The Introduction of a Management by Objectives (MBO) Concept – Sample Communication Plan

The aim of a Management by Objectives (MBO) system is to link up employee development programs to the achievement of organizational goals, while strengthening company loyalty. It may be regarded as the cornerstone of organizational sustainability.

Ideally, organizational development should be based on 3 strongly interdependent concepts that make up the pillars of HR development management: Management Development (MD) programsManagement by Objectives (MBO) and Training programs (guidelines).

In a way, this development process may be regarded as quite simple, as it basically consists in setting personal and collective development goals. However, it may also be regarded as complex, due to the many underlying interactions with the company’s strategic orientations and fields of activities (Human Resources, Customer Management, Production, Sales, etc.).

Finally, please note that the successfulness of a Management by Objectives approach mainly depends on the existence of an actual win-win relationship between the company’s leadership and its people.

TOOLS

I. Financial resources: a Management by Objectives approach should include a budget and take into account 1) the fact that an amount of training will be necessary to prepare for the conduct of the interviews and 2) that the time spent on the interviews and their follow-up represents a hidden cost for the organization.

Concretely speaking, an average 2 hours per year may be budgeted for each employee. Moreover , 5% of the total time spent on interviews should also be dedicated to consolidation meetings, when dealing with top managers.

II. Human resources: a distinction should be made here between internal resources – that relate to the support offered by the HR Department – and mixed resources, which may refer to the combination of internal resources with the occasional support of external advisors. In the latter case, the consultants should receive very precise instructions as to what the specifications of their mission are.

Although it may be tempting to resort to consultants for such jobs, such arrangements should however not be prolonged indefinetely; the company should indeed gain autonomy in this respect within the shortest deadlines.

III. Technological resources: the implementation of the MBO system will also have to be supported by IT resources (hardware, software, etc.), which tend to have limited availability.

PRACTICE

Prior to implementing an MBO system, the values that it is meant to convey  will have to be outlined and agreed upon with the top management. These values will have to be directly derived from the corporate values and will impact the whole MBO implementation process. It is the company’s organizational identity that is at stake here.

The mission statement of an MBO system then has to outline its goals in accordance with the organizational values it will be based on. In order to clearly state the final goal of an MBO system, the corresponding mission statement should specify:

  1. the role played by the MBO system within the company
  2. the public that will benefit from MBO programs
  3. the way in which these programs will be implemented
  4. the way in which these programs will be evaluated

The goals as such will be set on a yearly basis, with an intermediary assessment at some point during the year. MBO-based performance appraisals (guidelines) should rely on the 4 following principles:

  1. Reciprocity: the interview is prepared by both parties; the outline of the appraisal’s contents is then jointly worked out in the course of a dedicated interview
  2. Transparency: the forms’ contents are known; both partners sign the documents
  3. Fairness: all employees are entitled to a yearly interview
  4. Confidentiality: the confidentiality of the documents and of the personal data they may contain is guaranteed by those in charge

Moreover, the development goals contract should be subject to the following rules:

  • One copy of the document remains in the employee’s possession
  • One copy of the document remains in his/her direct superior’s possession
  • No other copy is made, except in very special cases

Finally, it may prove useful to summerize all the information that will have to be communicated to the employees all along the Management by Objectives program. To do so, you may use a communication plan (sample) that will help you to constantly adapt and steer the communication process.

Also note that employee feedback decisively contributes to the continual improvement of the MBO system. Moreover, it can provide most useful insights as to what complementary development action may be required in order to meet the top management’s goals.

EXAMPLES

Examples of values applicable to a Management by Objectives (MBO) system:

  • Coherence
  • Clarity
  • Quality
  • Customer-orientation

Examples of mission statements applicable to a Management by Objectives (MBO) system:

  • Ensure the coherence of the company’s actions while developing the employees’ skills.
  • Ensure that all essential dimensions of the Human Resources are embedded into the company’s diverse areas of activity, whether at strategic or operational level, in order to contribute to the organization’s success.
  • Ensure that the organization acquires the ressources necessary to the planning, performance and control of production processes, in order to meet our customers’ needs in terms of quality and reliability of our products, while also supporting our employees’ employability and our internal communication processes.
  •  …

AI revolution: can all jobs be automated?

In the past few years, apocalyptic forecasts regarding the ‘future of work’ have regularly been hitting the headlines. From the Silicon Valley’s Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk – to leading consulting groups such as McKinsey and PricewaterhouseCoopers, major economic players have been consistently issuing alarming statements. So, are robots really going to take over our jobs?

 

Distasteful sensationalism or pragmatic warning? An ambitious McKinsey study on the ‘future of work’ published at the end of 2017 has found much echo in the press internationally. The question of what role artificial intelligence (AI) is destined to play in this revolution, however, seems to have  remained somewhat of a media blind spot…

 

As early as 2013, an Oxford University study had asserted that some 47% of US jobs were at “high risk” of being automated “in the next decade or two”.

An assessment that would very quickly receive the backing of PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to which 38% of all US jobs might purely and simply disappear “by 2030” !

