The Managerial Moment of Truth

The Essential Step in Helping People Improve Performance

Bruce Bodaken, Robert Fritz

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9781451655353
• eBook ISBN: 9780743299961
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

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 bestselling 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 adjust 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 confrontation that results in little long-term behavior change. Or else the manager will try to work around the substandard performance, shifting the workload 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 on, to help employees face the truth without being made to feel denigrated, inept, or incompetent -- which would only defeat the desired goal of improvement. Moreover, this approach also greatly enhances the manager's own career success. When managers understand and use this practice, they can produce more top performers and add from 25 to 40 percent more actual capacity to their organization. At Blue Shield of California, for example, more than one thousand managers have been trained in this approach, with impressive, measurable results, helping the company become one of the fastest-growing health care plans in the state. Other companies, all at the top of their industries, are now using MMOT with great success. As widely acclaimed author Peter Senge notes in his foreword, "This is not a book with just a bunch of 'good ideas.' It is a call to a simple but transformative practice, vital to building an organization truly worthy of people's highest achievement."

Table of contents

• Cover
• Colophon
• Also by Robert Fritz
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Foreword by Peter M. Senge
• Preface
• Introducing the Managerial Moment of Truth ApproachAn overview of the technique within your organization.
• 1    Basic Techniques: Mastering the Fundamental Form for Managerial Truth TellingWhat is the managerial moment of truth and how does it work?
• 2 How to Recognize and Change Performance PatternsThere are two patterns: oscillating and advancing. Here is how to identify them and then work to create effective performance patterns.
• 3 Case Study: Working with a TeamTrish uses the managerial moment of truth to deal with a common situation, a missed due date.
• 4 Developing Specific SkillsIdentifying the critical skills that need to be developed and practiced to master the MMOT.
• 5 The Positive Moment of TruthRecognizing excellence is fundamental to creating an organization that is dedicated to delivering superior results.
• 6 Case Study: Working Within the Cross-Functional TeamSandy needs Bill to make good on his promise.
• 7 The Art of the Question: Exploring RealityNot all questions are created equal. Four types of questions are particularly useful.
• 8 Case Study: The Repeat OffenderDave has a chronic pattern that Terry must address.
• 9 Truth Within the TeamThe team is the most important unit within the organization. Truth can be the critical factor in creating outstanding performance.
• 10 Managing the MismatchDealing with someone who isn’t matched to the role is one of the toughest and one of the most important management tasks there is.
• 11 Working Within the Strategic AllianceTruth can transform one of the most important business relationships in modern organizations—the strategic alliance.
• 12 Rules of ThumbThere is a range of practices that can make all the difference.
• A Final Word
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors