10: THE MANAGER AS TRAINER & DEVELOPER

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

On completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

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A Training & Development Scenario

You are asked to provide advice on how the performance review process outlined in this scenario may be enhanced to make it more developmental.

XYZ Limited has operated a performance review process for the past five years. The system was designed by the HR manager in consultation with key managers within the organisation.

Each manager and supervisor is required to conduct an appraisal interview with every member of staff on a yearly basis. This typically lasts for approximately 30 minutes. Managers and supervisors are required to rate employees on issues such as drive and energy, attendance and punctuality, initiative and innovation, attitude, judgement, communication effectiveness and quality of work. When major disagreements occur about the ratings, the HR manager reviews the documentation and, in exceptional cases, adjusts the appraisal rating.

Management have come to the conclusion that neither managers nor employees are particularly enthusiastic about the process. Managers feel that the process requires them to “play God” in rating employees on a highly subjective set of measures, largely associated with personality characteristics that do not appear to have particular relevance to performance and development. Managers and employees received little or no training on how to conduct developmental performance reviews. There is little clarity about what the company expects to achieve from the process. Most employees dislike the appraisal interviews, which they feel provide an opportunity for managers to pick on their faults rather than focus on the future and emphasise development issues.

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INTRODUCTION

We have considered the roles and skills of the trainer in facilitating training and development in organisations. We have identified and described at various points the role of the manager in developing employees. We give more consideration to the roles of the manager as a trainer and developer of staff in this chapter.

We consider the manager to be an important stakeholder in influencing and determining the effectiveness of T&D in an organisation. Typically, managers perform a number of important T&D roles. They may carry out on-the-job training, they may be involved in both corrective and developmental coaching, they may act as formal and informal mentors and they may undertake developmental reviews.

We consider the personal development plan to be an important component of effective development. We explain the issues you should consider when constructing a personal development plan. We consider each of these development dimensions in this chapter.

DEVELOPMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS & THE MANAGER

The process of training and developing staff in organisations does not take place in a vacuum but occurs as a response to the environment in which an individual works. The manager is a major component of the learning environment. Managers influence the nature and direction of an individual’s development, and also have responsibility for the learning and development climate. We firmly believe that individuals are responsible for their own learning, although the manager has a major role to play.

There are three distinct developmental relationships that a manager can adopt in respect of developing his/her direct reports

Figure 10.1 provides a summary of the three roles.

FIGURE 10.1: CHARACTERISTICS OF THREE DEVELOPMENT RELATIONSHIPS

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Training & Development Roles of Line Managers

Line managers are “key players” in promoting training and development. One of the fundamental tenets of Human Resource Management is that managers should take responsibility for the “people management” as well as the “task management” aspects of their role. This is in contrast to the situation where responsibility for training and development is “hived off” to development specialists and trainers or is perceived to be the responsibility of training departments. There is a strong rationale for this approach – simply that managers are in day-to-day contact with their employees, they know the job role and are aware of the direct report’s strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, they are ideally placed to take an active role in the development of their direct reports, whose performance they are expected meant to manage.

The problem with this is that managers often tend to be task-driven and do not possess the people management skills necessary to take on a significant developmental role. Nevertheless, many organisations now expect line managers to take a degree of responsibility for employee development, and are putting in place supporting systems to ensure that this happens. Sometimes, 360-degree appraisal is used, and staff development responsibilities are being written into job descriptions and appearing in managers’ performance objectives. In addition, organisations are trying to provide managers with the skills they need to take on these responsibilities.

Typical responses from line managers when faced with the news that they share responsibility for the development of employees under their supervision range from comments like “I’m paid to manage the job, not train people. That’s what we have a training department for!” to “Can you send Joe on an interpersonal skills course? He must learn how to deal with people”.

The question arises as to why line managers are reluctant to become involved in T&D. The research evidence suggests that line managers may not have staff development clearly specified in their job description and performance objectives; that they lack the skills necessary for needs assessment, course selection and evaluation, and they may prefer to defer to centralised training departments where expertise is seen to rest. This system of expertise is often likely to be perpetuated by a centralised training department concerned with justifying its own existence.

Whatever the rationale for resistance, line management involvement is considered critical to the success of T&D. Many of the reasons for this have been articulated already in Chapter Two but, in summary, the increasing pace of organisational change requires that decision-making be taken closer to the work being done. It is line managers who are most continually involved with employees, know their development needs, understand their part of the business better than anyone else, and are in the best position to evaluate the results of employee development activity as it relates to the current and future work of the work group.

