Analysis of barriers in systems within Mango Tree
In 2011 Mango Tree staff experienced one evaluation moment: the performance evaluation. In the performance evaluation four different elements are combined: the evaluation, reflection on development of the staff member, salary increase and inflation correction. Because of this combination of four different elements in one discussion, there was little or no room for open self reflection and dialogue between the supervisor and supervisee.
It is good to understand that annual inflation in Uganda runs between 5 and 18%. As such, inflation has a major impact on the real salary growth. At that time Mango Tree worked with a 5 point scale (5 being the highest), with a salary increase as shown in Table 2. Let’s say that average inflation is 10%. The real salary difference becomes apparent in the last column. As a result of this, a score below a four was not acceptable for an employee because it would result in a net decrease of the spending power of the individual. Further background about the performance evaluation template is given in Appendix 1.
Table 2 Salary change depending on the performance score
With a five point scale where only a score of a four or a five were realistic options, the ability to distinguish salary increase due to performance as a key element of performance evaluation was not there.
Changes in the organisation
With the theoretical background, as well as an understanding of the environmental factors and the internal organisational dynamics given in the situational analysis, this chapter describes several interventions that were implemented over a five-year period changing the company to a more coaching-friendly organisation.
Removing negative elements in the organisation
The first step was to fire three key people in the organisation. At the time, it felt like a harsh measure to take, but it removed a source of negativity in the organisation because these staff members were:
Firing these staff members in combination with promoting people that did have the correct attitude set an example for others by demonstrating that positive attitudes would be rewarded and negative attitudes would not.
Introduction of a staff development programme for high potential staff
The staff development programme was also introduced during the reorganisation of the company. Its purpose was twofold: to establish a clear reward for people that had the right attitude and capabilities and at the same time to grow these high potential staff members with important skills such as problem solving and results-oriented communication.
An application process was established, and selections were made based on criteria derived from the GlaxoSmithKline international potential assessment methodology. The methodology was adapted to the Uganda and Mango Tree context. People who enrolled were assessed on: past performance, potential indicators and required skills. A full overview of the assessment model can be found in Appendix 2. From the nine applicants, five were selected. The programme, running for two years, consisted of a series of trainings by an executive coach on the following skills: communication, presentation, leadership, management, teambuilding and coaching. They were assigned a mentor within the organisation and were given an assignment to do for another department that was outside of their existing job description.
Changing interaction style
Several elements contributed to a more focused and clear interaction style that was made uniform throughout the organisation.
During the course of 2011, the mission and vision were redeveloped and revitalised. The existing vision at that time was not clearly spelled out and rested predominantly with the founder of the company.
Since 2011, the mission and vision have been used consistently in internal communication, which has helped to direct the focus of the organisation as whole as well as individual staff members.
One of the outcomes of the brainstorm with key members of staff was the realisation that staff members feared “losing face” within the company. Consequently, all directors and managers were instructed to:
1. Always give feedback one on one
2. Give compliments in public
3. Give feedback in a way that is:
4. Openly reward people perform well through promotion or giving certain privileges
6. Put all members of the Mango Tree team on permanent staff, with the exception of people who:
Separation of different evaluation elements
To overcome the challenge of different evaluation elements as described in section 2.5, Mango Tree decided to:
As the fiscal year of the company ends every September, performance evaluations were done in August/September to incorporate new salaries in the budget of the next year. This was still a combination of performance evaluation and salary increase.
The inflation correction was done in January of each year. This made it a distinctly different element of the salary increase process than the performance evaluation. It also gave the board the ability to make a decision on the inflation correction based on the inflation rate during the previous year, the results of the company derived from the audited accounts and potential performance for the future. The audited accounts were usually discussed in the board meeting at the end of November, during which the board made an informed decision.
The personal development plan was done in March/April. This allowed for the longest time possible (six months) between the performance evaluation and the personal development plan.
