PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

UNIT 3

MONITORING MANAGEE PERFORMANCE AND MENTORING MANAGEE

DEVELOPMENT

3.1 INTRODUCTION

MMP and MMD is the phase in which actual performance occurs. Action is taken to
implement managee performance and development plans, involving periodic progress
reviews as the managee performs her planned work, providing ongoing feedback, counseling,
revising or updating objectives in the light of various circumstances and handling emergent
performance problems.

This phase represents that aspect of PM which concerns itself with the all time good
management practices of pursuing a planned direction, providing guidance and support to the
managee, monitoring and measuring her performance, reviewing and updating work goals
and plans, and removing hurdles as necessary to goal achievement. PM, in that sense, is not
something special that managers have to do. It is the natural, yet systematic way in which all
good managers manage an improve outcomes.

Besides achieving planned task-goals, PM aims at sustained

a) Performance improvement
b) Development of managee skills and competence relevant to her role and
c) Organizational learning.

It attempts there by;

 Prompting managers as well as managees to recognize, crystallize, and fulfill

managee development and performance improvement needs, as they become evident.
 Integrating learning and work through innovative design and redesign.
 Providing encouragement to all concerned to learn from successes, challenges and
problems that they come across during work.

Monitoring goal achievement involves ongoing reviews and assessment with

reference to planned and agreed performance and development objectives, as well as
performance standards and measures, wherever feasible, against specific milestones in the
work plans.

3.2 RESEARCH AND THEORY

A. Drivers of Organizational performance:

In today’s complex and diverse context, managees – largely knowledge workers – are the
key drivers of organizational performance. They are privy to critical information, which gives
them lots of control on whatever goes into organizational success. Given demands and
sensitivities of the increasingly discerning stakeholders – media, customers, clients and other
partners – even small errors or omissions can make all the difference between stakeholder
perception of an organization achieving its goal, or failing to do so. Certainly these
perceptions can quickly affect the image, goodwill and credibility of organizations.
Managers, therefore, must keep a tab on their managees’ current motivation and behavior in
task performance;

 As a managee joins an organization, her concern is to keep the new job. Most
managees at this stage may not be too worried about future career or competitive
performance. The behaviours that they manifest may be those of stable performers,
who are regular, disciplined and punctual.
 Led yet again by the security motive, most managees avoid unnecessary risks and try
to perform at a minimum acceptable level,, unless the manager is able to kindle higher
level needs and generate positive work motivation.
 Where managers succeed in generating positive work motivation, managees tend to
perform at more than a minimum level, depending on performance expectations that
managers communicate to them verbally or otherwise.
 Only when, through skillful coaching, counseling and mentoring managees are enabled
to feel secure and confident and become self motivated, do they begin to use their
initiative and enterprise, and their creative or innovative faculties. They can then let
their ambition take charge and become competitive high performers.
 As competent performance managers create mature and responsible teams with their
managees, these competitive high performers become cooperative and collaborative.

B. Planning on the left side and managing on the right:

About a quarter of a century ago, Mintzberg spoke something of what we know today
as emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence.

He recalls what neurologists and psychologists have been for a long time;

 The human brain has two distinct hemispheres.

 Logical thinking processes are found in the brain’s left hemisphere (among the
right handers) whose mode of operation is linear – ‘it processes information
sequentially, one bit after another, in an ordered way’.
 The right hemisphere specializes in simultaneous processing – ‘it operates in a
more holistic, relational way’.

To illustrate the distinction between functions of the two hemispheres, he suggests

speech, being linear – as a function of the left brain, with other forms of human
communication, such as gesturing, being relational rather than sequential – as functions of the
right brain. He considers these two functions as ‘the two interdependent consciousnesses that
are normally in communication and collaboration’. Yet, in each individual, one hemisphere
may be more developed than the other – the left perhaps in the case of lawyers, accountants
and planners who mostly have to be explicit, verbal and analytical; and the right in case of
performing artistes and practicing managers who are mostly implicit, intuitive and
emotionally sensitive.

It appears to Mintzberg that management researchers – mostly inspired by the

Western thought – may have been looking for keys to effective management in logical
analysis – linear, sequential, etc. while discounting the intuitive – simultaneous, relational,
holistic, etc. It is from here that between the two planning and informal managing, a
difference akin to that between the two hemispheres of the human brain’. As techniques of
planning are sequential and systematic, planners are ‘expected to proceed in their work
through a series of logical, ordered steps, each on involving explicit analysis’ – akin to those
associated with the brain’s left hemisphere. On the other hand, important processes of
managing an organization at any level rely to a considerable extent on faculties credited to
the brain’s right hemisphere – ambiguity and complexity of systems with relatively little
order.