 

“What’s going to happen is that robots will be able to do everything better than us… I mean all of us. The robots will be able to do everything.”

 

Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard prophecy: get prepared for a world without work – and for universal basic income!

 

Similarly, Deloitte’s UK subsidiary had already warned in 2016 that 35% of all British jobs were “at high risk of automation in the next 10 to 20 years”…

More recently, McKinsey announced the ‘displacement’ of 1-1,2 million jobs by 2030 in SwitzerlandWhich happens to represent 20-25% of the nation’s total jobs market and we are only talking here of a ‘midpoint scenario’!

Indeed, according to the distinguished consulting group, the “automation potential” in our economies is quite staggering: 56% in Japan (35,6 million jobs), 50% in Italy (11,8 million jobs), 48% in Germany (20,5 million jobs), 47% in Switzerland (2 million jobs), 46% in the US (60,6 million jobs), 43% in France (9,7 million jobs) – as well as in the UK (11, 9 million jobs)… A fantastic opportunity of profit margin expansion for (big) companies, which may end up sparing trillions in wages every year (p.9) – of which:

  • $2,7 trillion/year in the US
  • $1,7 trillion/year in Europe’s ‘big Five’ (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain)
  • $1,1 trillion/year in Japan
  • $1,1 trillion/year in India

And this, solely with the help of the technologies already available today

 

Discussing mass automation in Davos: not necessarily bad news for everyone…

 

Now, our reader may be prepared for the stern warning that the founder of the high-profile World Economic Forum had issued in the Swiss press in January 2016: “People who are performing administrative tasks – like those working in the banking sector – will lose their jobs.

A good reminder of the fact that the phenomenon of “automation” is due to massively impact the services sector – through the ever greater use of ever more capable AI…

 

When blockchain meets AI: hard times ahead for the middle classes…

 

The promises and threats of the “AI revolution”

But the banking sector certainly won’t be the only industry to massively benefit from the AI revolution. In 2016, a Deloitte report dedicated to ‘the future of automation in the UK business services sector’ offered some spectacular examples:

“Studies conducted by the London School of Economics have shown [that] for example a telecommunications company [Telefonica] that automated 160 different processes, achieved a return on investment that ranged between 650% and 800%.

Another example comes from a software company that is investing heavily in creating a digital workforce. IPsoft’s virtual engineers can handle nearly 60% of all incidents without the need for human intervention. The remainder are escalated to a human specialist.”

 

Since 2014, IPSoft has been striking one strategic partnership after another: with Accenture, UBS, Credit Suisse, Shell, Amazon… Most notably, this extremely discrete company (it isn’t even listed on the stock exchange!) has rolled out a “digital assistant” destined to “do the work of back-office accountants and call-centre workers”

 

In May 2018, Google rolled out its Duplex  assistant in front of a cheering crowd at its  corporate headquarters in Mountain View,  California. A not-so-much-talked-about piece of software that could sooner or later make the professions of call center & customer support agent totally obsolete…

 

This is precisely what SAP explains – in quite an amusing way – about its own “intelligent  enterprise solutions”. Their conversational AI software is able to listen to customers, provide them with the requested information – and learn from its experiences!

 

Having now made the point that a large-scale replacement of services sector jobs through AI technology is a very concrete possibility, a most difficult question arises: do business services jobs still have a future?

We will try to provide the reader with a satisfactory answer in our next publication…


 

First published on August 8th, 2019

By Vincent Held, co-founder of HR4free and author of the book Après la crise’ (After the Crisis), which addresses this issue.

Introduction to Conflict Management: a Definition of ‘Balanced Assertiveness’

In professional life, we are confronted to an uncertain world that is rife with opportunities for contradiction and conflicts. Everyone defend their own interests. What some call “good faith” will be regarded as “bad faith” by others.  Moreover, harmony inside companies is not a natural phenomenon. It is not even desirable, as it can lead to conformism and sterilize innovative ideas. A certain amount of conflict is thus necessary in order to ensure the company’s continuous development.

DEFINITION OF ‘BALANCED ASSERTIVENESS’

In this context, balanced assertiveness may be regarded as the ideal attitude in difficult situations and/or conflicts. It consists in clearly expressing one’s goals while accepting contradiction and the search for compromiseBalanced assertiveness may thus be defined as the art of expressing one’s feelings, ideas, rights and needs, while respecting others and taking their own desires and goals into account. Thus, the practice of assertiveness shall allow expressing a disagreement, formulating and facing criticismdaring to say “no”, or resisting manipulation attempts, without necessarily breaking the relationship.

In short, good conflict management skills consist in  the ability to base the the relation on trust everytime it is possible. However, we will see in the article “The Main Attitudes Towards Contradictions and Conflicts” that it is clearly not the only way to deal with difficult situations!

