The five questions system

The Five Questions System

The ultimate performance conversation By Jackie Clifford and Sara Thorpe

Š Jackie Clifford and Sara Thorpe

www.line-manager.org.uk

The Five Questions System The ultimate performance conversation

Copyright Š 2013 Jackie Clifford and Sara Thorpe

All rights reserved.

The right of Jackie Clifford and Sara Thorpe to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents Dear reader… .............................................................. 4 Overview of the five questions ....................................... 7 Question 1: What do you want me to do and why?.......... 11 Question 2: How do you want me to do it? .................... 15 Question 3: How will I be measured? ............................ 20 Question 4: How am I doing? ...................................... 25 Question 5: What’s next? ............................................ 29 Unlocking the full potential of the five questions system... 33

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Dear reader… …by choosing this book you have acknowledged that you are interested in the performance of other people. You are about to add the Five Questions System to your toolbox!

Whether you are a line manager, a Company Director, a trainer or an HR Manager – your role in this instance is not important, the Five Questions System is going to help you to take a practical approach to day-to-day performance management. You may have asked yourself or others these sorts of questions:

What can I do to keep people on track on a daily basis?

How can I make sure that my team meets all their targets and deadlines?

Why do I keep finding myself managing poor performers?

What needs to happen for everyone to just get on and do their job?!

In the following pages, we offer you a set of simple, easy-toremember and straightforward-to-implement tips to help you be the kind of manager that you'd like to have.

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It all comes from… …our experience of working in and with many different types of organisation over the past 20+ years. Increasingly our focus has been on supporting managers across a range of sectors to get the maximum return from one of their most costly investments - their people. As organisations face the challenges of the current business world, it has become more important than ever to ensure the performance of all employees; managers at all levels have been asking us how to achieve this.

The fact is that everyone is being asked to do more with less resource and time. Using our Five Questions System can help to reduce the stress that this inevitably causes. The System puts in place the core elements that people need in order to perform effectively in their jobs, leaving managers with time to focus on change, strategy and problem solving.

We created this approach some years ago whilst discussing the content for one of our other books. Our discussion at that time was around identifying and fulfilling development needs so that performance is improved - this resulted in a light bulb moment!

The managers’ role is to provide the arena in which people can do their work effectively; they need to ensure that the answers to the essential questions are answered.

Over the years, as a result of working with senior managers, 5|Pa g e

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line managers and their staff, our initial theory was confirmed; we saw that where employees had the answers to five key questions, they were better able to meet and exceed expectations and performance targets.

Everything that you read here has plenty of supporting theory behind it and if you want to know more or have any questions, visit http://www.line-manager.org.uk.

And so here we share the Five Questions System with you. Let us know what you think and tell us how you have used the Five Questions in your own work as a manager…

Sara Thorpe Enhance Development

Jackie Clifford Clarity Learning and Development

sara@enhancedevelopment.co.uk

jackie@claritylearninganddevelopment.com

Our other books are:

All these books are published by Kogan Page and the Coaching Handbook is available internationally – it’s been published in Japanese, Polish and Russian.

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Overview of the five questions In order to perform, there are 5 questions that every employee needs answers to and it is the line manager’s job to ensure that the employee has the answers to those questions. All too often, managers expect their staff to know what they need to do and when – “why am I employing them if they don’t know?” We call this the “guess what I want” game. It is most often played when new people join; the first few months are spent guessing what is acceptable in the organisation, what the boss wants, working out what clients expect. Get it right and you can keep your job. Get it wrong and at best, we will extend your probation! It’s also played at various times after induction: when managers get lazy or busy, when there’s a lot to achieve, when employees have been doing the job for a while.

It seems to us that too much time and energy is being wasted playing this game; energy that could be powering fantastic performance and therefore achievement, profit and success!

Have you ever wondered why a member of your team is doing something when it appears obvious that there is a different priority?

Or perhaps you are spending your time trying to convince clients that mistakes won’t happen again? Concerned about why the error rate and level of reworking is so high? Are people feeling undervalued or unsure about their futures?

Ah…the five questions haven’t been answered!

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Five questions for successful performance!

Simple….

If we know what we mean by “performance”!

Performance can be measured in many ways: value, output, effort, profit, contribution – it matters less how you measure it and more that you are clear that you know what it is – and so do others within your organisation, department and team.

