Telling All the Truth Series 4 | Performance: You’re Doing it Wrong
My sister and her husband probably got married because she could talk about football; they had the same answer to the question, “Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip?” and he could finish her movie dialogue sentence from the 80s film Mister Mom: “You’re doing it wrong! North to drop off, South to pick up!”
When it comes to performance management, most of us are doing it wrong!
If you’re in a leadership role, part of your job is getting things done through others. Your team, your employees, and your colleagues are there to help you accomplish the goals you’ve set or that your organization has set for you. Early in my business career, I wanted to build a big team to expand my reach and impact. One of my trusted colleagues said, “This will change everything about how you do your work,” I thought: what’s the big deal?
Managing the performance of others is a big deal; sometimes, it seems simple, and sometimes it feels incredibly complicated. One thing new supervisors often underestimate is that it’s an ongoing conversation and relationship. You don’t just give orders; expect people to carry them out and sit back and watch. All relationships need tending; performance relationships often need coaching, mentoring, and managing.
First, having a framework to think about performance and how to set people up for success is truly helpful. There are Six Keys to managing performance:
Hire For Talent: the most proactive thing you can do to make performance consistent and sound is to hire the right person for the job!
Set Clear Expectations: every person in every job needs written performance expectations (not a job description, which is used to recruit) that let them know what doing a good job looks like and how they’ll be evaluated.
Teach to Ableness: provide different types of development: training, resources, coaching, on-the-job, virtual, etc., so that the skills are supported and reinforced. Even if someone has done the job elsewhere, it doesn’t mean they’ve worked for you, your team, or your company.
Provide Regular, Small-Dose Feedback: you cannot manage performance with an annual review. You cannot manage performance with an “open door policy.” People need to have regular, small conversations that let them know how things are going well and where to improve. They also need to self-assess to adjust and calibrate their performance.
Remove Obstacles: don’t waste precious time trying to motivate people. They encourage themselves when obstacles to motivation are removed. Your job is to set clear expectations, provide support, and remove the things that hinder success.
Develop Your People: people want and need to learn and grow, and performance remains consistent and improving when we develop our team. It also encourages loyalty and commitment because people feel we invest in them and their careers.
For starters, assess yourself by considering the six keys above. How would you rate yourself?
3: I do a really good job with this!
2: I’m pretty good at this but could use improvement or better consistency.
1: I’m really not doing this, or I’m not great at it.
Building on your strengths and identifying your challenges can help you assess the gaps in your performance management practices. Next month, we’ll dive deeper into the truth about the most important things you can do to improve performance now!
Missed the first 3 articles in this series? Catch up here…
Telling All the Truth: A Series
Telling All the Truth Series 2 | People Can Change
Telling All the Truth Series 3 | Mending What’s Broken
Learn more about the topics discussed in the Telling All the Truth Series…
Check out the following recommended Influencing Option Leadership programs:
Fearless & Fair Communication
Performance Coaching and Influencing program
