ITLever™

Do you think your IT people are different?

How about other managers of your company, or the CFO, or the CEO? Do they think IT people are different?

You bet they do. I can tell you what you will hear if you ask the other non-IT managers of your company this question, , , it will be, “Absolutely, IT people are very different !!”

Do you know what makes IT people “tick”?

View the online segment out of my IT Manager Institute Self Study below to learn about IT employee work behavior tendencies.

It will be a real   EYE OPENER

Information technology attracts a certain type of personality, and that’s a good thing. However, a challenge surfaces rather quickly when we try to transition from technical expert to manager. What they teach us to be excellent technicians doesn’t really prepare us to manage.

If you are to manage an IT organization well, it’s imperative that you learn something about the make-up, , , or personality, , , or better put, the work behavior tendencies of IT people, , , what makes them “tick”.

Are you aware that over 70% in IT have similar work behavior tendencies?

Would you be shocked to learn that 90% of us in IT actually have similar work behavior in 3 of 4 very measurable traits?

It doesn’t matter what your role in IT is, , , programmer, systems administrator, , , project manager, Help Desk, , , desktop support technician, database administrator, , , even IT manager or CIO. If you are in the IT organization, the odds are extremely high that you will operate (or approach your work) in very predictable ways.

If you had told me this in 1990 when I first got exposed to tools that measure a person’s behavior tendencies, I would have laughed at you. However, seeing is believing; I’ve seen too many things that reinforce the accuracy of these tools.

To some extent, our work behavior tendencies are very good and help us achieve success, , , especially when we have technical roles. In reality, there is nothing right or wrong with a person’s personality traits, , , it just means that’s how we are wired.

The challenge comes when we try to do things that do not come natural for us, , , our internal tendencies can actually work against us in many ways. Therefore, it is imperative that we have some level of understanding of these dynamics as it will help us overcome many of our challenges.

It also helps us understand what’s going on with our staff.

In my IT Manager Institute (both the classroom version and the IT Manager Institute Self Study), I spend the first part of the program to explain all of this so students can appreciate why some things work so well for us and some things are so difficult as we discuss the management processes throughout the rest of the program.

Rather than write an article about it, let me treat you to a segment from the first session of the IT Manager Institute Self Study. This section is about IT employee work behavior.

CLICK HERE or on the image below to access the online presentation.

Interested in learning more about the IT Manager Institute?

Classroom schedule — www.mde.net/institute

Self Study — www.mde.net/selfstudy

The Kickoff Meeting for a new project is your best opportunity to energize the project team and establish a common purpose toward completing the work. A great kickoff is the result of good planning.

After you’ve done your Project Kickoff Meeting prep work (see my previous BLOG titled, Kickoff your project – Step-1 is preparation), you need to plan to actually hold an effective meeting.

I’ve developed a set of tactics that I use to set the tone for the meeting. These items help me stay organized, establish a sense of leadership, and begin moulding the individual project participants into a team. These tips will help you kickoff your next project successfully.

Agenda
As in any effective meeting, participants are better off when they have a clear understanding of how the meeting will progress. To help team members prepare, I use the following basic agenda for most of my project kickoff meetings.

• Project description
• Purpose
• Goals and Deliverables
• Project team member introductions
• Project assumptions
• Project schedule
• Key success factors
• Status meetings
• Other communication vehicles
• Questions and Answers

The meeting
Keep the meeting flowing and avoid wasting time. Be personable and be upbeat; everyone will enjoy participating more if you take this approach.

Be conscious of people’s time and hold a concise and productive meeting. The best way to do this is to be organized and prepared.

Getting started
Take immediate charge of the meeting. Welcome all participants and don’t forget to introduce yourself. Briefly explain that you’ll walk everyone through the agenda and material and that you’ll leave time for questions at the end.

Define the project, its purpose, and expected goals and deliverables. Now is a good time to reinforce the importance of delivering the project successfully. You might even mention any significant implications to the company if the project is not delivered successfully.

Introduce the project members and briefly discuss the role of each. You want to do this yourself, , , don’t let the team members introduce themselves unless it’s a small meeting. Some of your high detail members like to talk and you don’t that much detail to get the project moving.

You should do most of the talking in this first meeting. The kickoff is intended to bring everyone up to speed, not to discuss every item in detail. Every participant needs to see you taking charge of the meeting agenda.

Presenting the project schedule
Now that you’ve set the tone, discuss the project assumptions that set the stage for how you developed the plan. Refer to the project plan document that you sent to everyone and go through it task by task. Explain and reinforce to everyone that this is a “first cut” and that the important thing to do in this meeting is to verify that the tasks are comprehensive, assigned appropriately, and have reasonable time frames.

The time to modify the plan is before the next meeting. Explain that the project plan becomes the foundation for status meetings and is used as the primary communication vehicle for managing the project. As you step through each task, point out key dependencies or factors you noted in preparing for the meeting that affect the completion of the task.

By walking the team through the plan, you’ll be able to point out tasks that are potential bottlenecks in completing the project. Keep your discussion to the point. Don’t get bogged down, but take the opportunity to help staff members anticipate problems.

Reinforce key success factors and explain why they are important.

Establish a timeline and team member expectations
Determine an appropriate time and day of the week to conduct weekly one-hour project status meetings. Reinforce the need for everyone to attend and to have that week’s tasks completed. Explain to them that you expect their tasks to be completed on time. If there are concerns about timelines, now is the time to scrutinize them, , , not after we commit to the schedule.

Take time to remind the group that teamwork is essential. Reinforce the need for participants to look out for one another. The objective is to complete the project successfully, and it is up to everyone to do their part and to help one another.

You might want to mention that, “Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Not asking for help is a weakness.”. High detail people tend to avoid asking for help because they think it’s viewed as weakness, , , encourage them to ask for help early if needed, , , it gives us time to do something. Requesting help too late prevents us from being able to provide the help and can jeopardize the project.

Empower team members to own their responsibilities and to ask for help. Repeat that you expect everyone to attend project status meetings prepared and with all tasks completed.

Part of your project management job is to help the team identify bottlenecks and to eliminate obstacles. Explain to them that you will be inspecting the status of tasks and you are always available if they need your assistance.

Explain the communication plan
Discuss your plan to share information and updates with the group and interested parties, including the following:

• Weekly project status meetings
• Subproject planning sessions
• Project plan status updates
• Senior management updates
• Use of the company intranet or other communication vehicles

Emphasize the need to communicate to the project manager anything they see that might affect the project.

Ask for feedback and then close
At the end of the meeting, it’s time for questions and answers. Be certain you’ve blocked out ample time. If time runs out, ask everyone to send questions to you or to call you. You can later send out a Frequently Asked Questions document or even post it on your company intranet for people interested in staying abreast of the project.

Summarize the meeting with a call for action and list outstanding items that require immediate follow-up. Provide direction on any follow-up communication needed and what you expect from everyone at the first project status meeting.

Final thoughts
If you read both articles in this 2-part BLOG post, you might have picked up on the four actions that will increase your success in leading a project:

• Establish an organized presence. Demonstrate to your team that you are on top of things.
• Empower the team members. Give each team member responsibilities and expect them to accomplish their assigned tasks by the scheduled due dates.
• Create teamwork. Encourage all to help one another and to be accountable to the project. Everyone pulling together for a common cause can have dramatic results.
• Demonstrate leadership. Organize, empower, and develop the team, and everyone will see your leadership and follow.

Take advantage of the opportunity an effective Kickoff Meeting gives you. It can make a big difference in the success of your next project.

Your first project meeting is an opportunity to share your plan to lead the project to a successful completion. You should take advantage of this one-time chance to energize the group, set proper expectations, and establish guidelines that will help you complete the project on time and within budget.

You need a Project Kickoff Meeting !!

Fail to prepare for this meeting and you put the project at risk right from the start.

When you leave the Kickoff Meeting, everyone on the project team must be on the same page. Your preparation beforehand will determine whether you actually kickoff the project and prepare each project team member or put your project in jeopardy.

— Kickoff Meeting preparation —

Step 1:  Develop the project goals and deliverables
Defining these elements will drive the decisions you must make for staffing the project and developing the project plan. Write the specific goals and deliverables down and validate your definitions with the project sponsor (whoever justified and initiated the project, , , usually from the business side).

Step 2:  Identify the project team members and their responsibilities
Resource needs vary based upon the size, complexity, and nature of the project. Include resources from four key groups, as needed, to fully support your project.

• Business operations  (knowledge experts, etc.)
• Corporate support  (Legal, Human Resources, other support staff)
• Management
• Technical

Develop a project team contact list that includes the name, responsibility, department, physical location, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address for each member. You’ll want to distribute this information to the team prior to the Kickoff Meeting – see Step 7.

Step 3:  Develop a project assumptions list
It’s important for project team members to be aware of major assumptions that apply to the project. For example, spell out the assumption that each team member has been selected and assigned to the project by their manager to insure its success. That assumption means that their assigned tasks must take priority, and each participant must be committed to the success of the project if they are to participate.

Step 4:  Develop the preliminary project plan schedule
You can save a lot of time by going ahead and developing the Project Schedule of tasks, responsibilities, and time frames of the project plan. Going through this exercise will help you validate whether you have the right resources, identify risks, and determine the appropriate time lines for tasks and milestones.

Use whatever resources you need to help you create the initial project plan schedule. The point here is that when you go into the Kickoff Meeting, you will already have a plan drafted that each team member can review prior to the Kickoff Meeting. Doing so will save time and help you get the project off to a faster start.

Realize that the plan is not carved in stone at this point. It is only a draft until you meet with the team and everyone agrees that it’s an achievable plan. Once you have the team assembled and assign clear responsibilities, you should ask team members to validate their task responsibilities and time frames for reasonableness, completeness, and accuracy.

Step 5:  Define key success factors
Every project team member needs to know what it takes to complete the project successfully. Take the time to define in specific terms each item that will be required for success. Validate your list with the project sponsor.

Step 6:  Schedule the project kickoff meeting
It is important for all project team members to participate in the kickoff meeting. You want every member of the team to hear what you have to say at this meeting. Send a communication to each participant with a preferred time and date and include options in case they are unavailable. Even if someone is “out of pocket,” he or she can participate by conference phone.

Your goal here is to assemble the entire team so they all hear the same message at the start of the project. Instruct all participants to look for meeting materials on a specified date and to prepare for the Kickoff Meeting by reviewing them before the meeting, , , you want them to come to the meeting prepared to commit to the project schedule or to provide insight to appropriately adjust elements of the schedule.

As soon as you have a firm time and date, schedule a conference room and phone services to support conference calls, as needed. Plan for a 90-minute meeting depending upon the size and complexity of the project. Most of the Kickoff Meeting will be spent in walking through the Project Schedule to confirm accuracy and gain commitment from the team so be sure you have sufficient time to do all that you need to do.

---

Personal note
In a project, I had 12 team members from four company departments located in seven physical office locations in five cities. It’s not always feasible to get all team members in the same conference room, as in this case. By preparing a solid agenda, providing supporting documentation ahead of time, and organizing the flow of the meeting, you can conduct an excellent Kickoff Meeting that gets all participants focused on the same objectives, even when many have never met one another.

---

Step 7:  Send Kickoff Meeting materials to all team members
On your designated date, send a package of meeting materials to each project team member, including:

1. Meeting time, date, and location
2. Call-in phone number and access code for “out-of-towners”
3. Meeting agenda
4. Project Team  Member contact information
5. Project Schedule draft

In your correspondence, ask each person to review the project plan carefully and confirm that all tasks under his/her responsibility are achievable by the dates listed. Also ask them to assess whether any tasks are missing or inappropriate.

Indicate that additional information will be discussed at the Kickoff Meeting and everyone should be familiar with his or her part of the plan. Explain that there will be a Question & Answer session at the meeting to discuss any questions.

Step 8:  Identify key issues and project dependencies
Review the Project Schedule prior to the Kickoff Meeting and make notes on points that you want to make at the meeting. Pertinent items include potential bottlenecks, impact issues, risk areas, status meeting process, communication plans, etc.

By going through these steps, you should be prepared to hold a successful Project Kickoff Meeting.

What’s next?
After all of your preparation, knowing how to conduct your Kickoff Meeting is the next step. In my next post, I will walk you through this part.

Generally, the CIO and IT Department reports into the CFO or financial organization of the company. However, more and more CIO’s are starting to report to the operations side (COO, President) or even the CEO.

I’ve reported to both CFO’s and to CEO’s in different companies.

My preference is always to report into the highest executive as possible who is close to what’s going on in the business operations of the company.

Sometimes, a CEO is close to the action, sometimes not. But generally, I want to be under the President or CEO if possible. They are almost always closer to the operations of the company than the CFO will be.