To us, performance at work is getting people to do the job that they are paid to do, to the right quality and quantity, at the right time, whilst maintaining motivation and commitment. And performance management is about enabling this – supporting good performance and correcting unwanted performance and behaviour.

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So, what are the five questions?

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This question involves deciding what tasks and activities need to be done in order to achieve the organisational plans and who is going to do them.

What do you want me to do and why?

Question 2 is about clarifying the methods and approaches to be used to complete the work. Considering whether there is a set standard and operating process or if the individual can do it in their own way.

How do you want me to do it?

The key to this question is knowing what “good performance” looks like. What are the measures of success or critical success factors (CSF) for the role?

How will I be measured?

This question is all about letting the person know what they are doing well and areas where they need to improve.

How am I doing?

The final question can be all about development or can focus on what the next work task is that they will be doing.

What next…?

On the following pages we explore each question in more detail with ideas to help you use the Five Questions System as effectively as possible.

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Question 1: What do you want me to do and why?

This, the first of the five questions, sounds very obvious! Perhaps it’s for this reason that we often overlook actually answering it!

We employ staff to do work and a natural assumption is that therefore they will do it.

Some managers assume that people know what their job is and what is expected of them. And some people do. Some think they do!

And some managers aren’t even sure about the specifics of what they want their people to do – they just know that they want them to do their jobs.

Most of us have been in a position where two people have been asked to do the same thing. Or we can recall when a manager and employee have different priorities about what needs doing first.

And what about the time when a task isn’t done because the person asked to do it didn’t understand why it was important?

This question is the foundation for the others. In the workplace we all need to know

Things to think about . What’s the overall goal or objective?

. What tasks or activities need to be done in order to achieve this goal?

. When does it need to be achieved and to what standard?

. Why? Where does it fit into the overall business, contract or plan?

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what we are supposed to be doing because if we don't there is duplication of effort or things simply don't get done.

When we talk about this question in training workshops, many managers tell us that this information is included in the job description. We wish that this was always true!

And in fact even if you have an excellent job description this is only the starting point. Job descriptions are a summary of the main responsibilities; they can’t, and shouldn’t, include the details of every task.

Answering question 1 requires the manager to identify what work needs doing and to decide who will do what.

It’s also about the manager being crystal clear about where their team members’ activities fit in to the overall organisational goals and objectives.

This means that they can see the whole picture – what comes before and what comes after. The reason for the task is understood, as is its importance. Then they need to be able to discuss it with their staff.

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Things to think about . Who have I got in the team that I can give this task to?

. What skills, knowledge and / or experience does it take to complete this job?

. Who is best placed to do this job – either in terms of their current abilities and motivation or in terms of availability?

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How the tasks will be prioritised and allocated to the people in the organisation also needs to be considered and agreed.

Once these plans have been formulated and decisions about task allocation made they need to be communicated. And this is where our first question comes in – “what do you want me to do and why?” Clarifying job requirements is something that should be part of an on-going dialogue.

The 'why' part of this question is about giving the individual team member some context for their activity.

Things to think about . What support will they need? . How am I going to explain this to my member of staff?

How tasks are allocated to individuals will vary according to your working environment; some of us work in very structured areas where all tasks are documented via objectives and action plans; others have work assigned monthly or yearly, whilst others’ work arenas are more reactive and jobs are given out verbally.

In some environments, individuals are told what the objectives are and then they decide what tasks need to be completed in order to achieve them. It doesn’t matter, so long as the individual who will be carrying out the work understands what and why.

We would recommend that this question is discussed on a daily basis with some employees and less often with others - frequency depends on the level of autonomy and self-direction that the team member has.

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As a minimum, we'd suggest that a manager or team leader has oneto-one meetings with each team member on a 4-6 weekly basis and that all of the five questions are on the agenda.

Your notes about Question One

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Question 2: How do you want me to do it?

Once people know what you want them to do, they want to know if it needs doing in a certain way.

This question is about being clear about the standards, expectations and requirements you have of somebody doing the job.

Parameters such as time, resources and methods come into play too.

Many managers tell us that they get frustrated with team members because for example, "they don't do the job in the way that I want it done" or "they do the job, but it's not done on time". And how annoying is it for a manager when a vital part of the process is missed‌?

