Trial Services: Making the Marriage Work (by Chris Flamm)

Earlier issues of this E-zine focused on the legal aspects of the Trial Services period, and discussed the idea that this is the ideal time to bring the employee into alignment with organizational culture. In this issue we will explore some specifics of how to do precisely that, as well as explore the genesis of culture in an organization.

The Trial Services phase of employment has too often been viewed as a weeding out period. Many employers use this time to focus on what may be undesirable about an employee while they still have the ability to discharge that employee with no liability attached.

However, in terms of building a strong and successful organization, this time period can often be used to much greater success if it is viewed as a time to plant, fertilize, and nurture, rather than a period to deliberately seek for and weed out employees who shouldn’t make the cut. What seeds do you want to sow in your organization? What good habits and behaviors do you want to take root? What type of organizational culture do you want to encourage and help sustain? The trial services period is your best opportunity to construct a productive, long term relationship with your employees while helping to build a high performance, high commitment culture.

Successful organizations operate as a team. Whether in sports, the marketplace, or the non-profit world, teams need to coordinate their actions. A football team can’t win if everyone plays offense and team members fight each other to be the one to score the touchdown. Each team member understands the purpose of his actions and how it dovetails into the actions of others on the team. There can be no intelligent coordination without this understanding. Lack of understanding and coordination add up to a losing season in football; no less so in an organization.

A new hire must have two levels of understanding to be successful within the organization: the general and the specific. The general requires that an employee understand that he or she must work for the overall benefit of the organization and must act in a manner that promotes quality relationships with fellow employees. As to the specific, question number one should be: does your new employee know and really understand the mission or purpose of your organization? Question number two should be: does he or she understand the purpose of his or her own job and how that fits in with the jobs of others? The most productive employees are productive primarily because they understand the purpose behind their work and how it fits into the overall purpose of the organization. They have learned how to coordinate their actions to work effectively with others on their team.

New employees need to emerge from the trial services period having demonstrated that they have the necessary knowledge and are in alignment with the general and the specific expectations. Two factors can make or break the marriage during this “honeymoon period”. The first is the approach you use to train your new hires. The second is the culturally accepted practices and habits new hires acquire from your other employees. These two items predict the long term health of your organization and determine whether the marriage will be fruitful or end during the trial services period.

Turning first to training, the most effective method and the most positive for the new employee is to plan and implement an active process for teaching the employee how to do the job. The supervisor should encourage the employee to see the relationship as that of coach and coached. Maintaining the coaching relationship helps to insure a positive response to input. A coaching relationship also infers a hands on approach to training activities.

Second, culture is formed by more than a mission statement. It is formed by the actions and attitudes of all of its members. The Trial Services phase is where new hires have the opportunity to learn how to contribute to the organization as well as what to contribute to the organization. This is your chance to get them on the team, get them excited, and help them understand the purpose of their job in the higher context of the team mission. The habits and practices they pick up during this period are the habits and practices they will keep. You have a chance to recreate your culture in its most positive aspects every time you hire and train

The following are some suggestions as to how you can maximize the effectiveness of the trial services period as a time for training and as a time to help align the new employee to the culture.

1. The first suggestion is not so much an action step as it is a goal for much of your work with the trial services employees. The orientation and training of new employees is often an excellent opportunity to refresh and refocus the work of your experienced employees. Using the existing employees to help train and orient the new employee not only benefits the new employee but also can help reenergize the experienced employee. Of course you will want to make sure that the right lesson is being given which means a briefing session with the experienced employee thus providing the added benefit of opening a new door for productive communication with the experienced person.
   
   

2. The validation method is a recommended method of training a new employee. While not ignoring the need to correct the incorrect, the employee’s work is inspected periodically for what has been done correctly and well. A list of successful accomplishments can be far more helpful in shaping desired behavior then verbal or written statements about deficiencies. It is very easy to slip into a process of only commenting on that which needs to be changed. The intent of the validation method is to help set up and reward good habits and good work right from the start. This approach generates enthusiasm and commitment for the job at hand. It has the added advantage of helping the new employee quickly feel like a contributing part of the team.
   
