Learn how to encourage and develop your staff into a high-performing team.

1. Managing staff for
high performance
There is no ‘i’ in ‘team’
By James Price, BBM, FAIM

2. Table
of
Contents
Introduction
...........................................................................................................
3
New
research
offers
people
performance
insights
................................................................................
4
What
have
we
learned
from
these
discoveries?
.....................................................................................
6
Practical
steps
for
achieving
high
performance
....................................................................................
7
Chapter
1:
Dynamic
Performance
Checklist
............................................................
8
1)
Objective
and
Outcome
...............................................................................................................................
9
2)
Strengths
and
Weaknesses
.....................................................................................................................
10
3)
Risks
..................................................................................................................................................................
11
4)
Expectations
..................................................................................................................................................
12
5)
Question
and
Check
....................................................................................................................................
13
6)
Monitor
and
Feedback
..............................................................................................................................
14
Chapter
2:
The
Performance
in
Review
process
....................................................
15
How
often
do
we
need
to
review
performance?
..................................................................................
15
What
to
cover
in
Performance
in
Review
sessions
.............................................................................
16
How
to
encourage
open
communication
...............................................................................................
17
Reaching
a
resolution
–
ensuring
both
parties
are
genuinely
‘engaged’
.................................
18
Document
the
outcome
..................................................................................................................................
19
Chapter
3:
Feedback,
Reward
and
Recognition
....................................................
20
When
and
how
to
reward
performance
.................................................................................................
21
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
Disclaimer: The information contained in this eBook is general in nature
and should not be taken as personal, professional advice.
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3. Introduction
In our last eBook we talked about successful staff recruitment, so the next
step is to discuss how you encourage and develop your staff into a highperforming team.
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.
Sounds like nirvana? It is!
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4. New research offers ‘people performance’ insights
Before we talk about some ways to assist you with people and team
performance in your business, I want to reflect on a couple of interesting
recent discoveries.
The first one relates to two monkeys.
It was recently reported that scientists at Harvard Medical School have
successfully used computer chips to link two monkeys together, allowing one
monkey’s brain to control the other’s body movement.
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.
Why am I talking about this?
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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5. 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.
The researchers created a narcissism ranking by measuring the personal
pronoun usage of each CEO in the Q&A sessions of Analyst Briefings
conducted by companies to announce their earnings.
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.
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6. What have we learned from these discoveries?
There are two messages we can take from these pieces of research
when reflecting on the challenge of developing a high performing team and
managing performance of individuals within that team:
1. People aren’t (yet) machines: People can’t be controlled by
electrodes and their responses
aren’t robotic in nature. They’re
not necessarily predictable.
Despite what these researchers
are doing, which will no doubt
advance medical science, we are
a long way from the point where
the owner of the business comes
in each morning and switches on
the team members at their desks.
Don’t for one minute think you
can treat your team like robots
and expect a predictable and
solid response.
2. There is no ‘i’ in the word
‘team’: Performance and
business value can be strongly
correlated to the way leaders,
owners and managers
communicate and involve their
team in decisions and outcomes.
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7. Practical steps for achieving high performance
Many of you have come from an employee environment at some point in your
careers and will recall the trepidation felt around the so-called ‘performance
review process’.
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.
Typically these meetings are about good performance or poor performance
and they often lead to a discussion related to a salary review, weaknesses,
gaps, training and so on.
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.
It also challenges you to think about this process in different ways.
Let’s use the analogy of a car driving along.
The first chapter of the eBook will focus on looking forward, out the
windscreen, performing as you move along.
As a business, a team or an individual, you’re in the business, you’re in
the car driving along; you and the car need to ‘perform’ as it moves.
This will take the form of a Dynamic Performance Checklist.
The next chapter will be Performance in Review, which is more about
looking in the rear-vision mirror.
The third chapter focuses on Feedback, Recognition and Reward.
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8. Chapter 1: Dynamic Performance
Checklist
The Dynamic Performance Checklist has 6 key elements that you as a
manager, owner or leader in the business need to think about as you go about
your day-to-day activities:
1. Objective and Outcome
2. Strengths and Weaknesses
3. Risks
4. Expectations – communicate, communicate, communicate!
5. Question and Check
6. Monitor and Feedback
Keep this checklist in your mind as you deal with your team and any issues
within the business, and have open discussions and communication with
individuals and teams about these things.