Whatever the rationale for resistance, it is easily overcome if top management makes T&D a high priority. Shifting both responsibility and authority, in addition to resources, for T&D to line managers can have significant influence on line manager behaviour. If coupled with appropriate development of the skills needed, this can produce positive outcomes.

There is general agreement as to the dimensions of the line manager’s role for employee development. It involves giving active support to the role of employee development in the organisation. Setting aside time to think about and engage in employee development activities can do this. Short-term workload should not be accepted as an excuse for failure to allow employees to participate in T&D – this merely demonstrates the manager’s lack of ability to plan and manage human resources. Second, managers should engage in regular, formal need assessment activities with their staff. Often the most appropriate forum for this is with the work team; at other times, it is with individual employees. The development and updating of the “personal development plan” should be seen as an opportunity to reinforce the message of continuous development that is inherent in the philosophy of employee development.

This suggests that managers themselves will need new skills: to coach, to assess training and development needs and to evaluate T&D activities that have been conducted, as well as the increased management skills needed to work with a workforce that is continually developing and changing its own skill base. Therefore, they must be active participants in the employee development process.

There is evidence that the optimum developmental relationship requires the espousal and implementation of a number of important values and actions by the manager, including:

MENTORING & COACHING

Mentoring and coaching are two development processes that you will most likely use in a T&D role, either as a trainer or as a manager. We provided a brief definition of these concepts in Chapter One. We explain in more detail the differences between both concepts now.

Coaching is a process in which an individual (usually a manager) interacts with another (direct report) to teach, model, and provide feedback on technical, professional and interpersonal skills and behaviours in a future-focused constructive way. The coach seeks to use everyday experience to improve performance.

Coaching, as a development tool, performs important functions:

Mentoring is a process that deliberately pairs a person who is more skilled or experienced with one who is less skilled or experienced (the protégé or mentee) in order to transfer skills and experience in a focused, effective and efficient manner. The skills transferred may be job-specific, technical or professional, generic or career-oriented. The reporting relationship is “off-line” – that is, not between a manager and his/her direct report.

Many trainers consider mentoring to be a career management tool used by organisations to nurture staff. Mentoring generally involves the giving of advice and guidance or in providing a role model. Mentors focus on the development of the learner, giving time and attention beyond the role boundaries of the manager. Development usually takes place “as required” at a pace to suit the individual.

Mentoring processes usually include the following elements:

Mentors typically carry out tasks such as teaching, tutoring, coaching, modelling, serving as a sounding board, demonstrating, listening, reflecting on the contribution of the mentee, giving feedback, counselling and guiding. The role is therefore all-embracing and requires a strong skill set.

Informal mentoring occurs in many organisations. Although it is a positive process in that it enables individuals to form natural pairs, mentors often choose mentees who are very much like themselves and impress their beliefs and styles on the protégé or mentee. It is possible that learners with strong development potential may be left out of these informal relationships.

There is evidence indicating that the creation of an effective mentoring relationship is a function of personality, so some organisations have adopted a facilitated mentoring strategy. This process is an overall structure and series of activities that enable the creation of a mentoring relationship. The process is available to any individual who perceives that he or she has potential for development and is willing and motivated to take more responsibility for personal and management development

Coaching and mentoring processes are appropriate to use in a number of situations:

Figure 10.2 shows the main differences between coaching and mentoring.

FIGURE 10.2: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COACHING & MENTORING

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The Manager as Coach

Coaching involves helping another person systematically and deliberately to develop skill and knowledge. It usually involves personal development in terms of attitudes and motivation. Some commentators argue that the role of coach is an amalgam of four other roles that are usually performed by a manager:

Figure 10.3 presents a summary of key dimensions of the coach in a training and developmental context. These represent the more commonly-emphasised roles.

FIGURE 10.3: DIMENSIONS OF COACHING IN A T&D CONTEXT

Types of coaching include:

The Components of Coaching

The coaching process usually follows a five-stage process:

We will briefly describe these components. Later, we will describe the specific components of corrective and developmental coaching and the specific issues that pertain to each one.

Specifying the Purpose

In a coaching relationship, it is important to define the purpose of any coaching session for those involved. For example:

It is important to spell out exactly what the learner sees as the purpose of each coaching session, rather than the coach prescribing it. If the learner encounters difficulties answering these questions, then the coach should help the individual to clarify the learning purpose before embarking on any actual coaching. This helps create a sense of ownership in the learner in his/her own development.

