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Management Observation Program Warning Flag 1 – End of Period and Clustered Observations
Direct management observation and immediate feedback is the best tool for reinforcing performance expectations among employees. And while such reinforcement is optimally effective at maintaining high performance levels when given consistently over time, some management observation programs become a checklist task for executives, managers, and supervisors; resulting in the majority of observations being performed at the end of the observation cycle or in clusters during a narrow time frame within the cycle. Workers learn that standard adhering performance reinforcement only occurs during a very brief period within the cycle and that substandard work will typically not be observed and behaviors corrected the rest of the time. Work behavior quickly aligns with the pattern of expectation reinforcement; sub-optimizing overall performance and adversely impacting the observation program’s effectiveness.
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Management observation programs generate a wealth of individual and workgroup performance data. All too often, workgroup managers view their employees job functions as being singularly unique and so don’t consider pooling their observation results with peers. Doing so, however, creates the possibility of identifying broader organizational trends that may be culturally driven and more economical to resolve with a single integrated initiative.
Robustly implemented management observation programs offer many benefits to the organization and its managers. At their core, each of these benefits is derived from aggregation and analysis of the performance data gathered during the observations. Enabling required data synthesis necessitates the documentation of observed occurrences and conclusions. Desired behavior reinforcement and performance improvement, not to mention manager and observation program credibility, necessitate the employee be briefed on the observations made and conclusions drawn. As with all formally documented performance appraisal instruments, the documented observation should be signed by both the manager and employee.
Philosophically speaking, no one, including managers, should ever be afraid to have ‘the boss’ know or observe what he or she is doing. Being human, we naturally feel self imposed pressure to perform well especially when we are being watched. Subsequently, management observations will always make the conscientious employee at least somewhat nervous. When then does a manager announce that he or she will be observing an individual’s performance? In most cases, shortly before the observation begins.
Management observations profoundly influence the behaviors of those observed. Done well, this tool positively reinforces desired behaviors. Performed poorly, this tool will undermine the management team’s credibility and fosters cynicism towards managers and their performance standards requirements. Therefore, it is critical that those performing these observations do so in a consistent, high quality manner.
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