Raising the Bar
The Raising the Bar Programme
2. Raising the Bar
in Action
MODULE 2
Armed with a new understanding of performance management, Joe begins applying what he has learned
Lunch with Coach
The restaurant Coach had booked was impressive. Smart. Quiet. More expensive than anywhere I would normally go. It certainly made me feel important.
Talking with Coach was easy. He was a good listener, informal but still professional. He was certainly the kind of person you could trust within minutes, which meant communication came easily.
Over lunch, I asked him where Raising the Bar had come from.
“It started when I became a senior manager,” he said. “I realised my middle managers were doing the jobs my line managers should have been doing. My line managers were doing the jobs senior employees should have been doing. And I was doing the jobs my middle managers should have been doing.”
He paused.
“That was when it struck me. Every manager was working to a Bar one level below the one they were actually employed to achieve.”
“In truth, Joe, no one was operating at the level they were being paid to.”
“It all stemmed from underperformance,” he continued. “When someone wasn't performing at the required standard, the person above stepped down to fill the gap. Then the person above them stepped down to fill the next gap. And so it continued, right up through the organisation.”
He let the thought settle before continuing.
“It took time, patience and a few changes in management before everyone was operating at the level they were supposed to.”
He smiled.
“That was when I realised the answer wasn't to keep stepping down.”
“It was to start raising the bar.”
Then he smiled slightly.
“That was one of the things that later helped shape Mind the Gap. Once you start looking properly at performance problems and seeing them as gaps, closing the gaps becomes the strategy, not performance management.”
Over the meal, I told him everything.
How convinced I had been that I was going to get fired.
How close I had come to leaving.
How the resignation letter was still folded neatly inside my jacket pocket.
How yesterday I had been ready to hand it over during my ‘fucoffee’ meeting.
He raised an eyebrow at the phrase.
“Fuc-coffee?” he asked.
I laughed.
“That’s what the other managers call it. A running joke about Alan. When he invites someone for a coffee, it is usually their last with the company.”
Coach smiled, but his eyes remained thoughtful.
I told him what I had heard from the other line managers. That the previous manager had jumped before he was pushed. Rumour had it that he had been ‘made an offer he could not refuse’ after the grievance outcome.
Lunch ended soon after.
He told me to take a walk around the block, clear my head, and meet him back in the meeting room in fifteen minutes.
As I headed outside, one thought kept running through my mind.
If Coach was right, maybe the problems in my department were not as complicated as they felt.
Maybe they were simply a collection of gaps waiting to be identified and closed.
The Bar-Gap Cycle in Action
When I got back to the meeting room, Coach was setting up the screen.
The Raising the Bar Cycle filled the slide.
Underneath it was a simple heading:
the Bar-Gap Cycle actually works in practice.”
He waited until I sat down.
“Everything we do from this point forward follows the same process.”
He pointed towards the screen.
“First, we establish The Bar. Before you can identify a gap, you have to know what good looks like. Too many managers jump straight into fixing problems without first understanding the required standard.”
“I call it starting with the end result in mind.”
Clever, I thought.
He tapped the screen.
“Next, we appraise the department and assess the team's performance to identify where the gaps exist.”
“We then identify the priority goals that need to be addressed. The important ones. The ones requiring immediate action.”
“Following the cycle, we put together draft plans for achieving those goals. Close the Gap plans.”
He smiled.
“And that is exactly what I aim to achieve by the end of this session.”
He looked towards me.
“Okay, Joe. Let’s start.”
Defining The Bar
Coach walked over to the flipchart.
"So, let's begin by defining The Bar."
He picked up a document from the table.
"While we were at lunch, Ann managed to get hold of your job description from HR."
He smiled as he handed it to me.
"I thought we'd need it this afternoon."
I looked down at the familiar-looking document.
I hope he doesn't start asking me questions about it, I thought. I've barely read the thing.
Coach waited while I flicked through the pages.
"Do you remember this morning when I asked where your job description was?"
I smiled sheepishly.
"I couldn't even remember where I'd put it."
"Exactly," Coach replied. "And you're not unusual. Most managers treat their job description as an HR document, something they're given when they're appointed and then file away, never to look at again."
He turned to the flipchart and wrote in large letters:
THE BAR
What Good Looks Like
Job Description
He stepped back.
He held up my job description.
"This isn't just your job description, Joe."
He paused.
"This is The Bar."
He placed it beside the flipchart.
"It defines what you're accountable for."
"It tells you what your department is expected to achieve."
