By | David Klaasen | Helping You Create Clarity, Inspire Your People & Drive Performance | Retain your best people | Changing Management Mindsets and Behaviour | Practical Behaviour Analytics
Are you aware of what is really driving your behaviour, or the behaviour of your people? I’ve recently had a number of discussions about how to address the unwanted behaviour of staff as it can be awkward if you don’t have solid foundations to stand on.
Giving feedback on under-performance can be tricky at the best of times, but giving feedback on unwanted behaviour can be very awkward because it is often difficult to put into words. This means that many managers tolerate it and damage the morale of their teams. So, how do you get someone who is often brusque and surly with colleagues to acknowledge it and change their behaviour? How do you get a manager who is neglecting their staff, by not conducting Appraisals or Job Chats, to recognise the importance of these vital conversations? You need some clear reference points to use as a basis for explaining what you want and emphasising what’s most important.
Discovering what is most important
Let’s take an example of Emma, a competent Trainer and Facilitator. She is due to run a pilot Time Management Workshop for a new and potentially very big client with a lot of follow up work. A combination of factors means that she’s running late but there is just enough time to get set up and prepared for the Workshop. However, just as she’s approaching the client’s premises an elderly lady on the other side of the road falls and cuts her forehead quite badly. Emma is a qualified first-aider and it looks like the lady will need some help, she may even have concussion, but if Emma stops she’ll be late for her client and it is not good to arrive late for a new client especially when delivering a training course on Time Management!
