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Download and watch our Carry on Appraising trailer here
The vast majority of managers in the UK have been promoted on the basis of their technical or professional skills, rather than on their ability to manage people – and for many of them, just talking to their team about performance issues is remarkably difficult.
Why is this? Why don’t managers use the ‘appraisal conversation’ skills you have no doubt given them to have frequent feedback and coaching conversations all year round?
We’ve looked at this a lot, and have come up with three insights you may find surprising.
1) Technical or Professional Managers frequently misdiagnose performance problems
Why? Because they lack the competence to see the difference between performance and behaviour problems, and so don’t give an effective response. Or put more simply – managers don’t spot the problems early – brushing aside what appear to be minor issues as not worth wasting their time on
2) When managers do spot performance or behaviour problems they procrastinate in dealing with them
Why? Perhaps because it’s not a lot of fun. Perhaps because surely it will go away if they ignore it long enough. Perhaps because they don’t feel capable or confident of handling the situation well, or worry they might make it even worse
3) Technical & Professional managers tend to (wrongly) assume that good managers are ‘born not made’ – making them reluctant to attempt managing people challenges
Why? This is a cultural challenge – in much of continental Europe it is expected that engineers and technical experts of all types will put time and effort into learning how to manage people. In the UK we still seem to glorify in the amateur approach – throwing people in at the deep end and seeing how they cope. No wonder organisations send the message that managers are mostly born not developed
At 3C, we know from experience that focusing on managing people and performance as a set of skills that can be learned enables even the most techie or academic person to become a good enough manager.
Our experiences have resulted in a new way to approach developing people management skills for the smart, educated, focused people who run UK businesses.
It’s an approach that turns the intangible, messy, unruly aspects of managing people into a series of activities, which if practised on a regular basis, will bring a sense of order, effectiveness and improvement to their role. Just what you want from a good manager actually.
Click on the link to watch a short trailer about our interactive training workshop for managers – Carry on Appraising
Download and watch our Carry on Appraising trailer here
CONTACT 3C
If you are considering changing Performance Management within your organisation, we’d love to talk to you. We have a range of expert, proven approaches to help you refresh Performance Management and get it working well for your employees and your organisation.
T: 01491 411544