These problems arise because there is a mismatch of expectations around standards or expected ways of working.

In the workplace we often make assumptions - that people will do something the way that we would do it or that there is only one way to perform a task.

We also make assumptions around standards of behaviour and are often afraid or reticent to communicate some of our expectations.

Things to think about . To what extent can employees work in a selfdirected way? . What systems of work must employees work within? . What are the minimum standards that we expect? . What are our key targets and priorities?

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We have come across situations where people aren’t sure or confident about how to do something and don’t like to ask for risk of being judged negatively by their manager.

The risk here is that the path they choose may not be the right one and by the time this comes to light, errors may have been made or reworking might be required.

Question 2 is all about being explicit and clear about the boundaries and flexibilities that apply to individuals within their role.

This question can be difficult to answer if you haven't considered these areas before.

However putting some thought and discussion into standards and expectations is of huge benefit and can prevent difficulties arising in the future.

A further consideration is the level of flexibility that they have to decide how to complete the task; do they have to do it in a certain way? What is non-negotiable about the method? Are you happy to leave it to their expertise and know-how or do they have to follow specified processes?

We have another question that we want you to be truthful to yourself about…

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Things to think about . What expectations do we have of employee behaviour, including the areas of punctuality, dress code, use of mobile phones, accessing certain websites and ways of communicating? . Are there any industry standards or compliance requirements that we must achieve?

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“What is the reason for your answer to the flexibility or rigidity you are giving?”

Sometimes (and we are all guilty of this, so don’t feel too bad) we set standards and requirements because of our own needs and fears, not because the individual or the job require them! Or we maintain routines and rules just because they are there and they have always been done that way.

We don’t believe that standardisation and commonality is always bad; however we do struggle with bureaucracy and rules that are meaningless other than to maintain the status quo or to make the manager feel good!

The art of answering question 2 in a skilful way is to combine your understanding of what is really required with an awareness of how much knowledge the individual already has about how to do it.

So if they are inexperienced or new, they may need you to tell them what, when and how in detail.

Things to think about . In what areas are we happy to be flexible? . How much dialogue are we prepared to have with team members about how they work and the way in which they complete tasks?

Equally it goes without saying that if they are very experienced and skilful they need only to clarify the boundaries and targets rather than a detailed method statement.

This concept of employee or follower “readiness” is explained beautifully in the Situational Leadership® model by Paul Hersey.

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The "how" question is closely linked with an important consideration for organisations in terms of continuous improvement - this consideration is about the focus on 'doing things right' compared with 'doing the right thing'. Often managers become very focused on following processes and systems that have been put in place without thinking about whether these systems and processes are still appropriate.

Through discussion of question 2 with individual employees, it is possible not only to clarify requirements but also to initiate a discussion and gather views about whether these standards and requirements are still applicable.

Please note: Situational Leadership® is a trademark of the Center for Leadership Studies, which represents the interests and products of Dr Paul Hersey. Ken Blanchard (who incidentally wrote 'The One Minute Manager') went on to develop the Situational Leadership® system into what he called Situational Leadership II®, and which now covers a range of products marketed by his organization, The Ken Blanchard Companies.

Use of material relating to Situational Leadership® and/or Situational Leadership II® requires licence and agreement from the respective companies.

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Your notes about Question Two

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Question 3: How will I be measured?

Once standards have been agreed it is then important for every team member to know how they will be measured.

We believe that if we define what success will look like before we start doing a task, we have a better chance of achieving it.

Knowing what is required by “the customer”, internal or external, gives focus to the task and clarity of what the output needs to be. It provides an end point – when I have achieved that, it’s finished.

Measures of success do not have to be complex and hard to understand. They do not need to be written as “Key Performance Indicators” and “Key Performance Targets” – although they could be, dependent upon the organisation and its working practices / culture.

What the measures must do is provide everyone with a clear picture – the same picture – of what a good job, a complete job or a successful job looks like.

Things to think about . What do you think success is for this task or job? Where have you got that requirement from? Is it from your own experience, industry norms or a client agreement? Is it an expectation that others, such as your manager have placed on the work?

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In organisations where key performance targets are used, measurement may seem easy to fulfil. However lots of organisations and tasks do not have quantitative measures; in this case coming up with answers to question 3 may feel more challenging.

