Why You Should Keep Files On Your Team

It may sound like you are duplicating the work of your Human Resources department – if you have one – but in fact, you are not.  Normally you would not want to give HR everything on an employee, some information may be of use only to you.  Of course any major policy or procedural violations would need to be documented especially if you are working in a union environment.

So why keep files on your team?

Several reasons.

Coaching

Perhaps one individual is constantly having trouble with one or a few aspects of the job.  What better way to identify this that by retaining this type of information in their own file and then coaching them.  They may make an error once or twice – but unless you’ve got a superb memory and can remember what your entire team does right (or wrong) you will not remember the small errors. 

By documenting this for yourself you can then review on whatever basis you choose and speak with the individual.

Review Time

Lets face it, as a manager you will remember ALL the negative and probably very little positive that your team or the individual has contributed.  You’re thinking right now “No, I don’t do that”.  Uhhh, yes – you do.

Every manager that I’ve worked under has always remembered what’s happened in the last few months and normally all the negative.  The new entrant into the workforce, who hasn’t been blinded (or perhaps is blinded) by all that goes on around them will happily keep going without realizing what’s happening.  Once they’ve been “burned” once – they will not forget.  Why do you think office politics exists?  To make oneself look good in front of their supervisor.

Honestly – do you really think that your team is being super nice to you because they like you?  You’re enforcing the rules, saying “NO” when perhaps they hoped you would say “YES”.  So anyway… Some of your direct reportees will not toot their own horn – so you need to do it for them.

In addition to being a manager, and supervisor you are also a leader and if your team does well – so do you, the department and the company.

By documenting what they’ve done right and wrong you are also showing your team that you do care about what happens in the department that you have  a vested interest. 

If you look at it from the point of view of your team, they will realize that you are watching — which limits the risk of negative behaviour.  You don’t want to be a cop (or mom/dad at work) but in some cases you will be.

How To Maintain Files

This isn’t rocket science.  It is easy.

Plain folder.  The employees name on it.  Done.

When you witness good/bad behavior – document it.

You sit down with someone for coaching, or one-on-one in your office the next step should be to document the conversation and e-mail the individual and put a copy in YOUR employee file.

Someone comes in late?  Document that.

Too long in the washroom… well, use your judgement.  In some industries, particularly very busy call centers EVERYTHING is documented and yes – they will even document how long you are away from your phone (so not necesarily how long your bio-break has been).

HR Employee Files

The files that HR keep are different from yours, they will be tracking information related to employment and legal issues.  For instance significant performance issues, salary and wage increases (or decreases), medical notes etc.,  The HR employee file may have some of the same information as you maintain but for the most part they will be different.

Now that said just because your file doesn’t contain the same information don’t keep it laying around or consider it not important.  If you’ve documented sufficient information related to performance, for example and use that to terminate someone KEEP THE INFORMATION!  If that employee decides to sue or file a grievance with the union or any other number of reasons that file might be the only information you have to back-up your actions.  IT IS IMPORTANT!

Do you have a different way you’re approaching this?  I would love to get more insight as I’m sure others would as well.  Feel free to comment on this post, or any other.

Supervisor Training – First Steps In People Management

by Kate Tammemagi

An effective Supervisor understands that People Management is the central core of this role.

To get an understanding of this term ‘People Management’, it is useful to separate the two elements – the ‘People’ element and the ‘Management’ element.  On the ‘people’ side, the role requires a keen understanding of different types of people, and effective use of people skills to work productively with each one.  The ‘management’ side involves structuring the activities of the Team and of the Supervisor so that the Team will work effectively together to achieve maximum performance.

Think in terms of People and Management

Effective Supervisors have their focus on both elements of People Management and are actively working on both sides at all times. The ineffective Supervisor is often overly concerned with one element and might be blind – or even dismissive of the other side.  They may emphasis the ‘people’ side, wanting to become a ‘buddy’ to their Team members rather than a Leader, or simply have no structure or systems to manage performance at all. The other extreme is the Supervisor who introduces processes and systems with no appreciation of how these may impact on their Team members – resulting in a low performing, de-motivated Team.

The first step to successful Leadership is to think in terms of both people and management – putting in the right systems and processes so that these people can perform at a high level.

Manage your Understanding of Your People

An effective Supervisor keeps a file on each of their reports, and they use this to plan and manage day to day actions with each person. The first step is to get to know each of your Team members. The best way of doing this initially is to observe them from a distance as they work or interact with others. Develop this understanding by ‘bonding’ with each. Bonding is spending short periods of time talking socially with each – about sport or family or other interests.

A good People Manager uses this time to build mutual respect and trust, but also to gain an insight in to the personality of this person. Structure and record your thoughts. What will motivate this person, what are their strengths, what are the sensitive areas?

Ensure you have these bonding sessions with each one of your reports regularly – and spend equal time with each. Promoting fair play and avoiding any form of favouritism is vital to this role.

The next step is to get an appreciation of this person in their Task role, their performance, their strengths and their areas for development. Write down a profile of the Team Member, the more information you have the better. Each person has many qualities, if you stop at the surface level, you will fail to get an understanding real potential of this person.

Benchmark the ‘Ideal Team Member’

The next area to focus on is – what are you building?

You know what your Team Members are like now, but if they were much, much better, what would they look like then?

The first rule in Management is to – ‘Focus on the Goal’.  Effective Management figures out the objectives and targets, and then they put in plans and Management systems to achieve these goals. This is also true of People Management. The effective Supervisor works out what this Team Member will be like in 6 months time or a year, and then puts in goals, plans and actions to get there.

To help you do this, visualise the ‘ideal’ Team Member – one who has all the best qualities of the best Team Members. Make a long list of the qualities of this ‘ideal’ Team Member, and keep working at this list to clarify your thinking.

It may be helpful to use the following categories to help you do this: Knowledge, Skills, Attitude, and Team Contribution.

Create a matrix with this list, to help you identify the Strengths of your Team and each Team Member, and to plan your next areas to work on.

Indentify Clear Goals for each Team Member

Use your ‘Ideal’ Benchmark Matrix to assess each of one of your Team Members in turn. First identify the top 3 or 4 strengths of each, their best qualities or performance factors. Then identify their areas for development, what to work on next.

Write down clear goals for each Team Member for the next 2 – 3 months.  In one of your early performance discussions with each Team Member, discuss these goals. Gain their input, and agree definite goals for the immediate future.

Hold Regular Performance Management Meetings

The effective People Manager begins as they mean to go on. At an early stage with each new report, begin regular, planned performance discussions. These may take only 15 to 20 minutes every week or two weeks. The goal is to help the Team Member to review their performance over the last week, identify strengths and learning points for the future. It is the time to give positive or corrective feedback and to set short term goals for the immediate future.

Build the habit of these discussions, encouraging and developing the Team Member to become engaged in their own self development.

Kate Tammemagi specializes in designing and running fully customized Leadership Training Courses. She has extensive experience in Supervisor Training and People and Performance Management.

Customer Service Week 2009

Did you know that October 5 to October 9, 2009 is Customer Service Week?

What is Customer Service Week all about?  Why not visit the website to learn more?  Visit http://www.csweek.com

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