How to use this deck:

Hot tip! Add images to the placeholders by clicking the circle button in the middle and uploading your own image or logos!

First of all, thanks for downloading this resource! We at Ethena really hope this helps guide your discussions around performance management.

Secondly, ensure you make a copy of this deck, and feel free to update and change this deck however you think suits your teams. We’ve included a few notes across the deck with suggestions, guides on how to use specific slides, and any other resources we think might be helpful.

We hope this sparks great conversations for your teams around performance management. (For instance, we love Melanie Naranjo, our VP of People’s recent newsletter about the cost of underperformance).

Reach out to Ethena on LinkedIn or email us at marketing@goethena.com if you have questions or want to get the latest resources from our team!

Compliance training for modern teams

Performance Management

Agenda

Everyone synchronize your watches!

• Defining [YOUR COMPANY]’s performance culture
• Empowerment ≠ Protection
• Spotting issues early on
• How to effectively support your report
• Determining when someone’s job is at risk

What’s [YOUR COMPANY]’s

performance culture?

High Performance

Sometimes high performance means hopping to it.

Prioritizing high performance empowers us to hit our business goals more effectively because we can feel confident in the knowledge that every person is bringing the highest value possible to the company.

It also allows everyone to work more efficiently. With high performers, employees are freed up to spend less time thinking about or compensating for how their teammates are performing, and more time focusing on their own performance.

The same is true for direct reports and managers.

Effective direct reports make their manager’s job easier, not harder.

What does high performance look like?

High performance is a team sport!

High performers get things done. They execute on their role efficiently and effectively.

That includes taking initiative. They identify gaps and act quickly to fill them, often stepping up to help other parts of the business. They are constantly looking for ways to level up.

More succinctly: They add high value to the company. They don’t drain resources.

High performers don’t do a ‘good’ job. They do a ‘great’ job. We would hire them again if we had to rebuild the team from scratch.

High performers are:

• Autonomous
• Quick learners
• Feedback champions
• Self-aware and self-correct, and hold themselves accountable
• High collaborative team players; building each other up
• Comfortable with ambiguity
• Action- and solution-oriented
• Operate with a sense of urgency

Just a note! This is how Ethena defines high performance. You can customize this slide to define what high performance means to your organization. Lean on your company values and make sure your message is easy to remember and realistic.

​

Feel free to lean on how we at Ethena define high performance for our teams as a starting point!

Ethena’s realistic performance standards

Communicating performance standards that you don’t actually hold employees accountable to is more detrimental than not communicating anything at all.

Effective performance standards should be realistic.

That means:

• Applicable to all roles — regardless of seniority level or department
• Easy to understand — don’t overwhelm managers with a 9-page performance rubric
• True deal breakers — qualities and characteristics that you genuinely would not tolerate, whether in hiring decisions or in firing decisions
• Balance individual and team strengths — If an employee does great individual work but doesn’t play well with others, it’s going to lead to problems

Just a note! This slide is for your reference as the facilitator to help you develop your own performance standards communication.

​

Curious about what we mean here? Check out Melanie’s webinar about performance for extra context!

Empowerment ≠ Protection

Role play…!

Just a note! We included the script for this role play down at the end of the deck. You can lean on this to highlight the negative ripple effects that come with protecting your report instead of empowering them and holding them accountable.

Accountability as a form of empowerment

Your job as a manager is to empower your team, not protect them.

Protecting your team — while often well-intentioned — will not only limit their ability to succeed; it will also negatively impact the business.

When you protect instead of support, you drain resources (time and emotional energy) across the company: yours, your team’s, and that of any cross-functional partners or key stakeholders.

Examples of managers conflating the two:

• Taking things off their plate that are their responsibility, not yours
• Covering for their mistakes rather than acknowledging them and giving growth-focused feedback
• Stepping in when something gets uncomfy or complicated, i.e. cross-functional conflict or a tricky work challenge
• Sugarcoating when evaluating their performance
• Tolerating or ignoring poor behavior and performance (including a poor attitude)

​

Spotting issues

early on

Performance issues can be tricky

While some performance issues are obvious, it’s more common for performance issues to sneak up on you over time.

It’s also easy to make excuses:

• They’ve only been here for 3 months
• Maybe my standards are just too high
• There’s a lot going on in the world right now; they’re probably just having a tough time

​

You spent a lot of time and energy recruiting this person. It’s human nature to give the benefit of the doubt.

But the longer you wait, the worse the problem will become.

Questions you need to ask

Regularly asking yourself pulse check questions that remove room for subjectivity is a great way to stay on top of performance and identify issues before they go too far.

Questions to lean on:

• Is my direct report ultimately freeing up my time or making my job harder?
• If I were to open the role today, knowing what I know now about their performance and ability, would I hire my direct report again?
• What would happen if my direct report turned in their resignation today? Would I panic or be relieved?