Conflict Management: Applicable Communication Techniques – DESC – Active Listening

As we have seen in the article “Conflict Management in the Workplace: The Main Attitudes Towards Conflicts”, assertiveness may be seen as the ideal attitude that may be adopted when facing contradiction, as it seeks to establish a “win-win” partnership between the parties involved. However, our everyday experience attests to the fact that, in situations of conflicts, addressing both our own needs and those of others is far from being an easy task. It can thus be interesting to consider some communication techniques that can complement and support the practice of assertiveness:

  1. Active listening (definition): This technique helps up in clarifying what the interlocutor wants to say, understand what have been said and how that we understood.
  2. The “DESC” technique (diagram): The basic principle is that the organization and the structuring of thoughts allow better control of the action and reduce the risk of getting carried away.
  3. The “Broken Record” technique: It’s basically repeating the same request in a somewhat different way, while smiling and adopting a courteous and affable tone. Be careful and remain calm, aggressiveness or ironic tone should be avoided, and do not apologize.
  4. The “Radio Silence” technique: It basically consists in not listening to what the speaker has to say. This technique saves time, energy and reduces the chance to get emotional.
  5. The “Cushion” technique: This technique is effective when engaging a malicious or poorly reasoned situation when criticizing someone. It consists in saying nothing that might get you involved, nor giving any information that might lead to an argument or a conflict. Simply restate what the person speaking has said in a very neutral manner. It is useful, for example, in the case of dismissal interview (guidelines), when the interlocutor attacks on an irrelevant and/or out of context issue.

It may also be useful to take a look at the annexed documents “The Ground Rules of Assertiveness”, as it provides some hints at how to take other people’s needs and expectations into account while respecting one’s own needs and expectations.

The article “The Main Barriers to Assertiveness” also offers some avenues to explore, with the aim of developing both personal and professional well-being.

Conflict Management: the Main Attitudes Towards Contradiction and Conflicts

As we have seen in our “Introduction to Conflict Management in the Workplace”, assertiveness may be regarded as the ideal attitude in difficult situations and/or conflicts. Moreover, it can be assumed that there are four main attitudes we may adopt when dealing with contradictions and conflicts, whether in the workplace or in social life:

1. Avoidance / Flight: Not daring to say what one wants to obtain, capitulating when faced with contradictions, avoiding conflicts at all costs. Flight may take on honorable attributes: selflessness, modesty, conciliation, politeness, sense of discipline, etc.

A few quotes to illustrate the point:

  • “It’s not worth making a fuss about it”
  • “Sometimes, it’s ok to give up…”
  • “Better smile than whine like a loser”
  • “I don’t want to be a complainer”
  • “I don’t want to slow down the pace of the discussion with non-constructive interventions”
  • “In order to criticize, you need to have alternative ideas to offer”

2. Attack: Trying to impose one’s agenda without taking into account the wishes of others and trying at all costs to come out as a winner. This attitude can lead toautocratic tendencies and to a display of coldness and intolerance for errors. It may consist in speaking loudly, interrupting one’s interlocutors, making distracting noise while others are speaking, trying to dominate the conversation, wearing an ironic smile while showing disapproval with one’s facial expressions.

A few quotes to illustrate the point:

  • “You have to be strong. It’s a tough world out there!”
  • “I prefer being a wolf than a lamb”
  • “Life is a struggle. It’s eat or be eaten!”
  • “Attack is the best form of defense”

3. Manipulation: Hiding one’s agenda and using devious means to achieve it. This attitude is about using concealment, insinuation, guilt, etc. It eventually leads to acomplete loss of credibility, as well as social disqualification and failure, due to lack of mutual trust.

A few quotes to illustrate the point:

  • “Others don’t know how to take advantage of the system”
  • “You’ve got to be smart to get what you want”
  • “One should not put one’s trust in man”

4. Harmonious assertiveness: Being honest about one’s agenda while accepting contradiction and the search for a compromise. Assertiveness aims to explore relationships in order to achieve a win-win situation. It is a state of mind, a philosophy of life that consists in making room for the needs of others while not yielding unconditionally to them.

This attitude may be developed by:

  • Practicing active listening (definition) and paying attention to the non-verbal forms of communication
  • Formulating critics aimed at a change in behavior, when confronted with aggressiveness or an attempt at manipulation
  • Accepting the critics of others, whether justified or not
  • Complimenting people, whenever it is possible to do so sincerely

We should obviously primarily focus on our own attitudes rather than seek to categorize the attitudes of others. Human beings are certainly too complex to simply be classified into a few categories. Moreover, we may find ourselves adopting anyone of these attitudes, depending on the situation. We will go deeper into that subject in the next article: “Conflict Management: Self-Assessment Questionnaire”.

Achieving economic success through human potential development

Amidst the ceaseless flow of negative global news we receive every day, we learn that Western Switzerland is doing quite well in weathering the crisis. Our gross domestic product (GDP) is set to grow by more than 2% in 2010 and 2011, according to a study by the CREA institute which was published last May.

By Liliane Held-Khawam, author of the book “Management of Processes by Coaching (MPC): Learning to Cope With Complexity in a Globalized Economy”This article was published in French in the Swiss daily Le Temps on July 26th 2010.

