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An effective certification system that will allow you to become a better leader



In the past, when I was a young product manager, one of my leaders radically changed my career. It was my second year at Airbnb. I coped with my duties, but no more. My new leader, Vlad Loktev, drew attention to the fact that the completion of the project that I conducted was postponed for weeks. He was not surprised; he helped bring the project back on track and complete it. But I knew that at the next certification I would remember this mistake. When the time came, I really received far from brilliant marks. Vlad outlined my growth points, including recommending that I focus on communications aimed at monitoring task statuses and their strict prioritization. After this conversation, I might come out depressed. But instead, on the contrary, I felt an unprecedented emotional upsurge and desire to act - it became clear to meWhat do we have to do.

And that's why. Vlad used a very simple and effective performance review system. The clarity of his feedback, his help, the simple organization of the work process - all this together created the basis for my career growth. This allowed me to take off from the position of a new product manager to the head of half a dozen managers, with an area of ​​responsibility from improving the quality of the product to creating and managing a cross-functional team of 80 people, ensuring the growth of Airbnb.

A year after I became a leader and received direct subordinates, I conducted more than 50 certifications. I adapted and expanded Vlad’s system, turning it into an end-to-end personnel management system -framework The system allowed me to constantly grow highly qualified managers from young managers, turn their shortcomings into superpowers and create one of the best and most effective teams in Airbnb .

I think many leaders will find this system useful. Therefore, I will describe in detail why the accepted certification system often works poorly and how to fix it. Then, step by step, I will explain how my framework works. Regardless of who you are - a newly-made manager who is looking for instructions on how to conduct the first certification, or an experienced manager hoping to upgrade his level to incredible steepness, or a novice entrepreneur trying to implement a certification system in the company - you can use my best practices, methods and real working examples that you will find in this article.

Leaders, avoid the main mistakes during certification!


It is a rarity when one or two meetings a year have a cardinal impact on employee motivation, efficiency and development. Unfortunately, certification is often not enough, and they are poorly conducted. As a result, the prospect of evaluation causes horror rather than hope among subordinates, and managers perceive certification as a routine duty, not as an opportunity.

A well-organized assessment system increases efficiency, lives up to expectations and stimulates employee growth, and a poorly organized assessment system firing them.

6 main mistakes of managers during certification


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If you cannot find a dozen hours during the year to focus on the development of subordinates, this usually means that you have too many subordinates or you are not able to be a leader.

3 steps certification system


The system I offer consists of three important parts:

  1. training,
  2. carrying out
  3. further actions.

This is the foundation, the foundation of the system. Consider each part in detail. I will give a certification form that you can use in your work .



Step 1. Preparation, preparation, preparation


Most of your time should be spent working through each step. Start by collecting data on the work of the subordinate, using feedback from his colleagues and information provided by himself. You need to collect as much data as possible at this point. The sooner you start this process, the better. I usually start it a month before the upcoming certification to get answers from everyone. There are many ways to collect feedback, and most companies have their own tools, but you can always do this by email.

Choose from 5 to 8 people who can give feedback about your subordinate, and send them letters with three simple questions .

Hi, Joe!

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In parallel, ask your subordinate for self-esteem by sending approximately the following letter.

Hi jane

In anticipation of the upcoming certification, I would like to know your opinion on how things are going. Could you answer the following 3 questions, as well as provide any other information at your discretion to X / X?

1. What are your top 5 achievements for the reporting period?
2. What 2 - 3 competencies would you like to focus on in the next period?
3. What are your career goals for the next 2 years? Thank!

While feedback is being collected, I recommend starting to make up your own opinion about the results of the subordinate. What did he do well? What pulls him back? What are its main growth points in the next period (one or two)? These are key steps to reduce prejudice and risk of being completely influenced by peer feedback.

When you make up your mind, receive feedback from colleagues, begin to systematize information and enter it into the certification form (see above). The information from this form will ultimately be discussed with a subordinate. Let's go through each section of this form.

Progress- This is a detail of achievements over the estimated period. It is collected on the basis of information from the certified, feedback from colleagues and your own notes. Achievements must be meaningful. For example, “fulfilled the team objectives”, “completed project X on time and met the budget” instead of “had a great meeting” or “attended 3 conferences”. In this section, I also prefer to include the best examples of positive feedback from colleagues, ideally 3–5 of the best quotes (of course, anonymized).