IT reports into the CFO often because many of the company’s support services organizations (Accounting, Purchasing, Payroll, Accounts Payable, etc.) report to the CFO. Also, the CEO often thinks the CFO is more technically oriented so it’s more logical for him to think that IT should report to the CFO.

The problem is that most of your client and users IT supports are probably from the operations groups who are producing the products or providing the services your company sells. For that reason, you need to be close to what’s going on in the operations groups to support them effectively.

My preference as I said is to report into the President or CEO because they are generally closer to the real operations of the company and many of the operations initiatives depend on IT to succeed. It helps me anticipate things that are coming up if I can be closer to the actual operations arm of the company, , , I’ll usually hear about it sooner when working directly for executives in charge of the business operations.

I’ve reported to some great CFO’s and you can certainly be effective reporting to a CFO. I’ve also reported to a poor CFO and that makes it much harder to be effective for your company because you can get blocked from the real needs and issues of the company.

It helps when reporting to the CEO or President in other ways. It puts you on the same level as many of the senior department managers (your customer) who also report to the CEO or President. The image of being at the same level can be important for some, possibly even the IT staff and the operational staff of the company.

It also helps you when you have support from the top. For example, when pushing an IT initiative, it is much more palatable for your client if the initiative is a company initiative and IT is just helping to make it happen. There is always resistance from the operations side when IT tries to push an initiative, , , it is usually seen as an “IT agenda”.

In the last company I was with, one of the hiring requirements I had was that I report to the CEO. It was based upon my need to be aware of what senior management was trying to do and also knowing that the CFO was not particularly strong. It helped insure I would be able to participate in key meetings and be part of planning processes, etc.

The CFO in this situation wanted IT to report into him, , , purely an ego thing I believe, , , but a condition of my joining the team was that I report to the CEO so I could be as effective as possible for the company.

A good CFO makes it a point to include the CIO in planning meetings and important sessions. A weak CFO doesn’t always understand the need for it.

Another issue is that some CFO’s tend to look at the glass “half empty” when they think of IT. What I mean by this is that some CFO’s only look at reducing IT cost as opposed to the leverage a good IT organization offers and what can be accomplished with appropriate investment in IT.

Now, most CEO’s I’ve worked for don’t want the IT department reporting into them, , , they don’t understand technology nor do they want to. In addition, they simply don’t want to spend much time listening to technology support issues.

To be effective, you have to be able to communicate with the CEO or President in business terms, not technical terms. Otherwise, they will be lost and will want you to report somewhere else as soon as possible, , , probably the CFO.  😉

Gain your senior manager’s partnership by creating a solid track record:

• All recommendations are business driven and offer business value
• All project recommendations are cost justified
• You discuss things in business terms, not technical terms
• You deliver what you say you will d0

At the end of the day, you have to navigate your way through the management structure of your company to insure your IT team is effective. Some reporting structures make it easier than others. The key is that the manager you report to is supportive of your efforts and helps you be involved at the right levels to become aware of things early that will require IT support.

What do you do when you have a problem or non-performing employee?

I’ve observed managers who pass their non-performers on to other managers because they don’t want to step up to the problem. Rarely does the employee become successful in another organization.

In the cases where there was improvement, it was usually because the employee was able to work on something that he/she was truly interested in. If the transfer was for that reason, it’s a good thing, , , but far too often it’s because the manager avoids the “dirty work”

In most cases of poor performance, it is my belief that the employee just doesn’t really like the work or isn’t well suited to do that type of work. Either way, there is a bad fit and avoiding the problem only allows the problems to get worse. More problematic is that it causes you, the manager, to lose credibility.

Everyone is watching, , , yes, that’s right, , , people are watching how you take care of a problem employee situation. Your employees, your clients, even senior management may know about the problem situation, and they are watching to see if you do anything, , , and how you handle the situation. If you aren’t proactive, supportive, but most importantly willing to step up to the problem, , , then your credibility is going straight to the bottom of the river.

You cannot be successful without credibility. Managers get paid to manage and part of managing is to deal with difficulties, improve performance, and to get things done through your team.

It’s not being mean or insensitive when you end up firing a bad employee. In fact, it’s mean and insensitive to your staff, client, and company when you don’t deal with these issues. More importantly – it is mean and insensitive to the poor performing employee to allow him to stay with a company or in a job where he isn’t going to be successful.

