Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 1

Posted on by Scott

As a kid, I didn’t participate in many organized sports. I played Little League Baseball for two or three seasons, but don’t recall much about it. I do remember the summer my parents signed me up to play soccer. I only played one year. My fascination with the game quickly waned because of one simple fact – we didn’t have a coach.

We had one at the beginning of the season, but for some reason he quit after only a few practices. Someone might have stepped up to serve as the official coach of record, but we never received any “coaching.” For the bulk of the season, our parents would drop us off and we’d just mill around on the field until the final whistle blew and we ran to the concession stand for our free snow cone. It wasn’t any fun because, without an active coach, we didn’t develop as players or as a team. And we certainly didn’t win.

I believe that one of the most important duties of a manager (if not the most important) is the development of their staff. The primary way this takes place is through regular coaching. Unfortunately, many managers fail to take advantage of the opportunities to maximize the performance of their team by engaging in this critical activity.

Over the years, I’ve heard a number of explanations (I call them excuses) as to why coaching gets placed on the back burner. Through the next few posts, I’ll share some of these excuses and provide some easy-to-implement steps for moving past them. So let’s get started.

Excuse #1 – “I don’t need to coach. They went to training, so they know what they need to do.”

Too many managers falsely believe that sending an employee to a training class will magically result in a significant change in performance. These managers are in for a big disappointment, however, because training alone rarely impacts an individual’s ability or desire to perform. Training is only one tool. And like most jobs, you need more than one tool to do it right.

Millions of dollars are invested in training every year. In fact, developing and delivering training is a big part of what I do for a living. But without the benefit of coaching, most training programs fail. Sadly, when this happens, the blame is placed either on the training curriculum, the trainer or the employee.

Training is intended to provide individuals with the information necessary to perform a certain task. But the ultimate goal is really sustained behavioral change. Following the training class, you want the participant to perform a certain way – to either modify their current behavior, or add a new set of behaviors to their current job role. Training alone simply cannot achieve this goal because information alone is not enough to cause behavior change to take place. As I mentioned in an earlier post on interviewing, there’s a difference between knowledge and skill.

Even if an employee is excited about the material being presented, they won’t remember everything they’ve been exposed to during the class. Studies show that as little as 10% of the material delivered during a typical corporate training session is retained by the time an employee returns to their usual work environment. There are ways to improve this, but you’ll never hit 100%. And remember the goal here. It’s not knowledge retention. It’s modified behavior.

No, transforming knowledge into skill takes time and repetition. For knowledge to evolve into demonstrated skill, it has to be put into practice. And to maximize the potential, this needs to happen as soon as possible. Ideally, the employee will begin implementing what they’ve learned immediately after the class is over. But too many things – customer demands, deadlines, interruptions, peer pressure, and even old habits – present barriers to the immediate integration of the new information into existing work practices.

This is where coaching comes in. Coaching provides the employee with the accountability, motivation and support necessary for them to first begin using the newly acquired knowledge and then to continue down the path toward skill mastery. Here are some steps you can take as a coach to help your employees down that path.

• Perform a training debrief. You ought to know what the training class is intended to teach before sending your team member to it. Therefore, this debrief isn’t for you to gain an understanding of what the course was about. The purpose of this meeting is to ascertain what the employee actually learned. Ideally, the two of you discussed what you wish for them to gain from the session before they attended. Now that the training is over you need to reinforce, or reintroduce, the concepts you feel are important.

• Set some expectations. Let the employee know which aspects of the training you want to see incorporated into their work routine. Reiterate why it’s important that they begin to modify their performance to meet the standards set forth in the class. Ask them what they feel they need in order to be successful and communicate what additional steps you will take to support them.

• Follow up. Especially during the period immediately following the training class, it’s critical to follow up with employees to make sure they are working to meet your expectations. This accountability will help them to focus on their behavior early – while the training is still fresh in their minds. Ignore them during this important window and old habits will quickly reassert themselves and any benefit gained from training will be lost. I’ll present some specific follow up methods in a later post.