Exploring Objectives and Options

It is important for the learner to identify his/her own objective(s), option(s) and indeed goal(s). Your role as coach must be to keep the learner on track and help them to measure progress – but the goals must be relevant and realistic and owned by the individual.

A trusting and honest relationship between you and the learner is fundamental, if real progress is to be made towards the achievement of goals. You should help the learner to identify their objectives by asking questions, such as:

In asking these questions, you act as a motivator in building enthusiasm for the personal benefits that the learner will gain from the coaching. The agreed objectives should be SMART:

The Focus of the Coaching Session

Once you and your learner have begun with an objective or goal in mind, both of you need to establish the current level of performance. You need to ask judgemental questions that help to raise the awareness of your learner and focus him/her focus on the gap between the current and the desired level of performance. You need to pay close attention to the answers, and to explore further with the learner, if the responses are not specific enough. The following are examples of questions you can use for this “reality check”:

Open questions encourage the learner to dig deep within him/herself and not rely on you to come up with all the answers. They can be supported or followed-up with questions to explore further.

Empowering your Learner

Empowerment is a way of giving more responsibility to your learner. As coach, you must remain accountable for the overall results and the performance of your learners. However, from the commencement of coaching, it should be the learner who is primarily responsible for his or her own development. Learners who are empowered in a coaching situation can identify what objectives they need to meet and therefore what options they have in order to close the gap between their current performance and the desired performance.

Empowering questions in a coaching context include:

You will need good interpersonal skills to help a learner through these empowering questions. It is advisable to start on a positive footing and to ask what has worked so far. Out of empowering should come an agreed plan of new tasks, actions and activities of the learner to carry out.

Review of Coaching Session

You will need to observe and review the learner’s performance and compare it against an agreed standard. You should offer constructive feedback and ensure that such reviews are on-going.

Typical questions to ask during a review include:

Finally, your coaching style should be designed to build self-confidence and in particular to encourage learner autonomy.

Coaching has the potential to offer numerous benefits to the learner, the coach, the training department and the organisation. Figure 10.4 is a summary of the key benefits that you can articulate in order to justify the implementation of a coaching strategy.

FIGURE 10.4: BENEFITS OF COACHING

Learner

Coach

Organisation

Training Department

We now consider two coaching situations: corrective and developmental.

Conducting Corrective Coaching

Corrective coaching is an important dimension of a manager’s role because it focuses on developing skills for effective performance in your organisation. It involves meeting with your direct report where you focus on correcting a pattern of behaviour and improving overall job performance. Corrective coaching is important because, if it is used effectively and not just at performance review time, it can lead to significant improvements in individual job performance. Most important from the manager’s point of view, corrective coaching can prevent small problems developing into big ones.

Corrective coaching has three major advantages for the manager:

It is important that corrective coaching has benefits for your direct reports. Three specific benefits can be identified:

Figure 10.5 provides a summary of corrective coaching guidelines that may be followed by the manager or by a trainer when they are required to perform a corrective coaching role.

FIGURE 10.5: CONDUCTING CORRECTIVE COACHING: GUIDELINES FOR ACTION

1.Identifying Coaching Goals: Before you discuss a performance problem with a direct report, take the time you need to plan and prepare. Decide what you want to accomplish through the coaching session – what are the specific outcomes you want to see, such as the direct report making a specific commitment to change or improve something

2.Prepare for Coaching Session: Gather the information that you need, decide upon the time/place for your discussion and communicate this to the direct report

3.Express your Desire to Help: Welcome the direct report and explain that you want to ensure good two-way communication in the workplace. This meeting is an opportunity to clarify and discuss your own and your direct report’s expectations and views. Begin by focusing on positives – informing your direct report that you appreciate the things they do well makes them more open to receiving feedback on performance problems

4.State the Problem and its Consequences: Based on the facts of the situation, describe the problem that has led to this coaching session. At the beginning of the session, it is important to be objective and factual and to use descriptive rather than evaluative statements. Be relaxed and open-minded. Don’t jump to conclusions and be prepared to discuss the direct report’s expectations. After stating the problem you might refer to some of the consequences – for example, other people being affected, work delayed, customers upset, and so on. You should not overlook your own feelings as they relate to the issue – what has been the impact of this problem on you – and share those feelings

