Drilling Down to the Core of Effective Appraisal
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Drilling Down to the Core of Effective Appraisal …. and Leadership Itself Warning: This is Deep! AHISA Conference Melbourne, April 2009 Assoc. Prof. Eileen Piggot-Irvine Director NZ Research and Review Centre, NZARRC Unitec Institute of Technology Content Making LINKS…. • Values and elements of the L5 Leadership Frame • Theoretical confirmation for L5 • Are the same values and elements the same in appraisal? • Two key strategies for effective appraisal - A ‘productive’ approach to tackling problems - Depth © Unitec New Zealand Making the links is a big job! Brave or foolish? You can let me know at the end. The L5 Leadership Frame – My Interpretation of Key Values and Elements • • • • • Commitment Trust Honest communication Openness Collaboration • • • • • Accountability Encouragement Coaching Mentoring Rigour © Unitec New Zealand Theoretical Confirmation for L5 Links to Goleman et al (2002) - Emotional Intelligence. Four key emotional intelligence competencies: - Self Awareness …. Trust, Honesty, Openness Self Management …. Trust, Honesty, Openness, Accountability Relationship Management …. Trust, Honesty, Openness Social Awareness …. Trust, Honesty, Openness Links to Kouzes & Posner (2002) - Characteristics of Admired Leaders (% response): 2002 1995 1987 #1 HONEST 88 88 88 © Unitec New Zealand Theoretical Confirmation for L5 cont… Links to Lambert (2002) - Leadership can be performed by everyone with the following: - a sense of purpose and ethics, because honesty and trust are fundamental to relationships; and - a personal ego that allows for courage and risk, low ego needs. Links to Dinham (2007 ) – Leadership requires: - ‘responsiveness’ and ‘demandingness’ - delegation, trust and empowerment © Unitec New Zealand Theoretical Confirmation for L5 cont…. Links to Levy & Bentley (2007): Authentic leaders demonstrate a passion for their purpose, practise their values consistently and lead with their hearts as well as their heads. They establish longterm, meaningful, relationships and have the self-discipline to get results. © Unitec New Zealand At the core of L5, and the latest research/theory, is the need to develop honest, open, trusting relationships whilst still holding rigorously high standards and accountability © Unitec New Zealand Are the same values important in appraisal? YES!! © Unitec New Zealand Features of Effective Appraisal (Piggot-Irvine, 2003) Based on trust, openness, especially when tackling problems Transparent & confidential Has integrated accountability & development Independent of disciplinary aspects Based on objective data, rigour Effective Appraisal Has clear guidelines An educative process (learning is a priority) Well resourced with training and time Based on mutual respect Is on-going and has depth Focusing in on Two Key Features of Effective Appraisal Looking at creating openness, honesty first….these lead to trust! Trust is a hard earned result of complex, micro-level, subtle interactions. It is easy to be open and honest when there are no problems. This is not the case when there are problems – as you will see!. Initial Responses to Role Play How honest do you think the principal was in this conversation? Do you think that the secretary got the message that there was a problem? Do you think the conversation was one that enhanced openness and ultimately trust? © Unitec New Zealand Defensive Strategies Most strategies fall under the headings of either avoidance or control (winning). They include: • skirting around ‘tough’ issues (SA) • giving indirect or mixed messages (MM) • cloaking negative feedback with a positive opener (PO) • deflecting attention from ourselves to the deficiencies of others (blame!) (DA) • excusing ineffectiveness rather than confronting it (EI) • failing to state directly that there is a concern or problem (FSC) • failing to provide valid information associated with any concern (FVI) • not inquiring into the response from other people involved with a concern (NI) • unilaterally deciding on outcomes or solutions (UD) Adapted from Piggot-Irvine & Cardno, (2005) and Argyris (2003) Analysing the Role Play in More Depth In pairs: • Tick any strategies you think the principal used on the ‘defensiveness’ checklist • Make a decision about whether the strategies you ticked were controlling or avoiding (the two key values of defensiveness) • Make a concluding statement about the principal’s predominant way of interacting…..was he mainly controlling or avoiding? © Unitec New Zealand Understanding Defensiveness • People adopt a defensive (or sometimes called Model 1) approach when they are threatened or embarrassed • We are all learn defensiveness in the early stages of life - rationalising this as caring for, and protecting, ourselves and others • We develop a repertoire of defensive strategies and become adept at using them by the time we are adults • Teams and organisations (as well as individuals) also develop defensive