   

3. A team approach to orientation can be a powerful tool both to reaffirm the basic culture and to bring the trial services employee into alignment with that culture. One method for implementing a team approach is to assign each team member an orientation task and the time needed to carry out the task. A second and probably more effective approach is to facilitate a team meeting specifically for the purpose of orienting the trial services employee. A good place to initiate the discussion is with a general question such as: what are the most important areas of orientation for our new team member? The responses can be put on a flip chart and then systematically discussed by the team with a focus on insuring the new employee’s understanding.
   
   

4. One important way to define and understand organizational culture is by the values that are held in common. A team exercise that can be used to help align the trial services employee to the culture is called shared values. Again, the supervisor works as the facilitator and asks the team this question: to work effectively together, what professional values do we need to hold in common? This question can lead to some intense discussion and some very good spin off questions such as: what is a value? Do we always act consistent with our values? Do we have shared values? What does it mean to act in alignment with these values? As a side note, one measure of the strength of the team is the level of honesty in the discussion over values.
   
   

This E-zine ends by returning to a critical point. The trial services period is best used when it is viewed as a time to grow or build something that can be sustained over time. Pulling the weeds is important but the desired growth must be the critical focus. All too often the primary focus is on weed pulling with little thought given to the possibilities and potentialities. Hopefully this e-zine has opened the door to working towards a more productive trial services period.

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The Limits of Conflict Management Training

Interpersonal conflict resolution is often an area that clients want to discuss. Generally, the topic is approached because of a specific work team that is going through a highly conflictive stage. Many times the issue is presented to me through a question like, “Do you think we can improve the situation by providing interpersonal conflict management skills training?”

I have a very strong belief in the value and importance of providing training within an organization. For example, I have found that providing skills training in conflict management to new supervisors can have substantial payoffs to the organization. However, there are many situations where I do not believe that training is the answer to the problem. Using training in an attempt to reduce the conflictiveness of a work team is one of those areas.

Yes, it is often true that individual team members can benefit from the conflict management training. I am very well aware of programs that I think have value for the individual. For example, it is reasonably easy to structure a training program around the book Getting Together by Fisher and Brown. I still use this book in one of my graduate level courses and have always found it to be a very helpful guide on successful strategies and tactics for dealing with conflict and conflictive situations. The essence of the book is to teach the skill of “unconditionally constructive behavior.” The views that are set out in the book have nothing to do with being nice but rather focus on the important life lesson that conditioning your constructiveness on the behavior of another is to your detriment. Why let someone else decide whether you will act constructively or destructively?

Now I believe that there is value in providing training on unconditional constructive behavior for members of a highly conflictive work team, but the impact of this training on team alignment and cohesiveness will probably be small. The fact is that improving individual behavior does not generally bring around a re-orientation of the team as a whole. That issue needs to be confronted directly in a process that is different than simply providing a training program. I have had the opportunity in the last couple of years to witness a number of teams that have successfully gone through significant, positive realignment. There are four basic elements in the work that I do to bring about this alignment. These elements are outlined as follows:

• The vast majority of employees in a work group that is conflictive would prefer to be on a different track. The stress that the conflict creates on their personal lives and the negative impact on performance is the motivator for change. When provided a viable method for improving the work environment, employees will usually make this choice particularly when given the opportunity to make the choice as a group.

• The most effective approach is to have the group focus on creating what it wants. A far less productive approach is to have the group focus on what it wants to get rid of. This latter approach frequently generates ill will and finger pointing behavior. The basic concept is to facilitate a process that will help create a positive, affirming culture.

• A team culture is grown, not imposed. Since it is grown the group must learn to develop processes for nurturing the desired culture. Without these processes, the affirming culture can easily die. My approach to the group begins by taking it through an activity designed to clarify what is wanted. The second step is to help the group design the program by which it will bring about the desired culture.

