Where Do You Stand?

One of the most critical yet vexing challenges at work is to determine exactly where you rank within the company. You may think you’re doing well because you hit your numbers, or that you’ve got a a great way with peers/subordinates/clients, or simply from riding an economic wave, a rising tide lifts all boats.Conversely, you may think that one slip has labelled you irreparably.

Either way, bench-marking yourself against others may be unclear because no one is being clear with you. If you’re a superstar, you know it from the fawning, but for the majority who are good or very good, along with others on the margin, you may not know exactly where you stand. Put another way, we may not be sure how to manage our own career strategy. And since you can’t manage what you can’t measure, the end result is a lot of jockeying, idle chatter, sharp elbows and unpredictable morale. There are, however, solutions..

Let me quote an ex CEO who stated it in an unvarnished way:

Managers [must] let every employee know where he or she stands—how they’re doing today, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and what their future with the company looks like. Are they a star in terms of both results and values, average, or not up to expectations?

I’ve spoken to people around the world and always ask audiences, “How many of you know where you stand in your organization?” Typically, no more than 10% raise their hands. That’s criminal! As a manager, you owe candor to your people. They must not be guessing about what the organization thinks of them. Most employees appreciate this reality check, and today’s “Millennials” practically demand it.

We grade children in school, often as young as 9 or 10, and no one calls that cruel. But somehow adults can’t take it? Explain that one to me.

The final component is feedback and coaching. Stars know they are loved and rarely leave. Those in the middle know they are appreciated, and receive clear guidance about how to improve their performance. The bottom 10% is never surprised when the conversation sometimes turns to moving on, not summarily show[ing] the door, [and when] done right, their manager helps them find their next job with compassion and respect.

Differentiating [employees] is not something to be feared, dumbed down or politicized, but instead needs to be understood and implemented. Cruel? No way. Harsh? Just the opposite. Candor and transparency provide dignity, develops future leaders, and creates winning companies.

That was, of course, Jack Welch, hammering away at his differentiation methodology.

Each one of us has to take ownership of our career, and steer it the way we want, not outsource it to anyone else. Each manager has an obligation to consistently talk with their staff, based on hard and soft skills, and let them know how they stack up, and why. If they can’t communicate that much, they shouldn’t be managing people, maybe better with inanimate objects..

Only with competent and measured feedback can educated choices be made about where one belongs now, and where one should focus in the future. Manage your career as if it was your life–because it is.

Written by Neal Horwtiz, President of Henry Hale Maguire