C. Managerial Leadership:

For Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, ‘Leadership is the capacity and will to rally
men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence’. An
AMROP – HBS Study covering 237 CEOs in the United States ranked attributes and
mistakes of a successful CEO. These are adapted to highlight some important attributes and
mistakes of a leader manager at other organizational levels.

Attributes:

 Communicating Organizational Vision and Strategy.

 Knowing Customer needs.
 Championing organization – initiated change.
 Anticipating impact of competition.
 Creating an environment that fosters risk-taking.
 Understanding new technologies.
 An understanding of other cultures and languages.

Mistakes

 Deviating from the organization’s Strategy.

 Inadequate focus on customer needs.
 Failure to anticipate impact of competition.
 Lack of openness to learning and new ideas.
 Failure to invest enough to hire the right people.
 Not communicating organizational vision with clarity.
 Inadequate development of mangaees’ trust.
 Failure of foster risk-taking.
 Failure to leverage new technology.
 Lack of understanding of other cultures.
 Great leaders are seen as being highly committed. According to Stephen Gregg,
Chairman and CEO, Ethix Corporation, ‘People do not follow uncommitted leaders,
Commitment can be displayed in a full range of matters to include work hours you choose to
maintain, how you work to improve your abilities, or what you do for your fellow workers at
personal sacrifice’.

Great leaders are great learners. They are always seeking to know what their
managees can contribute to the group or organizational goals – individually as well as
collectively. Taking in new perspectives or information, particularly those that contradict the
stand we’ve taken in the past can be threatening to our psyche as well as credibility, and thus
make us feel unsure and insecure. This makes the attribute of taking in and accepting contrary
information and perspectives – however valid- as hard and awkward to practice. Yet,
successful managers know the value of updating themselves and their perspectives with time,
and posses the skill to deal with the stress it might create. For Gilbert Amelio. President and
CEO of National Semi conduction Corporation, ‘Developing excellent communication skills
is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge
and ideas to message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message
doesn’t even matter.

D. Situational Leadership:

In their book Leadership and the one minute manager, Blanchard, Zigarmi and
Zigarmi elaborate a model of situational leadership. According to them, ‘A whole manager is
flexible and is able to use four different leadership styles’;

Style 1 : Directing. The leader provides specific instructions and closely supervises task
performance.

Style 2 : Coaching. The leader continues to direct and closely supervise task
accomplishment, but also explains decisions, solicits suggestions and supports
progress.

Style 3: Supporting. The leader facilitates and supports subordinates’ efforts towards task
accomplishment and shares responsibility for decision-making with them.

Style 4: Delegating. The leader turns over responsibility for specific task-accomplishment,
including decision-making and problem solving, to subordinates.

They describe leadership style as the manner in which the leader behaves when she is
trying to influence the performance of someone else, and explain it as a combination of
directive and supportive behavior, understood as follows;

Directive Behaviour involves telling people clearly what to do, how to do it, where to do it
and when to do it and then closely supervising their performance.
 Supportive Behaviour involves listening to people, providing support and encouragement
for their efforts, and then facilitating their involvement in problem solving and decision
making.

Four Leadership Styles

As they proceed to illustrate the four basic leadership styles, in terms of these
behaviours through the following matrix. The authors insist that ‘there is no one best
leadership style’.

High High Supportive and Low High Directive and High

Directive Behaviour Supportive Behaviour

S3 S3
viour
Beha
Supp
ortiv

Supporting Coaching
e

Low Supportive and Low High Directive and Low

Directive Behaviour Supportive Behaviour

S3 S3
Low
Delegating Directing
Low High
Directive Behaviour
Development Levels: Vishakhadatta is credited with saying ‘Of what use is an
official through loyal, if he lacks intelligence and bravery’. PM is the basic leadership
function of all managers. According to Blanchard, Zigarmi, and Zigarmi, in examining
performance, the manager needs to look at tow ingredients that determine a person’s
performance or achievement: competence and commitment. Anytime a managee doesn’t
perform well without the manager’s supervision, a competence problem or a commitment
problem, or both can be presumed. According to them;
 Competence involves relevant knowledge and skills, which can be learnt and gained
from formal education, on-the-job or off-the job training, and / or experience.
 Commitment involves ‘confidence and motivation’ where confidence means a
managee’s self-assuredness in her ability to duly accomplish a task without intensive
supervision, and motivation means her achievement orientation and enthusiasm for
the task.
They describe for development levels, based on the four combinations of competence
and commitment as shown below.
High Competence High Competence Some Competence Low Competence
+ + + +
High Commitment Variable Commitment Low Commitment High Commitment
D4 D3 D2 D1