5.Reach Agreement that a Problem Exists: Obtaining the direct report’s agreement that a problem exists is the most important, and often the most difficult step, in the corrective coaching process. If you continue without gaining agreement, additional difficulties will arise and you may need to return again to try to secure agreement. One way of gaining agreement is to point out the gap between the standard or what you expect and the person’s actions and behaviour. Once you have agreement that a problem exists, emphasise this agreement so that it is clear to the direct report

6.Discuss Causes of the Problem: Determine the facts by asking information questions like “What happened …”, “What time …”, “Why did you do that?”. Encourage the direct report to talk about the problem while you listen and try to see the situation from his/her point of view. In addition to asking questions, you might steer the coaching session by interrupting occasionally and using reflective statements such as: “So you think that …”, “Does this mean that …”. These statements reflect back to direct reports the picture they are presenting and check your understanding of what has been said. They may also stimulate your direct report to expand on a point or help you guide them to the next stage in the coaching session

7.Discuss Possible Solutions and their Benefits: Move the discussion from talking about the past to talking about the future, from talking about things that have gone wrong to how to prevent them from going wrong again. With a direct report who needs more direction, you may narrow down the possible solutions by discussing two or three options: “Which do you think would be better …?”. Don’t forget to discuss how the direct report will benefit from taking the actions you suggest

8.Agree upon Actions: On the basis that employees generally respond well to a personal approach, you might tell the direct report something about how you see things and your own experience related to this problem. Here, you can demonstrate your own involvement as a person rather than someone judging at a distance. However, try to avoid telling your direct report that they “should do such and such” or “should have done such and such”. Too many “should”s can make you appear rigid and pedantic. The responsibility for changing his/her behaviour is not yours: it lies with the individual. This is why your direct reports needs to be involved in making decisions and agreeing upon future action. In this way, he/she will be more committed to these decisions or actions. End this session on an encouraging note and show how direct reports can benefit from taking the actions agreed upon. Identify a target for future performance and arrange to discuss the issue again at a future date so that you can provide support and monitor progress

9.Document the Session: You need to document the session. Then you will have a record to refer back to later, particularly if there are any further coaching sessions or if disciplinary action may be necessary. Document the solutions or actions agreed upon and the date of the follow-up meeting

10. Follow-up on the Session: Consider how you might follow-up on the corrective coaching session. When and how often do you need to check on progress? How will you recognise achievement or change? If you reward the behaviour, is it most likely to be repeated? What will you do if the problem continues?

Created from Beard and Wilson (2002), Sheal (1999) and Evenden and Anderson (1992).

Developmental Coaching

Some of the skills we have discussed in respect of corrective coaching equally apply to developmental coaching, although a number of additional considerations apply to the effective implementation of developmental coaching:

Figure 10.6 sets out what you need to consider when establishing a developmental coaching relationship.

FIGURE 10.6: DEVELOPMENTAL COACHING: DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Identifying the Learners who will Benefit from Coaching

Organisations should develop specific criteria for determining who will receive coaching. The following questions should be considered when selecting learners:

Selecting and Training the Coach

An effective coach requires two key qualities:

1.It is important to make sure that the coach can relate to the person and the world that person lives in. Find out how well the coach has worked with others in similar situations by asking the following questions:

2.A coach should be able to walk a person through all the important steps of learning. The following questions are useful in assessing a coach’s appropriateness to the learning process:

You may consider using either an external or internal coach. External coaches are most appropriate:

In contrast, internal coaches are most appropriate in these cases:

Initiate the Coaching Relationship

Contracting: There are several aspects of contracting:

The contracting process can begin by identifying the key stakeholders, usually the coach, the person being coached, that person’s immediate superior or designated organisational sponsor, and an appropriate human resource contact. The coach should discuss expectations, roles and responsibilities with each stakeholder.

Coaching Sessions: There are typically three parts to an effective coaching session:

Development Activities Between Sessions: Between coaching sessions, participants are expected to apply what they have learned. Attention to this is essential for breaking old habits and establishing new ones. Participants need to be encouraged to push their comfort zone on a daily basis.

Created from Kraiger (2001), Evenden and Anderson (1992) and Gunnigle (1999).

Corrective versus Developmental Coaching

It is likely that in your role as manager you will perform both corrective and developmental coaching. Both processes have the potential to develop the employee. Figure 10.7 provides a summary of the assumptions and differences between corrective and developmental coaching.

