Good performance management (and I am referring to ongoing performance management here, not one-time performance reviews) should not look the same for every employee. I once read a blog post where a supervisor stated that he didn’t want his employees to listen to music because it was distracting. He gave the example of trying to fix his car and having to turn the iPod off so he could focus. I have to respectfully and totally disagree with this statement. He couldn’t focus while he was listening to music, and it’s wonderful that he understands that and turns the music off. However, for many other people it actually helps to focus their concentration. I personally have music on pretty much constantly when I’m sitting at my desk because it keeps me on task and working. Although I am sure to keep it down low enough that it doesn’t bother anyone else because not everyone wants to hear Avenged Sevenfold screaming out their lyrics.
At my company we train everyone in Blanchard’s Situational Leadership. The idea is that supervisors need to tailor the amount of direction and/or support not only for each individual, but also for each individual situation. We train both supervisors and those who receive supervision (meaning everyone) because we want folks to be able to let their supervisors know what they need from them. We have had some people question the credibility of the theory in the past, and the best example I’ve ever heard of why it's legitimate was given by our Training Director. She said you wouldn’t tell a child who’s learning how to tie their shoes to just tie them; you’d demonstrate for them and hold their hands while they’re learning. This is the same principle at work, if you’re giving someone a new task that they’ve never done before you need to give them direction on how to complete that task. If the employee has done the task dozens of times before, they’ll feel micromanaged if you try to provide direction and you can simply ask them to do it.
Flexible work arrangements are another work option that work splendidly for some employees and are simply a recipe for disaster for others. Flexible work arrangements can help employees to better balance all of the demands on their time from different directions. They can help employees to be more productive if they can work at times or in places when others aren’t around as a distraction. But some people have a psychological need to have others around and be in their work head space to get things done. Here’s a good blog post by Christian Schappel at HR Morning that addresses some of the reasons why telecommuting may not work for everyone; and here are some of the performance reasons we have in our policy for denying a flexible work arrangement:
- This arrangement will not enhance or maintain your job performance
- The nature of your work/position is not suited to this arrangement
- Your personality and/or work habits are not suited to this arrangement
- This arrangement would have a negative impact the company
- The technology is not currently available/affordable to support this arrangement
- There is no measurement available to determine if the arrangement is successful
People are individuals who all have different genes, backgrounds, chemical makeup, personalities, etc. This is why it’s important to allow adults to make reasonable choices about their work environment. What works really well for one person may not work so well for another. Work environments must be equitable, but equitable shouldn’t be defined as treating everyone the same. Equitable should be defined as giving each employee the same opportunity to achieve the highest level of performance possible.
Darcy Dees, CCP works as the Compensation Manager for Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Louisville, CO. She has worked with RBR for nearly 10 years helping to develop many of the compensation and performance management programs the company uses today. She spends what little free time she has hiking and reading.
The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of Darcy Dees. Content published here is not monitored or approved by Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc. before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc.
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