Home What is PA? About the Book Responding to:   Managers   Customers   Experts Ask Allison How to Handle:   Rollouts   Performance   People Dev. Find it Fast Seminars Buy the Book Site Index     Content by:    Allison Rossett Developed by:    Chris Haddock    Kendra Sheldon		Rollout Performance People Definition Rationale Strategies Questions Strategy Table Printable version What are Performance Problems? Performance problems are glitches or errors in ongoing situations that need to be corrected. These occur when things were fine but now they are not, possibly indicated by a dip in sales or an increase in customer complaints. Perhaps the problem is mandated training that doesn't make a dent in performance, or existing processes or programs that don't do what they are supposed to do. You'll know you're dealing with performance problems when you hear phrases like, "Do what it takes to get those sales numbers back where they were." "I reviewed the order fulfillment numbers and they don't come close to my goals. What can we do?" "Last year we revised the appraisal forms. The year before we brought folks in and asked their opinions. This year, I know you've been doing some classes for supervisors. But still the appraisals are best characterized as perfunctory, when they get them in on time. What are we going to do?"   Strategies for handling performance problems When the organization is confronting a performance problem, the sponsor is often upset, worried, annoyed. This is an itch that won't go away. You may have to deal with the client's impatience. Remember, this isn't the first time that the organization, perhaps even your unit, has taken a whack at this issue. When you confront a performance problem, you have two concerns 1. Find out where the "pain" is, then 2. Identify the cause(s) of the problem, from the vantagepoint of several sources. Imagine that a company has a been doing performance appraisals for years, but they have never been done correctly. It's not good enough to make a general inquiry about the appraisals. You need to know if problem is in the appraisal meetings or documentation. And if it's the documentation or appraisal report, let's say, then you want to know which lines are OK and which are flawed. Then you can seek the causes associated with the particular problems. Strategy Table Here's an abbreviated example. Let's presume that the request was for help in improving safety in a manufacturing setting, given some problems at the plants. At the close of the table, you can ask why Allison Rossett made these recommendations. Again, remember please, you must alter this template to match your unique circumstances. Stages  Sources Possible Questions One Customer/sponsor Why do you want to focus on safety now? Why hasn’t the problem been solved already? I looked at our current safety program and wonder what your thoughts are about it? What are our strengths and weaknesses in this area now? Where in our organization are the details related to current safe and unsafe situations and actions? Two Regulatory reports Review documents for answers to the following: What are we doing right? Wrong? What did outside evaluators pinpoint? What did they recommendations? Where are the most grievous errors or problems? Three Accident reports, insurance claims, employee complaints Review the documents for answers to the following: What are our problems? Where are employees getting hurt? What are the patterns? What situations and actions are unsafe? Four Job incumbents What is causing the major problems identified in stages 1-3? Why are employees having these problems? If you were king or queen, how would you solve each of them? Five The literature What does the literature say about the most typical barriers to success in these areas? Recommendations? Six Supervisors I’ve shared the major problem areas with you, based on my review of reports and claims. Do they match your perceptions? Why does the organization have each of these problems? What are the causes? What can the organization do? If you ruled the organization, what would you do? How might the organization raise safety as a priority? Is it one of your priorities? Rationale  Note how the early stages attempt to nail the reason for the initiative, and then to find out where the most telling problems reside. Which pieces of equipment? What parts of the body? Which employees? Rely upon data for this. While you want the opinions of the people doing the work on how they see it, what the causes of unsafe situations are, what they'd recommend to the organization, there is no need for them to detail the nature of the problem. You can get that information from insurance claims, accident reports and regulatory documents. The literature might be fruitful here. You're not seeking generic information about safety, but rather focusing on promising approaches to prevention in a manufacturing setting. Questions for Performance Problems Here are some questions for the sponsor or customer that are useful when looking to solve a generic performance problem. Print the whole page OR copy and paste the relevant questions into a document, then save it to your desktop or hard drive. Be sure to review the options and select and edit to work with your source. Why have you decided to attempt to deal with this problem now? What are the most critical aspects of this problem? Do you have a clear statement of what's supposed to be happening? Is there a policy to which we may refer? Is the statement of the way it ought to be up-to-date? Why do you think that past fixes haven't worked? If a supervisor wants to do a bang-up job, to what references and materials can she turn? Let's look at the primary problems you've mentioned. What will it take to fix each of them? What are the managers' and supervisors' perspectives on this topic? What would job incumbents say we should do to solve the problem? If you could wave a magic wand on this one, what would you do? What can I read to help me understand this topic? How can I see into it with more depth? What can I read? To whom should I speak? Do we have employees or sites that lack the problem? If so, what do you think is responsible for their success? What will it take to successfully move your people this way? Where might resistance to this initiative reside? How might we address it?				Preview Allison Rossett's new book, First Things Fast First Things Fast   How would you overcome resistance from a customer, client or sponsor? Performance problems, people development, rolling out a new system. Gotta question? Ask Allison! Allison is known for dynamic and practical seminars. Check out her speaking schedule, seminars and workshops. Use this to find what you're looking for fast on this web site and in First Things Fast. Get to know the author of First Things Fast. Lost? Find exactly what you're looking for on the site. Order your copy of First Things Fast from the Jossey-Bass On-line Bookstore.
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