This week, Wayne explores performance management with Gary Ridge, who is co-author, with Ken Blanchard, of Helping People Win at Work and CEO of the Nasdaq-listed WD40 Company.
They discuss why many traditional performance management and review techniques are completely counter-productive and how trying to force people’s performance into a normal distribution curve or order can never be a recipe for success.
Gary Ridge explains that when Ken Blanchard was a college professor, he always gave his students the final exam at the beginning of the course and spent the rest of the semester helping them answer the questions so that they could get an A. Ridge realised that life is all about getting As, using this simple principle as the basis for WD40’s performance review system.
As far as many managers are concerned, HR is little more than a necessary evil, ticking boxes, filling in forms and contributing nothing except bureaucracy to company life.
So why is HR is so vilified? To find out, Wayne is joined this week by Paul Marsh, who is the HR Director of Strategi Search and Selection, a UK-based recruitment group, as well as author of HR and other Swear Words, a book which explores the stereotypes that exist around HR and its value.
How can managers learn to deal with their emotions, particularly in a meeting situation or when they’re frustrated and angry? To discuss this, Wayne is joined by Mick Quinn, author of The Uncommon Path.
They explore how managers can become more emotionally intelligent – especially when confronted by traits in others that normally drive them crazy - and what can stand in the way of this greater emotional maturity.
This week, a topic that is particularly close to Wayne’s heart. What can managers learn from stand-up comedians?
That’s the subject of a new book by coach, author and speaker, Roger Edward Jones, and something that Wayne - who spent over 15 years working as a stand-up comedian – has a thing or two to say about, too.
“Stand-up comedians are excellent communicators and I have often wondered what skills and techniques they use to successfully deliver their routines,” Jones says. “So I watched hours of videos and attended comedy clubs large and small. Then to put it all to the test I wrote and delivered a stand-up comedy routine at a comedy club in London. The experience helped me realise that chief executives (and indeed all of us in business) can learn a lot from stand-up comedy performers.”