Developed Developing
 People who are at different levels of development need to be treated by their leader
differently. Someone at D1 level of development is more dangerous without supervision than
the one at D2 level, because if the manager delegates to a managee who is ‘enthusiastic and
confident, but lacks ability and experience’, she will fail with vigour. Such a person will rush
where angels fear to tread. On the other hand, if the manager delegates to a D2 managee, she
will most likely not act without guidance because she lacks the requisite self-confidence or
motivation. A D1 managee, on the other hand, may not be as cautious.
Using Situational Leadership Styles. The authors, portray a linkage between the
four development levels and the four leadership styles.
Development Level Appropriate Leadership Style
D1 S1
Low Competence Directing
+ Structure, Control and Supervise
High Commitment
D2 S2
Some Competence Coaching
+ Direct and Support
Low Commitment
D3 S3
High Competence Supporting
+ Praise, Listen and Facilitate
Variable Commitment
D4 S4
High Competence Delegating
+ Turn Over Responsibility for
High Commitment Day to day Decision Making
Linkage between Development levels and Leadership Styles
Using situational leadership styles means that a manager must think about changing
her leadership style as a managee’s competence and commitment change. Also, managees are
not at one level of development for all parts of their job. Managers may have to use different
leadership styles in supervising varying levels of the managees’ development in different
parts of their jobs. Most managees are more developed in some areas of their job than in
others. They can function independently, without supervision, on some tasks but need lots of
direction and support on other tasks. Thus, a manager must always assess development levels
of managees with a specific goal or task in mind. For example, an engineer is competent and
confident about handling the technical aspects of her job, but has not demonstrated the same
degree of development when it comes to working with her budget. It may be quite
appropriate for the manager to provide little direction or support (S4-delegating) on a
technical problem, but a great deal of direction and close supervision over the engineer’s
budget (S1-directing or S2-chaching). So, as a situational leader, not only should the manager
use ‘different strokes for different folks’ but in many cases ‘different stokes for the same
folks’, depending on the task.
Besides, a particular leadership style, which is appropriate with a managee at one
moment in time, may be inappropriate with the same person after some time. It is more so in
situations where the manager is using directing and coaching styles. Her goal as a manager
should be to gradually increase competence and confidence of the managees so that she ‘can
begin to use less time consuming styles – supporting and delegating – and still get high
quality results’.
In determining what style to use with what development level, the managers must
remember that they need to do what their managees cannot do for themselves at the given
moment;
 Since a D1 has commitment but lacks competence, the leader needs to provide
direction (S1-directing);
 Since a D2 lacks both competence and commitment, the leader needs to provide both
direction and support (S2 –coaching);
 Since a D3 has competence but variable commitment, the leader has to provide
support (S3-supporting); and
 Since a D4 has both competence and commitment, the leader does not need to provide
either direction or support (S4-delegating).
Performance Curve: The following figure shows the relationship between development
level and leadership style.
 High High Supportive High Directive
and and
Low Directive High Supportive
Behaviour Behaviour

S3 for D3 S2 for D2
Supportive
Behaviour
S4 for D4 S1 for D1

Low Supportive High Directive

and and
Low Directive Low Supportive
Behaviour Behaviour
Low
Low Directive Behaviour High
Subordinate has Subordinate has Subordinate lacks Subordinate has
both Competence Competence but both Competence Commitment but
and Commitment Variable Commitment and Commitment lacks Competence
D4 D3 D2 D1

Developed Developing
Development Level of Subordinates

The Curve in the exhibit is also called Performance Curve. ‘As the development level
moves from D1 to D4, the curve shows how a manager’s leadership style moves from S1
(directing) to S4 (delegating), with first an increase in support (S2), then a decrease in
direction (S3), until eventually there is also a decrease in support (S4)’.
Process of Development: The one Minute Manager also suggests five steps to develop the
managees’ competence and commitment.
Step 1: Tell the managee what to do.
Step 2: Show the managee what to do. Once the managee knows what to do, she will need to
know what the performance standards are, and what good performance looks like.
Step 3: Let the managee try. The manager better not hand out too much responsibility too
soon. Let the risk be reasonable both for the managee as well as manager.
Step 4: Observe managee performance, rather than closely supervise or monitor it. Many
managers hire people, tell them what to do, and then leave them alone and assume good
performance will follow; they abdicate, they do not delegate. Managers cannot blame
managees if the managees had assumed that ‘being left alone meant the manager felt things
were fine’.
Step 5: Praise managee progress. Praise or recognition is the key to helping managees move
from D1 through to D4.