There are two key factors that could explain this finding. On the one hand, we observe a broad diversity in the economic fabric of Western Switzerland: the jobs market indeed offers a variety of skills as well as an entrepreneurship capacity that support the creation of SMEs. On the other hand, the study evidenced a strong presence of companies with high added value – in the biomedical and watchmaking industries, for example – as well as advanced research and development units. If these sectors are supported by cutting-edge management and production tools and enjoy considerable financial resources, they also depend in a vital way on the human skills of their managers and employees.

THE KEY ROLE OF HUMAN POTENTIAL…

This allows us to claim that the human skills on which our companies rely represent an essential component of our economic capital. Moreover, the expression of human potential contributes to the stability and economic development of a region, a nation – and beyond. The income thus generated is a good indicator of a given territory’s economic health, as it allows measuring a tangible wealth that is not based on speculation.

Many large companies, especially those with high levels of added value, have come to understand the vital role played by both individual and collective human skills. It must, however, be noted that major training and development programs that can be very costly, do not always achieve the expected results, since the employees are not fully integrated into the development process.

…AND THE NEED FOR MUTUAL TRUST

Some conditions favor the expression of talent. The key element is the mutual trust of employees with their partners. This is essential in order to build an environment that will eventually lead to greater autonomy, flexibility and a greater commitment to the solving of problems and the search for quality. Another factor that favors the expression of professional skills is serenity. The more peaceful the work atmosphere is, the higher the probability that the human factor will commit to what they do. Trust and serenity provide a favorable framework that allows each individual to achieve professional development.

THE ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN POTENTIAL

Competency development starts with an audit of the person’s professional skills. The corresponding skills may be divided into four categories:

  1. The first category corresponds to the technical expertise that has been accumulated during the various educational, academic and professional curricula and consists of technical skills, language skills, etc.
  2. Another category regroups organizational and entrepreneurial skills. This type of skills refers to the management of one’s area of responsibility. It reflects the ease in which processes and projects are managed, as well as the ability to structure one’s professional mission. We have observed that project management can prove an efficient tool when trying to structure a professional mission, independent of the latter’s context or magnitude, or the person’s level of responsibility. The relevance of this approach increases with the company’ extent to which the company is business process oriented…
  3. The management of interpersonal relations also regroups a variety of skills that have gained much importance nowadays. Such criteria may relate to the ease in mobilizing a group, communication and conflict-solving skills, for example.
  4. The last category of skills that ought to be assessed is related to the person’s self-management. This may refer to the level of resistance to stress or the person’s work-life balance. This aspect is very important because it questions the relation between one’s professional, social and private lives. Family life, in particular, has a great deal of importance, especially in times of crisis. It indeed offers a reference framework and the possibility to recharge one’s batteries. It is therefore judicious for each person to assess the combination of these three components of their lives.

Once this audit of the person’s skills has been completed and compared to the person’s ideal work-life balance, the individual can separate them into two categories with respect to a given professional project.

“ASSET-SKILLS” VS “LIMITATION-SKILLS”

First, asset-skills refer to the strong competencies that we enjoy making use of in our daily work. This notion refers to characteristics that may be both innate or acquired over time. It is important to bring them to expression; otherwise this unexploited energy will become a source of frustration, stress and loss of motivation. The more individuals use these skills, the more they expand and discover new aspects of their own personality. On the other side, limitation-skills refer to potential weaknesses in terms of our skills profile. We all have limitations; therefore, it can prove judicious to list them up, so we may identify them and either try to use them as little as possible, or seek to develop them.

Managers who conduct this audit for themselves can at the same time help their team members perform a similar assessment of their own asset- and limitation-skills. By doing so, they may lead their people to release their potential – and make greater use of their abilities to fulfill their professional mission.

By doing so, managers will be able to further strenghten the human capital at their disposal, while federating their people around their vision and projects. Moreover, this will boost their ability to delegate activities according to each person’s capacities. In doing so, these managers will indeed make the best of their team’s complementariness, thus contributing to their group’s cohesion and effectiveness. All this will ensure that the competitiveness of the individuals, group or company in question will grow and last.

Related articles:

We need to rehumanize our economy!

The level of dehumanization that we are witnessing in 21st century businesses life is the cause for a sense of insecurity and for much anxiety at work. Skyrocketing health care costs are a clear indication of this undesirable state of affairs. And yet, Switzerland’s economic success is pretty much based on cutting-edge global skills.

By Liliane Held-Khawam, author of the book “Management of Processes by Coaching (MPC): Learning to Cope With Complexity in a Globalized Economy”This article was published in French in the Swiss daily Le Temps on October 15th 2010.

Over the past 20 years, the concept of financial performance has pretty much established itself as the alpha and omega of corporate management. It has taken priority over everything that used to provide the foundations and framework of our societies and nations. We have been witnessing the emergence of companies that we may refer to as “supranationals” and which, being active worldwide, have greatly contributed to the rise of globalization. These corporations wield huge economic power, having their hands on mountains of financial resources. Moreover, these financial interests totally sideline any consideration for the human impact of their decisions. Such companies may well create thousands of jobs and make a region prosperous. They may must as well doom another area – and even a whole country – by simply relocating parts of their business activities. These economic giants thus have the power to influence national policies – and not only in democratic countries.