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Things to think about . Is it qualitative or quantitative?

The critical success factors (CSF) for your team and your individual team members can be described in three ways: 1. Behaviours – how the team / individual operates 2. Outputs – what the team / individual physically produces 3. Outcomes – the results that the team / individual achieves

End result is probably the most commonly used measurement of success; however when reviewing someone’s performance, how they have done it is often a factor – whether declared as such or not! And if ‘effort’ is a factor, how will we observe it? How will the person’s performance and success be measured? How will you and the person know if the job has been completed and whether it has been done to the required standard?

. If you can’t measure it or identify what success looks like, is it a task that needs doing?

. How are you going to explain it to others? You need to be able to define the standards and expectations clearly and be prepared to discuss them.

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We have found that by asking managers "what does a good job look like?" it is usually possible to come up with a series of measures that can be applied to tasks undertaken.

For example: 



Teamwork can be observed when team members readily share information with each other or help each other to achieve deadlines.

Customer service can be observed by how the call operator speaks to their client as well as the outcome of the call.

Our top tip is to focus on the behaviours that you would expect to observe when someone is carrying out the job ‘well’.

If it is not possible to define what a good job looks like, then a further question arises around why the job is being done and how anyone knows when the job has been completed.

We are regularly surprised by experienced managers who tell us that they will have extreme difficulty in telling their team members how they will be measured and in many organisations there is strong resistance to the measurement concept.

It would appear that people may feel that measuring takes away flexibility and creativity. We would argue that without some defined way to measure what success looks like, individuals, teams and organisations will be working 'blind'.

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Within the “How will I be measured?” conversation, there should be a consideration of timescales. Most of us have, at some time or another, worked with SMART objectives – the T standing for time-scaled or time-bound. We all know that time is important and it’s also the thing that we can never get back once it’s gone! And so it is absolutely crucial to agree timescales for tasks and projects – large and small – because without this agreement, priorities shift and deadlines are missed. As part of question 3, a measure of success will very likely be “was the task completed in time?” and therefore this must be part of the conversation.

Having a two way conversation about outcomes and required results rather than just telling the employee what you want is recommended. Often people set themselves higher standards than their manager would. This may be a good or bad thing, as it can lead to lots of wasted time and effort just as much as it could result in a better product. Either way, it’s better to have the conversation up front.

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Your notes about Question Three

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Question 4: How am I doing?

When it comes to excellent performance, feedback is vital.

People can (and do) survive without it; our experience though is that these people are often either over confident about their performance or are unaware that they are good at what they do.

There will be other individuals who, without regular feedback, will begin to feel insecure and as a result will feel that it’s best to keep doing what they are doing and keep their heads down. This type of response leads to stagnation, boredom and potential disengagement with the job which can ultimately lead to a fall in performance.

Many managers find it hard to give feedback and therefore they follow the principle that they will tell you if you are getting it wrong; in reality these managers often avoid that conversation too! They will only finally have the conversation when things get so bad that they have no choice but to have it.

Things to think about . What has the person done well? . What could the person improve on? . How and when should I give feedback? . How does my feedback relate to the critical success factors?

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Employees often tell us that they must be doing a good job because no one has told them that they aren’t! Managers are often conspicuous by their absence when it comes to letting individuals and teams know how they are doing – until things start to go badly.

Giving feedback shouldn’t be something that only happens once a year at appraisal time. Answering question 4 is a vital piece of the “good performance puzzle”.

Popular and theoretical management texts alike will tell you that on-going feedback is key to effective and high performance.

Many organisations have even set up 1-1 processes to support this. However these processes are often hijacked by conversations about current projects, what’s coming up and reports from / to senior managers. Often, discussing “my performance” falls to the bottom of the agenda and never actually gets talked about There is a suggestion in the One Minute Manager books (Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson; Harper; New edition 1 Sep 2011) that we should “catch people doing things right” – how wonderful to be told about the things that your manager

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Things to think about . What stops me giving feedback? . Do my employees understand that feedback is about becoming even better and is not intended to be punitive?

. What possible reactions or responses might I get to the feedback?

. What’s their views on what happened and why?

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has seen you do well – the things that he or she would like you to do more of in the future.

