Bob & Joe's Story

In order to help Bob... we must first understand... what went wrong?

We will start by analyzing:

1) Bob and Joe's Personalities

2) Leadership Styles

3) Work Environment

PERSONALITIES

LEADERSHIP STYLES

ENVIRONMENT

What can we conclude from this analysis?

Joe and Bob wouldn't have waited six months to meet!

Bob should already have an undertanding of his:

• Role and expectations
• Performance evaluation metrics
• Current strengths and weaknesses in this new position

While Joe should have:

• Coached and mentored Bob to meet his new role's expectations
• Utilized Bob’s strong social skills to enhance and strengthen team morale

Moving forward...

What can be done to rectify the situation?

In order to make this employer-employee relationship successful,

Bob needs to fully understand Joe as a manager by practicing

Active Listening, Empathy and having a Reflective Stance

ACTIVE LISTENING

In order to become an active listener, Bob should:

1. Ask questions and paraphrase Joe in order to have a better understanding of his model, goals and motivations

2. Use the ladder of inference to understand Joe's assumptions and what is his logic behind the performance review

3. Be open to negative feedback

4. Go beyond talking to Joe, leverage interaction with colleagues to have a better understanding of Joe's model

EMPATHY

In order to become empathetic, Bob should:

1. Use his understanding of Joe's leadership style to get along with him better

2. Practice empathic inquiry to gain a better understanding of Joe's model

3. Find alternative ways to show Joe that he understands him

4. Make it easier for Joe to understand him, explain why he approached the job that way

5. Search for common ground with Joe in order to strengthen the relationship

STANCE

In order to shift from a reactive to a reflective stance, Bob should:

1. Develop self-awareness through introspection of his new role and the new work environment

2. Actively seek constructive criticism and feedback from peers

3. Be authentic and find new ways of incorporating his outgoing personality to this new position (e.g., be in charge of organizing social gatherings outside work)

In Summary...

Use Active Listening to fully understand Joe's model

Be Empathetic to Joe's motivations as a manager and let him know that you understand him

Shift to a reflective stance, be open to feedback and use it to your advantage

...and they lived happily ever after...

In a perfect world...

Bob and Joe's Story

"The Performance Review"

Brenda Balcazar

Alejandra Gonzalez

Nancy Kohli

Shafina Dinani

Joe

Meet Bob.

He works at BigBank Financial. Six months ago he was transferred from the Retail department to Operations, where he now reports to Joe.

Bob has always been a top performer at work, his past reviews cited his outstanding interpersonal skills and leadership potential.

Over the last six months, Bob has been working hard to establish rapport with his new peers and he believes he has done a fantastic job.

However, Bob just met with Joe for his six-month checkpoint and was surprised to hear that Joe was unhappy with his performance. Joe literally said “you are spending too much swanning around the office and being a social butterfly, that’s not what we hired you to do, I expect you to focus on the job we hired you for, and if you can’t, I’ll find someone who will”.

Ouch. Bob didn’t see that coming…

Bob is now left wondering… what did I do wrong?… and more importantly… how can I fix it?

Bob

Outgoing

Team player

Friendly

Confident

Laidback

Joe

Hands-off

Individualistic

Competitive

Analytical

Bob

PACESETTING LEADER

AFFILIATIVE LEADER

Bob

"People come first"

Creates harmony and builds emotional bonds

Has empathy, builds relationships, communicates

Motivates people during stressful circumstances

Tends to the feelings of his people and is open with his own feelings

"Do as I do, NOW"

Sets high standards for performance

Many employees feel overwhelmed by the pacesetter’s demands for excellence, and

their morale drops

Guidelines for working may be clear in the leader’s head, but he does not state them clearly: he expects people to know what to do

Joe

RETAIL

OPERATIONS

More relaxed

Work in cross-functional teams

Important to get along with others, very political

Performance measured in terms of behaviour rather than outcome

Director in charge of developing and maintaining relationship with customers

Individualistic and Competitive

Work in teams but to a lesser extent

Less emphasis on personal skills

Performance measured in terms of efficiency, outcome oriented

Director in charge of searching for new ways to improve efficiency

Bob should schedule a new meeting with Joe, preferably at a neutral or off-site location.

In preparation, Bob should give some thought

to his goals for this meeting:

1. Have a better understanding of Joe as a manager, what are his expectations, goals and motivations at work

2. Provide Joe with clarity regarding Bob's social behaviour

3. Gain understanding of how Bob's performance is being measured and develop a forward looking plan

• Bob and Joe have different personalities and leadership styles

• Bob failed to adapt his stance to a changed work environment, new expectations and performance measures

• Bob lacks awareness of himself and how his social behaviour is perceived

• There was an overall lack of communication and understanding between Bob and Joe

You are underperforming

You are a social butterfly

You are always talking to people

This type of job doesn't require

talking to people all the time

I assume that your conversations

are not related to work