The essential question anyone should be willing to ask at this stage, is: why do we actually need this outrageous concentration of economic capital? Apart from the willingness to achieve global political and economic power, two main reasons may be put forward: economies of scale and the “eat or be eaten” conceptual framework. Economies of scale are based on profit maximization. This is achieved by maximizing the production – and thus, the revenues – on the one hand, and reducing unit costs, on the other. Against this background, it sounds very natural and logical to try and develop on the largest geographical area possible. In this logic of maximization, achieving a global presence is a key business goal.

Cost reduction is achieved by cutting expenses wherever possible. Payroll, being one of each company’s main expense items, naturally finds itself first in line. Relocating in order to get the required human resources at the lowest cost possible becomes a standard policy, even if this implies transferring strategic know-how to other countries. This is also achieved by replacing older employees with talented but inexperienced young graduates. Yet another way of achieving this goal consists in raising productivity demands or in forcing employees to deal with an overload of unpaid work.

Another sensitive issue in relation to profit maximization is taxes. By constantly threatening to relocate their business, these groups’ tax participation may be proportionately less than that of an SME, or of a private business. Moreover, it is the latter taxpayers who have to bear the burdens of successive dismissals, as well as of banks and insurance companies’ bailouts, when their losses are too big.

The activity of these supranational companies relies on a workflows-oriented organization. Their organizational structures are designed by engineers, economists and financiers who are trying to find the cheapest, yet the most profitable path between order and delivery. In this context, the logic and efficiency of which are quite irresistible, the human factor is almost solely regarded as a constraint.

The “eat or be eaten” concept is based on the idea that ‘big fish will eat small fish’. This scenario, although very favorable for the company’s shareholders – who can see an increase in the price of their shares, is  often regarded as harmful by the top management. Indeed, they will at best comme second on the decision-making list or even worse, get fired. If we add to this the fact that these managers’ bonuses are linked to the size of their organization (in terms of revenue, profit margin…), we can expect decisions that are more based on personal and egotic motives rather than on a “scientific” planification.

In order to achieve maximum effects in a minimum amount of time, these companies go through an uninterrupted succession of takeovers and mergers. They adopt a frantic pace that is especially unbearable to grassroots employees. Such behavior, having come into fashion again and being reproduced by local companies, results in an instability and unpredictibility of both local and international markets and capital movements. This uncertain environment directly impacts humans, organizations and the regional economic fabric, thus resulting in a variety of costs at local and national level! Health costs, in particular, clearly evidentiate this phenomenon.

Human beings and their health are existentially determined by two factors, namely space and time. Globalization, however, by maximizing the financial performance using the minimum amount of time possible, is tearing this dual reference framework to shreds. Individuals are propelled into an unlimited space, where historical and cultural references do not have the smallest importance anymore. They have no more rooting and need to make constant efforts to adapt to unpleasant changes they do not even understand anymore. Their past is overlooked, their present turbulent and their future uncertain!

In their professional lives, people may have to deal with such an excessive workload that they simply cannot keep pace, being confronted to their physiological limits. They can also only feel considered through their performance and the financial and commercial prowess they achieve. They will tend to work and have others work at an ever faster pace.  Is it really surprising then that some of these employees use all kinds of drugs to enhance their performance? The greatest dangers come when managers fall victim to this pressure. There is indeed more risk that they will be passing on what they have been experiencing in their professional and family environments. This starts a snowball effect. Sooner or later, however, the engine will get jammed and cause damage at human, technical and financial levels.

And what about the sense of injustice that people will develop when they have to finance the costs of these supranational companies, without receiving anything in return? What will they think of top managers who show a total lack of legal and financial responsibility in making such risky investments? Are there two types of decision-makers in the eyes of the law: top managers and simple artisans? Are there two classes of citizens: those responsible for abysmal losses and the citizens who pay for them?

The rampant dehumanization that we are witnessing in 21st-century corporate life generates a sense of insecurity and much anxiety. The explosion of healthcare costs is a good indicator of this state of affairs. And yet, Switzerland’s economic success is pretty much based on its advanced corporate skills (high added value businesses and people), quality products (craft industry, agriculture) and, of course, banking secrecy. Thus, the health of its workforce is essential! Therefore, rehumanizing and stabilizing the economy is a vital challenge for our political leaders.

The economic history of Switzerland has been shaped by men and women who pushed their love of the craft, quality and reliability to the limits of excellence. The “Swiss made” label is a precious legacy that still appeals to the whole world. It is a true asset for our present and future and ought thus to be preserved.

Related articles:

Towards a ‘Differentiated Management’ Approach: Turning Managers Into Coaches

The fact that our economies and organizations are turned upside down is a reality that’s here to last. Companies and their organization of work cannot escape this phenomenon. In new structures, managers occupy the center stage, as they are givenmore and more responsibility.