"And it defines the standard your department should be operating to."
He tapped the words THE BAR.
"So, whenever you hear me talk about The Bar, I'm simply referring to the standards and responsibilities set out in your job description."
He smiled.
"Before we can identify any gaps, we first need to understand exactly what 'good' looks like."
He picked up the remote control.
"And that's where we start."
The Manager's Job Description – The Department Bar
Coach clicked to the next slide.
The Manager's Key Responsibility Areas
-
Results
-
Service
-
Team
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Operations
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Personal
He looked towards me.
"Joe, over the years I've reviewed dozens of manager job descriptions."
"Some were only a single page. Others ran to several pages."
"They all looked different."
He smiled.
"But after a while I realised something."
"They were all saying exactly the same thing."
He pointed to the slide.
"Every organisation uses slightly different wording, but they all expect their managers to achieve results, provide the required standard of service to internal and external customers, build and lead a high-performing team, operate their department effectively and continue developing themselves as managers."
He paused.
"So, Joe..."
"...would it be fair to say these are the responsibilities your organisation expects you to deliver?"
"Yes," I replied.
"And if these are your responsibilities..."
"...would it also be fair to say they define the standard your department should be operating to?"
I thought for a moment.
"Yes."
Coach smiled.
"Exactly."
He tapped the slide.
"So this isn't just your job description."
"It's The Bar."
"The standard against which your department should be appraised."
He uncapped his pen.
"And now that we've defined The Bar..."
"...we finally have something meaningful to appraise."
He looked directly at me.
"We're not going to appraise people first."
"We're going to appraise The Bar."
"If your department isn't meeting the required standard in any one of these responsibility areas..."
"...we've identified a gap."
He smiled.
"Logical, Joe?"
"It certainly is."
Appraising The Bar
Coach turned back to the slide.
“Now that we’ve defined The Bar, we can begin appraising it.”
He looked at me.
“Nothing complicated, Joe. Just a few straightforward questions.”
He pointed to the first Key Responsibility Area.
Results
“Is the department consistently achieving the required results?”
“No,” I replied. “We occasionally hit our targets and meet the required KPIs, but it isn’t consistent.”
“What tells you that?”
“The bonus, for one thing. The department hasn’t achieved the level of performance needed to earn the full bonus.”
Coach nodded.
“So, under Results, would it be fair to say the department is currently below The Bar?”
“Yes,” I said. “Definitely.”
He moved to the next responsibility area.
Service
“Is the department delivering the required standard of service to its external and internal customers?”
I thought for a moment.
“External customer service isn’t bad, but again, it’s inconsistent. We have quite a few problems, although we usually resolve them quickly.”
“And internal service?”
I hesitated.
“Not so good.”
“In what way?”
“The other departments feel we let them down. We have a poor reputation across the business, and the department is sometimes ridiculed.”
I looked down.
“To be honest, it’s embarrassing.”
Coach allowed the silence to sit for a moment.
“So, Service?”
“Below The Bar.”
He pointed to the next heading.
Operations
“Is the department operating to the required standard?”
“In some ways,” I replied. “The department is reasonably well organised, clean and tidy.”
Coach waited.
“But?”
“But only a few members of the team really drive it. If they stopped making the effort, standards would quickly slip.”
“So the department may appear organised, but the standard isn’t fully embedded?”
“No,” I said. “It depends too heavily on the same few people.”
Coach nodded.
“Then Operations is inconsistent as well.”
“Yes.”
He stepped back and looked at the three areas we had just discussed.
“Results. Service. Operations.”
He paused.
“What do all three have in common?”
I studied the slide.
“They’re all directly influenced by the team.”
“Exactly.”
He pointed to the fourth Key Responsibility Area.
Team
“So, would it be fair to say that if Results, Service and Operations are all below or inconsistently meeting The Bar, the team itself cannot be operating to the required standard?”
“No,” I replied. “Not at all.”
“In fact, I have several team issues contributing to each of those problems.”
Coach looked at me.
“Contributing to them, or causing them?”
I considered the question.
“Causing them,” I admitted. “The team issues are at the root of most of the department’s problems.”
Coach smiled slightly.
“Then that’s where we need to look next.”
He clicked to the next slide.
“Let’s appraise your team in more detail.”
Continuous Improvement
Anne had been in while we were at lunch.
Fresh coffee.
Water topped up.
Notepads reset.
Coach looked up as I entered and smiled.
“Right, Joe,” he said. “This afternoon we have got a lot to cover, and I want you to see how