The Core Performance Unit (CPU)

Peering through the scope into a void that seems to extend forever. Searching the darkness hoping to catch a glimmer, any tiny refraction of light that might reveal a sign of matter. Probing the depths, calm, silent, patient. Finally, a kernel, faint but obvious. Slowly coming into view, larger, more in focus, becoming a shape.

Where are you? What instrument are you using? What are you looking at?

Are you in a laboratory or an observatory? Are you using a microscope or a telescope? Are you looking at an atom or a planet? So much of life is about perspective. Looking at the miniscule mirrors looking at the massive. Experiencing the world through the lens of our senses reveals just a tiny fraction of the vast wavelengths that expand the universe. We are incredibly limited in what we can experience, and further limited by what we choose to focus our attention on.

As an HR person I do not use a microscope or a telescope, and I do not spend time in a laboratory or observatory. I do however use a “behaviorscope” and spend time in a “performatory.” That is to say that I spend time looking at the ways in which people behave and I spend time in places where performance is happening. Like the scientist peering through a microscope looking for the building blocks of matter, or the astronomer peering through a telescope searching for the building blocks of the universe, I peer through a “behaviorscope” trying to identify the building blocks of great performance. After years of study, I have made the following discovery: The Core Performance Unit, or CPU.

A CPU is any significant event described effectively.

Managing performance can be boiled down to CPUs. They are excellent in the moment for reinforcing and redirecting conversations, great for periodic one on ones, annual reviews, corrective actions, performance letters, and performance improvement plans. From onboarding a new Customer Service Rep to reinforcing the facilitation skills of a Procurement Manager, focusing on the CPU is the ticket. Let us look at two examples.

Your Procurement Manager, Sarah, notices that all five of the company’s warehouses buy their gloves from different vendors. The gloves are all very similar, but each warehouse pays a different price. Sarah collaboratively works with each warehouse director, and with each vendor, to secure a new lower uniformed price that saves the company $30,000/year.

Getting from theory to the full execution of saving money was not easy for Sarah, and her journey included many significant events. CPUs are not about outcomes; they are about the steps along the way. They are about the daily activities, however mundane, that lead to a successful project and career.

Using this example, Sarah invites you to a kickoff Zoom with the five Warehouse Directors. You are simply an observer. As you can imagine, one of the Warehouse Managers takes the idea that they are paying too much money for gloves personally and becomes defensive. Two others are silent and do not add much to the conversation. The other two seem to be on board. Sarah handles this well. She takes notes and asks good questions to get the silent Directors to speak up. She asks for permission to get some preliminary numbers together and all five Directors agree to see more. Not exactly the ringing endorsement She was hoping for but actionable next steps, nonetheless.

Before calling Sarah to offer your feedback, you open her significant event log and make the following entry:

10.2.20 Sarah demonstrated excellent facilitation skills on the conference call today. She listened well, took notes, and asked good questions of the group. She demonstrated patience and responded well to some slight hostility. She secured agreement on next steps. Doing this set a good tone for future meetings.

To close the loop, you call Sarah and share your thoughts.

This is it. Your observation and detailed explanation are a core performance unit, a CPU. Let us look at one more example:

You get off the phone with a customer who complained about your new Customer Service Rep, Ted. They called to see why their package has not arrived yet, and Ted was unable to help them. They claim Ted was rude and hung up on them. Ted remembers the caller and remorsefully tells you about the interaction. He said that the caller was upset when he answered. He looked up their order and, sure enough, their package was late. He said that he tried to connect them a few times to shipping but had to come back on the line a few times to say he was trying again. He thought he transferred them successfully, but apparently not. You ask Ted if he asked anyone to go over transferring phone calls with him again, and he said that he did not.

You have a conversation with Ted regarding this interaction and then write the following entry in Ted’s significant event log:

12.2.20 Ted made an honest mistake serving a client today but did not ask for help afterwards. Since every little process we execute goes to helping customers faster, Ted will ensure that he fully understands policies and processes, and will ask for help and training, moving forward.