3 rules for dealing with problem employees

First rule – Try to help the employee become successful
We want all of our employees to do well and we need them to perform. Our first objective should be to help the employee correct the problem so the employee can be successful. Do what you need to do to determine what the problem is that’s causing the lack of success and coach your employee for improvement, , , in other words, start working with him or her and be sure the employee knows they are not succeeding. You cannot be vague about this, , , they have to hear from their manager that they are not succeeding and improvement is required.

Second rule – Only spend an appropriate amount of time and effort
You should coach as long as you think is necessary. For some really bad issues, coaching might be one session. For lesser things, you might coach and work with the employee for weeks, even months. At some point, if improvement isn’t coming, you need to stop coaching and go to the next step.

Third rule – Never fire anyone unless they know it’s coming and why
There should never be an employee who is fired for cause and he or she is surprised. If you aren’t direct and specific in your coaching efforts, that could happen, , , so be certain you are clear about the problem, the need for improvement, and the ramifications if the issues are not corrected.

A simple process to use with a poor performer

1. Coach and counsel the employee and be clear about the problems that exist.
2. After you’ve coached enough (subjective determination on your part), you tell the employee that the next time you have this discussion, you plan to put him on a formal improvement plan. Also explain that if that happens and the problems continue, then the next step will be termination.
3. If the problem occurs again, you put the employee on a formal written improvement plan with a probationary period (3-6 months depending upon the issue).
4. If the problem occurs again within the probationary period, you terminate the employee.

In over 90% of the cases, the employee will fix the problem or will leave your company on his own after the first 2 steps, , , if that employee is conscientious and wants to do a good job. Most of the rest that get to step-3 will correct the problem or leave on their own if they are put on a formal improvement program, , , and realize that termination is imminent if they do not fix the problem.

I’ve dealt with many poor performers in my career, but only a few ever got to the final step. When you address the problems with the employee and you are specific and direct (something many managers tend to shy away from), most employees will understand the issue has to be corrected. They will usually correct the situation or go somewhere else.

If the poor performer is a single source working on mission critical things, you may want to work in a backup before pushing him. Losing a bad employee who has the “keys to the kingdom” still puts you at risk so take care of your company by initiating things that helps reduce the risk this person creates.

Take ownership of the situation and be proactive in dealing with the issues. Managing IT is about continuous improvement and a big part of what helps you make progress is by improving the performance of your team.

Yesterday was a tough, tough day of golf, , , sort of like the archer trying his hardest to hit the bulls eye above but missing time after time. I played about as bad as I can remember, , , seems like this happens more and more.

On Saturday, I didn’t score all that well but I felt I was getting better and positioned to play golf more like I know I can play. The problem is that in the last three years, I’ve just not played very many rounds, , , and like anything, you need to play to be any good at something.

What does this have to do with IT management?

A couple of things actually.

1)  Be thankful for your opportunity
On the worst day, being able to play a round of golf at a beautiful course is a good thing. Far too often, we think of the downside of situations rather than the positives.

When you have a bad day at the office, perk up, , , the odds are good that it is going to turn around, , , tomorrow could be one of your best.

2)  You must prepare yourself
It’s difficult to execute properly when you haven’t prepared yourself. In golf, this means at least some amount of practice and play, , , not three to six times a year like I’ve been doing.

In IT management, it means developing the skills necessary to manage the situations you are going to encounter.

Let’s face it, IT managers have a very difficult job, , , possibly the most difficult management position in your company. It is hard to find anyone in your company who can help you learn the skills necessary and coach you to become an effective IT manager. Senior management can’t help you, , , department managers can’t help.

Why?

Because they don’t understand technology or IT people, , , nor do they really want to. Even if they wanted to help you, most would not be able to, , , so IT managers are generally left to figure out things on their own. This can be a TOUGH situation.

To get help, you need to find a mentor or training from someone who has actually managed IT. If you are fortunate (most of us aren’t), , , you have a senior IT manager in your company, , , or possibly someone you know, , ,  who has proven success and can help you develop the management skills you need.

To succeed as an IT manager, you need many different skills, , , most of which were not developed when you were the technical expert in programming, systems administration, , , or even as a Help Desk representative.

You need some key skills, such as:

• people management
• client service and client management
• business assessment
• IT assessment
• strategic planning
• project management
• budgeting
• organization and delegation
• communication
• leadership and motivation

IT managers are very busy with a lot going on around them. If you aren’t prepared, , , you will constantly find yourself in a reactive mode. Reactive managers have no control over their destiny, , , they end up wherever the wind blows them, , , not a good situation to be in because you rarely end up landing where you want to be.