Superpower- This is the most developed competence, talent. In fact, the employee’s contribution to the company will be higher if he does what he does really well, and not try to develop qualities that require a struggle with himself. You have the opportunity to focus on this. Describe his superpower subordinate and how he can use it in the future. I had occasion to reveal such superpowers as the ability to talk with the team, to achieve its unity and mobilization. There are many studies that show that focusing on strengths is much more effective than focusing on weaknesses. But be careful: it’s easy to make a mistake, because many of us unconsciously perceive the same behavior as a virtue when it comes to a man, and as a disadvantage if a woman acts in this way.(You can read more about this.here , here and here .)

Summing up - the results of the employee in 4-6 sentences, which I describe, going back. I try to create a simple storyline: I start with a description of how much he has advanced, then I talk in one or two sentences about how the reporting period went, and I end with a generalization - on which the employee should focus in the future.

Growth points - one or two competencies that need to be identified and the development of which should be concentrated in the next period. Describe this in the middle column (see above). This part is the core of certification, as the right choice of growth points is crucial. I will give a few recommendations.

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I will give examples of growth points: “increase control”, “work on the quality of the code”, “use shorter wordings”. Do not give too much importance to the compilation of comprehensive descriptions, as all details will be given in the next column. The main mistakes that can be made here are to indicate too many directions for development (if there are more than two of them, it is extremely difficult to achieve visible progress) and to determine them insufficiently specifically (if the subordinate has to guess what you really had in mind).

Describe the details for each direction of development.


The column on the right suggests the largest amount of information and, as a rule, the largest number of reasons for discussion. The goal is to describe very clearly what growth points are, why they are important and what needs to be done. I often edit this section until the last minute before certification.

For each growth point, I describe the following.

Summary in this area of ​​development. For example, “your team lacks a clear strategy for the next 6 months. In the absence of a strategy, it is not clear to team members how they should work together, and it is difficult for your colleagues outside to understand how you prioritize your tasks and why. ”

Concrete examples of what did not work out very well.Here feedback from colleagues is useful, examples of situations in which problems have arisen, complaints have appeared that have become the occasion for discussion at meetings. Make it a rule to record such facts throughout the year.

Concrete suggestions for development.Here you have to share your experience. What specifically can you suggest that a subordinate achieve maximum progress on selected growth points? Formulate sentences directly, ambitiously and constructively. As a result, these will be the tasks on which you have to work together with your subordinate. I include articles and books to read on this list, people to talk to, experiments to conduct. Whenever possible, use superpowers in the first place along with other strengths to make progress in your chosen direction. For example, if the designated growth point is associated with oral communication, the proposal may be this - take a course in oratory. If the competency selected for development is related to control,it makes sense to formulate the proposal this way - to plan weekly monitoring activities, at which time, blockages and priorities will be checked for each team member. If we are talking about work towards meeting deadlines, we can suggest - allocate additional time for the next 5 projects to evaluate upcoming work.

Super goals. Do not overestimate subordinates, allowing them to remain in the comfort zone for a long time. Describe in this section how impeccably the next 12 months can go. Do not expect that someone will be able to achieve this, but give the person space and inspiration for growth.

Ambitious people want to know not only how to become better, but also what benefits it will bring to them. Draw this picture for the subordinate - what the achievement of the super goals in the next certification will look like.

Estimated time frame for promotion.You need to leave a subordinate with an understanding of how much time he needs before moving to the next level. If your company does not have official levels, use significant milestones for the subordinate whose achievements he would like to (become a leader, expand the sphere of influence, transfer to another position). I will give three general types of such situations.

Almost ready: such a person has reached the boundary of his level, but has not yet crossed it. I use a score of 6 to 12 months (assuming you meet every 6 months to evaluate work performance). And this estimate is significantly less than 6 months.

Just upgraded:such a person is not too worried about reaching the next level. Be as realistic as possible about its timing. I think the period from 12 to 18 months is quite normal.

In its place: this is the most common case, and the growth assessment is usually from 6 to 12 months.

Step 2. Conduct


For certification, it is really important not what we discuss on it (grades, growth points, career changes), but how we do it. I had certifications in which I received poor grades, but left the meeting motivated and on an emotional upsurge. And there were certifications with excellent grades that culminated in a feeling of uncertainty about my future. This happens because people want details, clarity, and most of all - understanding of the next steps.

