The managerial moment of truth : the essential step in helping people improve performance - BODAKEN; Fritz (New York : Free Press, 2006)
The managerial moment of truth explains a powerful new concept that can dramatically improve performance and increase productivity, at no cost, in virtually any company or organization. Developed by organizational consultant and best selling author Robert Fritz and proven in practice by coauthor Bruce Bodaken, the chairman, president, and CEO of Blue Shield of California, the book provides a dynamic technique to help people face up to reality and confront the truth in order to correct mistakes,learn from past performance, and adjuct processes to build a more successful organization.Given human nature, most managers, when faced with the harsh facts of substandard performance,tend to soften the truth with their direct reports, so as not to offend or upset them. They tend to avoid mentioning mistakes. missed dates, an incomplete project, unacceptable quality of work, and the like. Then, if the problem becomes egregious, the manager may suddenly overreact with a contentious cofrontation that results in little long-term behavior change. Or else the manager will try to work around the substandard performance, shifting the work-load to top performers on the team rather than addressing reality directly with the person concerned. Bodaken and Fritz provide a step-by-step approach for continuous improvement, in which managers deal with performance issues early onm, to help employees face the truth without being made to feel denigrated,inept, or incompetent--which would only defeat the desired goal of improvement.
Keywords: Performance -- Management; Personnel management