Training is an important part of any organization’s strategy. Get the most out of your training investment by coupling it with a solid coaching program. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be well on your way.

Bad Passes & Missed Free-throws: Mistakes That Can Cost You the Game (And How To Avoid Them)

Posted on by Scott

Basketball has long been my favorite sport. Although I never played organized ball, I’ve always been drawn to the fast pace, the feats of athleticism and the drama of a close game. Of course, having a high-schooler on the local basketball team probably has something to do with it too.

I’m always amazed at how many games are won by the wrong team. By that I mean that the better team, at least according to the stats (and conventional wisdom), loses. How is it that the teams with all the talent, the best coaching, and the home crowd so often come up short – hanging their heads while the underdogs celebrate?

Usually, when a championship calibre team suffers a defeat, it’s not because of some sudden explosion of talent from the other bench. Rather, it comes down to fundamentals – basics of the game that don’t receive much attention until a failure to execute them results in disaster. There are certain aspects of the game that can spell ruin for even the greatest team – whether its on the basketball court or in business. Here are three problems to watch out for, and how to avoid them.

1. Bad passes. The handoff between departments is an important part of handling any customer interaction. Whether its transferring a customer call, or the movement of documents from one area of responsibility to another, great care should be taken to ensure that “passing the ball” is handled properly. Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than to see great service suddenly go bad because someone dropped the ball.

How to avoid this problem:
– Identify your danger zones – steps where the ball is passed from one person or department to another. Engaging in some simple process mapping will force these into the open.

– Develop strategies to ensure tasks (and customers) crossing through the danger zone don’t fall through the cracks. Implement checklists, notification systems or other accountability measures to make sure important items aren’t missed and customer confidence is maintained.

– Once your new process is established, communicate its importance, making sure to emphasize how each individual contributes to the success of the team. Train everyone involved. Conduct skill drills and role plays to make sure they understand how the work is supposed to flow. Don’t forget new employees. Don’t let a service breakdown be their introduction to the desired process.

– Review the process regularly to make sure it reflects any changes to technology, regulations or customer expectations.

2. Missed free-throws. Free-throws are those easy-to-get-right transactions and activities that occur every day; things like getting the order right, showing up on time, and returning a phone call when you said you would. Customers expect you to get the little things right. Take care to hit the mark on the easy stuff and they’re more likely to trust you when it comes time for something involving a greater degree of risk. But fail to execute on the simple things and your credibility will suffer.

How to avoid this problem:
– Set expectations you know are attainable, not ones you think you can meet. Give yourself some wiggle room. Leave plenty of room for appointments to run long rather than shoe-horning meetings into every available bit of free time. If you think you can get an answer by lunch, tell your customer you’ll call them by the end of the day.

– Develop systems to make success almost guaranteed. Use your calendar to schedule return phone calls and set an alert so you won’t miss it. Design quality checks into the order-filling process so that you can deliver with confidence. Prepare back-up systems so that customers aren’t left in limbo because the one person who can help them came down with the flu.

3. Failure to rebound. Problems happen. Despite your best efforts, you will miss the mark occassionally. So, being ready to bounce back from a miss is critical. When service issues arise, your ability to rebound can turn a customer whose faith has been shaken into an advocate for life. In fact, research has shown that a customer who has experienced a problem, and has subsequently seen that problem resolved to their satisfaction, is more loyal than one who has never experienced a problem to begin with. Customers understand that mishaps occur; but they expect you to respond appropriately.

How to avoid this problem:
– Identify where service breakdowns are most likely to occur. Every business has them. You should know what your’s are. If you don’t, ask a few customers. They’ll tell you where you fall short.

– Develop automatic rebound strategies for these issues. Specify an appropriate response to each service issue. When problem “A” happens, we respond with solution “B.” When “X” occurs, we do “Y.”

