MUP - Managing Under Performance

[billyhayes]

Has this been used in any other office? In ours the managers are threatening to hang it around the necks of a few staff. This is apparently due to pressure from the BDM - business development manager threatening THEM with it. So of course, human nature kicks in and they are only looking after themselves, so are putting staff on it to deflect blame for their own failings.

Good thing is, a couple of us know the MUP process inside out and our local rep has shot them down at every turn so far. They should've read the MUP booklet sent out to them. Mugs.

[BELIAL]

MUPpet managers are highly prized in the delivery sector

[norbert]

MUPpet managers are highly prized in the delivery sector

used to be NCI's ( Non Culpable Inefficency ) that people got threatened with , then P40's sorting test rates - usual story , failures then the kick the cat stuff - what a wonderful firm - so well run

We had poor performance used and abused as a discipline tool in another industry - problem was it was used for stuff , that in the old days - should have been a charge but it would have been found to be flawed & the charge sheet would have to be torn up - as the idea was it all had to stand up in a Industrial Tribunal , Union sold us down the river on that one as you'd have to be the union yourself and fight the barstewards - it was only when there was a chance of a messy Industrial Tribunal - the union could actually represent you .

Usually a union bashing tool and/or to settle petty vendettas .

Where RM usually go wrong is in their black and white view on everything , being judgemental and self righteous - ""moral"crusades " - that's why they are not popular in Industrial Tribunal Courts

Nice to see this nonsense being stamped out by good reps facing RM down with this bullying , confrontational , vindictive management style - unlike the handwringing from that other big Union

[BELIAL]

I'm getting a vision of the "permanent way"? Yes/No Norbs?

[Tman]

Keep on track Bel, and don't be railroaded. You know he has his own timetable....
"In another industry...... he's seen it all before...."

[billyhayes]

Just to clarify, the MUP process is used if the managers think that you are not having enough selling related conversations at the counter. Just in case our RM cousins thought it was something else.

[norbert]

Just to clarify, the MUP process is used if the managers think that you are not having enough selling related conversations at the counter. Just in case our RM cousins thought it was something else.

In that case it's a big problem for POL staff - sales culture - Auntie Joan only wants a couple of second class stamps not Broadband , not Insurance or her funeral paying for & arranging

you can see who is loyal to the other devil ? - plenty of people who have seen that sort of thing go on in the utilities - as for the " I posted a letter once etc " site & Postman Fluffy crowd , they'll learn the hard way

[bigjames]

Has this been used in any other office? In ours the managers are threatening to hang it around the necks of a few staff. This is apparently due to pressure from the BDM - business development manager threatening THEM with it. So of course, human nature kicks in and they are only looking after themselves, so are putting staff on it to deflect blame for their own failings.

Good thing is, a couple of us know the MUP process inside out and our local rep has shot them down at every turn so far. They should've read the MUP booklet sent out to them. Mugs.

I don't know of any managers using the process, but I do know of managers who have been put on it! It is true that Area Managers are putting pressure on Branch Managers to perform, and are threatening them with underperformance. The problem is that to be deemed as 'achieving' you have to be passing sales targets, but if you can't be put on underperformance solely for not passing a target, so they tend to look for another reason to put a manager on underperformance. If a manager monitors their team, coaches them regularly and keeps a documentary record it can be difficult to say they are not doing their job properly. It is similar for counter clerks, but to be brutally honest for most of the clerks I have managed over the last few years MUP would not be appropriate. Almost all of my teams have been capable of doing what is required, and have demonstrated it regularly. If they are not doing what they should it is not a question of capability, it is more a question of conduct - you can do it - so why aren't you?

[billyhayes]

In our office it is this simple. We are having the conversations. The customers are more often than not, choosing NOT to go over to the FSSs. They are nowadays even refusing the last-ditch-attempt-leaflets etc. A plain 'I'm not interested' is about all you get from most of them. Our management counter with the argument, 'You are not having conversations ALL the time'. (which most of us know, you DO NOT have to have conversations with EVERY customer, and anyone that says you do is either a liar or mis-informed).

Lets put it in these terms...

UNRELATED seliing is not part of the job. If you want to do it then fair enough. If you don't do it they can't touch you for it.
RELATED conversations is part of the agreed sales code of conduct. And part of that 'spirit of...' is that no-one is expected to sell to EVERY customer.

So, in her wisdom, our BDM has decided to come to our office on numerous occasions over the last few months and threatened management with MUP, and to cut a long story short, tell all of the office as a whole that we are not having the conversations, and that is where the buck stops. Simple as that. Where do these wonkers get their people skills?
The East German Stasi perhaps?

So of course branch management, through fear alone for their own job, cling to the lie that EVERY customer MUST be sold to therefore you ARE underperforming.
This is met with the response... 'prove it'.

So they produce the unagreed coaching sheets, which to be honest, is just one persons opinion of another, when all is said and done. (But we will come back to that later).
They stand behind you for ten minutes while you're serving, call you into the office, for a quick '1to 1' which is basically telling you that you MUST take EVERY related opportunity and it just goes round in circles...

So, lets take a look at a possible situation. A counterclerk goes on MUP. According to the manager, 6 months down the line no improvements have been made, so Reason To Urge might be used, (or given their P45 straight away, who knows). How is that going to pan out in a tribunal?

Tribual - "So, manager A, you put clerk B on MUP because you personally THINK that they are underperfoming?"
Manager - "No, it is FACT because I wrote it down on these sheets of PAPER."
Tribunal - "Oh, and that makes it legitimate then?"
Manager - "It does. And during that 6 months I watched them on the counter on numerous occasions throughout the day/week/months and they did not have enough/any conversations with customers and I wrote down what I did/didn't hear on my sheets of PAPER and here we all are"...

Even if they follow the MUP process by the book, (literally), written down on 'coaching sheets' as 'evidence' or not, it all boils down to what one person THINKS another is or isn't doing, no matter which way you f##king slice it.

[bigjames]

it all boils down to what one person THINKS another is or isn't doing, no matter which way you f##king slice it.[/quote]

Yes! You are absolutely right - opinions suck!

I have a classic example. I did some work for the Area Manager, who gave me recognition for the work I did. My Line Manager then wrote it up as a negative against me in my appraisal, because, in their opinion, the time I spent doing that work was detrimental to the office! Never mind the fact that I did most of it at home in my own time (yes I know - what a Mug!!). well one of them had to be wrong, but it is all down to opinion.