The way you give feedback and how the subordinate feels after the conversation is often more important than its content.

Here are some tips to prepare yourself for certification.

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After such preparation, the conversation usually goes as follows.

Introduction
I begin the conversation with an attempt to cheer up and check how a person feels. It is important to find a way to defuse the situation. Then you should do the following.

  • Make it clear that this is a dialogue, and it’s quite normal to ask questions and jointly find answers to them.
  • Remind me how seriously you take this conversation about the career development of an employee, how much time and effort you spent to prepare for the certification.
  • Explain the order of the meeting, key points, tell about the provided allowances according to the results of certification and leave most of the time for interviews.

Discussion of the results of the work.

Various rating systems.as a rule, help subordinates get a clear idea of ​​their results. Therefore, if they are not already used in your organization, implement them in the next period. I inform the person his rating as early as possible. This is an urgent issue, and I noticed that a person cannot completely immerse himself in the certification process until he receives the official results of his work. If these are not brilliant results, voice them, but do not stop there for too long. Go ahead, talk about opportunities to improve them. As far as possible, make sure that the results of the assessment will not be an absolute surprise. Your subordinate should basically understand how his work is evaluated during regular meetings throughout the year. If the results of the work really present a problem, special attention should be paid to this part.Often this involves working in close contact with the personnel service.

We move inland

We move on the document. If you sent it in advance and the person read it, focus on the key points. Stop and clarify all the points on which you feel disagreement. Keep track of time and leave two thirds of the meeting for a detailed discussion of growth points. When analyzing difficult situations, I urge you to be open and sensitive. Whenever possible, share your own experience in overcoming such difficulties, the problems that you had to face, and their solutions. The more the subordinate feels your desire to help (rather than condemn or scold), the better he will accept feedback.

Here are a few common reactions that can be seen during a conversation.

Protection.If you notice her, listen carefully to the subordinate to understand his point of view. There is always the danger that you have missed something or misunderstood. Even if not, it is important to give the person a chance to express their opinion. If you start walking in circles, try to switch your attention and move on to the next step. Do not dwell on one question. If he remains unresolved until the end of the meeting, and you do not come to a consensus, stay with your own. Speak it clearly. This is normal. Discuss the next steps and agree to see how things go in the next 12 months.

Silence.This is the most common reaction. Certification is a huge amount of information, so people listen and process it. This is normal. But if you feel that the person is too silent, openly say this, for example: “I noticed that you are silent all the time, and I want to make sure that we understand each other. You can express your thoughts, ask questions before we go any further. ”

Looks confused or stunned.This happens when you give too much information or the certification goes in a negative way. Slow down. Continue to watch. Sometimes I stop attestation and turn to a heart-to-heart conversation. Find out what happens to the person. At times, he perceives information much closer to the heart than necessary. Perhaps this is a matter of life's difficulties. Return to normal human communication and don’t worry about going through all the points and details of certification.

Report bonuses based on certification results (if decision is made)
A conversation about the stipulated allowances based on the results of certification will positively complete this part of the conversation. Do it simply, list the facts and congratulate the person on the achievement. It is easy for him to take the promotion for granted and not consider it as an important event. Use this opportunity to remind the employee how you value his work.

Leave time for discussion

Give the subordinate the opportunity to ask any questions, express thoughts. Is there something he disagrees with? What should I look into in more detail? Is there any need to clarify your expectations for the next period? Try to give the person at least 5 minutes. I try not to stay here too long, especially if there are no uncomfortable moments left and everything went as it should. Often people need time to comprehend everything that they heard. You can discuss next steps at your next one-on-one meeting.

The plan of further actions

Pass to discussion of the plan of further actions (instruction see below). This will allow you to take into account all the ideas, promises and key points at the next meeting, during which you and the subordinate will agree on further changes.

Ending

Find a way to end the meeting positively. Remind the subordinate how valuable his contribution to the development of the company (if this is so), how pleasant it is to work with him (if this is true) and what he can achieve in the company (if he can). And no less important: let the employee understand that if something happens before your next meeting, he can contact you at any time without hesitation.