E. Performance Manager’s Change Agent Role:

In PfM, a significant role of the manger is as an agent of change in her work situation.
Tandon enlists three roles that a change agent can take her actual choice depending upon the
problem at hand.

a) Expert: As an expert, the manager diagnoses problems and provides solutions. Similar
to the doctor-patient model, this entails a relatively passive role for the managee.
Competence and expertise of the manager are crucial. Implementation of change,
using this role, is largely dependent upon the expert power of the manager.
b) Catalyst: In the catalyst role, the manager stimulates and advocates change. The
managee is actively involved along with the manager in diagnosing problems and
developing solutions. Here the manager’s ability to re-educate and persuade the
managee is crucial to effective change.
c) Process-Consultant: In this role, the manager assists the managee in finding her own
solutions. The process-consultant role of the manager permits her to suggest a process
of changing, but not providing answers. Facilitative and persuasive strategies
characterize the manager’s behavior in this role.

Some insights for the manager’s change agent role are useful. Tandon suggests the
following – based on theory, research and experience:

 Every human and social problem has more than one solution.
 The same problem can be understood from several different perspectives: individual,
group, organization and society.
 Resistance to change can take several forms:
‘My situation is unique’
‘That’s against human nature’
‘We have tried that’
‘Your suggestions are too general’
‘That is good academic idea but I have to work in the field.’
 People tend to change readily if they have participated in the decision to change.
 Change is easier when gains from it exceed the pains for changing.
 People are readier for change when they see others, especially their role models or other
persons with high status or high influence, changing.
 People accept change easily if they can see its success.
 Change is durable if the relevant environment supports it.
 Making a public commitment to change is more likely to sustain it.
 Change takes place relatively easily in an environment that is less threatening and
psychologically save.
 Implementing change is easier if people possess the required knowledge and skills.
 Unwritten practices, customs and beliefs in an organization – the organization’s culture –
may support or scuttle change.
 A manager must be constantly in touch with her own motivation as a change agent if
change is to succeed.
 Planning for change invariably makes sure that it happens.
 The most common response to conflict is to pretend that it does not exist.

F. Organizational Human Relations:

Sometime ago, Chris Argyris futuristically hypothesized certain changes forthcoming in

organizational human relations’ policies and practices in Human Relations: A look Into the
Future. These are of interest in the context of PfM – especially MMP and MMD. These
predicted changes are briefly listed below;

 From an approach that expects people always to be friendly to the one where people feel
free to dislike others as well as to be friendly.
 From a view that human beings are the most important part of an organization to the more
realistic one that importance of human beings as part of an organization varies under
different conditions.
 From the belief that managers should become ‘inseparable and indistinguishable’ from
the organization to the one that ‘people should give of themselves without giving up
themselves’.
 From an assumption that maximum communication among individuals is necessary to the
one that optimum communication is most effective.
 From a concept that ‘an effective organization is one with high production, low turnover,
low absenteeism and low grievance rates’, to the one that the total health of an
organization spells effectiveness.
 From the belief that ‘superiors can develop subordinates to be more skillful in
interpersonal competence and diagnosing accurately administrative situations’ to the one
that ‘no one can develop anyone else except himself. The door to development is locked
from the inside’.
 From the objective of executive development programs ‘to change the executive
behaviour’ to the one of helping the executive become more aware of herself and become
more tolerant or accepting of herself, and therefore of others.
 From the objective of executive development programs which teach an executive how to
behave or to think to the one of helping the executive learn how to learn.
 From the assumption that human relations problems are caused primarily by poor
organizational planning, poor budgets, incentive systems, etc, to the one that effective
organizational planning, budgets, incentive systems, etc also can cause human problems.
G. Power of Perception:

Harold Leavit, in a sense, ranks perception above reality. According to him, most
people recognize that the world-as-we-see-it is not necessarily the same as the world-as-it-
really-is. We answer depending on what we here, not on what is really said. We buy what we
like best, not what is the best. Whether we feel hot or cold depends on us, not on the
thermometer. The same job may look like a good job to one of us and a sloppy one to
another. People see things differently, He asks the question ‘does one always see what he
wants to see; or does he see what he is afraid he will see, or both?’