• The final step is to build team commitment to what has been designed. The central message of this element is that our actions will speak louder than or words – how original. We need the commitment from every team member to honor what we have agreed to.

The bottom line is that all too often having individual team members grow in their personal skills does not address the needs of the team to grow as a team. Good training is helpful for the development of personal skills. However, a facilitated process, which may incorporate some training, is the only program that I have seen move a whole team forward. If a work group has relationship problems, then those problems need to be addressed as a team.

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Quantum Culture: The Physics of the Energized Workplace

I recently arbitrated a dispute involving a Teamsters bargaining unit and a large non-profit organization in the State of Washington. Their labor history, in my view, might best be characterized as what not to do. It was marked with extensive conflict, including a recent strike by the employees that lasted almost four months. As I listened to the testimony of various witnesses, I found myself repeatedly attempting to understand why there was so much negativity in the workforce. It is easy to arrive at the conclusion that the negativity is a product of having a labor union represent the bargaining unit employees, but that analysis seems superficial to me since there are numerous examples of labor management relationships which support a positive workplace environment.

That arbitration hearing influenced my decision to write about negative and positive energy in the workplace. While an employee work stoppage is an obvious example of negative energy at work, it does not take a strike to create negative energy. The fact is that negativity in the workplace is one of the most frequent problems that I find myself discussing with clients. Malicious rumors, gossip and other similar behaviors are all too frequently present. Moreover, I was further influenced to write on this topic by the comment I heard recently from a well known consultant. He believes that negativity in the workplace is the number one problem facing American business.

The following points of analysis are offered with the hope that one or more of them is helpful to those of you receiving this e-zine.

1. Margaret Wheatley’s wonderful book, Leadership and the New Science, applies principles of quantum physics to the process of leadership. Since quantum physics is all about the study of energy, she has a lot to say about how energy can be directed in an organization. She offers the proposition that managing employees can be rethought of in terms of managing the energy of employees. From this view, management is all about helping employees align their energies towards the twin goals of 1) positively supporting each other and 2) task accomplishment. While easier said then done, I believe that recognizing these goals is an important first step towards significant change.
   
   

2. Also, notice the subtle but important distinction between working to stop malicious gossip or rumors and the goal of building positive energy towards specific goals. My experience has been that when you present a positive task to a workgroup, particularly the task of focusing their energies on helping to build a more positive workplace, their efforts towards this goal pushes aside the ongoing negativity. The challenge for the organization, therefore, is to help supervisors and managers develop the skill set necessary to keep their workgroup’s attention focused on the positive goal. Most important, focusing a group’s energy on what is wanted is usually more productive than trying to focus that energy on what you want to get rid of.
   
   

3. I am very impressed with a new book that I have just received (2003 copyright) by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, The Power of Full Engagement. The authors take the position that “managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance and personal renewal.” The following is found on page 5:
   
   

   “The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. It is our most precious resource. The more we take responsibility for the energy we bring to the world, the more empowered and productive we become. The more we blame others or external circumstances, the more negative and compromised our energy is likely to be.”
   

   
   I found this book to have a wealth of good information about energy management in the workplace.
   
   

4. Loehr and Schwartz first emphasize that, just like an athlete trains to become stronger, an organization can train to have greater amounts of positive energy present in the workplace.
   
   

5. Loehr and Schwartz also believe that we increase the capacity for high energy output when employees take on a significant task, work hard at it and then have a period of time for recovery. In their view, employees in an organization gradually wear down when they are asked to output continuously at a high level. On the other hand, work continuously performed at a slower, steady pace never stretches employees and thus also does not work to build greater energy. I believe that the concept of cycles of exertion followed by recovery needs to be explored and implemented.
   
   

6. A critical point is that it is hard to focus de-energized employees on a positive task. Thus, having employees who bring high levels of energy to the workplace is a first step towards creating and aligning positive energies.

