Huge topic. Let’s start with a situation: An employee who doesn’t report to you asks that you keep the following in confidence. Their performance review is overdue by 4 months. The employee anticipates a pay raise which is needed due to their spouse’s working hours reduced due to forced furloughs. They also want to know if they are doing Ok or not. If not, what to improve. They think they are performing well, but without feedback, doubt is being to creep in. A pending lawsuit has resurfaced with newspaper visibility puling leader, their manager, into many meetings with different constituents; the organization’s board chair recently resigned; lack of funds may close organization within 6 months. The employee asked for the review 2 months ago and now does not how to approach manager. The employee does not want to show up as greedy, self-serving or add stress to manager; they love their job and how they are managed.
Your move. Will you advise them to have a transactional or the transformational conversation? The transactional track is easy, here’s what you say to the employee: Email boss with dates, facts and say you will forward this email to HR if review doesn’t happen within 5 days. Steve Roesler gives us these distinctions: Transactional conversations keep things as they are. Transformational conversations
move people outside the boxes in which they’ve placed themselves and others. Yes, there are times when a transactional conversation is appropriate. I invite you to consider that a transformational conversation can accomplish the task and build trusting relationships in the process.
In the situation I’ve described, the transformational track may look something like this: You begin by asking the employee to separate (distinguish) what he thinks/imagines/fears might/could happen (i.e., add to manager’s stress) as his interpretation, not a fact. (To d this, you need to know this distinction.) You ask what he wants to accomplish in the long run in his relationship with the manager (his commitment) and in the short run (a legit performance review). You continue with action steps: Have a f2f (not email) conversation in which you acknowledge current situation and how you have held back in asking for the review. Take responsibility for not speaking up. Remind the employee to have an appreciation for what the manager may feel (guilt) and to not adopt the imagined feelings. Formulating a specific, clear request for the review may be necessary (the review to happen by a certain date).
Caveat: Do not “do” the steps above to anyone. Transformation is not a technique or parlor game it is a way of ‘being’, where you are coming from. There is a technology (methodology) associated with it: ontology, which you can learn.I invite you to take it on. Your world will never be the same, happily and outrageously satisfying and productively so.
OR:::: Camille Smith understands what it takes to change at the individual, team and organizational levels. It’s not easy, it’s worth doing, and it’s required of everyone today, not just leaders. Specializing in transformational leadership, she provides the knowledge and coaching to teach others to create and sustain breakthroughs in performance. She doesn’t bring the answers, she brings them out of you. Reach her at camille@wipcoaching.com.
