Managing Peak Performance

The talent makes the team, and effective managers will lead crews and companies to success. Larry Fish, president, GreenSearch, an Atlanta, Ga.-based consulting firm, suggests these tips for developing your management team.

· Invest in people who show potential for personal growth
· Understand their development needs.
· Look around for a developmental opportunity.
· Don't create an artificial opportunity
· Opportunities for management development are more prevalent than you think.
· Give someone an opportunity to do something you think only you can do well.

Here, Fish offers a performance rating scenario. What would you do?

Steve Hughes, who heads the maintenance division of Farley Landscaping in the Midwest, has been concerned about the performance of Peter Brown. Pete is an account manager, a graduate of a reputable horticultural college with seven years experience in sales, bidding/estimating, operations and customer service, and he has been in his current position for one year. He routinely is asked to oversee the production of four maintenance crews during peak season when more supervisory help is needed and he participates, just like everyone else, in snow removal during the winter. Otherwise, Pete's job description states he has direct responsibility for sales production and customer satisfaction.

During the past year, Pete has had a hand in several projects involving changes pertaining to scheduling and production processes, which it was hoped would improve work flow, contain overtime and cut production cots. Pete has served as a member of a planning team, together with the controller, design department manager and the construction manager, working on the introduction of a new irrigation division. In this capacity, Pete has been asked to report to his team associates on a number of items. He is also expected to help in the mechanics shop/staging area when emergencies arise and to contribute solution to problems causing such emergencies.

Steve has received a complaint from the construction manager, who is also the chairman of the planning team that Pete is not contributing to the effort. Pete frequently misses meetings or arrives late, and he often is unprepared, even when he has agreed to do a specific piece of work for the team. He gives as his excuse that there have been hold-ups in the field and with customers that required his immediate attention and presence. The complaint increases Steve's awareness that Pete also is seriously late with reports on his projects pertaining to the scheduling and production initiative.

Pete's personality is outgoing, however, sometimes he can rub his co-workers the wrong way. He can be sarcastic, critical and demeaning to those field production workers whom he supervises occasionally. Pete always has a quick answer or an excuse for most anything and is quite convincing. According to his new wife, Cindy, Pete "just wants to be loved."

Steve likes Pete, however, Steve feels this negative feedback regarding Pete is reflecting on his stature with his company peers. Unfortunately, Farley Landscaping is not big on developing company, divisional and individual goals and objectives. Farley Landscaping has been successful over the past 18 years because of good instinct, a stable workforce, which is 85 percent Hispanic/Latino, and a booming marketplace. However, during the last nine months, new sales and additional sales from current customers has hit rock bottom. There also is an absence of training and professional development for managers and the general workforce alike.

Steve has never spoken to Pete about his performance or the recent complaints regarding his project responsibilities. It is time for Pete's annual appraisal and he has reminded Steve of that for the last month. He told Steve recently he is expecting a big raise and an excellent performance rating.

Give Steve some help with the appraisal:

· Should Steve address the complaint before the appraisal?
· Should Steve fire Pete before the appraisal?
· What are the issues Steve needs to explore with Pete's reasons for poor performance?
· What type of documentation should be developed and presented?
· How should Steve react and respond if Pete makes excuses and says, "Nobody told me so?"
· How should Steve develop goals for Pete?
· When should Steve talk to Pete next?
· What if Pete threatens to quit because of a poor review or this critical feedback from the construction manager - how should Steve respond?
· How can Steve help Pete improve his performance and develop as a contributing manager for Farley Landscaping?