Remember, you’re
looking out the
windscreen – not
the rear-vision
mirror – so you need
to think about this
checklist
‘proactively’.
You don’t want to
think about these
issues as you look in
the rear-vision mirror
to see the size of the
pothole you just hit!
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9. 1) Objective and Outcome
Be clear about your objective up front and share it with the individual
team members who will drive its delivery.
It’s good to share it in verbal communication, but you should also neatly and
simply document it.
Here’s an example.
You’ve had some slow payers, delinquent debts, complaints from
customers about invoices, so you want to establish a new billing and
debtor management process.
As a business owner, think about what’s the objective and outcome
you want to achieve?
Specifically, what does
success look like to you, in
terms of this billing and
debtor process? Make it
clear and document it if
you need to.
If you’re still wrestling with
details, such as payment
terms, then either make a
decision or talk to your team,
get their input and then
decide.
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.
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10. 2) Strengths and Weaknesses
Think about the members of your team who will deliver the outcome that’s
right for the business.
In our example of a billing and debtor management system, clearly your
financial controller, some of your administration team and perhaps your
operations manager are key players in implementing the new process.
Think behind the strengths and weaknesses of each of those players, in terms
of the particular issue you’re dealing with.
Make sure weaknesses
are either
acknowledged or
mitigated in the team
you put together to do
the job.
In our example, your
operations manager ‘Joe’
has a good sense of
which clients will accept a
change in payment terms
or invoice processing, but
lacks understanding of the
administrative detail that
goes into drafting a new
credit application for new
customers.
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.
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11. 3) Risks
Think carefully about the risks you can potentially mitigate through careful
planning and pre-emptive strategies.
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.
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12. 4) Expectations
Ensuring everyone is clear on your expectations of them is the most
important element of the checklist and it all comes down to communication.
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.
Make clear who has the lead role,
what their accountabilities and
responsibilities are, who has the
support role, and what their
contribution needs to be.
We’ve all heard of team politics,
miscommunications and conflicts.
Everyone has an ego, even in the
smallest of teams.
Here’s an example of how you could handle our billing system situation:
“Joe, as operations manager I expect you to deliver this new debtor
management and invoicing process. It’s your responsibility because
ultimately you’re responsible for the overall performance of this
business line.”
“Mary, you have some important responsibilities in the financial and
accounts area and you have a practical understanding of the
processes of our financial system and our other financial requirements.
You’re role here is to ensure the process runs smoothly and the detail
is delivered as part of this new debtor management system. The team
is counting on you to make sure we get a practical solution.”
It’s all about communication, communication, communication.
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13. ‘I told you so’ a sign of poor communication
We talk about this in many eBooks, but performance is enhanced
dramatically, sometimes 5- to 10-fold, by clear, positive, dynamic and preemptive communication.
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?
5) Question and Check
Knowing your team’s individual strengths and weaknesses, you need to help
them achieve the outcomes you’ve articulated by questioning and checking
their progress.
Remember, we’re not looking in the rear-vision mirror, we’re looking ahead.
Our debtor management example may include a number of phases with
timing milestones established.
Use those as checkpoints to query and check progress.
Every manager is different. You will find your own balance depending on the
risks and issues, strengths and weaknesses of your team.
But remember, you’ve got a responsibility as well, so feel comfortable
objectively questioning progress so you can assist in avoiding any log jams.
However, resist the temptation to ‘do it yourself’ – remember, there is
much more value for the business and the individual team members if they
can deliver the goods!
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14. 6) Monitor and Feedback
Once the outcome is delivered, or starts to be delivered, don’t leave it too
late to monitor the implementation and provide feedback:
“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?”
“Joe, our existing clients seem to be responding well to our new
invoicing system. Have you heard of any issues with new clients and
the credit application?”
It’s two-way feedback. You’re not there to hand out gold stars or black
marks; you’re there to engage the team.
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15. Chapter 2: The Performance in Review
process
In our Staff Recruitment eBook we talked about documenting a job position
and the responsibilities and capabilities associated with the role, and making
them very clear to the individual coming in to your organisation.
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.
How often do we need to review performance?
Most companies have an annual performance
review process, others will have quarterly minireviews that lead to the annual review, while
some will have half-yearly reviews.