By Liliane Held-Khawam, author of the book “Management by Coaching: Coping with Complexity in a Changing World”.

Can corporate management still be re-humanized?

Managers play an essential role within the company, being a link between the Board and grassroots employees. They are, moreover, given the responsibility to lead their workforce through this period of deep change in the organization of work. These new challenges are very demanding for most managers, as they are used to a different management style. The aim of this article is to spot the main success criteria for the managers of tomorrow and to offer concrete ways of developing one’s own management styke. We will focus, in particular, on what we call “differentiated management”.

This paradigm change in the organization of work, as well as its impact on the company’s human factor are discussed separately in a related article:

The definition of a new management skills set

Managers and all other decision-makers, being first of all human beings, cannot avoid this questioning. They will be impacted by this upheaval at both organizational and personal level.

Among the causes for this change in the management skills set, we may mention:

  • the deep change that affects the company’s structure and culture;
  • the globalization of markets;
  • tailor-made (less standardized) products and services;
  • the growing size of the teams managed;
  • the multiplicity of activities and projects;
  • the global vision of workflows.

We offer you to explore the simultaneous development of managers and their organization through the two following topics:

  1. The success criteria of the manager-coach
  2. The development of the company’s management
Conclusion

Mobilizing and developing the company’s human potential is becoming more and more crucial in order to face this time of deep change, both at organizational and cultural levels. Well-being and performance turn out not to be necessarily conflicting goals. Managers are the main asset of their company in order to carry out this change. Their role has deeply evolved. The criteria of success are not at all the same anymore.

Both responsibilities and the level of risk are increasing. In this context, classical management techniques are useful but insufficient. Ideally, managers should display a high level of both openness and firmness. They should be autonomous, responsible and seek performance. And they should help their workforce develop along the same lines.

Such managers may be regarded as “coaches” who address the complex situations they have to face in a differentiated and relevant way. They have understood that human (or “behavioral”) skills are essential for both their own successfulness and that of the company. This is differentiated management.

We thus invite managers to experience this approach and try to develop the corresponding skills. The risks they take will eventually pay off if they do so not in their own, but in the general interest.

Related articles:

The Management by Coaching (MPC™) Methodology: a Real-Life Case Study

Managers, given their role within the organization, are subjected to growing pressures. First of all, they have to channel the ever more demanding strategies designed by their hierarchy and translate them into concrete results. Secondly, they stand in the front line when it comes to addressing the frustrations and tensions of the people they are in charge of, as they are entrusted with the mission of forwarding them to their hierarchy. The pressure that is inherent to this role as a go-between is, moreover, aggravated by the environing crisis.

Authors: Jean-Marc Riss and Vincent Held, respectively CEO and Junior Consultant at Pro Mind Consulting S.A.

In the past few years, organizations have abandoned their old pyramid structures and have been reengineered along workflows and networks. However, although these reorganizations have allowed them to become more flexible and to gain on reaction speed, they also demand from managers that they get more exposed, thus challenging their ability to evolve within an unstable environment. The support that was traditionally offered to them by their organization and hierarchy has faded away, thus resulting in increasing stress levels accompanied by all kinds of psychosomatic illnesses.

This is the context in which the Management by Coaching (MPC™) methodology has come to light. This management system aims to deal with every professional mission by simultaneously considering both its activity and human-related workflows (i.e. all the activities that are related to a hierarchical superior, a member of the Board, an important customer, etc.). This approach resorts to a simplified project management structure which is compatible with a workflows-oriented organization and which integrates the management of the personal skills involved. Developing the managers’ activities in the form of projects in which the human factor is included indeed offers the advantage of allowing them to take all the components of their professional mission into account, from the very simple to the most complex ones. Also, note that this method can be regarded as a “systemic” approach, as it embraces all the partners, competencies, financial processes and workflows that relate to each manager’s professional mission.

The second particularity of the MPC™ approach is that it will involve “coaches” who will be in charge of following up the managers all along their respective projects. Their role – whether these individuals come from inside or outside the company – is to help managers acquire a global vision and obtain the adhesion and support of the human factor that is involved in the project. This implies the implementation of a continuous validation process based on the partners’ feedback. The regular control of the compliance with the set constraints (deadlines, costs, quality, etc.) can also be part of the follow-up process, thus allowing managers to simultaneously strive to 1) reach their professional goals and 2) achieve well-being in the workplace. Finally, we may point to the fact that the managers who benefit from the coaching will themselves be entrusted with the task of replicating this approach with their team members.

The steps of the MPC™ coaching process

An MPC™ coaching process (illustration) starts with a dual audit aimed at measuring the gap between the project’s requirements and the project leader’s skills.