Breakout Group #1

Group size: 2 - 3 people�Time: 15 minutes

Prompt: Go through the pulse check questions with your partner and assess 1 or more of your direct reports. Reminder that this is a confidential space. The purpose of this activity is not to shame or speak poorly of anyone. It’s to practice good performance check hygiene. Take notes on your findings.

If your answers are all positive, this is great stuff to share with your report(s). If they give you pause, don’t panic. You’ll still need to address this with your direct report, but we’ll discuss effective ways to address this in later slides.

*Remember to swap at the halfway mark. Start with the person whose birthday comes first in the calendar year.

So, how do you actually �support your team?

Support through performance issues

Let’s be clear: If you identify that someone is underperforming, your first inclination should not be, “Welp. Let’s just fire them.”

Instead, you should immediately map out and execute on an action plan to get things on track.

While it’s not your job to protect your team, it is your job to be direct and supportive so as to give your team a fighting chance at success.

Getting back on track.

• Identify any gaps between where the person is and where they need to be
• Get clear on the steps that would need to happen in order for the person to get to a place of high performance
• Have a direct conversation with your direct report about these gaps
• Keep it motivational, but don’t sugarcoat: “I want to partner with you on this” and “I have every confidence in your ability to get to where we need you to be” are honest, but not misleading

Breakout Group #2

Group size: 2 - 3 people�Time: 15 minutes

Prompt: Choose an item of feedback you’ve been sitting on or have been anxious to share. This can be for a peer, report, or manager. Leverage the attached exercise sheet to explore the underlying blocker + impact to the business.

With your partner, draft a script for delivering the feedback using the feedback model outlined below. At the halfway mark, swap.

​

*Remember to maintain confidentiality where possible.

Determining when�someone’s job is at risk

HR component

First thing’s first: Always check with HR before telling someone their job is at risk.

It’s HR’s job to make sure:

• Any underlying issues have been properly explored
• You as the manager are doing your part to set clear expectations and meet your report halfway
• Guide you through any discussions where someone’s job is it risk
• Make sure your report has additional resources (i.e. tips for managing up) as they partner with you on improving their performance

Personal Improvement Plans

Just a note! This slide should be specific to your company and how you navigate serious performance issues, including any important timelines, when you deploy PIPs (if applicable), and how you determine when it’s time to part ways.

Breakout Group #3

Remember - HR is here to help!

Group size: 2 - 3 people�Time: 5 minutes

Prompt: What challenges might you face with regard to holding someone on your team accountable or escalating to HR? What fears come to mind? What support would you need in order to get to a place of holding everyone accountable to high performance?

*Remember to maintain confidentiality where possible.

Q&A

Training and illustrations provided by Ethena

ARIANA: Hey, great training this morning.

RAQUEL: Oh, thank you. It was definitely a bit of a push. Spent all night working on it.

ARIANA: I thought Tommy was going to be the one owning trainings.

RAQUEL: Oh, well… yeah. He was. But, you know. He’s got a lot on his plate, and turns out, he wasn’t that thrilled about it. He gets really nervous about public speaking; it just felt like it was gonna be a lot to ask of him.

ARIANA: But I thought when we filled his role, we specifically asked for someone who could lead trainings.

RAQUEL: Well, I mean. Yeah. But, I didn’t realize how much he disliked them. It’s not that big of a deal.

ARIANA: Okay. Well, how much time did you spend working on the training?

RAQUEL: Well. A lot.

ARIANA: What’s a lot?

RAQUEL: About 4 hours this week and then stayed up last night finishing.

SCRIPT - Performance Management

ARIANA: And you’re telling me Tommy couldn’t work on it instead because he doesn’t like public speaking?

RAQUEL: I mean, it’s not just— Look. With everything the way it is right now, and current events, I just don’t want to stress him out any more than I have to. I want him to be happy at Happy Reunions, and I want him to know that I care about him as a manager. Anyway, I have a ton of experience putting trainings together. It’s really not a big deal. Plus, he’s also been working on that other deck you asked him to look at.

ARIANA: Actually, I’m glad you mentioned that. It was due yesterday, but I haven’t seen anything yet.

RAQUEL: Oh. Well, I’m sure he’ll get it to you today.

ARIANA: This isn’t the first time. He’s been late on turning in the last 3 things I asked him for.

RAQUEL: Totally get it. Listen. Why don’t you send me the deck now. I have a free block after this call. I’ll look at it then.

ARIANA: Weren’t you going to work on the Sur-Viva proposal during that time?

RAQUEL: It’s fine. I’ll figure it out.

END SCENE

Questions to ask:

1. Scale of 1 - 5, how accountable is the manager in this scenario holding their direct report (Tommy)?

2. Why might she be handling the situation this way? What do you think her intent is? Her fears?

3. What's the impact of the manager covering for her direct report in this scenario?