FIGURE 10.7: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CORRECTIVE & DEVELOPMENTAL COACHING

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The Manager as Mentor

A mentor is usually a more experienced and senior person than the mentee. Mentors are likely to be technical or professional experts or middle or senior managers and are more frequently drawn from within the organisation.

Mentors usually perform a number of important roles. Typically, they provide one or more of the following:

There are a number of roles that mentors may have to fulfil:

It is important that the focus of the mentoring is on helping the mentee to learn. While direct advice and instruction from the mentor can be helpful, it is important to ensure that mentees learn to think for themselves and that the mentoring process does not, either intentionally or unintentionally, create a dependence where they just blindly follow the mentor’s instructions and cannot take action without advice.

Mentoring is likely to suit managers who are interested in the development of others and who enjoy sharing their knowledge and experience with them. Not all managers are likely to make good mentors. It requires a considerable amount of time commitment, emotional resources and sustained effort.

Selecting Mentors and Initiating a Programme

There are a number of issues that you and your organisation should consider implementing a mentoring programme.

Selection of Mentors

This is a critical task, because it determines the success of the programme. You should select as mentors those who are interested in other people and, in particular, in their development. When choosing a mentor, the following qualities are important: experience, breadth of knowledge, technical proficiency, credibility, respect for confidentiality and status. The mentor needs to be completely trustworthy, so that it is possible for the mentee to discuss career and personal issues knowing that they will be held in strict confidence.

If the right kind of mentor does not exist in your organisation, you should look outside. You can find mentors in universities, colleges, similar organisations, or your own professional association. Most people worry about asking someone to mentor them without remuneration. Remember that most people consider it a privilege to help others develop and are flattered to be asked to participate in other people’s career development. They understand that being asked to act as a mentor is a way of building their own career and profession. The pay-off for the mentor is that as their protégés develop, so will their own network and sphere of influence.

When you are choosing a mentor, the following are some of the questions that need to be asked (from the perspective of the mentee):

Development of Mentor Skills

In order to be an effective mentor, the mentor should be capable of identifying the strengths and opportunities for development of the mentee. The mentor needs to be skilled in motivating the mentee to develop – it may be necessary to have coaching skills to provide specific skill development. The mentor should also be able to provide networking opportunities for the mentee to access other influential people, as well as education and development resources and opportunities. The skilled mentor needs to be able to listen actively, question effectively, understand differences in learning style and adapt their mentoring style to the learning style of the mentee. The mentor may need to challenge assumptions and ensure that they give enough time to the protégé. Mentors need to be self-aware and capable of self-analysis and two-way feedback.

Establishing Ground Rules and Preparing the Mentoring Contract

If your mentoring programme takes place in a formal context, then it may be your role as trainer to make a formal allocation of mentor and mentee. If, however, mentoring takes place on an informal basis, then the mentee will probably have to seek out and approach a suitable mentor. However arrived at, from the perspective of the organisation, it is important that the contractual dimensions of the relationship are made explicit from the outset. Some of the issues include:

Benefits of Mentoring

Mentoring can bring benefits to the manager who performs the role of mentor, the learner as mentee or protégé, and the organisation – generally, and particularly to the training function. Figure 10.8 summarises the benefits for all of the parties.

FIGURE 10.8: BENEFITS OF MENTORING

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FIGURE 10.9: EFFECTIVE MENTORING: PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Identify Mentoring Needs: You need to consider the current situation. What are your department’s needs in terms of career planning, graduate development, job certification or vocational qualifications? What do individual members of staff need to learn during the next year? What do your new employees need to learn? Who needs to learn a new skill? Who can teach particular skills?

Assess Whether Mentoring will Work: Are the conditions for a mentoring relationship favourable? If there is a lack of management commitment, you or someone else could make a presentation on mentoring. If there are no rewards for mentoring currently, your organisation might find a way to reward mentors through the performance review system or some other recognition process

Identifying the Potential Mentor: As you think about your staff, try to match your potential mentors and those who need to learn. The best matches occur between mentors and staff who share similar jobs, and work in close proximity to each other so they can easily get together. You should identify managers who are already functioning as informal mentors – managers who seem to have the motivation and some experience of mentoring. You might also consider which of your senior management team might benefit from taking on mentoring responsibilities