– Train your employees and empower them to execute the strategies you’ve developed. If you’re smart, you included them in both the problem identification and solution development phases, so adoption should be easy. People are more likely to buy into solutions they helped develop.

Too many times, we focus on our newest product roll-out, the latest store remodel or the shiny new technology; when all our customers want is for us to execute on the little things that affect them most. Invest the time and effort necessary to shore up these base-level expectations and you’ll create a foundation of trust upon which to highlight your organization’s product or service.

A Crisis of Credibility

Posted on by Scott

“A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis.” – Ralph W. Sockman

It seems like every day I hear another story about someone who has been victimized at the hands of malicious hackers and scam artists. Yesterday afternoon, my personal email account became the latest target. Either through a direct attack, or as the result of a trojan picked up from another poor soul’s account, thousands of emails proclaiming the glories of “working at home” went out under my name. If you’ve ever been impacted by one of these attacks, you can sympathize with the feeling of dread that came over me.

As I drove home from the office, my cell phone came alive with calls, emails and texts from concerned family, friends and colleagues. They all were pretty sure this was the result of a computer virus or some other external assault, and were kindly reaching out to make sure I knew about it. Anyone who knows me understands that I would never engage in this type of mass spam campaign – even if I had something worthy to say. But I’m sure my credibility took a hit nonetheless.

Credibility is not something to be taken lightly. If you want people – customers, coworkers, family and even strangers – to believe what you have to say when it counts, you have to speak from a foundation of trust. Credibility is built one brick at a time. Everything thing you say, everything you write, everything you do works to form the impression people have of who you are what you stand for. But it only takes one crisis to bring that wall of credibility crashing down.

How you respond to a crisis speaks volumes about your credibility. Too many companies have found themselves vilified because they did not respond appropriately when it mattered the most. When you properly address the crisis, you’ll find your credibility is maintained, or even enhanced, rather than damaged.

Here are some basic rules for managing a crisis. I’ve included the steps I took yesterday in response to my email problem. Maybe it will help you should you find yourself the victim of a similar attack.

Act quickly. Several companies have made headlines recently because they chose to sit on a problem for too long before addressing it. You have to move quickly in order to assure your customers that the problem is not being ignored. Don’t assume a crisis will pass away quietly. They rarely do. Even if your customers aren’t talking to you, they’re talking to someone. And you can be sure the conversation isn’t a positive one.

[As soon as I could safely get home, I began attacking the issue with my email account. I knew I couldn’t wait until I changed clothes or had dinner.]

Communicate early. Don’t wait until everything has been fixed before you communicate with your customers. They want (and need) to know that you are aware of the problem and actively addressing it. In the absence of any official word, people tend to fill in the blanks with their own assumptions.

[The first thing I did was communicate, in the best way I could, to those affected by the issue. I wanted them to know it was not intentional and needed to warn them against opening the spam email. I didn’t want them to suffer the same effects I did.]

Fix it. Fast. When something blows up that has the potential to impact your credibility, you can’t afford to move slowly. You need to stop the bleeding, so this is no time to appoint a committee. Your ability to quickly recognize and address the issue will speak volumes to your customers. Gather your best people, outline a plan, and execute.

[Next, I stopped any outgoing email from the affected account. Luckily I could still get in, so I changed the password. Then I deleted all contacts so that nothing could populate the To: line without me typing it in directly.]

Address the weak spot. Just because you’ve solved the immediate problem, don’t assume your work is over. While the issue is still hot, you need to take the steps necessary to keep it, or something similar, from happening down the road. Now is the time to diagnose, improve processes, and apply preventative measures. Companies that don’t take the opportunities to learn from their mistakes risk making them again. The impact to their credibility can be devastating.

[I’ll no longer be using that particular email account to send any correspondence. I don’t want future, legitimate emails I might send being viewed as spam. Since the attack occurred while my PC was powered down, I don’t think it was the result of a virus or other malicious software. But I went ahead and ran an anti-virus scan anyway. I logged in to my other accounts (facebook, linkedin, etc.) and changed the associated email address. I also changed all of my passwords to be sure those accounts won’t be compromised.]

Thankfully, my network of friends knows me well enough to realize I didn’t intentionally betray their trust. Those I’ve talked to are savvy enough to realize email scams are an unavoidable part of living in a connected world. Hopefully I’ve bolstered their trust in me by responding as best I could to my involvement in this one.

5 Mistakes Managers Make During An Interview

Posted on by Scott

They looked so good on paper. They have the right experience, and the interview seemed to go so well. They were so well spoken and and had all the right answers. The decision to hire was a slam-dunk.

But that was several weeks ago. That new employee – the one that was so great, the one you bragged about stealing away from the competition – just isn’t working out. What you thought was the perfect hire now seems like a mistake.

What went wrong? How could you have made such an error in judgement? In my experience, there are five key mistakes that managers often make when evaluating a prospective new member of the team.

1. Placing too much value on experience. Resumes are designed to highlight a job candidate’s qualifications for the job they are applying for. Savvy candidates will tailor their resume to the position you’re hiring; emphasizing the attributes and experience that align with your expectations, while downplaying or eliminating those that don’t fit. An astute hiring manager knows that the resume doesn’t tell the whole story. At best, it provides a starting point for a thorough investigation into the candidate’s potential fit.

2. Not properly preparing for the interview. Too many times, I’ve seen managers rush into an interview at the last minute, apologizing to the candidate as they hastily look over their resume and/or application. It’s obvious they’re not prepared. They haven’t taken the time to think about the important components of the job that need to be discussed or identify specific aspects of the candidate’s background that need to be explored. It takes time to shift your focus from a prior meeting or project to the interview at hand. These managers are beginning one the most important discussions they could engage in and they didn’t consider it important enough to do their homework.

3. Talking too much. Having not taken the time to prepare, managers now begin the interview without a clear direction for the discussion. So they talk. And talk. Unarmed with targeted questions and uncomfortable with the silence that follows the ones they do ask, they seek to fill the void. So they start with small talk and continue filling the time by focusing on specifics related to the company’s history, benefits, and even the dress code. Its not that these topics are bad ones to talk about, but when the hiring manager does all the talking, there’s no chance for the candidate to speak about their qualifications. Ideally, you want the candidate to do 70% of the talking during the interview. Save time at the end for them to ask questions of you regarding the organization or specific aspects of the job.

4. Not asking the right questions. “If you were an animal, what would it be?” “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Useless questions like these tell you nothing about an applicants qualifications or their potential fit for the position at hand. Furthermore, they are so open-ended that its almost impossible to answer incorrectly. You’ll waste a few minutes of interview time, but learn nothing useful.

5. Interviewing alone. A sharp candidate will quickly figure out the kinds of things you like to hear and focus on those topics or buzz words. Interviewing as a team allows for a multi-faceted assessment of the candidate’s experience and capabilities. Each member of the panel will pick up on things the others missed. This allows for a productive post-interview discussion. With the same panel conducting each interview, its easier to compare the qualities of your candidates.

Hiring a new employee is an expensive proposition. A bad hire means wasted time, money and opportunity. Avoid these mistakes and you’ll stand a better chance of hiring the right person for the job.

A Simple Model for Coaching

Posted on by Scott

I was talking to a group of managers this week about coaching and gave them this mnemonic to help them remember the key components. An effective C.O.A.C.H. will:

Clarify expectations. Good coaching starts with setting clear expectations for your employee. They have understand what’s expected before they can begin to process the skills required to perform.

Observe behavior. Some managers act as if all they have to do is communicate what they want in order to produce the desired result. As if voicing their desire will make it so. But it’s not enough to tell your employees what you want. You have to see them in action to see how well they do it. An employee with clearly defined goals may still need training, resources, motivation, or reinforcement. An absentee leader cannot coach.

