BOOK REVIEW: The Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome: How Good Managers Cause Great People to Fail (By Jean-François Manzoni & Jean-Louis Barsoux, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, ISSBN #0-87584-949-0)
BOOK REVIEW: The Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome: How Good Managers Cause Great People to Fail (By Jean-François Manzoni & Jean-Louis Barsoux, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, ISSBN #0-87584-949-0)
Here a few highlights of what they found:
Just how do managers make things worse? Once they begin to lose trust and confidence in an employee’s ability and/or willingness to perform, here is the behavior you often see:
What always amazes me are those situations I have encountered with clients where a weaker performing employee is transferred to a new boss–a positive and self-aware manager–and that same employee’s performance takes off. Someone with a reputation for not producing becomes, almost overnight, a star!
Because the authors’ studies found the set-up-to-fail syndrome to be so widespread, I think it behooves us to ask ourselves, two questions: “Which of my staff have I mentally labeled as disloyal, having a bad attitude, insensitive, lazy, unintelligent, unenthusiastic?” and “Does this syndrome apply to me?”
Now, if the answer is, “Yes, it does,” what can you do? How can you turn things around with a weaker performer without giving any ground on your performance expectations? First of all, don’t expect the employee to come to you about the management style she is experiencing from you. Even if she wants to, she probably doesn’t feel it is a safe thing to do. Secondly, depending on how far your relationship has deteriorated, be prepared for what might be a difficult encounter.
The book offers a series of ideas for what it calls “cracking the syndrome,” turning a poor performance situation around without having to move to discipline or termination. These include some questions to ask yourself as you analyze the history and current state of your relationship with the weaker performer. They also include accepting the possibility that you may be wrong about their actual performance or perhaps right about it but there are legitimate reasons. And you may be one of those reasons!
But will the employee be receptive to your feedback, even if she views the outcome of your discussion as unfavorable? She will be, say the authors, if she sees the process as fair. “Fair” means that her views were heard, you were consistent, reasonable and fact-based in your decision, and you came across as genuine.
This book is an important one for managers because it shines a light on what we often just don’t see: how we put the weaker performer in a negative “box” in our mind and then interact with them in a way that makes it next to impossible for him to climb out of that mental box. We perpetuate the very weak performance we so sincerely want to turn around:
The weaker performer...
BOOK REVIEW The SetUpToFail Syndrome How Good Managers Cause Great People to Fail By JeanFrancois Manzoni JeanLouis Barsoux Harvard Business School Press 2002 ISSBN 0875849490 - To learn more about this author, visit Ian Cook's Website.
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Does this cycle sound familiar to you?
- An employee misses a deadline or messes up in some way.
- You begin to have doubts about him (or her).
- Meaning well, you start closely managing him.
- The employee thinks you don’t trust him, loses self-confidence and harbors resentment.
- The employee’s performance slips and he minimizes contact with you.
- You see this as validating your initial concerns.
- Hence, you increase your vigilance, to the point of micro-managing him.
- And so the cycle continues to spiral downward...
Here a few highlights of what they found:
- A manager typically has two groups of employees in his (or her) mind: the in-group (who he perceives as his stronger performers) and the out-group (perceived weaker performers who are not really making the grade).
- He can very quickly (within mere days) label an employee as a strong or weak performer.
- He rarely realizes that he has done this.
- Once a label emerges in the boss’s mind, it is extremely hard to change it.
- When an employee performs poorly, the boss typically assumes it is the employee’s fault entirely.
- The boss behaves differently towards members of the in-group and the out-group.
- Bosses tend to think poor performance persists in spite of their best efforts to coach; often it persists because of their “best efforts.”
Just how do managers make things worse? Once they begin to lose trust and confidence in an employee’s ability and/or willingness to perform, here is the behavior you often see:
- Giving unsolicited advice to the employee about his performance
- Directions only thinly disguised as suggestions. The employee “gets” this, however.
- Not asking for the employee’s input and disregarding ideas he/she offers
- Readily pointing out where the employee is falling short in performance
- Responding to any employee’s success skeptically (“I don’t know how you managed that.”)
- Harsher, more dismissive tone than is used with the better performers
What always amazes me are those situations I have encountered with clients where a weaker performing employee is transferred to a new boss–a positive and self-aware manager–and that same employee’s performance takes off. Someone with a reputation for not producing becomes, almost overnight, a star!
Because the authors’ studies found the set-up-to-fail syndrome to be so widespread, I think it behooves us to ask ourselves, two questions: “Which of my staff have I mentally labeled as disloyal, having a bad attitude, insensitive, lazy, unintelligent, unenthusiastic?” and “Does this syndrome apply to me?”
Now, if the answer is, “Yes, it does,” what can you do? How can you turn things around with a weaker performer without giving any ground on your performance expectations? First of all, don’t expect the employee to come to you about the management style she is experiencing from you. Even if she wants to, she probably doesn’t feel it is a safe thing to do. Secondly, depending on how far your relationship has deteriorated, be prepared for what might be a difficult encounter.
The book offers a series of ideas for what it calls “cracking the syndrome,” turning a poor performance situation around without having to move to discipline or termination. These include some questions to ask yourself as you analyze the history and current state of your relationship with the weaker performer. They also include accepting the possibility that you may be wrong about their actual performance or perhaps right about it but there are legitimate reasons. And you may be one of those reasons!
But will the employee be receptive to your feedback, even if she views the outcome of your discussion as unfavorable? She will be, say the authors, if she sees the process as fair. “Fair” means that her views were heard, you were consistent, reasonable and fact-based in your decision, and you came across as genuine.
This book is an important one for managers because it shines a light on what we often just don’t see: how we put the weaker performer in a negative “box” in our mind and then interact with them in a way that makes it next to impossible for him to climb out of that mental box. We perpetuate the very weak performance we so sincerely want to turn around:
The weaker performer...
- Asks for feedback and advice, and we regard it as insecurity or lack of initiative.
- Works long hours and we see a slow worker who can’t prioritize.
- Offers to run an errand for us and we interpret it as bootlicking.
- Compliments or thanks us for something and we see a brownnoser.
BOOK REVIEW The SetUpToFail Syndrome How Good Managers Cause Great People to Fail By JeanFrancois Manzoni JeanLouis Barsoux Harvard Business School Press 2002 ISSBN 0875849490 - To learn more about this author, visit Ian Cook's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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