Presumably, PreZoomably

I was accused of stealing a towel.

Sitting by the pool at an AirBnB, a woman asked if I had ever rented unit 711. Why? Because she’s in unit 711, it’s missing a towel, and I have the same one.

Presumably, I stole it.

Isn’t that lovely? She connected a couple of dots - missing towel and similar towel - and concluded I’m a thief.

Crazy right? Except that we do this to each other. All. The. Time.

At work, we connect the dots to understand what’s going on. We connect dots to understand other people’s agendas, preferences, motivations, trustworthiness, and performance. We connect dots to understand the changing landscape, and how that might impact our chances for advancement and even our continued employment.

And when we don’t have enough dots to connect, we are prone to drawing the wrong conclusion.

When leadership keeps employees in the dark about the business financials and impending actions, they believe that they are keeping it under wraps until a big announcement. I have personally seen bits and pieces of information shared rigorously by employees who connect the available dots in ways that are often worse than reality.

When it comes to managing performance, it’s the team leader who is at risk of jumping to the wrong conclusion when connecting the dots. Managers who rely heavily on their observations to manage performance are struggling with remote working – when it’s not possible to see work being done, the focus on visual cues and availability creates a disconnect between employer and employee perceptions of productivity, which Microsoft calls “productivity paranoia.”

In fact, a 2022 Microsoft survey found that 85% of leaders say the shift to hybrid work has made it hard to be confident that employees are being productive. And while 87% of workers report they’re performing just fine, only 12% of employers say they have full confidence their team is productive.   

“Maybe they don’t put their camera on Zoom. Or they do, but it’s a fake background, so you wonder where they really are. Then there’s a delay in hearing back from them, so you wonder if they are working. You get suspicious. You start making assumptions. Presumably they are working.”

And how about this for conclusion jumping: a 2022 Vyopta survey showed that 43% of executives suspect that employees who are on mute or off-camera entirely are browsing the internet or social media, texting or chatting. Couldn’t they also be multi-tasking? Hmm…

The challenge in managing performance is leading the “back to the office” decrees – as if a greater ability to watch people will result in greater productivity.

PreZoomably, dots were missing in person too.

We can’t really know if people are working hard. Equating the amount of time an employee spends in the office with their productivity is a trap. The number of hours an employee works does not necessarily correlate with the quality of their work – it’s simply easier to measure.

Managers should place a greater emphasis on the quality of output rather than focusing on an employee’s level of availability.

Ultimately, good performance management ensures that employees are doing their best work and achieving their goals. With the right strategies in place, managers can create an environment of trust and respect that allows employees to do their best – no matter where they are.

Melissa Janis builds management capabilities to create a workplace that's better for your employees and better for your bottom line.