Adaptation of the performance evaluation to a 7-point scale
The performance evaluation was changed to a 7-point scale to resolve the issue of negativism around receiving a 1, 2 or 3 in the 5-point scale. The 7-point scale was able to reset negative emotions especially around receiving a 2. While in the 5-point scale, a 1, 2 and 5 were rarely given, and a 4 or 5 were the only acceptable scores as described in section 2.5. In the 7-point scale, the 1 and 7 were rarely given. As such, it became a true 5-point scale again, where within those 5 points, a true reflection on the person’s functionality could take place. In addition to the change to a 7-point scale, the increase in salary was reduced and partly replaced by inflation correction. The salary increase from the performance evaluation was reduced to the following:
Table 3: Salary increase based on performance evaluation score
Changing the score and reducing the increase connected to salary and splitting the inflation correction from performance helped to make the discussion during the evaluation less strong as the interests for the supervisee became less in terms of pure financial compensation and a more in debth/true discussion could take place with regards to performance.
Introduction of a personal development plan
In addition to the staff development programme, there was a need to include all staff members in a programme that helped them become more aware of their growth potential. This would create:
Mango Tree decided to base the template for its personal development plan on the GROW model . The main advantages of the GROW model are that it is:
A disadvantage of the model is that in order to have people think through several goals, whether they are realistic and what the planning is it becomes an elaborative process. Over time, Management also recognised that the model needed to be clearly explained, and staff needed an understanding of several coaching concepts to fully grasp the thought behind the model. Management also realised that staff members often had a gross overestimation of their capacities/possibilities.
For this reason the model was adapted to facilitate the need to:
The adapted GROW model and implementation details are given in Appendix 3.
Evaluation
How were the different interventions done
As mentioned in the introduction of the case study, the interventions were not always done in a systematic, organised manner. For example, a thorough situational analysis was not done beforehand after which all interventions were carried out. The situation was analysed continuously during the five-year intervention period. Although this should be taken into account while reflecting on the case study, it does not make the case study less valid in terms of creating insights on how an organisation can alter the way it is working for the better.
What are real coaching elements, and what are standard improvements in a growing company
For the purpose of this case study it would be too easy to just label all elements of improvement as coaching elements. The objective was to improve team performance and only parts of the improvements are strictly coaching elements. This chapter sets out to reflect to what extend the improvements are coaching elements.
One coaching element that was introduced in the organisation was to create a safe environment. This was done by taking out negative forces in the company and changing the communication and feedback style. In addition, setting a clear objective through the mission and vision and regularly communicating about them helped to create transparency with regard to the measurement for all people in the organisation.
Creating the ability to self reflect through the staff development programme or the personal development plan, as well as by splitting the performance evaluation, personal development plan and inflation correction, helped to improve communication about performance and how to improve it.
Using the GROW model in the personal development plan helped to create self awareness, self-directed goal-setting and self-directed action, and ensured that the organisation could structurally facilitate this.
The training within the staff development programme was done by a professional coach and the topics included common executive coaching elements.
Members of the staff development programme and management team were offered coaching to improve their ability to grow and set their own targets.
Real effect of interventions and reality
Mango Tree has grown rapidly in the last five years. The size of the staff as well as the revenue of the company has increased fivefold. Although part of this growth can be attributed to higher staff performance and a better working environment, it can also be attributed to other factors such as trends in the aid industry that were beneficial for the organisation, as well as investments in a literacy programme in northern Uganda and an office in South Sudan that proved fruitful for the company. Although most interventions worked very well in the early stages of the organisation, the benefits to the company from these improvements are now slowing down. While most interventions improved performance, they only worked up to a certain point. At a certain point, there are limits to the growth and development of individual staff members, teams and organisations that can take place as a result of changing the environment and utilising coaching strategies. An organisation must also take into account its ability to fulfil promises made to its members. A staff development programme and personal development plans can be effective, but if an organisation does not have the necessary resources to invest in the plans and programmes, the interventions can have a negative effect.