Feedback doesn’t have to take long.

Managers may avoid giving feedback because they think it is time consuming – but surely it’s better to invest a bit of time now rather than have to correct mistakes in the future.

There are many models of feedback; most of them contain similar elements.

We find that using a structure which ensures that you cover the points below will enable you to give constructive, useful and timely evaluation of performance: 1. Describe specific, observed behaviour / actions 2. Highlight the results or impact of the behaviour / actions 3. Discuss what needs to happen in the future 4. Clarify the consequences of continuing or stopping the behaviour The key to effective feedback is preparation – really thinking through what you want to achieve by giving this feedback and considering how to explain this to the other person. What have you seen and heard them doing and what impact did that have – what would you like to happen in the future? Be prepared to listen to their views about what happened and discuss both this and the way forward.

Feedback isn’t a one way process – it’s a dialogue.

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We find it useful to consider the possible range of reactions to the feedback prior to giving it. This helps you as the feedback giver to deal with the different reactions that you might encounter.

Your notes about Question Four

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Question 5: What’s next?

Question 5 works on several different levels because we all like to know where we are going next, whether that is short, medium or long term.

In the short term, the question is about ensuring that satisfactory performance is maintained – this is about continuing the positive aspects about what somebody does and looking at what they could do to improve.

The stop-start-continue model of feedback provides a bridge between question 4 and question 5. Once strengths and development areas are identified and agreed (through the feedback process) it is a great way to help formulate a short term action plan that will help keep someone on track. We sometimes use a traffic light image to help individuals to visualise this model:



Stop doing



Start doing



Continue doing

Things to think about . What would help this person to develop in terms of skills, knowledge and experience? . What is the next piece of work that you need this person to do? . What does the person need to stop doing, start doing and continue doing?

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In the medium term, it’s about the next piece of work, activity or project that somebody will be involved with and as such it is the link back to Question 1, showing that the Five Questions System is, in fact, a continuous loop.

This question could also be about reviewing yearly objectives and therefore could take place within the performance appraisal / review cycle e.g. as part of the mid-year review.

However, it does not have to wait for this more formal conversation. The 1-1 meeting (which we recommend taking place every 4-6 weeks as a minimum) is a great place to reflect upon and review objectives to ensure that they are still relevant and appropriate to both the individual and the business.

The longer term answer to question 5 relates to career development and what the individual needs to do in order to achieve their aspirations in line with the business strategy.

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Things to think about . What work will need to be done in the foreseeable future? . How will any new work impact upon the priorities already in place? . Where does this person want their career to go? . What does the organisation / team need in future from this person?

There are some important considerations here: 

Are the individual’s aspirations in line with the business goals?

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 

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Is the manager assuming that the individual is interested in the same career path as them?

Are there actually any career paths available within the organisation?

We know managers that believe that everyone who works for them wants the same career as they themselves have; they are often surprised when they actually sit down and talk to their staff to find that this is not necessarily true! Equally it’s not always easy as an employee to tell your manager where you see your career going, especially if you think it might not be possible within that department or organisation – we’re not all as assertive as we could be! And some of us don’t know what we want and are looking for some guidance and advice.

Hard as it feels, we may not be able to meet individual career aspirations and therefore this element of answering question 5 is about managing expectations. If the individual knows what is and is not possible, they can make the decision about how they plan and manage their own career path. Initiating this conversation in a transparent way is going to have significant benefits - it is much worse to make promises that will never be fulfilled since this has a huge impact upon individual motivation, which often has knock-on effects on team and individual performance.

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Your notes about Question Five

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Unlocking the full potential of the five questions system

Answering all 5 of the questions is unlikely to take place in one conversation The first 3 questions need to be answered prior to an individual starting an activity, task or project Questions 4 and 5 are addressed during or after an activity has been undertaken. Please remember… you don’t need to wait until the end of a task to give feedback How the questions get answered will vary according to the employee. Some will need you to tell them the answers, some will want to discuss options with you, whilst others will come to you with their answers.

Enabling your employees to answer the 5 questions provides you with an effective informal performance management framework. The answers to questions 1-3 draw a metaphorical ‘line in the sand’ which could provide the basis for more formal disciplinary action if required. Questions 4 and 5 provide the opportunity for improvement as much as for growth and development.

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