Objective: To develop a compelling argument to use to influence your company's senior leadership to continue with the existing traditional approach for managing performance, an approach that capitalizes on setting strong performance expectations and on frequent contact to drive performance.

Assignment: Prepare a guideline for you and other managers to use to convince your Senior Leadership including Senior HR Leadership to continue with the existing approach to managing performance and to reject the coaching approach concepts that have recently been introduced.

Your Guideline must present a compelling business case to continue with the existing approach. This must include the value realized from the current approach.

It must show how the traditional demanding approach with very strong performance expectations, driven through constant attention by each manager with each employee - pushing people on a daily basis, combined with periodically meeting with each employee and telling them the consequences (such as losing their job) for failing to meet performance expectations may have.

Your guideline must effectively address and provide a strong basis for rejecting the coaching approach and employee development concepts that have been pushed in recent months.

Demonstrate how these "soft" coaching ideas really may sound great but when implemented actually work against building engagement and strong performance results.

Your argument must clearly demonstrate that although some companies have had success with a coaching approach for performance management that the more rigorous approach used in the past is much more effective and much easier to implement, taking less time, and capitalizing on the strong commanding approach many of the managers currently use. Emphasize how a little "fear" can be a great motivator.

Consider this a critical point in your company's history. In the last six months a few of the newer leaders have been advocating for this "coaching" approach to most everything - it is in your view clearly influencing people in the wrong way - frankly it is "hoowey", just more HR mumbo jumbo that has no real value in the company's demanding environment.

You are convinced you need tough people at all levels in order to compete in today's business world and the coaching approach to performance management is just plain silly.