Some businesses don’t yet have a structured
process of review.
The frequency depends on your business, your
attitude to performance, the individual’s
performance and the need for support and corrective action.
However, if a Dynamic Performance Checklist process is operating well,
then one annual Performance in Review meeting should be sufficient.
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.
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16. What to cover in Performance in Review sessions
When meeting with a team member for a Performance in Review session, the
main discussion points should be:
•
•
•
•
The individual’s core responsibilities;
To what extent they are meeting your expectations;
Their view of how they’re performing;
Your view of how they’re performing.
Let’s use an example of a sales manager who has three responsibilities:
1. Achieve the annual business plan sales targets;
2. Effectively manage and develop a team of sales support staff;
3. Minimise customer complaints and ensure service delivery is to the
business’s quality standards.
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.
The purpose of the meeting is to compare and contrast your ratings.
If you’ve both marked one particular responsibility as ‘expectations not being
met’, that’s a good sign you both have the same expectations and have also
internalised performance against those expectations in a similar way, but
don’t assume. Discuss!
Your first question should be: “So Joe, what do you feel my expectations were
for that particular responsibility?”
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17. Get Joe to talk about those and if he confirms your expectations were clear
and both parties shared them, you can proceed to: “So why weren’t these
expectations met – what was the roadblock or difficulty?”
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.”
How to encourage open communication
There is one key rule in a performance discussion and that is to be
brutally honest and upfront about the performance position, while also being
respectful and open to contrary discussion.
Often managers or
leaders in Performance
in Review discussions
will focus on the
negatives, the underperformance.
Other managers will
focus on the positives
and skate over the
negatives because
they’re not comfortable
with conflict.
A good manager or leader will balance the discussion objectively and
encourage an open, non-confrontational meeting.
If there are positives to be spoken of then don’t hold back because, as an
individual, we all like to know where we’re doing well.
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18. But it’s just as important to give negative feedback so the individual can
improve. Of course, it’s also constructive to give context and reason
associated with this type of feedback, for e.g. “Yes Joe, the economy is
difficult, however meeting our sales target is critical to achieving our business
profit forecast and some of our competitors seem to be making ground despite
the economy. What is it they are doing better?”
Reaching a resolution – ensuring both parties are
genuinely ‘engaged’
If you as a manager have rated a particular component of the job description
as below expectations and the individual has rated it as exceeding
expectations, hey presto, you’ve got a problem.
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.
As a manager or business owner leading the Performance in Review
discussion you will often need to check and confirm that both parties (you and
the individual) are fully engaged in the issue and genuinely (not superficially)
interested and committed to resolving it constructively – remember, spinning
wheels does achieve anything but a mess and black smoke!
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19. Document the outcome
Critical to Performance in Review discussions is to create a brief summary
document which includes:
•
•
•
Both parties’ ratings
of the responsibilities;
A brief summary of
each issue covered;
Any mutually agreed
action points to
address belowexpectation
performance (see more
details later in this
eBook).
You should both get a copy
and both sign off on it.
It doesn’t need to be reams of paper, but remember, if performance is being
managed well these Performance in Review sessions are quite few and far
between. Therefore it’s good to have a document base to go back to as
context for the next session.
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20. Chapter 3: Feedback, Reward and
Recognition
As business owners, we should want to reward excellence.
You’ll notice in our rating scale we
talk about levels of performance
that exceed expectations. This is so
we may consider offering bonuses
and rewards over and above a
market-based salary and conditions,
based on clear and agreed
parameters.
There are many companies who
simply offer an ex-gratia bonus, for
e.g. at Christmas they pay their staff
$5000 each, or another such
amount.
I’m not suggesting that’s not
appropriate, as it depends entirely
on the culture of the business. But,
ideally, a bonus or reward over
and above normal salary and
conditions should be based
around some simple parameters.
We won’t go into the detail of those
in this eBook, but there are a couple of key parameters to consider, including:
•
•
the threshold over agreed performance, and
the extent of the individual’s performance versus the team or
overall business’s performance.
Again, a well-planned reward and recognition system within a business will
nut that out and have a policy and approach.
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21. It’s often better to ensure a reward reflects not just individual performance but
team and business performance, as ultimately one individual doesn’t make
a team or, for that matter, a business with sustainable value.
