Instead, he asked the employees to pair up, review their colleague's book, and present to the group the good points of that book. "At the end, they had tremendous ideas to improve their fact books," she says. "It was done in a very positive, constructive way. Everybody learned something good from another person. It was a simple thing, but for me it was a great example of how you should do it."

Lescornez' approach certainly took longer, but it yielded more. De Backer anticipates that the sales promoters will do more with the material in their fact books than if their boss dictated the contents to them. But she doubts that Lescornez ever considered the alternative. "I'm sure Philippe never did it any other way."

"He's an inspiring person," says former sales promoter Dieter Van den Brande. "He's funny. He's informal. He makes you challenge yourself."

In his 18 years of managing at Masterfoods (he is so much a company man that his dog is trained to reject a competitor's bone in favor of the Pedigree-brand bone his team markets), Lescornez has built a reputation as someone who will work to accelerate the careers of his people. "He is the one you want to work for," says Van den Brande.

"Evaluations should not be a surprise"

With so much direct coaching, there isn't much drama left for the formal evaluations, which are required at Masterfoods just as they are at many companies. "The formal paper part of it was more like, 'Okay, now we have to do the paper part. We're going to do it together and fill it out, and then you can tell me if you are all right with what I've written down,'" says Demeyer.

"There was no surprise," says Hoke. "It was very, very easy to do because it was exactly what we had done during the year."

"Performance evaluations should not be a surprise," says Lescornez. "If they don't know where they stand before that meeting, there is a big problem. One of the two hasn't been doing his job -- probably the manager."

Van der Weeën says she appreciates Lescornez' ability to understand each person's individual strengths and weaknesses and to ultimately determine the needs of the person he is coaching. "I don't think any of us want to feel [like] I am just a machine being told to 'Sell, sell, sell!' I am a person -- not always perfect," she says.

One of the first things that came to mind when De Backer was asked about Lescornez was a conversation she had with him about a manager's responsibility for an employee's progress. "People often judge other people quickly," she says. "We tend to do that at Masterfoods. But he always says if somebody is not good, you should question yourself as a boss and ask, 'What did I do to improve, to coach, the person, to help him, to teach him?' Always be sure that you did everything that you could."

The 12 Elements of Great Managing

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

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Copyright Ó 2007 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ.  All rights reserved.  Reprinted with permission.  Visit The Gallup Management Journal at http://gmj.gallup.com/

Article from The Gallup Management Journal