Discuss with Potential Mentor: Meet with the potential mentor and discuss the purpose and benefits of a mentoring relationship. At the beginning, you need to find out whether the person really wants to be a mentor. Mentors and mentees should always be volunteers. Not all experienced staff may wish to share their know-how. Indeed, some may enjoy the advantage that superior knowledge gives them and want to withhold important job information. If you think this might be the case, you should not use that person as a mentor, or explain very clearly what is required and monitor the mentoring relationship carefully. You also need to draw out any concerns or fears the prospective mentor might have. If these concerns are not discussed at the start, they can undermine the process

Discuss with the Mentee: You should meet with the employee(s) to be mentored. Discuss their strengths, interests, specific skills that may need to be developed. Explain the purpose and benefits of mentoring as a development tool. Mentoring involves people working together, it is a mutual exchange, and employees should know that they are just as responsible for the success of mentoring relationship as the mentor. In particular, mentees must be prepared to consider their own areas for improvement and be willing to learn. The motivation of the mentee to learn is an important judgement call that you will have to make

Arrange for Training: To ensure that the mentoring relationship gets off to a good start, it’s useful for both mentors and mentees to attend a briefing or introduction to the mentoring process. By working together on tasks like needs assessment and development planning, both parties can forge their working relationship, clarify expectations, and ensure that they are “singing from the same sheet”

Agree Development Plan: Work on the mentees’ development plans might start at the briefing session or the introduction to the mentoring process. These discussions between the mentors and mentees often need more time and require consultation with other people involved – for example, the mentees’ supervisors, the training or personnel departments, or other organisations where mentees may have a field trip or short assignment

The Initial Meeting: The first meeting is very important. Mentor and mentee should find out about each other in terms of general background, professional training, time in the organisation, career history, key skills and knowledge. It is important that all elements of the mentoring contract are clearly agreed upon. It is recommended that the initial meeting should occur on a four to six week basis for the first six months to establish the mentoring relationship. Every effort should be made by both parties to keep to the meeting schedule. The duration each meeting should be for 1 to 2 hours per month.

Structuring Follow-Up Meetings: The overall duration of a formal mentoring relationship tends to be from six months to two years. It is desirable that it be for at least six months. In between meetings, both mentor and mentee should contact each other to check on progress, ask questions and deal with any relevant issues. When mentor and mentee meet for the next and subsequent meetings, the following issues should be considered:

Adapted from O’Connor (1999).

Problems with Formal Mentoring Relationships

The establishment of formal mentoring relationships in organisations is a difficult one. It is not uncommon for mentoring relationships to fail or to under-perform, for reasons that include:

THE MANAGER AS PERFORMANCE MANAGER

The manager has an important role to play in the performance management process. Line managers typically, but not exclusively, operate most performance management processes. Performance management has a number of important objectives for the business, the line manager and the individual, summarised in Figure 10.10.

FIGURE 10.10: OBJECTIVES OF THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

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The performance management process usually culminates in an appraisal interview in which the manager and subordinate review the appraisal and make plans to remedy differences and develop strengths.

There are a number of issues that you need to be aware of when conducting this discussion:

It is also important that you are conscious of the possible rating errors you can make in a performance appraisal, which have the potential to significantly undermine the effectiveness of your performance discussion. These include:

The performance management process has a major developmental component. There are a number of important benefits to be gained by the manager and direct report, if performance reviews are used effectively as a development tool.

FIGURE 10.11: CHECKLIST FOR DIAGNOSING THE CAUSES OF EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE DEFICIENCIES

Check the determinants of performance or behaviour that apply to the situation you are analysing.

Competencies / Skills

Goals of the Direct report

Certainty for the Direct report

Feedback to the Direct report

Consequences to the Direct report

Power for the Direct report

The benefits that the manager can receive from the process include:

From the perspective of the direct report, the benefits include:

Where you use performance reviews in a developmental context should be aware of the issues summarised in Figure 10.12.

FIGURE 10.12: GUIDELINES FOR USING PERFORMANCE REVIEWS IN A DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXT

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Using Multi-source Feedback for Development

The major goal of a multi-source feedback intervention is to facilitate change and development in individual or team behaviour. A multi-source feedback intervention involves the systematic collection of specific information from multiple sources to enhance the self-awareness of individuals and teams. Focus groups, interviews, or paper-and-pencil instruments are used to obtain data from multiple sources that have a relevant perspective to share. These data are summarised quantitatively or qualitatively, and are then shared orally or in writing with one or more members of the organisation.

