Page 134 - The Bible On Leadership

120 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

We can hopefully assume that both Bartz’s daughter and her employ-
ees have improved their performance through this gentle yet direct style
of correction. While Bartz’s daughter’s grades remain unpublished, pre-
sumably protected information, the company’s results are very public:
$100 million net income on revenues of $820 million in 1999, the year
she was interviewed.

CONSEQUENCES

The third stage of performance management takes place after a task,
project, or year is complete. Although formal performance appraisals
tend to occur at the end of predetermined periods of time, the best
leaders are giving ongoing informal feedback in the form of positive and
negative consequences. Performance feedback should be timely, job-
relevant, goal-related, and attainable. It should also be communicated
in a way that makes the recipient feel motivated to improve, not pun-
ished for irrevocably ‘‘bad’’ behavior.

Timely, Fair Consequences
The Bible observed the need for timely correction of misdeeds almost
2,000 years ago: ‘‘When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried
out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.’’
(Eccles. 8:11) Not only are we giving the wrong message when we fail
to give quick negative consequences to an employee who has failed to
perform, we are also setting a bad example for the rest of the team.
Dan Tully, chairman emeritus of Merrill Lynch and Company, is a
strong modern proponent of swift, honest feedback and consequences
to match. ‘‘You must give people honest, candid feedback,’’ he notes.
‘‘You owe it to them so they can reach their full potential, and you owe
it to the people around them, the ones above and below them . . . If
the guy in the middle is a stiff, and I let him stay there and destroy the
people around him, shame on me.’’ 17
Part of the reason that John Akers’s time at the helm of IBM was so