  1. First of all, the audit of the project allows delimitating its sphere of operation, so as to highlight its assets and limitations, its development axes and its list of priorities, in order to reach the goals. This preliminary step is crucial, for if expectations are ill-defined – or if the recipients of the project (who may be members of the top management and/or the Board of Directors) do not agree on the targeted results – the project will quite certainly be a failure! This allows confirming – or even resetting! – the project’s mission at the end of the audit. At this stage, it is necessary for all the partners involved to validate the selected mission.
  2. Simultaneously, the assessment of the project leader’s skills will allow listing up the latter’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the project. At the end of this phase, it will be possible to set up a personal development plan, both for the manager and his/her coach, so that they may be able to proceed with the project in a more confident manner.

Thus, it is on the basis of this double assessment (of both the project itself and its leader), that the goal setting contract between the manager, his/her superior and the coach should be designed. This goal setting contract has to very clearly state the values, the mission, the goals (quantitative and qualitative) and the resources (technical and human) that will be put at the manager’s disposal.

The project is thus structured around this contract and the following elements will have to be clarified: the values and the mission that are specific to the project, its performance indicators and a representation of its activity workflows, as well as an organization and planning designed to respect the constraints (budget, resources and deadlines). The designed action plan thus allows for the monitoring and control of the project’s progress. It also eases the delegation of certain sub-parts of the main project which allows maintaining a global vision.

Thanks to its dual workflows structure (that integrates both technical and human-related workflows), this management cockpit represents a tool that helps uniting the diverse teams that are being supervised. Its indicators are updated in the course of intermediary sessions, the periodicity of which is totally dependent on the rhythm that has been set for the completion of the different tasks.

A real-life case study

Let us illustrate the method with a real-life case study. Yvette, 40, is a Project Manager for the top management of a Swiss-based multinational company; she enjoys a 20-year experience in the marketing area. In the context of a merger, she is appointed to a Regional Manager position and thus suddenly finds herself leading a team of 10 in spite of never having had to manage more than 4 people at the same time…In addition to this, she still has to conduct several projects she has inherited from her previous occupation.

It very quickly becomes apparent to Yvette that the reengineering process has damaged the team and that the latter has become very critical and distrustful. The tension within a group – that is “made up of strong personalities” in her own terms – is palpable, and rather harsh words are sometimes exchanged. Moreover, the team has been somewhat left alone by her predecessor (there is, for instance, no coordination in the follow-up of customers). All this is further complicated by the fact that the team is dispersed on two different sites.

Several factors are thus contributing to Yvette’s inner pressure and stress, among which: her low degree of managerial experience, the need to reorganize her activity, the high number of ongoing projects and the tensions she experiences within her new team. This results in an overload that could prevent her from dealing with her new responsibilities in a satisfactory and confident way. Upon her superior’s demand, it has been agreed that she would benefit from an MPC-based coaching, in order to help her adjust to her new duties and support her as she seeks to reorganize her sector of activity.

First of all, Yvette’s initial personal skills assessment allowed highlighting strengths such as: a high level of commitment, the ability to make quick decisions, a strong willingness to reach her goals, a strong capacity to take up challenges, and an ability to communicate in a concise and precise manner. A few weaknesses have also been identified, in particular a very high level of independence, coupled with a rather average capacity for teamwork. Moreover, Yvette’s leadership has proven to be significantly influenced by a strong reserve. The combination of these strengths and weaknesses thus created a significant risk for Yvette to expect too much from others from the start; she thus sometimes had a tendency to “rush ahead” alone, with the risk of losing certain team members in the process. This type of communication – which was sometimes limited to a “question and answer” way of functioning – thus didn’t appear as the ideal tool to support her management.

Simultaneously, the audit of her project has lead Yvette to identify the main potential blocks in her sector of activity. Among others, it allowed highlighting significant lacks in the follow-up of customers, as well as a work overload caused by administrative tasks. These issues have been dealt with by creating sub-projects to which the MPC methodology has been applied, just as it had been to the main project itself.

The issue of obtaining administrative support has, for example, been regarded as a priority. This lead her to conduct an analysis of the administrative situation, which allowed her to list up all the tasks that need to be completed while taking into account the nature of and time dedicated to each one of them on a weekly basis. It very soon appeared that, although they were necessary to the service’s functioning, these activities nevertheless had a too strong impact on the time dedicated to the team’s management. It was thus decided that some of these tasks would be entrusted to an administrative assistant who started working part-time for her team. This allowed Yvette to 1) spare a lot of time (and be spared a lot of stress!) and 2) support her team in a much more efficient way.

Moreover, the implementation of the MPC™ approach has lead Yvette to perform an audit of the situation before conducting any important action. She was thus able to regularly take some distance and keep a global vision. Moreover, she learnt to make use of her listening skills to get her people involved and include them, little by little, into the team’s decision-making. The establishment of this frequent dialogue with the team thus allowed her to express her sentiment on a more regular basis.

One year after the beginning of this process, Yvette notes significant changes in her activity, to which she says she has grown accustomed after “a moment of intense doubt”. She has taken the leadership in organizing her team: the customer portfolio is now clearly attributed to the different salespeople, the schedules are known by everyone and goals are explicitly formulated. This allows her not only to coordinate the activity of her team members, but also to defend their results within the organization. Her people thus feel that their work is better recognized than with her predecessor and the best members finally did not leave the team, although several of them had originally planned to. On top of it all, the yearly turnover has grown by a two-digit figure!