This is it. This is a core performance unit, a CPU. Let us look at what separates feedback from a CPU.

Feedback is information about a person’s performance used as a basis for improvement. A CPU is this, and so much more. Like atoms, which are made up of electrons, neutrons, and protons, CPUs are made up of specifics, impacts, and futures. Unless feedback contains all three of these elements, it is not a CPU.

CPUs are made up of three elements:

Specifics - What did the person specifically do? Describe their behavior in as much detail as possible.

Impacts - What is the impact of their behavior on the customer, the team, the company, their career?

Futures - If the behavior continues, what does the future look like?

CPUs are behavior agnostic. They work whether you are trying to reinforce behavior or redirect it. It does not matter if the behavior you notice is desired or not. While more enjoyable, a positive CPU conversation takes as much effort as a negative one. The goal of being alert to CPUs is to help others succeed, whether you are encouraging them to continue performing well, or influencing them to learn and adjust. CPU conversations should be delivered as close to the event as possible.

Okay, so now that we understand the building blocks of performance, how can we use them to complete the entire performance management cycle? How many CPUs does it take to make an effective one on one? How many for an annual review? How many CPUs are required for a performance plan? Of course, there is no exact formula. Leadership is half art and half science. While CPUs add credibility, and a layer of objectivity, it is important to understand that eliminating subjectivity from performance conversations is not possible. Good judgment will always be a leadership requirement.

Here are my recommended CPU minimums for the most common performance management cycle activities:

One on one – Five CPUs

Annual Review - 25 CPUs

Corrective Action – One CPU

Performance Letter – One CPU

Performance Improvement Plan – Five CPUs

Most leaders practice regular check-ins with their people every six to eight weeks, a scheduled one on one. Among the many topics such as career goals, personal life, what they need help with, and more, should be some conversation around performance. The reason I recommend five CPUs for a one on one is that normally just one or two are important enough to talk about again. Here I assume that you have already had a CPU conversation near the event.

While there is much ado about eliminating annual performance reviews, the truth is that they are still necessary, and for good reason. Unless your argument is that your culture is so CPU rich, and you are so regular with one on ones, that you do not need the formal annual review, I would agree. If not, then the annual review is here to stay. As with one on ones I recommend having plenty of CPUs for an annual review, more than you are going to talk about or notate. This allows for pattern identification and ensures enough examples to justify a promotion recommendation, or the contrary. CPUs are especially crucial for annual reviews since, unlike periodic one on ones, most annual reviews require ratings, and CPUs are ideal for justifying ratings one way or the other. CPUs allow supervisors to assess with impunity.

Necessary parts of the performance management process are corrective actions and improvement plans. While only a small percentage of people ever require one, they are an integral part of helping others succeed. I have seen many people overcome written actions and seen many people not. Either way, making poor performance known to a struggling individual, in writing, is the nicest way to lead. If you have ever fired someone without issuing written action beforehand you understand just how mean this is.

Written action makes poor performance real. At the end of the line, it is also proof that you tried to help the person and works to keep you and the company safe from most types of litigation. CPUs, as the building blocks of performance, provide the most objective data as to how the person behaved and, as important, how they should behave moving forward to be successful. CPUs turn a simple critique such as, “They have a bad attitude,” into something more specific and meaningful such as, “Rick answered the phone without using the script, in a depressed tone, and was curt with the customer. He did not try to book a future appointment, as he has been trained.”

Staring into the darkness, into a void, looking for a tiny refraction of light. This is what scientists, astronomers, and leaders do. They use different instruments and spend time in different places, but all seek discovery of the building blocks of their respective fields. Great leaders, people who truly want the best for others, never stop looking for ways to help them improve. That tiny refraction of light is behavior, mechanics, approach, speed, accuracy, tone of voice, and more. A leader must commit to spending their time and attention executing CPUs. There is no shortcut. So, get in your “performatory” and look through your “behaviorscope.” Make the discovery of a lifetime, and then teach others how to do the same. 

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