People perceive the world from the perspective of their unique, though somewhat
vague needs. They distort the world to ease their own tensions. Managees, when asked to
describe their work environment, talk more about their bosses (the people more important to
their needs) than about other people. We magnify a compliment from a higher-up in the
organization, in the same way that we magnify a censure and often we simply ignore what
everybody else thinks should be relevant and important.

In PfM, just as in any style of managing, a manager’s concern is to effect positive

change in the work behavior of managees. If it is true that the managee’s present behavior is,
in a way, mandated by her perceptions of the work environment them, to even minimally
understand the circumstances under which the managee’s behavior might change, the
manager must at least somewhat empathize with the managee’s perceptions.

Different people may even see facts quite differently. As said earlier, relevance to
one’s needs is the most important determinant of one’s personal view of the world. Things,
that seem likely to satisfy ones needs, may be seen quickly. Others that look like obstacles
attract the defence mechanism – unless critically threatening; while these are noticed quickly,
they may be denied as if not seen at all. Leavit concludes that to ignore differences in
perception is to ignore a major determinant of behavior.

H. Equity Theory:

The Equity theory postulates that a person is motivated in direct proportion to

perceived fairness of the rewards received by her for the amount of effort put in, in
comparison with certain others. When she perceives inequity in relative efforts and rewards,
she feels disheartened and demotivated in her work situation whereas, in fact, no inequity
may exist.
 People, thus, compare their perceptions of two ratios;

1) The ratio of their own outcomes to their inputs, to

2) The ratio of comparable another’s outcomes to inputs,

Where outcomes include both circumstances in which certain results were achieved,
and the compensation or reward received; and the inputs include the effort put in, and the
results achieved – quantitatively, qualitatively and efficiency wise. Gordon represents these
ratios as follows:
Perception, not facts, influence motivation

Individual
(A) { Outcome (O)} : Comparison
Other (B) { Outcome (O)}
Inputs (I) Inputs (I)
OR

{ }OA
: { OB}
IA IB

The individual strives to make the ratios equal

According to the equity theory, facts do not influence motivation;

Perceptions of the situation do. People are motivated and strive to reduce any
perceived inequity by making the ratios of outcome to input equal by changing either the
outcomes or the inputs.

Theoretically – and ethically – the same adjustment process ought to occur when a
person perceives the ratios to be favourable to her. When she receives too high a reward for
her input in comparison to a relevant other, she should increase her inputs – quantitatively or
qualitatively – to equalize the perceived ratios., The research is, however, not unequivocal on
this. In fact, one study showed that workers seek the greatest payoff for the lowest
expenditure of their effort. Yet, some high paying organizations are known to set ambitious
targets for their employees, and get requisite payoff by the employees willingly increasing
their inputs.

I. Experiential Learning:

Deliberate learning by the manager, the managee, and the organization from their
experience – consisting of their successes, failures, problems, and challenges in course of
their work – is an important constituent of PfM.

Experiential learning takes place through a sequential process presented by David

Kolb as the ‘Learning Cycle’.
 Recognizing the significant concrete experience represented by successes, failures,
problems and challenges in the course of work.
 Reflective observation to reflectively reconstruct the significant concrete experience to
observe, analyze and learn from in a detached manner.
 Generalizing the lessons learnt from a number of concrete experiences and developing
personal theories through a process of abstract conceptualization. Abstract, because these
personal theories or concepts – though learnt through concrete situations – are freed from
situational characteristics and so constructed that these can be applied in different kinds
of relevant situations.
 Trying out these personal concepts or theories developed in low-risk experimental
situations in the active experimentation mode to test their validity and to gain personal
confidence in using these in future concrete experiences.

J. Movers of Human Behvaiour:

According to Hackman, et.al., there are three psychological states that are critical in
determining a person’s motivation and satisfaction on the job;

 Experienced Meaningfulness. The individual must perceive her work as worthwhile or

important by some system of values she accepts.
 Experienced Responsibility. She must believe that she personally is accountable for the
outcomes of her efforts.
 Knowledge of Results. She must be able to determine, on some fairly regular basis,
whether or not the outcomes of her work are satisfactory.

It is important for managers to understand whatever rationale there is behind human

behavior. The following may help in that direction.