At personal level, Yvette notices that she is now better equipped to face criticism when she presents her projects, i.e. when someone puts the finger on a flaw. It also has become easier for her to enter a discussion, while she previously tended to cut debate short.

Another element that contributed to increasing her well-being is the fact that she learnt to delegate more and give more responsibility to her team, while she previously tended to “take responsibility for everything”. This learning process has been eased by the design of sub-projects that allowed her to pass on the MPC approach to her team through delegation.

Conclusion

The study of Yvette’s real life case illustrates the fact that the MPC™ methodology can prove a useful support, whether to improve efficiency in the workplace or to bolster the manager’s work-life balance. Moreover, it has repercussions on all the partners involved and allows consolidating the adequateness managers’ skills to their jobs’ requirements, with a snowball effect on their team. The tools commonly resorted to in management practice – such as decision-making, delegation, planning, employee involvement and human development, the building of performance indicators or of management cockpits, etc. – materialize naturally as the method is implemented.

Since 1995, hundreds of managers have benefitted from a follow-up based on the MPC™ approach, whether in the form of a coaching process or of a training-coaching program. This empirical experience has allowed us to observe that this approach fits the Board members of large international groups just as well as the managers of small teams with little or no managerial experience. Occasionally, the MPC™ methodology has even been successfully applied to executives without management duties (salespeople, IT people, administrative managers…).

Related articles:

How to Design a Recruitment / Selection Process – Sample Job Candidate Evaluation Form

The end goal of a selection process is to be able to present a limited number of job applicants to the superiors of the future employee, in order to ease their recruitment decision. To do so, an assessment form may be used in order to reduce the number of remaining candidates at each step of the selection process, by successively eliminating the applications that do not meet the job requirements. Moreover, it allows keeping a global vision of the recruitment process and allows mitigating the subjective aspects of the final recruitment decision.

TOOLS

The information that is necessary in order to set up an assessment grid may be obtained by analyzing the following elements:

PRACTICE

The selection grid may be used at every step of the selection process:

1) Identifying the job’s success criteria: This consists, based on an analysis of the open position, in determining which criteria will be decisive in order to achieve professional success in this position (notion of “job profile”). Such criteria may refer to:

Professional skills:

  • Training background
  • Technical know-how
  • Managerial experience
  • etc.

Personal skills:

  • Personal balance
  • Resistance to failure
  • Negotiation skills
  • etc.

Personal data:

  • Domiciliation in the area
  • Adequate salary expectations
  • etc.

Please note that the job’s success criteria can also be determined in close collaboration with the future employee’s direct superiors. This has become common practice as the involvement of the management in recruitment processes has grown significantly over the years.

2) Setting up the evaluation form: Once all the critical job requirements have been identified, the job candidates’ application documents may be assessed by using a global evaluation form (sample). Only the job applications that meet all these objective criteria will be retained for the next steps of the selection process.

3) A first selection of max. 10 applicants is invited to a 45-minute interview that will allow them introducing their job applications and answering the recruiter’s questions. This first interview will allow validating the data contained in the candidates’ CVs. It will also allow getting a first impression of the candidates, in particular regarding their vision for the targeted position. The collected data will be used to fill in an individual evaluation form (sample), that more specifically details each applicants’ skills and experience.

4) A second selection of the last 3-4 applicants whose work experience and skills are the most relevant to the open position. The observations made in the previous phase may now be validated with the help of professional tests (skills assessment interview), and even of Assessment Centers (guidelines) (in the case of top managers). These diverse assessment approaches will provide indications on criteria such as the applicants’ management skills, their ability to work in a team, etc.

It can also prove interesting – for top managers at least – to ask the candidates to outline the strategy they will enforce if they get the job. Based on all this data, a training / development plan (guidelines) may be designed for each job candidate. All the information gathered by the recruiters (whether these are employees or external consultants) must then be handed over to the superiors of the future employee, so that they may make the final decision.

5) A final recruitment decision is made by the new employee’s hierarchy, using the individual evaluation form. At this point, the quality of each job application may be quantified by applying weightings to the different selection criteria. This approach may ease the recruitment decision.

CASE STUDY

Here is the example of a global evaluation form (case study) that may be used to assess the applicants to the annexed Bank Branch Manager position (job profile). As you can see, the initial assessment simply consists in checking the list of success criteria whenever the applicant meets the job’s requirements. Except in very specific instances, every candidate who does not meet any of these critical requirements will be eliminated from the selection process.

The next step consists in setting up an individual evaluation form (case study) for each of the remaining job candidates. This assessment form will provide the framework for the second interview, in which the final recruitment decision will take place.

Please also note that, in the case where the applicants are being evaluated by several recruiters, it is essential for the latter to reach a consensus. This is an important point, as this practice becomes widely spread. Indeed, the transfer of HR Management processes to the company’s management is turning into a common practice.