Profile of Incompetent/Poor Performance: Doug Norman

Profile of Incompetent/Poor Performance: Doug Norman

Mr. Norman has worked as a Library Assistant for 12 years at Eastville Elementary School. He leads classes of students in the library for a few hours each day, and does story-telling, reading, or puppet shows. Mr. Norman’s work hours are from 11:15 am to 3:15 pm. Let’s visit the library. It is 11:30 am, and Mr. Norman is late. He enters the library through the back door and puts his book bag away. A teacher, Ms. Mendez and her third grade class are in the library waiting for him to arrive. Ms. Mendez leaves and the students begin to move around, switching seats. They sit next to friends and as far away from Mr. Norman as possible. Shuffling through some well-worn notes, Mr. Norman neither greets nor acknowledges students as he gets ready for the activity. He does not ask them if they have returned the books they checked out last week that are due today. The library is a mess. He left work the day prior without shelving books that were returned earlier in the day. A parent volunteer has contacted him to arrange a schedule to assist in the library, but he has not returned her calls.

Mr. Norman is clearly unprepared for the day. His late arrival does not allow him to plan for the student activity. He makes no personal connections with the teacher or the students. There are no signs that he has planned for this group of students. The students are not excited or interested in library time.

Five minutes after he arrives, Mr. Norman says “Okay, today I am going to read you a story about Thanksgiving and how it is celebrated and then you will draw a picture. Take out the books you checked out last week while I review the attendance roster.” Five students respond by taking out their books. Most students ignore the request and continue talking. “Okay, let’s simmer down while I see who’s here today.” He reviews the attendance roster. Students simmer down but do not take out their books. He takes another three minutes to check the attendance roster. Then he passes out construction paper. “Who wants to draw today?”

Incompetent employees burn valuable time using routines as a cover. A review of the attendance roster should take 20 seconds. The start of the library time for this group of students signals that nothing of much importance will be taking place. Mr. Norman is not focused or engaged with the students.

Mr. Norman sits in a chair several feet away from the students “Okay, we can start now.” He opens the book and begins to read.” Jamie in the back of the room curses audibly. Mr. Norman ignores him. Mary yawns, and Brian lies down on the floor. “I hope you all brought your library books. They are due today.” Four kids say “you didn’t tell us they were due today!” and Mr. Norman responds, “I put it on the board at the end of library time last week. You know you can check out a book for one week only. Now, you had better listen up. You will need to draw a picture of the story at the end.” There is no check to see who did bring their books back. Mr. Norman continues to read.

A teacher enters the library and begins searching for a book. Mr. Norman ignores her. The teacher takes a book from the shelf and leaves. Meanwhile, some students begin horse-playing, while others talk and laugh with each other.

Mr. Norman’s cell phone buzzes and he reaches for it. He reads a message, laughs and then quickly responds to it before putting it back on the desk in front of him. The students never settle down. Mr. Norman reads aloud to four students who are interested. The bell rings, and students stream out of the library without waiting for their teacher to pick them up. Mr. Norman calls out: “Be sure to bring your library books next week!” The drawing activity never took place. Later that day, the Principal stopped by the Library to check in with Mr. Norman. When asked about the third-grader’s library time Mr. Norman says: “These kids are just like all the others in this school because they don’t care about anything but video games; they never listen to me, I can’t really do my job. They aren’t interested in the materials prepared by their classroom teachers or in the library. I don’t have any help in the library and the teachers think they can just waltz in here and take whatever they want. There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to do my job. I’m just a four hour employee. This job used to be six hours and you can’t expect me to get it all done without any help.” The Principal asked him about his late arrival and why he didn’t call the front office to let anyone know that he was running late. Mr. Norman simply replied, “Yeah, it was a rough morning. I’m having car trouble. Can I change my work hours?”

Employees like Mr. Norman blame others for their poor performance and they refuse to be held accountable for their failures. They will not take any responsibility.

If this sample is representative of Mr. Norman’s daily performance, the skillful evaluator should rate his performance as unsatisfactory. He lacks adequate skills, capacities, or qualities needed to meet the essential functions of his job as Library Assistant. In all areas of performance, he falls well below satisfactory. According to his job description and the performance evaluation he fails to:

·  Take initiative for his actions and work performance

·  Assist others to identify resource materials

·  Process library books

·  Perform circulation activities

·  Lead classes and/or activities

·  Work collaboratively with others

·  Arrive to work on time

The Principal may think “He has been that way forever; he cannot change. In the large scheme of things, I have bigger fish to fry and Mr. Norman’s poor performance isn’t worth all the work that it will take to discipline or fire him.” Consequently, he may choose not confront him on his poor performance. Mr. Norman represents one end of the performance continuum. The focus of this workshop, however, isn’t on the incompetent performer. He or she usually gets the supervisors attention. It’s easier to deal with an employee who is totally screwing up than it is to deal with an employee who is “just doing their job.”

To address mediocrity, we need to capture what “just doing the job” looks like. We need to somehow get at the essence of mediocre performance, to put it in its position between incompetence and excellence. In order to do so, let’s develop a vision by visiting Nadine Kerr. Nadine is a Prevention Specialist who works with High School students. Let’s see what she is doing to help students.

Profile of Excellent Performance: Nadine Kerr

“Good morning, Jeff. I had a great talk with your counselor after school yesterday. She is so proud of the hard work you have done this week. You really did what you’ve been wanting to do. Your referrals are down and your attendance has really improved. Great job!”