If at first you do not succeed, , ,
Yesterday when I got home, the final round of the Memorial Golf Tournament was on TV. The ultimate winner was Justin Rose from England. Justin is 29 and it was his first tournament win in the US. He hit the golf stage with a bang as a 17-year old at the British Open (you Brits call it “The Open”). He finished near the top of that tournament and holed a short wedge shot on the 18th to rousing cheers from the gallery, , , a truly bright young Englishman with enormous talent was destined to break onto the golf scene with much success. He turned professional the following week, , , ready to take on the big guys.

Move the clock forward, , , Justin misses the cut in the first 21 tournaments he plays in after turning professional. When you miss the cut, you don’t earn money. He goes from being “on top” as a young amateur who did so well as a 17-year old at The Open to essentially a non-participant for his first year on tour by missing cut after cut.

Finally, after 12 long years on tour, Justin wins his first US tournament this weekend. He did it because of two key attributes within himself:

1. Perseverance  –  a great attribute for anyone who wants to be successful. Most successful people will tell you that their success did not happen overnight.
2. Commitment to improvement  –  Justin was an amazing talent at 17, , , but to be competitive on the professional golf circuit, he realized he had a lot to improve to be successful.

3)  Take charge
Just as Justin Rose took charge by committing to improving his game by learning and practicing hours upon hours to get there, an IT manager has to do the same. Sure, you can attain a certain level of success by simply learning the long and hard way through trial and error. Unfortunately, that’s how most of us have had to learn to manage an IT organization.

Or, you can create a targeted improvement program for yourself by learning what you need to know from mentors or from management training programs to develop the skills you need in IT management.

The key is to work with someone who has experience and knowledge in the area you are trying to improve, , , and a track record of success.

The parallel I started with in this BLOG post is with my own personal golf game. Right now, it STINKS!!!! You can “flower it up” and pretend it’s not so bad, but the reality is that my golf game today is pretty awful.

I have two choices just as Justin Rose had, , , and it’s my choice. I can either do something about it, or I can continue to play poorly, , ,  and lower my expectations.

You have the same choices in your IT manager role. You can decide to improve your management skills and your ability to take charge of your career, , , or you can continue to learn as you go along and develop at a slower rate.

For me, I have always been a person who decides to do something about a situation, , , so I’m committing today to start hitting golf balls at least 3-4 days a week, , , and to get some coaching help from someone who understands the golf swing. I may not play that many more rounds but putting in practice will make a difference. I expect the improvements will start showing up in a few weeks.

Hitting more golf balls through practice and play will certainly help, , , but I need a coach if I really want to make a difference in my game, , , someone who can mentor me along and tell me what to do that WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. The positive results I expect will happen much quicker with a golf coach.

If you are interested in learning the processes and skills you need to succeed in your IT manager role, I can help you. Our IT Manager Institute program is recognized by managers in all parts of the world as one of the best and most practical programs to improve IT management effectiveness right out of the class.

I may not know how to fix my golf game, but I do know how to develop successful IT managers, , , by teaching them the things that helped me succeed in over 20 years of managing IT organizations.

Can’t attend a class, take a look at our online Self Study program.

I’ve decided for my golf game, , , it’s time to get in the game !

I encourage you to take a look at your IT management situation. If you want to do something about it, I have a proven formula for success.

When we take charge of our situation, no matter what it is; we can expect to hit our target.

Do you dread the effort it takes to develop performance plans and later on conduct reviews of your staff? Most IT managers don’t do it unless they are in an environment where it’s required. If you are one who doesn’t conduct formal performance planning sessions and reviews, you are missing one of the most valuable opportunities you have to define and coach your employees to improve your team’s performance.

A friend of mine uses a phrase quite often, “Anything worthwhile takes hard work and effort.” I’m not sure if he came up with it on his own or if it’s a quote from someone else, but it has real meaning. I believe there are several reasons why managers don’t develop performance plans or why they avoid conducting performance reviews for their staff:

• It takes work
• Don’t know how to do it
• Procrastination
• Don’t like confrontational situations
• Don’t understand the value of these two tools

The most direct reports I’ve ever had was 25 although I’ve managed much larger organizations. All your direct reports need plans and reviews.