When and how to reward performance
Many listed companies have bonus systems that are based on both shortand long-term performance. The concept is that the best thing for
shareholders is delivering results and exceeding targets over a longer term
period, rather than just rewarding on volatility.
Feedback, reward and
recognition of
performance can come in
a number of ways, but
whatever way you decide,
make sure you have an
objective basis on which to
award feedback and
recognition.
Forms of reward and recognition include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
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.
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22. Remember, the culture of ‘we, our, us’ has shown a powerful correlation
between engaging your team and driving high performance.
There is no ‘i’ in ‘team’, but acknowledging the performance of an
individual in a team by thanking them for having met and exceeding
expectations is a critical element to good business culture and good
business performance.
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.
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23. Chapter 4: Strategies for turning
around poor staff performance
Remember the Dynamic Performance Checklist we discussed earlier? If this
process is working well there is minimal requirement for corrective action.
However, as humans we are fallible and there is always room for
improvement, as well as issues that can lead to performance below
expectations.
1) Make sure the individual ‘engages’ on their
weaknesses
Does the individual explicitly
acknowledge there is an issue with
their performance and this issue relates
to the way in which they are going about
their role, or their skills and capabilities in
delivering to the role?
Remember, we all have strengths and
weaknesses, but most of us don’t easily
like to acknowledge our weaknesses.
To get beyond poor performance and
arrest it, however, one must first ‘engage’ on the weakness and the issues
that may be limiting their ability to perform to your expectations.
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”.
This requires discussion, self-examination, buy-in and a focus on how
the individual or team performance is limiting the business, rather than
a personal performance assassination or persecution of the individual.
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24. 2) Fulfil your responsibilities to your team members
As a manager, acknowledge your role in assisting the individual to address
their performance.
Often these issues of poor performance are not just a singular issue – they’re
connected to other things.
Your role as a manager is to remove those roadblocks or recognise the
connections that will assist the individual in enhancing their performance.
Remember, you’re not there to persecute the individual for poor
performance. You’re there to assist the individual reach their optimum
potential and, in doing so, perform to the business’s expectations.
3) Create a threshold point or a ‘contract to engage’
Here’s an analogy:
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.
The analogy means:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Are your expectations aligned?
Have you clarified your objectives and outcomes?
Have you talked about strengths, weaknesses, extraneous factors
impacting performance, and risks?
Have you set a time frame and some measurement points to see
improvements?
Have you agreed some assistance, training or mentoring to aid in
returning performance to expectations?
Do you feel (objectively) that you and the business AND the individual
have/will benefit from the discussion/agreed actions?
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25. If you’re both committed to jumping on the same boat and charting the same
course, then get cracking and go back to the Dynamic Performance
Checklist approach so you, as a manager, can actively monitor what is
happening.
If you’re not both happy to get on the boat, and your Performance in Review
session discovers that, don’t let it lie.
4) Be ready to resolve issues – either way!
If an individual is saying ‘there’s no way I can get on that boat because there
is no way I can do what you want me to do’, then you as a manager have to
listen carefully to their objections and decide where the issue lies.
•
Is it a business or process issue? Are they being asked to perform
tasks they don’t have the resources or time to perform?
•
Are there legitimate things you can do to enhance the
environment to allow this individual to act in an optimum way to reach
their potential and drive the business forward? Are there other
appropriate ways to achieve the same objective?
•
Or does the individual simply refuse to accept they have some
shortcomings they’re not prepared to address?
As a manager you have to give that process time to discover, but not too
much time.
Do your homework
While these Performance in Review sessions and related discussions on poor
performance are often sensitive, ‘behind closed doors discussions’, one
golden rule is not to act in isolation.
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.
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26. If you find there is more to the issue than just poor performance by the
individual, then the business needs to act to refine the role
or support the individual.
If you find you’re dealing with an intransigent individual who
may be a ‘square peg in a round hole’, you need to have a
discussion about exiting the organisation or finding other
roles within the business that may be more appropriate for
their skills and capabilities.
Your actions will affect more than just the individual
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 choose to condone poor performance, then you’re saying a lot
about your expectations for the business to other team members.
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’.
Remember there is no ‘i’ in ‘team’, and there is no ‘team’ in ‘individual’.
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