Step 3. Action Plan


Everyone knows the phrase of George Bernard Shaw: "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it happened."

You want to believe that your carefully selected wise words are understood correctly and imprinted in the mind of a subordinate. It is safer to assume that this is not so.

I had a subordinate, poorly managing his duties. I spent hours preparing for his certification, determined growth points, gave a bunch of examples, tons of recommendations. I spoke all this at watch meetings. I thought I was making a real contribution. A month later, we returned to our conversation, and it went as if there was no previous conversation at all. The subordinate had vague memories of some areas of development that I indicated, and a sincere desire to develop. But 95% of what I said was lost.

From this I learned two lessons. Firstly, my fault as a leader is that my subordinate did not remember what competencies he should concentrate on developing. Secondly, I thought I completed the certification when I was only at the beginning of this process.

The solution to these problems is simple - devote enough time to this and agree on mutual responsibilities. You can do it like this.

Create a two-way action plan. At the end of the certification, ask the subordinate to make a list of 5 to 7 specific actions that he would like to perform in the next 6 months. Add them to a simple table. Give the employee a week to complete this task while the memories are fresh. I will give a template and some examples.



Make sure that the subordinate has included in this list everything that he needs from you in order to achieve success. It is important that he takes responsibility for this process and chooses tasks (based on feedback from you). In this case, he will be really motivated to work. The list should include specific recommendations that were voiced at the certification, moments that the subordinate himself wanted to work out, as well as what you need to do so that the subordinate can successfully fulfill the planned. Mark the status of each task with color and update it monthly.

Schedule monthly monitoring.Immediately after completing the certification, create an appointment in the calendar. I called it the “Career Development Monthly Advice” to distinguish it from a one-on-one weekly meeting. During this meeting, it is important to move away from daily tasks and concentrate on career development and efficiency issues. Do not discuss the current project, upcoming deadlines, locks: for this there is a one-on-one meeting. Remind the subordinate before each such meeting to update the statuses on the tasks from the above plan and include new items that he would like to devote time to.

Monthly career counseling. At this meeting you have three tasks:

  1. to monitor the progress of the subordinate in the planned directions of development;
  2. make sure that he has everything he needs to move on;
  3. make sure that the list of tasks remains relevant (does not require revision).

At a meeting, you should primarily listen, ask questions, and, if necessary, give recommendations. The subordinate must conduct a meeting: go through each item on the plan, report new information and bring the status color in line. As a rule, my subordinates had everything in order with this. If you do not agree with something, discuss. Act through discussion, instead of telling subordinates what to do, help them formulate tasks on their own. When they ask for an answer or advice, ask again: “What right decision do you see?” or "Before I answer, say what you think." (This is from a book by David Rock and Julie Jo, who taught me how to ask subordinates correctly.)

Between meetings.Keep track of what the employee did well, what didn’t turn out so well, as well as any notable achievements. Talk to your subordinate about it as soon as you can, or at one-on-one weekly meetings. Also write down such moments in a file, for example: “July 10th - I had a great meeting with the top manager” or “September 3th - we developed a strong strategy for Q3”, enter the feedback from others here: “January 4th - Spike told how he was impressed with Jane’s ability to meet. ” To do this, I keep google-documents separately for each subordinate. In addition to them, there are tools such as Matter, Culture Amp and TINYpulse for working with feedback and other management activities. They can help you keep these issues under control throughout the year.

Put it all together


The most pleasant thing for a leader is to see how his subordinates are growing. I will never forget the young product manager who came to our team with serious gaps in teamwork skills. After identifying growth points and working together on them, I was incredibly happy 6 months later to see from feedback from colleagues that the task was completed. Competency requiring development has become a strength. This result makes the certification process more structured, requiring attention, fills it with meaning.

Certification process summary:

  1. Training
    • Gather feedback from a subordinate and his colleagues
    • Commit to his achievements
    • Describe his superpower
    • Write a short conclusion on the result of his work
    • Define 1 - 2 growth points with examples, specific recommendations and formulate a super goal for their development

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If your company has established certification, you can easily implement this system. I believe that managers have many opportunities to use their own approaches, which they have been maintaining for a long time and organizational changes. You should not just use templates, recommendations and hold formal meetings. Work it out properly. You will immediately notice the result and find yourself on the path to becoming a better leader.

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