You First

You First

People management can be thought of as having three phases:
Phase 1 – Achieving Competence: Selecting and then onboarding a new employee. Or, preparing an existing employee for a new responsibility.
Phase 2 – Improving Performance: Coaching that employee to their full potential on existing responsibilities
Phase 3 – Career Development: Defining and then taking action to move the employee toward career goals beyond the existing position/responsibilities.

Throughout all three stages, managers are responsible for achieving and maintaining engagement, defined as the emotional connection toward the business, which includes a sense of purpose, involvement, and commitment to the organization’s goals (more on this in future blogs).
One key point regarding phase 1. Throughout, the evaluation should be of the manager’s performance. Though assessing employee performance throughout this phase, responsibility for successful completion sits almost entirely with the manager, assuming that a sound choice has been made in the hiring decision. If the employee has aptitude and motivation, it is the responsibility of the manager to get him/her to competence.

The 7 Questions, along with effective onboarding (more on onboarding responsibilities in future blogs) are a checklist of what the manager must put in place as a foundation for employee success. In this phase, performance problems are most often “Can’t Do” problems that are the responsibility of the manager.

So, think of your use of the 7 Questions during this phase as evaluating yourself.
Let your employee know you hold it in this way. Also communicate that getting “no’s”, “almost” or “sometimes” responses represent opportunities for you to discover what is needed to close the phase, i.e. set up employee for success. So, when thinking about
and introducing the 7Questions, explain that you are going first. That is, you want to be evaluated so that you can do a better job.

Communicating “me first” takes the pressure off the 7 Question and all future conversations. It makes real your regarding your relationship with employees are a partnership in the journey to full potential.

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