The most common form of multi-source feedback interventions typically uses an off-the-shelf or in-house designed instrument that measures critical competencies required for competitive performance. Most feedback from these interventions is collected from multiple perspectives (for example, an individual’s supervisor, direct reports, peers and team members) and is summarised in the form of a written or computerised report (often including graphic comparisons of the perceptions of the individual and others, written comments, and narrative information.

The interventions based on multi-source feedback that are most commonly used are:

If your organisation is considering using a multi-source feedback process, then you must be clear concerning the situations in which it is appropriate and not appropriate.

The use of multi-source feedback is a valuable tool in the following situations:

There is evidence that line managers may be anxious about receiving feedback on their performance from peers and subordinates. Coping with criticism is often difficult, and is likely to be particularly so if opportunities for open communication between line managers and their subordinates are not the norm. One method used by organisations to manage feedback is through the use of a “neutral intermediary” – an individual who is skilled in providing such feedback but is not a close acquaintance of either the line manager or his or her assessors. The feedback can be put into context by collecting the multi-source appraisal results for all managers in key areas, and then comparing individual performance against the common findings within that department or across the entire organisation.

There are a number of difficulties that can be associated with multi-source appraisal processes, including:

You can enhance the effectiveness of multi-source feedback by:

It is not advisable to use a multi-source feedback process :

Some organisations now use multi-source feedback processes as a performance review and development tool. We do not propose to give it major consideration here, although Figure 10.13 provides a brief summary of the issues concerned with the use of 360-degree feedback as a performance management development tool.

FIGURE 10.13: MULTI-SOURCE FEEDBACK & DEVELOPMENT

Multi-source feedback reveals how successful an individual is in all-important work relationships. The person’s manager, supervisor, colleagues and direct reports complete individual questionnaires rating his/her competencies and also give written descriptive feedback, where appropriate. These individual questionnaires are collated. The resulting feedback report gives the employee an opportunity to find out how others “see” him or her at work.

Increasingly, multi-source is being used as a tool in development. The advantages of this are:

Despite important advantages, there are potential areas for concern:

Source: Garavan et al. (1997).

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Development is a lifelong process of nurturing, shaping and improving of skills, knowledge and interests in enhancing effectiveness. It does not necessarily imply upward movement; instead, it is concerned with enabling the individual to improve and realise their potential.

The personal development cycle is one of continuous learning, with a longer time horizon than a specific training need and requires considerable reflection and thought. Successful planning for development is very dependent on the individuals’ willingness to develop, as well as having the ability to do so.

Personal development can be explained in terms of four key phases:

Defining the Personal Development Plan

A personal development plan involves establishing what a learner wishes to achieve, deciding where they want to go in the short- and long-term and identifying the learning needs in terms of knowledge, skills or competence. The plan also defines the development that is appropriate to meet the perceived needs. Although this is similar in many ways to a performance review, Figure 10.14 distinguishes the two processes.

FIGURE 10.14: THE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN VERSUS THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW

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We will now look at the characteristics of personal development plans (PDPs):

Preparing a Personal Development Plan

Personal development planning is an ongoing process. You do not have to start at the beginning, if you have already decided where you are going and what you need to get there. We will consider some of the issues that you need to consider as a trainer or line manager in order to get the PDP process initiated. We also give specific advice on preparing a personal development plan. The steps involved are:

The Contribution of Personal Development Plans

Personal development plans have a significant contribution to make to training and development in organisations. They provide a structure, facilitate motivation and offer a useful framework for monitoring and evaluating achievements. An effective PDP process can lay the basis for continuous learning processes in organisations, ensuring that employability issues are addressed and building a learning culture within the organisation.

However, PDPs can also be problematic. It may be difficult to get the process started, because of the need to assign importance to development activities that may not have been considered important in the past. The initial process may be too modest or alternatively too demanding.

Figure 10.16 presents a summary of the benefits for the organisation and the individual learner.

FIGURE 10.16: BENEFITS OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR ORGANISATIONS & LEARNERS

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USING COUNSELLING AS A DEVELOPMENT TOOL

Counselling is a process, very closely related to coaching. In fact, the terms are often paired (coaching and counselling) or used as synonyms.

Counselling is generally considered as an integral part of the coaching process. To be effective coaches, managers have to be able to use some of the techniques and skills associated with counselling. Counselling can be used in a range of human resource management contexts – mentoring, career development and change management.

Workplace counselling is not generally counselling in the modern definition of the term but relates to situations that require the use of counselling skills. Workplace counselling is considered to be any activity in the workplace where one individual uses a set of techniques or skills to help another individual take responsibility of and to manage their own decision-making, whether it is work-related or personal.

The current theory and practice of counselling in organisations owes a good deal to Rogers, who started out from a conventional psychotherapeutic background but abandoned this approach to focus on the quality of the relationship between the counsellor and the client. He advocated that the relationship should be based principally on the counsellor’s warmth, genuineness and empathy, operating in an atmosphere of equality and trust. Clients should not be viewed as “patients” needing help from a remote expert, but as responsible people who have freely chosen counselling as a means of tackling problems. Thus, counselling has often concentrated on helping competent people to cope with difficult circumstances.

Counselling has permeated the workplace in that the term “counselling” is regularly used in relation to a number of organisational scenarios: redundancy, career development, discipline, appraisal and coaching, for example. However, professional counsellors would not consider much of this activity as counselling, for the following reasons:

We consider that managers should acquire and practice some of the skills used in counselling, such as listening and empathising, so that they can motivate and develop people rather than control and direct them. Employees must view the process to be genuine and not a relationship based on manipulation.

Counselling works from the assumption that those with problems and anxieties have the resources to deal with them adequately themselves, but help is often needed if these resources are to be activated. Frequently, in a work context, when employees share their problems, they are not seeking advice, solutions to problems or even reassurance. They may wish simply to be listened to, to have a point of view acknowledged and their feelings accepted.

Counselling-type relationships have a highly important role to play in the learning process. Counselling is a tool that is difficult to use well, but rich in returns for the person being counselled if it is successful. It should not be confused with giving advice. The art of counselling is to enable individuals to discover what advice to give themselves.

All counselling, in some sense, can be considered as developmental. It serves to help the individual become aware of problems, to reflect upon their nature and to identify choices and perhaps solutions for themselves. In itself, this is a growth process, but the removal of blocks or difficulties is also developmental. If a person is stuck, feeling trapped or stunted by a personal issue, counselling may provide them with the way out and onwards. Issues may include fear, lack of confidence, inability to cope, emotional crisis, shortage of skill, difficult relationships, lack of clarity.

Counselling cannot be imposed on others. All you can do is to be aware that the other person is troubled and to make an offer of your time, support and your ear. If your offer is accepted, be clear with yourself what your role is to be. If you think you are the judge, you may make the situation worse. Self-assessment of attitude and performance is a powerful prerequisite for learning. Counselling is a means by which individuals can be encouraged to do this.

Attitude influence and change is a part of personal development. Coercion is not likely to achieve this and, even if the manager can produce some modest change by being a respected “significant other” or role model, it may be considered as unethical manipulation. If the attitude is critical, for example, a casual approach to safety or a negative approach to clients, counselling on the issue may lead to the individual unearthing the nature of the difficulty and selling themselves the solution and attitude change. Ownership is once again a key ingredient. Development plans can often be elicited effectively from the individual through a counselling approach, particularly if the learning is in sensitive areas, such as personal skills.

Development blocks constrict ability and limit potential and are a major retardant to growth and learning. Counselling is often a way to uncover these and to enable the individual to begin the process of removing them. Some of the more common blocks are:

Qualities of Managers as Counsellors

Three particular qualities are prerequisites for successful interpersonal helping or counselling. It is taken for granted that active listening is a key component but the following are also important:

Stages in Development Counselling

The development counselling process consists of three key stages:

FIGURE 10.17: STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT COUNSELLING

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Figure 10.17 presents a summary of these stages, which involve:

The tasks in the action plan will likely be to the forefront of the learner’s mind. Nonetheless, there is a danger that the learner may go back into old patterns. A number of techniques can be used to facilitate the development process after the counselling sessions have concluded. These include the use of a summary, support from others, follow-up meetings, rewards and other reminders.

BEST PRACTICE INDICATORS

Some of the best practice issues that you should consider related to the contents of this chapter are:

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A Training & Development Scenario

The XYZ experience highlights a number of symptoms of what happens when things go wrong in a performance appraisal process. The system described in the scenario illustrates a number of important issues:

In order to make this system work, we suggest that the company needs to start again. It should pay attention to five core issues: