"Yes, but.." Management

I graduated from a university well-known for its basketball program. After a recent game a reporter asked the coach about his star player's 15 point-12 rebound performance. Coach's response was something like, "It was OK, but he didn't..."

This is classic "yes, but.." management. Other familiar examples include:
- the kid who brings home her report card with four A+ and one A-. The parent makes no comment about the A+ grades but immediately asks what went wrong in the A- class. 
- the sales rep who makes a huge sale only to have the sales manager say something to diminish the accomplishment, "good thing your competitor botched their proposal.."
- the ops manager who had a great year but is told by his VP during the performance review, "You're doing a great job, but I don't believe in giving 5s - nobody is a 5."

A burning desire for continuous performance improvement is a great trait in entrepreneurs, owners and managers. But when that desire manifests itself as a reluctance to praise or to praise only with disclaimers, that management behavior becomes an impediment to the ultimate goal - to get better! 

I suspect that they fear employees are either going to immediately ask for raises or they're going to become complacent if praised too much. Both academic research and business surveys don't support those assumptions. 

A recent example is a LaSalle Network survey that determined that the number one trait of a bad boss is noticing only negative things about a worker's performance. "Yes, but..." management is a version of this - begrudgingly acknowledging good performance, but qualifying it with an observation about a performance flaw. Unfortunately the praise is drowned out by the disclaimer and the power of positive reinforcement is lost or compromised.

When I talk about how much more powerful positive reinforcement is than punishment or extinction (withholding feedback altogether), some managers think I'm espousing a touchy-feely, "everybody gets a trophy even when we lose" management style. But that is not the goal. Poor performance must be addressed. But once it's addressed, acknowledging and reinforcing the improvement is the step many managers miss. Here's a simple example:

Bob is a competent service tech who dresses sloppily. Bob's manager meets with Bob and explains to Bob why his appearance is a problem and specifically tells him what is expected. The next day Bob shows up and looks much better. A "yes, but.." manager might say something like, "it's a big improvement, Bob, but your shoes could be a little shinier." Bob's now thinking, "what's the point of trying?" 

A manager who understands the power of positive reinforcement might say, "much better, Bob, thanks." Then a week later the manager might follow-up with, "thanks again, Bob, for taking the time to press your uniform, you look so much more professional than you did before. I've noticed and I'm sure your customers have noticed." Simple, effective positive reinforcement. 

So the next time you catch one of your employees doing something right or doing something better, just say, "nice job" and shut up. Anything that follows is not likely to increase motivation - it's more likely to decrease it.

What a Handbook is and isn't

I've seen the gamut with employee handbooks: small companies with really excellent handbooks, medium and even larger companies with no handbook at all or one that is poorly written. Before investing in writing or updating your employee handbook, ask yourself two basic questions:

1. What is our handbook's purpose?

It's first purpose should be to clearly explain to your new and existing employees what is expected of them and what they can expect from the company.

It's second purpose is to reinforce your employment brand. It's difficult to claim that your employees are your greatest asset when your handbook looks like a Frankenstein document - policies pieced together with different fonts and different styles - or sounds vanilla, like it was downloaded from the internet. If your organization is truly a great place to work, your handbook should reinforce that.

It's third purpose is to provide a reasonable line of defense in the case of an employment dispute. The first thing any governmental agency is going to ask for in the case of a claim (from unemployment hearings to claims of harassment, discrimination or retaliation) is a copy of the relevant policies from your handbook. Saying you don't have one is a bad start to that process. Having one that has policies that are clearly out of compliance is equally bad.

2. What pitfalls should I avoid when writing the handbook?

First, don't try to cover every possible scenario in your handbook. I frequently get calls from owners asking me to make an addition to the handbook. After questioning, it turns out that a single employee is doing something the owner doesn't like. The owner feels that he or she can't address the behavior or performance issue if there isn't a policy in the handbook to back them up. 

One of my favorite examples of this occurred when an HR colleague of mine had to write a new paragraph for her company's handbook that defined the difference between a sandal (acceptable) and a flip-flop (unacceptable). I understand that the larger the organization, the more careful it must be to ensure everyone is treated the same, but I have no problem with, and expect a manager to simply deal with many situations without the benefit of a written policy.  "Jane, those flip flops are unacceptable attire for the office and pose a trip hazard for yourself." If Jane says, "there's no policy against it," the manager can simply say, "we can't have a written policy that covers everything. It's my judgement that your footwear is inappropriate." As a Department of Labor investigator told me once, "managers need to manage."

Second, don't try to write like a lawyer. Sometimes small business owners think they make their handbook sound better by writing in lawyereze: "henceforth, hereinafter, party-of-the-first-part" etc. Your handbook should be written at the level appropriate for your workforce - I typically strive to make my handbooks understandable to a reasonably intelligent 8th grader.

Third, allow a labor attorney or a competent HR professional to write, review or update your handbook for you. There was a great public service announcement series put out by the NCAA a few years ago that reminded viewers that most NCAA athletes go pro in something other than sports. If you are a professional in a field other than labor law or human resources, you might benefit from utilizing the expertise of someone who did go pro in those areas who understands the nuances of a well-written and compliant employee handbook.