Act as a role model. Want your employees greet customers within 30 seconds? You’ll need to model this behavior. Want them to pick up the piece of trash in the parking lot instead of walking past it? Show them how its done. They may listen to what you say, but its how you act that tells them how serious you are. Think they’re not watching? You’re wrong.

Catch ’em doing it right. Positive reinforcement is a powerful, but underutilized tool. Human beings love to hear positive feedback. It’s the best way to ensure performers keep performing.

Handle low performers. Want to see your top performers disengage? Then do nothing about the coworkers who refuse to pull their weight. Failing to address under-performing only exacerbates the problem. Without corrective action, you’ll eventually see the entire team’s performance degrade.

These last two points go hand-in-hand. Reward and accountability are two sides of the same coin. Remember, you’ll receive an abundance of what you praise or tolerate.

There’s a lot more to be said about effective coaching. Look for more thoughts in future posts.

Achieving the Impossible

Posted on by Scott

May 6, 1954 began like most other spring days in southern England. A morning rain shower left the air cold and a stiff wind blew for most of the day. At the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, spectators began arriving for the University’s annual track meet against the Amateur Athletic Association. As he began his stretching routine, Roger Bannister , a young medical student, contemplated the goal he had set for himself. Bannister was set to run in the one-mile event. In defiance of history, Bannister planned to not only win the race, but to do so in less than four minutes.

Others had attempted the break the four minute barrier. The closest was Gunder Hagg, a Swede who posted a time of 4:01.4 in 1945. In the eight years since, no one else had come close. Sporting experts had decided that the four minute mark could only be passed under ideal conditions – the right weather, the right track, the right training regimen. But as Bannister approached the starting line on the track (still damp from the morning shower), he took note of the chill in the air. At least the wind had died down.

At 6:00 pm, the starting gun was fired and the race began. Trailing for most of the race, Bannister pulled out all the stops during the last 300 yards. Crossing the finish line, he collapsed onto the track, unable to stand. The noisy crowd fell silent waiting for the race results. Finally, the announcer broke the silence. Bannister had won the race and achieved his goal – a new world record time for the one-mile event – 3:59.4.

Advice on setting and achieving goals is commonplace. Ever heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals? That’s all well and good, but what does it take to achieve the kind of breakthrough performance that Roger Bannister experienced? How does one go about achieving what everyone says can’t be done?

Here are three lessons from Roger Bannister’s experience that I think answer that question:

He set an impossible goal.
I think one of the reasons people often fail to reach a particular goal is because their aim is set too low. Goals that are too vague or only require a little stretch are easily forgotten. Impossible goals get your attention. They command your daily focus if they stand any chance of becoming reality. Coming off of a huge defeat in the 1951 Olympics, Bannister knew he needed a new approach to training if he were to remain competitive. Winning the next race wasn’t a big enough goal to push him out of his comfort zone. But breaking the four minute barrier forced him to rethink his motivation, his priorities, and his approach to training.

He believed it was possible.
Contrary to popular opinion and scientific evidence, Bannister believed – no, he knew – that a sub-four minute mile run was achievable. Others before him had come close, but failed because they didn’t believe. Their disbelief guaranteed their failure. One of Bannister’s biggest rivals, John Landy, had given up his quest to break the four minute barrier saying “It is a brick wall. I shall not attempt it again.”

He focused on the possible.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. While impossible goals get your attention, they can also easily overwhelm you. The key is to break the goal into smaller, more achievable steps. This helps you to keep a positive focus and celebrate successes along the way. Bannister didn’t focus on the mile. He spent his training time perfecting his quarter mile run, eventually reaching a point where he could consistently run the quarter mile in under one minute. Once he reached this point he knew he could put them together and achieve his goal.

By the way, it’s funny how once someone achieves the impossible, it suddenly becomes possible. The unattainable becomes the benchmark. Forty-six days after Roger Bannister’s amazing run, John Landy set a new world record for the mile with a time of 3:58. Today, a sub-four minute mile run is commonplace. The current world record is 3:43.13.

4 Steps To Effective Voicemails

Posted on by Scott

You’ve let it sit on the corner of your desk all week – that dreaded call list. But now your manager is working his way office to office, asking how everyone is making out with their calls.

So you pick up the phone and dial the number, praying it’s been disconnected. It starts ringing, so you pray no one picks up and it goes to voicemail. And when it does, you still trip over your tongue and hang up feeling like a complete idiot.

Or maybe you feel totally prepared, project a professional tone, but still don’t understand why no one calls you back. Either way, odds are you aren’t showing the value that can be found by connecting with you.

Here’s my four step formula for crafting a value-filled voicemail.

1. Know who you’re calling. You have a name and  a phone number, but that’s not enough. You need to conduct a little research. The point is to paint a picture of your customer. You need to find out how they think and what they are trying to accomplish.

If you’re reaching out to an existing customer, pull up their account and see what you can learn. What products do they already have? How do they use them? How much do they spend with you? What problems have they reported in the past? What about their demographics?

If you’re calling on a potential customer, the internet is your friend. Type their name into Google and LinkedIn to see what you can find out about them. What kind of business are they in? Do they even use the sort of product or service you offer? What can you find out about the specific contact your attempting to reach?

The better you are at understanding your target’s point of view, the better you’ll be able to position your message in a way that they’ll receive in a positive light.

2. Know why you’re calling. Maybe you want to sell something. Maybe you need to gather some information. Or maybe you need your customer or prospect to perform some action that will help you get some paperwork off of your desk. Regardless of the purpose of your call, you need to reframe the goal in terms of what your target needs.

What opportunity are they currently missing out on? What problem could they solve by moving forward? What inconveniences do they stand to face by not taking action? By positioning your goal as their goal you’ll stand a better chance of getting the response you need.

3. Know your desired outcome. Sure, you’re calling this prospect with the hopes of earning a sale; but what is the specific next step you want the recipient of your call to take? Do you need them to answer a question, agree to a meeting, or send you a document? Know exactly what you want to happen as a result of your call.

4. Craft your message. Know that you have these three building blocks, its time to craft your message. Assuming you’ll be connected to voicemail, write out your message – on paper. Spend some time massaging the words until you have a message that clearly communicates the value your customer/target will realize by taking the step(s) you identified in step 3.

Now all that’s left is to pick up the phone and make the call. When the phone rings, clear your throat and prepare to leave your professionally crafted message. If, by chance, your prospect answers, simply read the first sentence or two of your message as an introduction to your call.

Want to see how it works? Check out this voicemail I received and how I would rescript it using this method.

5 Reasons I Don’t Return Your Call

Posted on by Scott

1. I can’t understand you.
– You talk too fast.
– You talk too soft.
– You mumble.
– There’s road noise or other interference.

2. You sound bored.
Powering your way through a long list of calls? It shows. And I don’t care. If you can’t muster the energy to sound like you really want to talk to me, then I don’t want to talk to you. In fact, I didn’t even listen to your entire message.

3. You’re a name-dropper.
Telling me my boss or some other influential member of my company suggested you call me is a sure way to earn a delete vs. a call-back. Anyone who feels I should speak with you will forward your contact information to me. Name-dropping is a desperate ploy by an unprepared caller.

4. You haven’t done your homework.
Show me you really want my business by doing a little background work. Don’t pronounce my name correctly? No call back. Don’t demonstrate that you understand my business? Forget it.

5. You have nothing of value to offer.
If you want me to call you back, you have to communicate why it’s worth my time to do so. Calling to “check in”, “touch base” or “chat” wastes my time and yours. Show me what I stand to gain by speaking with you and I’ll pick up the phone.