Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Managing Staff For High Performance
Managing Staff For High Performance
high performance
There is no ‘i’ in ‘team’
Chapter
4:
Strategies
for
turning
around
poor
staff
performance
.........................
23
1)
Make
sure
the
individual
‘engages’
on
their
weaknesses
..........................................................
23
2)
Fulfil
your
responsibilities
to
your
team
members
......................................................................
24
3)
Create
a
threshold
point
or
a
‘contract
to
engage’
......................................................................
24
4)
Be
ready
to
resolve
issues
–
either
way!
............................................................................................
25
A high-performing team is one where both the individuals and the team as a
whole are performing to their optimum potential.
A high-performing team is aligned and attuned to your vision for where you
want to take the business. They drive the key tasks and aspects of the
business to achieve both its short- and long-term objectives.
Partly inspired by the movie Avatar, the work will hopefully lead to the
development of implants for patients with nerve or spinal cord paralysis.
However, work on humans hasn’t been undertaken yet.
Because we’re discussing teams and individuals and the degree to which a
business owner, leader or manager can influence the actions and reactions of
their team.
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The second discovery relates to a recent study led by Alex Frino, the Dean
of Macquarie Graduate School of Management.
Professor Frino’s team examined the ASX’s top 100 companies and the
correlation between their share performance and their CEO’s ‘narcissism’
level.
CEOs who repeatedly used first person singular pronouns such as ‘I, me, my
and myself’ were higher up the ranking, while those who used terms such as
‘we, us, our and ourselves’ ranked lower on the narcissism scale.
The Australian Financial Review recently revealed the findings of the study,
which showed the more narcissistic a chief executive, the more likely
their share price will lag.
While there were some exceptions, the companies with CEOs who
regularly used terms like ‘we, us and our’, rather than ‘I and me’, tended
to perform better.
These might have been meetings where the boss schedules a one-on-one,
cancels it, reschedules a couple of times, finally meets with you, isn’t
prepared, sits down and talks in generalities – the weather, the team in
general, the business a bit, you a bit – but never really hits the nail on the
head about what are the key issues and expectations.
Some managers do these discussions really well, others are not very
experienced in providing an environment that focuses on the performance of
the business, team and the individual, and how to address any weaknesses or
gaps relative to business and manager expectations.
With that in mind, this eBook is designed to get you thinking about the
performance process from both a team and an individual perspective.
The first chapter of the eBook will focus on looking forward, out the
windscreen, performing as you move along.
Remember, you’re
looking out the
windscreen – not
the rear-vision
mirror – so you need
to think about this
checklist
‘proactively’.
It’s good to share it in verbal communication, but you should also neatly and
simply document it.
Here’s an example.
Good performance always starts from a very clear, concise and contested
objective.
If you’re unclear upfront, then the results will be the same: shady objectives
deliver shady results.
Think behind the strengths and weaknesses of each of those players, in terms
of the particular issue you’re dealing with.
Acknowledge that directly with Joe and indicate that, because he hasn’t got
the strength in that area, you’ve asked an administrator to assist him.
Talk to your team members about those risks and get their views.
In our new billing system example, there may be a risk payments will go
astray because your bank account details will be changed as part of the
process and customers will be confused about what account to use,
negatively impacting cash flow.
These are all risks, however they can be managed and mitigated if
shared with the team and the team can give input about how these things
can be dealt with.
Back at step one you needed to make clear your expectations regarding the
Objective and Outcome.
You also need to ensure each individual understands their role in the
process.
Here’s an example of how you could handle our billing system situation:
If you find yourself reflecting on someone’s performance and saying ‘I told you
so, this shouldn’t have happened’, it usually means you or their manager
didn’t successfully communicate your expectations.
So, before blame is attributed, ask yourself: Did you make your
expectations clear at the outset?
Remember, we’re not looking in the rear-vision mirror, we’re looking ahead.
Every manager is different. You will find your own balance depending on the
risks and issues, strengths and weaknesses of your team.
“Mary, I’m really happy with the result. We’ve had our first month on the
new system and it seems to be working in a practical, commercial way.
I know you’ve had a few hiccups but are you happy with how it’s going?”
It’s two-way feedback. You’re not there to hand out gold stars or black
marks; you’re there to engage the team.
Performance in Review is about taking stock of how the individual and the
team they’re operating in is performing to those original responsibilities over
the longer term. It’s an opportunity to review and reflect, in the rear-vision
mirror, how things are going.
Our goal here is to ensure managers and team supervisors, owners and
leaders in a business, understand team high performance is a day-to-day,
minute-by-minute phenomenon.
You don’t mark a day or an hour in the calendar once a quarter to think about
performance. If you think like that, chances are you will never have a
high-performing team.
Prior to the meeting you should give the sales manager a rating for each
of those responsibilities, using a simple scoring system:
1 = Exceeds expectations
2 = Meets expectations
3 = Below expectations
(The reason for this simple scoring system is that larger scoring parameters
can become a bit ‘grey’ as to how the individual has or hasn’t performed.)
As preparation for the meeting, the individual should also use this same
scale to rate their performance against their responsibilities.
Your first question should be: “So Joe, what do you feel my expectations were
for that particular responsibility?”
Joe may say: “Firstly the market has been tough. We’ve had a number of
prospects but we haven’t been able to deliver the sales targets because the
economy has been difficult.
“Secondly, my role stretches across service and sales. I have to say I’ve been
pulled in the service direction because of a number of customer complaints
and I haven’t given enough attention to the sales area.”
Often managers or
leaders in Performance
in Review discussions
will focus on the
negatives, the under-
performance.
It’s called ‘expectation mismatch’ and you mustn’t leave the session without
engaging on that issue and reaching a resolution.
Of course, the first question to ask is: “So Joe, what did you feel were my
expectations and objectives in terms of this responsibility?”
Get to the bottom of where the mismatch in communication is, then unpack
the issues around why things aren’t going the way they should.
• A bonus payment;
• A voucher for a product or service that may be of interest to the
individual;
• A mix of bonus and some form of equity in the business;
• Professional development funded by the business;
• Offering the individual additional responsibilities to work on a project
that is valuable both for the business and their future development;
• A simple affirmation and acknowledgement of the individual’s
contribution to the business, both personally and in front of their team.
We’ll talk about Business Culture in a future eBook, but for now I’ll just say
that rewarding individual and team successes, taking on board the ideas
of your team and implementing them, are essential steps in building a
successful culture of dynamic ideas generation, feedback and delivery.
To ‘engage’ the individual must not be defensive but rather accept that what
you’re saying is correct, i.e. “my performance is below expectations and,
based on our conversation, I need to do XYZ to improve”.
Often these issues of poor performance are not just a singular issue – they’re
connected to other things.
You and the individual staff member are standing on the jetty. The boat
is about to come in. You and the individual need to decide if you’re both
prepared to get on board the same boat and chart the course to
improved performance.
If you’re not both happy to get on the boat, and your Performance in Review
session discovers that, don’t let it lie.
Do your homework
Talk to other team members and enlist their advice and feedback on the
drivers and issues relating to performance. This needs to be done sensitively,
but homework is important in getting an effective and lasting result.
Remember, poor performance is not just about an individual; it’s about a team
and the business.
How you choose to engage on poor performance and also how you deal with
it will often be watched closely by your broader team.
If you don’t deal with an individual who is poorly performing with respect and
in a professional and fair way, you’re also indicating a lot to other team
members in your business about ‘how things are done’.