Obviously, I find the topic of building, maintaining and focusing positive energy in the workplace to be highly important. Therefore, I intend to revisit it next month with the thought of providing some useful “how-tos.”

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Managing the Dysfunctional Employee

I was recently asked to make a presentation at an annual conference for public sector human resource management professionals. Specifically, I was asked to speak on the topic of Managing the Dysfunctional Employee. I thought it might be useful to those of you who receive this e-zine for me to repeat some of the key points made in that presentation. Obviously, the first place to start is with the point that dysfunction is a broad, difficult and ambiguous topic. That being said, I offer the following points.

1. As an arbitrator, I have always made a distinction between a discipline and/or a discharge case involving a matter of misconduct as opposed to unacceptable performance. One of the practical distinctions between the two is the extent to which the employer expects an immediate behavior change versus a situation where the employee is expected to grow into the ability to perform. For example, if you have an employee that you can prove is stealing from you or sleeping on the job, it is not likely that you will tell the employee that he or she has sixty days to stop stealing or stop sleeping on the job. To put the matter differently, with misconduct the employer has the right to insist on an immediate change in behavior and, if such a change is not forthcoming, to move to discipline including discharge. On the other hand, if the quality or timeliness of an employee’s work is substandard, it is reasonable to expect that the employer will provide a period of time and some assistance to help the employee develop the ability to meet performance requirements. Growing new skills or attitudes clearly takes time.
   
   
2. Most often, the “dysfunctional employee” is a performance problem, not a matter of misconduct. If the employee’s inappropriate behavior was a matter of misconduct, the situation would be clearer and more easily dealt with. A path could be started that would quickly lead to discharge if the employee failed to stop the undesired behavior. Because it is a performance problem, however, what most employers find themselves doing is attempting to coach the employee to bring about a change in performance, usually with little success (otherwise we probably would not use the word “dysfunctional”)
   
   
3. How then do you work with the employee to make a change? I always recommend starting with a positive approach and then moving to formal discipline, if that is necessary. One such approach, that I believe is often overlooked, is to focus on the culture of the employee’s work team. Is it a strong, positive culture that may be able, with the right processes, to reach out and draw the employee into compliance? This idea is the main focus of a new workbook that Martie Geltz and I have recently released called Supervisor’s Guide to Cultivating a Positive Culture (available at 800-807-6544).
   
   
4. Unfortunately, what marks or distinguishes a dysfunctional employee is that he or she is often resistant to positive performance change processes. Moreover, there is a negotiating principle that I find important when addressing the issue of a dysfunctional employee: offers of reasonableness, kindness and cooperation are often viewed as a weakness to be exploited or viewed as a subterfuge for an underlying hostile intent. Thus offers of collaboration are met with increased demands or hostility. As a result, any attempt to be conciliatory is useless unless it is framed within a context of what the employer will not do or accept – you must be able to say “no” with authority.
   
   
5. Since employee dysfunction is often exhibited through a game that is played with the employer, I believe that it is absolutely essential for each employer’s handbook to clearly enunciate positive expectations. For example, employees should be expected to interact positively with other employees, to be productive, to work in a manner that encourages productiveness on the part of other employees and to demonstrate concern about the safety and well-being of individuals that are being provided services. Check your employee handbook, your employee orientation program and your training programs to make sure that the emphasis on affirmative responsibilities is in balance with the emphasis on specific behaviors that are prohibited. Yes, you can terminate the employment of a highly productive employee who makes life miserable for other employees. You need to make sure, however, that employees cannot hide behind the phrase, “I do my job.”
   
   
6. One last thought, as depressing as it sometimes is and as much as you might want to reach out and provide assistance to an employee in distress, years of arbitrating cases and listening to expert testimony leads me to the conclusion that for some the only real change occurs when they hit rock bottom. The termination of employment is often one necessary step towards hitting rock bottom. Moreover, the failure to timely implement the termination often simply prolongs the issue and makes life miserable for management and fellow employees.

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