Excellent employees possess the ability to work with a variety of individuals. They collaborate with others and take initiative.

As students enter the classroom and the teacher reviews the objective for the day, Nadine does a final review of the presentation she will be making to a few students. Last week, she attended a community event where she received information related to drug and violence prevention. She asked the classroom teacher if she could share the information with a few students who she identified. A few minutes later, Ms. Kerr leads six students into another classroom. As the students enter the room they take copies of the presentation materials, and pull out their notebooks and pens. They sit and wait for Ms. Kerr as she writes information on a flip chart. Two students are coming from another classroom across campus, so they will arrive a few minutes late. “Please work on your journals while we wait for Mary and Ben. They are joining us from Mr. Murray’s classroom. Students are all on task. “John where is your journal?” (He took it home.) “That is not an excuse. You know what your teacher’s expectations are. I know you’ll come through tomorrow, right?”

Ms. Kerr is typical of an excellent employee who is very organized, knows her job and seeks to improve the level of work by initiating action on her own to accomplish a task. When she works with students they are expected to work well independently and to be responsible for learning. There is also a sense of community; students respect and help each other because they know Ms. Kerr is expecting them to. Ms. Kerr also monitors the students she works with and consistently communicates positive “You can do it” messages regarding their expected behavior.

The presentation goes extremely well. Students are engaged and Ms. Kerr easily connects with them. Her presentation is relevant to the students, and the information she shared is developed to meet them right where they are. She is able to make the connection between the material and the students because she has modified some the information based on the data she has collected while working with the classroom teacher.

The next day, Ms. Kerr met with the classroom teacher to discuss the presentation she shared with the students. She asked if she could meet with them on a regular basis to facilitate a support group and provide interventions. She had several ideas and was excited to work with the students on a variety of prevention education programs. She worked with employees in the District Office and community members over the next few weeks and successfully implemented a substance abuse awareness program for students and their parents. Through the program she identified at-risk students for drugs and alcohol involvement and made several referrals.

Excellent employees may not be passionate about what they do, but they take pride in their work. They fulfill the essential and non-essential functions of their job and consistently exceed their supervisor’s expectations. Their job knowledge and quality of work allow them to far exceed the norm. Supervisors of excellent employees never have to worry about them showing up to work, or remaining through the work day. They accept responsibility for their actions and willingly cooperate with employees at all levels as well as parents, students and the public.

Nadine’s work routine varies daily based upon the Prevention program. This week, she will be working with a group of students who were referred to the program from the one of the middle schools. These students are demonstrating signs of substance abuse. Nadine spends time meeting with the Principal of the middle school prior to meeting with the students for the first time. She also schedules a meeting with the student services department to review files related to the student’s behavior and attendance. Nadine works with the staff in the department and develops a profile for each student. She will use this information to prepare specific notes for each student and create a folder for them to file their work during the week. Ms. Kerr also develops a spreadsheet to log student activity. She plans to give this to her supervisor at the end of the week to show the progress made by each student. Nadine is now ready to meet the students. She’s excited, but nervous about the group coming to her tomorrow.

Excellent employees carefully plan for success. Their work is important to them, and preparation is essential. Ms. Kerr demonstrates a high level of initiative as she prepares for the project with the students. The preparation she has done is not required or expected by her supervisor.

At one point during the week, Ms. Kerr felt as if she was not performing well. She scheduled time to meet with her supervisor to discuss her concerns and asked for suggestions. She took the suggestions and modified her plan for the next day. She also asked her supervisor if she had time to sit in with the group to observe the activity Nadine had planned. The next day Nadine’s supervisor joined the group for a few minutes. Here’s what she observed.

“You know how sometimes you have trouble seeing a problem from someone else’s perspective. For example, when you are having an argument with your brother or sister, this skill will help you to sort out and analyze other people’s perspectives to help you deal better with conflict. So learning this skill will be useful in your life as well as in your classes!” Nadine’s supervisor observed the students who were extremely attentive and engaged in the discussion. In the room were projects they had completed over the last few days and several statements of self-evaluation. In talking with students she noted they felt stretched, challenged and glad they were selected for this program.

Excellent employees excel at communicating. Nadine’s objectives were clear, but when she felt concerned she did not hesitate to speak to her supervisor for support. Excellent employees are not perfect in every aspect; however, they hold themselves accountable for their performance and work hard to improve.

If this sample is representative of Ms. Kerr’s performance, the skillful evaluator should rate his performance as outstanding. She has an extremely high level of skills, competencies and qualities and she uses them to excel in performing the essential functions of her job as Prevention Specialist.

Hereafter we will use Nadine Kerr as a kind of shorthand reference for many ideas; we will use her to personify the kind of employee that others can become. There are three points to remember about Nadine Kerr:

1. What Nadine does should not be attributed solely to innate ability; she has invested and continues to invest significant effort to improve her skills.
2. Nadine is not a “unique” phenomenon; her performance can be replicated; what she knows and is able to do can be captured, analyzed and taught to others.
3. Nadine she is not a “superstar”; she is an excellent employee, not because she is the smartest and most innovating employee but because each day she does her best.

The supervisor may think “I wish I could clone Nadine!” At times she may shift work to Nadine that should be given to others because she knows Nadine will take care of it. Other times, Nadine may be “rewarded” by giving her more projects to complete. An employee like Nadine will not complain but she may begin to resent the other employees who are not performing well, or who are underperforming. Ms. Kerr represents the opposite end of the performance continuum...the excellent employee.