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Volume 1, Issue 3 July 2002 Newsletter	Something to Think About: Conversation Management
	You’ve all heard the phrase location, location, location when real estate agents talk about your purchase of a residential or business property. They will say, “you can change the structure easier than you can change the neighborhood!” We can apply similar thinking when it comes to holding conversations at work. Preparation, preparation, preparation. Nothing substitutes for being well prepared. With proper preparation you can change the structure of the conversation before saying the wrong thing or saying the right thing the wrong way. Once said, the words are pretty tough to take back. This applies to any professional relationship; manager to direct reports, sales rep to customers, executive to chairman of the board, doctor to patients. And, family relationships can benefit from using this process. Whether you are preparing for a one-to-one, small or large group, casual meeting, or formal presentation you can help yourself by thinking through each of the following steps. Next time you have something to communicate, try this – I’m willing to bet you’ll feel better about the results of the conversation than you would have otherwise. Conversation Worksheet Owner – who will develop the message content? Goal – what is to be achieved with the message? Informing, providing a response, influence a decision, initiate action? Audience – who needs to hear the message? Are there third parties or other associates who also need to know the same message for a different reason? Method – identify the most appropriate vehicle for delivering the message. Think about what the receiving party would like – phone call, face-to-face meeting, email or voice mail. Large audience messages may require more than one vehicle – presentation with follow-up mailing. Format – does the conversation require formality or will casualness do? Should you draft written communication and leave it with the person or rely on verbal only? If this is a presentation, will the audience be expecting handouts or copies of your presentation? Timeline/Dateline – by what date and how often should the message be delivered? Budget – how much time and materials can you afford to invest in this communication? How much can you afford if the message isn’t understood or well accepted? Impact – what do you want the receiver of the message to walk away knowing, understanding, or feeling when you are done communicating? REHEARSE – this step is capitalized because it is the step most people avoid. Don’t fall into that trap. Let all you just did in the preceding steps work for you by rehearsing what you are going to say. The last thing you want, especially in emotionally charged conversations, is to be surprised by the words coming out of your own mouth.
	The Manager's Chair	Understanding Underperformance
	A manager’s most troublesome struggle can be an under-performing staff member. Seeing the lack of performance is one thing, but understanding it may be entirely different. In his situational leadership model, Ken Blanchard describes two levels of performance maturity. One pertaining to task or skill, and two pertaining to willingness or motivation. Simply put, either the employee doesn’t have the ability or can’t summon the desire to get the work accomplished. Either way, as the manager you need to gain an understanding of the struggle and set out to help the employee make changes. Your business success depends on it. Because each situation is different, it would be disrespectful to the individual to think that we could list a quick “how to” in this short space to solve such situations. But there are a few steps you can take to prepare yourself for dealing with it. Review the employee’s performance for the prior month, quarter, and year. Pull out the most recent performance reviews, if you have them, and gauge how long ago the problems surfaced. What changes have taken place in the work environment since problems surfaced? Has the employee’s work group changed – new team members or new supervision? Have their work tasks or volume changed? Has the company moved to new technology or shifted processes? Has the company undergone organizational changes? Do you notice other employees reacting differently than usual to this employee? Has there been excessive tardiness or absence? Reluctance to participate in non-work related employee events? Are you aware of any changes in the employee’s personal life or personal health? Once you’ve outlined the situation, prepare to have a conversation with the employee by using the steps outlined in the article above, Conversation Management. Understand that the conversation will likely be awkward and therefore you need to take extra time to prepare and rehearse for it. In addition to organizing your conversation, take a minute to check your company’s policy and benefit manual. Reacquaint yourself with policies for leave of absence and employee assistance programs. You could be linking the employee to vital services. These types of conversations are some of the hardest to plan for and conduct. Management Signature stands ready to help you through it, just give us a call. We’ll be there for you, so you can be there for your employees.
	Quick Source Barb Minkel-Dusek, Management Signature, 952-997-2285 Curt Levang, Levang & Associates, 952-541-4799 Mary Jo Faustgen, Midwest Center, 651-647-1900 ext. 12	LEADERMENT Intersecting leadership qualities with management tasks. "Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. Don’t fall victim to what I call the ‘ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-syndrome’” -T. Boone Pickens
*In our next issue – Quick and Easy Presentation Prep* Watch for the upcoming August issue for a quick outline on getting presentations ready in a snap.