With 25 direct reports, that meant I had an average of two plans and two reviews a month to do. That’s quite a lot of effort when you consider all the other things you need to do over the course of a month. My approach to help in my own productivity has been to develop a template for each employee type such as a programmer, application specialist, manager, computer operations, etc.

Develop Standard Performance Plan Templates
When you have a lot of employees and many have similar responsibilities such as programming, you don’t need to develop a performance plan from scratch every time. In fact, you can develop a unique plan for each employee by starting with the same template. Let’s use a Programmer Performance Plan as an example.

In my employee performance plans, I always to try to include the same categories:

• Technical Knowledge & Productivity
• Client Service
• Teamwork/Leadership
• Processes & Standards
• Communication
• Education/Training

Start by developing key performance points for each category until you have a standard Programmer Performance Plan Template. Once you have the standard, save it and use it as the starting point for each new plan you develop for individual programmers.

Individualize each plan
Every employee is different and has different strengths and weaknesses.

A performance plan needs to be individually tailored for each person to take advantage of his or her strengths and to help them improve in their weaker areas.

My approach is to start with the standard programmer performance plan template and read through each performance point of a category and then add, modify, or delete parts that are needed to develop a plan that fits the employee being worked on. You can add additional focus points that are needed for this particular employee to pay attention to and emphasize key points of the plan.

The goal is to ensure that your plan focuses in like a laser beam to give the employee the specific areas important to pay attention to. Do a solid job and half your management battle is taken care of.

There are three ways you can emphasize a performance item within a category of the plan.

1. Elaborate on what you expect in writing.
2. Increase the importance weighting to a higher, more important level.
3. Emphasize the issue in your discussion when you give the plan to the employee.

The performance evaluation weighting factor is used to emphasize the importance that you want to place on each issue. I normally weight items with a 1, 2, or 3 level rating with “1” being the most important. You can use any system you want but be sure to use something to place importance on the key issues you want your employee to focus on.

When completed, you have individualized the employee’s plan by doing two things:

• modifying the performance points in the original standard template
• placing individual evaluation weighting on each point

Delivering the plan is an excellent coaching opportunity with your employee. Just as team meetings are important to allow you to coach the team on objectives and improvements needed, the individual sessions are just as important to reinforce what is needed to be successful.

The performance planning session with your employee is your chance to “spell out” exactly what you need from your employee. It’s also an opportunity to insure there are no questions concerning what you expect from the employee to achieve successful performance.

You can’t afford to miss this opportunity.

Deliver the performance review
Performance reviews are also very valuable opportunities to spend with your employee. In preparing for this session, I usually spend a couple of hours or more to develop a written review.

Start your plan review preparation by reviewing the employee’s plan. Over the course of the year, it is helpful to maintain an employee file folder. When you coach an employee, receive positive or negative comments or documentation from users about an employee’s performance, , , make a note and put it in their file.

Make your comments for each of the each points in each category of the performance plan. When improvement is needed, provide specific examples of what’s taken place, , , add the improvement you need for the situation, , ,  and include specific steps to for the employee to take in order to improve the performance in a given area.

You need to be specific; you do not want to be vague. The clearer you can make your point the more likely you will obtain the desired result.

You should go back and review individual projects that the employee worked on and try to develop specific comments pertaining to your assessment of his/her performance.

Grading performance
I tend to use a 5-point numbering system

• 5  –  Outstanding
• 4  –  Exceeds Requirements
• 3  –  Meets Requirements
• 2  –  Needs Improvement
• 1  –  Unsatisfactory

Place a grade value on each performance point in the plan from 1 to 5 with “5” representing Outstanding. When you are through, add up the grades and you have an overall plan total plus totals for each major category.

The most important part of performance planning and review sessions is the quality time it gives you with your employee. It shows them that you have a personal interest in their individual performance versus just as part of the team.

Managers who take the time to develop and conduct performance plans and reviews without being forced get more accomplished through their employees. Take the opportunity you have to do this and see if you don’t get a more focused organization.

Once you have developed standards for the types of employees you have, you will find that developing individualized plans for them in the future is actually quick and easy to do. I always try to leverage my time and this is one way that you can do it while other managers are still trying to figure it out.

Your employees benefit by having more focus and clarity to their job, and you and your company will benefit by the improved performance.

Three Performance Plan Templates are included in the IT Manager ToolKit.