Ben is a young employee of a coffee-shop chain. He works in a small branch near a railway station in Yorkshire, and most of his shifts are worked on his own, as the shop is seldom busy enough to warrant two members of staff being on duty at the same time. He is responsible for opening and closing the shop himself, and he only sees his manager about once a fortnight, when the manager stops by to check the figures, and usually tells Ben off about the state of the tables and the counter before buzzing off to another branch. Ben is totally de-motivated and often late for work, as there is no-one there to notice whether he is there or not. He leaves it until the last minute to get up and consequently often doesn’t have time to shave, consequently he looks a mess and so does the coffee shop. Tables are sticky and custom is slowly dropping off. Ben rarely communicates with the other two members of staff who work there, apart from when they take over from each other, then they generally have a moan about their lot in life. Ben really only stays there because the shifts fit in with his college course – he can’t wait to graduate from college so he can get a ‘proper’ job and leave the coffee shop business behind.
Millie works in another branch of the same company a hundred miles away. It’s a similar size, and has roughly the same turnover. Most of the business comes from the nearby railway station, which isn’t big enough to have its own coffee shop. When you go to Millie’s coffee shop, everything is always tidy, and you usually get a friendly greeting. If you’re a regular customer, Millie and her two colleagues, Ann and Lesley, will probably remember your name and they’ll definitely remember your favourite coffee. They will also know if you have a weakness for chocolate muffins and flapjacks! The tables in their coffee shop are almost always clean, and they always look smart in their uniforms. If they are busy and you have to wait, they will always acknowledge you and thank you for waiting.
Sometimes, when they are really busy, there will be a second person helping out behind the counter. Her name is Karen, and she is their manager. Karen is also responsible for several coffee shops, and she spends every day she is at work travelling between her branches, helping where necessary and praising her staff for their hard work and commitment. She has all their mobile phone numbers and always sends them a ‘thank you’ message at the end of every shift. Karen tries to help her staff wherever possible. Millie tells the story of the day her mother was taken into hospital and Millie didn’t feel she could come into work. Karen put her plans for the day on hold and worked Millie’s shift for her so that Millie could accompany her mother to the hospital.
Like Ben, Millie is also at college. Karen has sat down with Millie and her two colleagues, Richard and Samita, to discuss what they are going to do when they leave college. As a result of these conversations, Karen and Richard are thinking of joining the coffee shop company full-time when they have completed their studies, and Karen has spoken to her boss about Millie being found a place on the company’s management development programme. Karen has been such a great manager to Millie that Millie now wants to be Karen!
Karen and her colleague, Ben’s manager, look after neighbouring areas. Karen’s area is performing well, where Ben’s manager’s area is starting to struggle achieving financial targets. The regional manager has noticed, and is starting to wonder what is going on.
A recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development put Performance Management at the top of a list of skills gaps for people in U.K. leadership roles. Karen would seem to have great Performance Management skills, her colleague perhaps less so. A manager’s Performance Management skills level is likely to be reflected in the performance of their team and the business they are responsible for.
Thank you to www.performancemanagementanswers.info for the picture.