Marnie E. Green - Painless Performance Conversations: A Practical Approach to Critical Day-to-Day Workplace Discussions

Praise for Painless Performance Conversations

In this field-tested work, you will learn tips, tools, and techniques to help make the entire process of performance conversations a far more pleasant one for all concerned. It's a highly readable work and a must-read for all supervisors and managers.

Edward E. Scannell, CMP, CSP
Coauthor, Games Trainers Play series;
McGraw-Hill, Past National President;
ASTD, IFTDO, MPI and NSA

Marnie Green has a talent for presenting complicated, abstract ideas in a simple, no-nonsense way that is easy to apply. Her tips for establishing performance expectations and for initiating the toughest conversations take the pain out of these critical tasks.

Kevin Klimas
President and Founder, Clarifacts, Inc.

This book should be required reading for all managers. Those who follow the painless approach will have high-performing employees and enhanced organizational performance.

Neil E. Reichenberg
Executive Director, International Public
Management Association for
Human Resources

Painless Performance Conversations is a painless read. It actually was just plain fun! It will inspire you and others to try new techniques for working with your most valued resourceyour people. Painless Performance Conversations is a winner!

Karen Thoreson
President, Alliance for Innovation

This book reflects Marnie Green's can-do attitude and offers step-by-step methods to which many will turn repeatedly as they meet the challenges of supervising others.

Christine Kajikawa Wilkinson
Senior Vice President, Secretary, and
President of the Alumni Association,
Arizona State University

Marnie Green has helped the city of Las Vegas with leadership development for over a decade. Our employees are better off as a result of Marnie's advice on how to handle performance conversations.

Elizabeth N. Fretwell
City Manager, City of Las Vegas

In her latest book, Marnie Green walks you through the steps to becoming your own expert on conducting performance conversations. Her practical counsel, exceptional writing style, and insight from years of coaching leaders make this a must-read book.

Richard S Deems, PhD
President, WorkLife Design;Coauthor of Leading in Tough Times, on Microsoft's and
Eaton's Recommended Reading Lists;
Author of Interviewing: More Than a Gut Feeling

Cover image: Paper Tolga Tezcan/iStockphoto, Chairs Angelika Schwarz/iStockphoto

Cover design: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2013 by Marnie Green. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Green, Marnie E.

Painless Performance Conversations: A Practical Approach to Critical Day-to-Day Workplace Discussions/Marnie Green.

pages cm.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978-1-118-53353-6 (pbk.); ISBN:978-1-118-63159-1 (ebk); ISBN: 978-1-118-63170-6 (ebk); 978-1-118-63181-2 (ebk)

1. Communication in personnel management. 2. EmployeesRating of. I. Title.

HF5549.5.C6G73 2013

658.3125dc23

2012047253

For Steve, with whom conversations are always painless

Preface

Have you ever faced an employee issue that you would rather avoid? If so, this book is for you. Painless Performance Conversations deals with the hard stuff that comes with being a manager, which is why it has been a long time in the making. It sprang from consulting and coaching work that I've done over the years with hundreds of managers who struggle with the day-to-day conversations they need to have with their employees. In workshops and webinars based on my first book, Painless Performance Evaluations: A Practical Approach to Managing Day-to-Day Employee Performance, I saw that managers always seemed to understand the need to lead an annual performance evaluation conversation. They even recognize the importance of documenting performance examples throughout the year. The angst appears, however, when the manager has to talk with the employee about not meeting performance expectations. The face-to-face, heart-to-heart discussion can turn the most seasoned, robust manager into a wimp.

Painless Performance Conversations is written to give you the boost you need to tackle the conversations you'd rather avoid. There's no shame here. Regardless of your position within the organization and the number of years you've been managing, delivering the news that an employee is not stacking up can be tough. But it doesn't have to be.

Conversations are living and breathing events with a multitude of moving parts. Psychology, emotion, experience, perspective, and perceptions: they all affect the outcome of performance-related conversations. Much has been researched and written about how our brains function when we have to engage in conversations about potentially unpleasant topics. This book takes the next step and gives you the tools you need to stay focused and feel confident when your brain is telling you to otherwise avoid the conversation.

So what makes certain performance-related conversations painful when others are not? Several elements are usually in play to create the pain, and they all come down to fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of losing control, and fear of failure all compel us to avoid the conversations that are critical to our operations. And, on top of it all, the conversation is usually with a person with whom you would like to have a positive relationship. It's more pleasant to work with others when there is an absence of conflict. So you avoid the important performance-related conversations in an effort to avoid stress.