New barriers to overcome
As Mango Tree has grown, several new barriers have become apparent that are affecting the coaching environment that has been created.
Hierarchy evolved from a small range of control exerted by the director and managers to a structure that also included a second layer of middle management. This has reduced the capacity of the organisation to monitor all interventions. This calls for more standardisation of training on coaching and management in the organisation which reduces the ability to adapt to the needs of each individual.
Managers who were used to doing things from memory are now faced with the need to implement systems and structures. This requires people that understand and can adapt to new ways of thinking rather than people that can do everything from memory. Although this would call for more coaching at first, it is also important to realise that there might be a need for different types of managers with other management styles.
At first a valid question might be whether a tougher management style and bureaucracy is needed in a larger organisation. However it could also be argued that within a growing organisation, the use of coaching and coaching elements can be useful to empower staff and therefore reduce bureaucracy.
An unexpected effect of the growth in the organisation and giving staff members more responsibility is that salary demands have increased considerably. This has resulted in a large increase in overhead which has not always been in proportion to improvements in performance. With the rapid growth of the company, however, there are significant risks in letting staff go. What is the long-term solution to this challenge?
With a limited availability of cash and time, which are common in growing organisations, it is important to assess where to best invest your resources. This can literally be the choice between new furniture and equipment, or training of staff members in the organisation. It could also be the choice between using the time of senior management to approach customers themselves, or train junior staff on how to carry out this function. There is always friction between short-term gain and long-term investment.
Conclusion
Although no empirical evidence has been given in this case study on the effect of coaching strategies in this small organisation, it is clear that together, the company and its staff have grown significantly over the last five years. Only a limited number of external senior-level people have been hired to facilitate this growth.
It is relatively easy to incorporate a new management style in an organisation that is relatively chaotic, but it is challenging to do this in a standardised and organised manner. Intuition along with adaption to real situations are as much tools of management as is the ability to set a certain target and make a conscious plan to reach it.
Although changing the management style in an organisation can have a very positive effect, it is also prudent to attempt to understand the consequences of the changes and growth beforehand.
Appendix 1: Details of the original and new performance evaluations
The 5-point scale of the original evaluation was as follows:
5 = Exceptional – Exceptional performance that is rarely achieved; provides precedent-setting results beyond the scope of the major functions; demonstrates the highest standards of performance. This would give a 17% increase against salary.
4 = Exceeds Expectations – Frequently exceeds major requirements and expectations; accomplishments noteworthy and highly valued; typically demonstrates higher standards of performance. This would give a 10% increase against salary.
3 = Meets Expectations – Consistently performs all major requirements satisfactorily; accomplishes all objectives; occasionally exceeds the expectations of the major functions. This would give a 5% increase against salary.
2 = Opportunity for Improvement – Occasionally fails to meet minimum requirements in one or more key aspects of major functions; demonstrates one or more performance deficiencies; development opportunities will be discussed in order to meet expectations of position. This would give a 1 % decrease against salary.
1 = Unacceptable – Consistently fails to meet minimum requirements in critical aspects of major functions and performance standards; immediate improvement required. This would give a 2.5% decrease against salary.
This was changed to a 7-point scale as follows:
7 = Perfect – Always demonstrates the highest standards of performance and goes well beyond the scope of the job description. (12% increase)
6 = Exceptional – Regularly goes the extra mile, making frequent noteworthy and highly-valued accomplishments. (10% increase)
5 = Great – Performs tasks within the job description at a very high level. (7% increase)
4 = Good – Consistently performs tasks within the job description well. (5% increase)
3 = Satisfactory – Performs all major tasks with some room for improvement. (2% increase)
2 = Needs Improvement – Occasionally fails to meet minimum requirements in one or more major functions; supervisor will discuss opportunities to meet expectations of position. (0% increase)
1 = Unacceptable – Consistently fails to meet minimum requirements in critical aspects of major functions and performance standards; immediate improvement required. (0% increase)