 At any given point in time, a person acts in response to her strongest feelings and
emotions.
 The same stimulus generates different feelings and emotions in persons if such persons
hold different beliefs and values.
 Beliefs and values of people may;
- Arise through an individual’s rational learning from own experience – physical,
mental or emotional.
- Arise from her intuitive function.
- Arise from her inborn tendencies and capacities.
- Be borrowed from those who have had significant influence over the individual
during her course of life.
 A person’s logical faculty is influenced, in the short run, by one’s needs and wants
seeking urgent satisfaction.
 The nature and intensity of a person’s response to influences, situations, and events,
which attract her attention, determine a person’s mental and emotional experience at the
 time. Therefore, by bringing something new or different to her attention, she can be
exposed to new or different experiences.
 The attention of the person is a function of her most forceful needs, wants, values, beliefs
or attitudes that influence her awareness at the given point in time.

K. Achievement, Affiliation and Power Motives:

McClelland and his colleagues did considerable research on what motives contribute
to the success of a manager, and in what way. They considered three motives significant to
this context. They are;

 Need for Achievement is the desire to do something better or more efficiently than
before.
 Need for Affiliation meaning – the desire to establish or maintain friendly relations
with others.
 Need for Power meaning – the desire to have impact on others (not dictatorial power
but the need to be strong and influential).

L. Enriching Performance through Diversity:

Diversity is an asset – not a threat. It not only promotes ‘breadth of tolerance and
empathy’ but also helps us become more ‘creative and innovative’, more ‘adaptable and
resilient’, and enhances or capacity – organizational as well as individual – to adapt and
renew ourselves in a swiftly changing world.

There are four characteristics that make for good working relationships between
people with differences in gender, ethnic, and / or racial backgrounds;

1. These relationships involve the whole person; that is, we do not separate business from
pleasure but include and acknowledge our personal sides (such as family, interest, hopes
and dreams).
2. A sense of shared history over time is developed in these relationships; we’ve been
through good times and bad times with each other. We’ve laughed and cried together and
learned from one another.
3. These relationships are collaborative rather than competitive. Each person has certain
strengths that can be counted on and well-known weaknesses that have to be taken into
account.
4. There is a strong sense that each person values and affirms the other. We are one
another’s supporters and admirers.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success knows how to get
along with people’, and valuing diversity helps this ingredient in performance relationships.
3.3 Some monitoring and Mentoring Behaviours of the Manager:

Effective performance managers do some of the following things, and manifest some
of the following behaviours.

 Effective monitoring and mentoring is not possible without the manager meeting the
managee. This meeting is best done at the managee’s place of work. So, the manager
moves out. The manager avoids playing favourites – even sub-consciously, in terms either
of projects or of managees by systematically scheduling regular visits to the managees or
sites if these are away from where the manager is located.
 A major purpose of the manager meets managee occasions is to listen to the managee, and
also to provide the feedback. To be effective, feedback is data based and timely. On the
spot feedback can help since the data are readily verifiable. Unless, for specific reasons
instant is not timely, instant feedback is the most spontaneous and genuine. If it is an
occasion to compliment the managee’s good work, the manager praises generously, yet
honestly.
 The manager uses these occasions to clarify issues as also to make suggestions for solving
managee problems. She states the issue(s) of concern based on what she sees, and seeks
to know the managee’s reasons for what is happening. This is not to challenge the
managee, but to understand the managee’s logic for adopting a particular approach and to
know how well it has worked. The two may also discuss some alternative approaches,
mostly to enhance managee learning for future.
 It is possible that previous feedback has not had the intended effect and some unwanted
persistent, long-term problem needs to be dealt with. In such a case, spontaneous, on-the-
spot feedback may no longer work. What is needed is a private planned ‘chat’ session,
preferably on specific agenda, where both manager and the managee, in advance, think
through the points at issue and develop suggestions on some basic directions, essential
points, and next steps or consequences.
 The first effort of effective managers is to develop the managee to correct some errant
behavior(s). They don’t want to demolish the managee, or damage her career. So, they are
careful about what they formally put down in writing. Experience has shown that once the
written word has left the manager, it gets beyond the manager’s control.
 One the other hand, it is always good to keep notes on the manager-meets-managee
interactions, as aide-memoir to help continuity.

3.3.1 Brief of effective monitoring and mentoring:

 Praising good performance

 Faulting a behavior without rejecting the person.
 Sharing her feelings rather than pronouncing value judgements.
 Demonstrating and demanding integrity in behavior and intent.
 Being easily accessible to fulfill legitimate needs of her managees.
 Nurturing effective managees through continual reaffirmation of their worth to her, and to
the organization.