routines (Argyris, 2003; Piggot-Irvine & Cardno, 2005) © Unitec New Zealand Overcoming Defensiveness via the Skills of Productive Reasoning • A productive reasoning approach (sometimes called Model 2) can overcome the defensiveness shown in the role play. • It involves adopting a new set of values and strategies associated with openness, generating valid information, inquiring into other perspectives, seeking joint solutions, and monitoring joint commitment to change. • Productive dialogue steps translate the productive reasoning theory into practise. © Unitec New Zealand Productive Dialogue Steps Advocacy ¾Stating your position, being open, by disclosing concerns/views, backed by evidence, and revealing reasoning behind views ¾Inviting challenge of position, views, facts Inquiry ¾Checking to see if views have been understood and what views others hold ¾ Receiving other’s views non-defensively ¾Summarising mutual understanding of issues Gaining Internal Commitment and Monitoring ¾Seeking bilateral solutions ¾Taking joint responsibility for planning, implementation and monitoring © Unitec New Zealand A Productive Approach to Tackling Problems • Productive reasoning and productive dialogue do not involve rigid steps that are followed in sequence • The underpinning values (openness, transparency, fairness etc) and strategies (advocacy, inquiry, gaining internal commitment and monitoring) combined lead to trust © Unitec New Zealand Tackling Problems in Appraisal • The problem is that learning such values and strategies is a challenge! • It involves overturning long-help habits of behaviour that are deeply conditioned. • The first step in learning is to recognise your own defensiveness. © Unitec New Zealand Being non-defensive (honest, open, yet rigorous) requires self-awareness and sufficient confidence to step outside your comfortable shoes – it requires ‘courageous confrontation’ of your own defensiveness ‘Productive reasoning’ actually is at the core of multiple leadership activities – appraisal is just one A Couple of Final Tips on Tackling Problems Productively in Appraisal • Openness about problems and dealing with those throughout the year should lead to greater trust in appraisal • The final interview is NOT the place to introduce problems that have not already been addressed © Unitec New Zealand The Second Key Feature of Effective Appraisal - Setting Deep Objectives ‘Surface’ objectives - a quick fix, expediency approach ‘Deep’ - almost a small scale action research approach Deep objectives provide clear guidelines for development and measurable indicators for assessment of achievement Deep Objectives • Deep objectives lead to deep development • The aspired type of development resulting from a deep plan is in keeping with recent research on what constitutes good development (Piggot-Irvine, 2006) • Such development is associated with rigour and accountability and unashamedly setting high expectations … Two Key Features of Effective Appraisal Reviewed The L5 Leadership Frame Again – Links to Key Values and Elements of Effective Appraisal • • • • • Commitment Trust Honest communication Openness Collaboration • • • • • Accountability Encouragement Coaching Mentoring Rigour © Unitec New Zealand Content Reviewed Making LINKS…. • Values and elements of the L5 Leadership Frame • Theoretical confirmation for L5 • Examining whether the values and elements the same in appraisal? • Two key strategies for effective appraisal - A ‘productive’ approach to tackling problems - Establishing depth in objective setting © Unitec New Zealand References • • • • • • • • • Argyris, C. (2003). A life full of learning. Organization Studies, 24 (7), 1178-1192. Dinham, S. (2007). The dynamics of creating and sustaining learning communities. Presentation to 6th International Educational Leadership Conference, Wollongong, 15-17 February. Goleman, D, Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2002). The new leaders: transforming the art of leadership into the science of results. London: Little Brown. Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2002). The leadership challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Lambert, L. (2002). Towards a deepened theory of constructivist leadership. In L. Lambert, D. Walker, D. Zimmerman, J.E. Cooper, M.D. Lambert, M.E. Gardner and M Szabo, The constructivist leader (pp. 34-62). New York: Teachers College Press. Levy, L. & Bentley, M. (2007). More ‘right’ than ‘real’. The shape of authentic leadership in New Zealand. University of Auckland Business School. Piggot-Irvine, E. (2003). Key features of appraisal effectiveness. International Journal of Educational Management, 17(4), 170-178. Piggot-Irvine, E. (2006). Establishing criteria for effective professional development and use in evaluating an action research programme. Journal of Inservice Education, 32(4), 477-496. Piggot-Irvine, E. & Cardno, C. (2005). Appraising performance productively: Integrating accountability and development. Auckland: Eversleigh Publishing.
