy-in: When business leaders do not lend their full support to make it an organization-wide activity.
  • Lack of measurement and inability to take any action post-survey: it is critical to showcase the results of the survey otherwise, surveys would lose their luster over a period and will be deemed as another redundant HR item.

Why are managers unble to implement the survey findings?

Once the surveys are rolled out and feedback is gathered, it’s been observed that many managers remain unsure about the data utilization. This article will mainly focus on some of the reasons why people managers fail to act on team feedback surveys and how HR leaders can salvage the situation and help them implement the feedback.

  1. Lack of understanding: Sometimes, managers may not understand the real purpose of conducting surveys and thus, the surveys are rolled out in haste. Managers remain skeptical about ‘the need’ to conduct the survey and look at it as yet another HR initiative. They do not know ‘what to do’ with the feedback provided by their team members and therefore no constructive remedial action is taken. 
  2. Time constraints: Managers are often busy with multiple responsibilities, which may lead them to not having sufficient time to review feedback survey results thoroughly. As a result, they may prioritize other tasks over taking action on the feedback received.
  3. Lack of resources: Managers may not have the necessary resources or support to take action on the feedback. This often happens when the top leadership is not aligned with the purpose of conducting surveys and does not lend its full support. As a result, managers may not have sufficient budget or authority to make significant decisions.
  4. Resistance to change: Some managers may be resistant to change or feel uncomfortable making changes based on feedback. They may prefer to maintain the status quo or may not be confident in their ability to implement changes effectively.
  5. Fear of negative consequences: Managers may fear negative results from taking action on the feedback. For instance, what if the desired result is not achieved and senior leadership doesn’t approve of the actions taken?
  6. Non-collaborative approach: When managers do not include their team members during various stages of survey rollout, chances are high that the intervention will be a failure. This can be linked back to the classic Hawthorne study which showed that when the supervisors were actively engaged with employees – talking about their job and implementing employee suggestions as they worked, employee productivity was better. When employees feel that their voice is being heard they will care more about their workplace and contributions.

In summary, there are several factors that could contribute to managers failing to act on team feedback survey results. Addressing these factors can help ensure that managers are more effective in addressing feedback and improving team performance. 

How can HR help managers implement feedback?

HR leaders who are the real custodians of survey design and implementation can take several effective steps to help managers implement feedback, such as:

  1. Communicate the importance: HR leaders can emphasize the importance of feedback and its impact on team morale, productivity, and retention to the people managers. They can also communicate the adverse consequences of ignoring feedback.
  2. Including managers in the design phase: Survey creation shouldn’t happen in a siloed manner, rather HR leaders must involve people managers and make them aware of the nature and content of the survey. Surveys shouldn’t come as a surprise to managers rather should be tailored in conjunction with managers and their views around it. 
  3. Make surveys appealing to the managers: Ascertain the reliability of the survey being rolled out i.e., ensuring that your survey is measuring what it purports to measure. Do a pilot with the managers before rolling it out organization-wide. Furthermore, check the relevance of the questions in the survey as well as the length of the survey, it shouldn’t be either too long or too short.
  4. Provide training: HR Leaders can provide training to managers on how to interpret feedback and take action on it. They can also offer resources and support to help people managers address feedback.
  5. Hold managers accountable: HR leaders can hold managers accountable for addressing feedback by setting expectations and regularly following up on progress.
  6. Foster a culture of feedback: HR leaders can foster a culture of feedback by encouraging regular feedback exchanges between managers and team members. This can help normalize the practice of addressing feedback and make it a part of the team’s culture.

It is important that people managers start acting on their team survey results. Any survey will only become effective when something constructive and concrete is done with the feedback obtained. HR leaders can certainly make this entire experience highly relevant and smooth by involving people managers in the process and helping them implement the feedback. Utilizing survey feedback correctly will facilitate a cultural shift where employees’ opinions are heard and their experience is enhanced.