tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post4093492234333368572..comments2024-02-22T13:43:48.846+01:00Comments on Kallokain: Performance Evaluations, Business Strategy, and Agile MethodologiesKallokainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756733532883677794noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-2975019746630616722009-06-10T10:48:32.765+02:002009-06-10T10:48:32.765+02:00Hi Mike and Fred,
A complete answer to what to do...Hi Mike and Fred,<br /><br />A complete answer to what to do would be quite long, so I'll give you an abbreviated version.<br /><br />First of all, <i>if</i> a practice is really dysfunctional, doing it may be comforting, but abstaining would be better, even if you do not replace it. Smoking is a good example. Rank and yank is also in that category. Rank and coach - we'll, it depends on how you do it. <br /><br />Second, think about what you want to accomplish. For example, do you want internal competition or collaboration? If you want collaboration, use Crawford Slip to gather information, TLTP to process it, Strategy on the Wall to display it. (This description is of course woefully incomplete. I have written a 400 page book - unfortunately in Swedish - about business strategy and organization. It goes into more detail about how to build collaboration based organizations.)<br /><br />If you use TLTP, one of the things you get out of it is a strategic Intermediate Objective Map for your company. That map will have measurable intermediate objectives. If you use the strategic IO Map as a starting point, you can create lower level IO Maps for substructures in your organization.<br /><br />Provided that you display the map prominently (Strategy On the Wall), rather than, say, hide it away in a SharePoint system, and that you have engaged your employees when creating it, rather than just handing it down from above, people will take a personal stake in it. (That is why I recommended Crawford Slip. Best way I know to get people engaged quickly. You need to do a lot of work to keep it up though.)<br /><br />What do you do with the low level measures in your IO map? Measure at the team level. (Use the one-up measurement principle from Lean.) Focus on means, not results. Management By Means beats Management By Results any day of the week, but it does require that you train your managers appropriately. Lean and TOC training is fine, but my preference is for the IOHAI model, because it allows managers to use not just a particular paradigm, but paradigm shifting, to solve problems.<br /><br />Putting the team in charge of measuring and figuring out how to improve usually works best. They will need guidance to get the hang of it, but once they have done that, the process is self-sustaining. Watch out for <i>managers</i> getting nervous and discouraging organizational learning though.<br /><br />Management can and should monitor. Encourage the team, but take care not to interfere with an improvement process that works. (Suggestions are OK. Encourage experiments.)<br /><br />This is pretty generic advice, so you will find it difficult to apply it. That is actually a good thing, because you can ask your employees to help you figure out what to do. (Crawford Slip, TLTP again.) Once they do that, you are on your way to building organizational unity. People will put more effort into their work than they have ever done before. They will also have more fun than ever before, and a sense of direction.<br /><br />In general, people do the best they can. There are two things that may limit their accomplishments: innate ability, and the system around them. In the vast majority of cases, the limiting factor is something in the system. It makes sense to look for causes in the system first. Unfortunately, we rarely teach managers how to do that. I had owned a company for ten years before I got into contact with methods that were practically useful.<br /><br />One of the things I recommend for any company, is to follow the U.S. Marine Corps example of having a reading list and a reading program. Make it very clear that you expect people in your company to read at least everything listed at their level, and the levels below. (The CEO must set an example by reading and being well versed in everything on the list.) Create the strategic IO map first, then put together the list so that it supports the intermediate objectives in the map.Kallokainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15756733532883677794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-38186396182510518682009-06-09T15:52:18.732+02:002009-06-09T15:52:18.732+02:00Interesting indeed!
But what is the alternative t...Interesting indeed!<br /><br />But what is the alternative to current performance evaluation systems?<br /><br />I suggest to keep it as simple as possible. Evaluate only on predefined results. That is not so easy and may introduce other negative side effects.<br /><br />Another alternative is to evaluate not only by the manager, but also by the manager's manager. Or combine it with the evaluation of colleagues.Fred Wiersmahttp://www.spiritmanagement.nlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-36251040754912056132009-06-08T19:18:18.677+02:002009-06-08T19:18:18.677+02:00Interesting read. While I don't use "ran...Interesting read. While I don't use "rank and yank" we do regularly use performance appraisals with our team in an effort to help develop people in areas that they need improvement. That said,, we often try to focus on positive aspects of the process and only reprimand "behavior" to avoid it getting too personal.<br /><br />Mike Giuffrida<br />http://www.foresitetech.com/blog/<br />http://twitter.com/smbceoMike Giuffridahttp://www.foresitetech.com/blog/noreply@blogger.com