The New Performance Environment - Performance Connections
The old performance management model of the manager setting goals, establishing expectations and giving semi- and or annual performance reviews with little or no feedback along the way is an ineffective performance model. True performance is all about clarity, alignment, action and feedback.
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Let's get straight into what a performance connection accomplishes.
New Expectations
Expected Accomplishments
Expected Challenges
Opportunities to Accelerate or Change
Barriers to Success
What’s Next to Accomplish Success
You should be able to articulate all of these after each performance connection.
Now imagine it's 1999 and you're a young buyer for an up and coming retailer. You just had your first annual review and had glowing remarks from your three different superiors. You have met all your annual goals and have been spot on with the purchases for your first 8 months on the job. Your're told, "Just keep doing what you're doing!" And that's what you do. Over the entire next year you continue what had made you such a company hit in your first annual review. You have been riding high from that review and are looking forward to your second annual review, only this time you are completely caught off guard. The same superiors that had been singing your praises last year are now utterly dissappointed with the work you have done over the past year. How could this be? You did exactly what you were told to do and hadn't been told anything to the contrary. You're told that you just aren't performing like you have been expected to and you need to pick it up. Six months later and you're let go. Not only do you have to go in search of a new job, but the retailer that put the initial effort into you to train you now has to spend time and resources to find and train a new buyer. It's a lose-lose scenario.
Could this have been prevented? Absolutely. This young buyer didn't all of the sudden lose her ability to purchase efficiently and effectively. A lack of communication and feedback is what created this scenario, a costly disservice to both the employee and the employer.
And this is where the performance connection comes in.
The old performance management model of the manager setting goals, establishing expectations and giving semi- and or annual performance reviews with little or no feedback along the way is an ineffective performance model, and it has been for over 40 years. It is your performance and your career, and now it is time to take control of it. It is time to flip the performance model. True performance is all about clarity, alignment, action and feedback. We do this by establishing and leading ongoing performance connections with our superiors.
Truly sustaining that next level of performance success in this complex and ever-changing business environment requires ongoing performance connections, not just once or twice a year review cycles.
These connections are employee-led, not manager-led, and consist of 15 to 20 minute conversations, held every four to six weeks. They establish an ongoing dialogue of feedback focused on performance clarity, alignment and accountability, with a goal of mutually agreed upon performance expectations.
If you invest time in conducting these performance connections consistently and frequently there should be no surprises at the end of the year. You gain and provide clarity along the way and you ensure that you stay aligned and connected on your performance. In the end, you and your leader should leave with greater performance clarity, complete alignment, clear accountability on your commitments, and an understanding of what to expect and the future desired impact. You walk away from each connection with all of the items mentioned at the beginning, answered.
Always remember, it's your performance and your career. You can take control of it.
And for more detailed information about how to lead your own performance be sure to check out our Lead Where You Are book or online training! Both have greater insights and give you an actual plan to begin leading where you are.
For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!
The Top 5 Challenges to Online Training (And How to Solve Them)
As creators, sellers and users of online training, we often come up against naysayers who bring excellent issues to the table about various aspects of online training. Some we hear are good points and some are completely unfounded, however, no matter the issues, we have solutions for each of them. Here are the top five challenges we have found with online training and some solutions to tackle them.
As creators, sellers and users of online training, we often come up against naysayers who bring excellent issues to the table about various aspects of online training. Some we hear are good points and some are completely unfounded, however, no matter the issues, we have solutions for each of them. Here are the top five challenges we have found with online training and some solutions to tackle them.
Issue #1 - Going online just means more distractions.
While we can't eliminate distractions, we can limit their ability to impact a learner by using a few simple techniques. First of all, it is important to set a deadline. You set a deadline for in-person trainings (the person has to attend the training and stay until completion), so why shouldn't you set a deadline for online training completions? Let the learner know approximately how long the course will take and give them a date it needs to be completed by. And secondly, courses should be broken up into short, manageable segments where a learner can find the time to complete them on his or her schedule. This is one of the biggests benefits of online training, flexibility.
Issue #2 - Online courses have low Impact.
If this is true, then the course was either not well-thoughout or designed poorly. Online courses should be designed to align with an organizations objectives. Too many times we have seen where an organization and the author of the course get so focused on the online experience, the interactions and all the bells and whistles a course can contain, but completely forget to make sure the course has the proper content and structure that will convey the information needed. This step of content and structure is crucial to having an effective course, the bells and whistles can come later. In addition to this, measuring the course success and content retention is important. By installing short, checkpoint quizzes within the course and measuring the specific objectives after the course has been taken, you can be certain the course will have a high impact on the organization.
Issue #3 - Courses are mediocre and boring.
This one typically makes us laugh. Online courses don't have to be boring, it's as simple as that. And there is a difference between dry content and a boring course. Through our own experience, we know that even dry content can be made into an interesting course. By building animations, interactions, games and quizzes into a course, the content and truly come to life. Bulletpointed lists don't have to be bulletpointed lists in an online course, we promise. By bringing just a little creativity, an online course can be every bit as engaging as any in-person training. And even more so if the trainer is one who just stands there and drones on.
Issue #4 - Technical difficulties associated with going online.
Technical issues happen, but they can be mitigated to a certain extent. One way to do this is by using a proven application to deliver the training such as a high quality LMS or intranet. The high quality LMS has an added perk of easy tracking and reporting. Another way to mitigate some of the techincal difficulties is to offer a course that works on multiple devices and operating systems. This offers a learner the ability to pick which device they are most comfortable with, giving less of a chance for any techincal difficulties. And the last way to mitigate techincal difficulties is to choose a learning solutions partner that has excellent customer service and who understands the importance of not only getting the training up and running, but also keeping it updated and running smoothly.
Issue #5 - Online training has a lack of in-person interaction.
In-person interaction for online training is always going to be a concern, but in today's environment we have been provided with many excellent 'plan b' options that that can help with the lack of person-to-person interaction. From online conferencing applications such as Zoom and Google Meet, to team communication and collaboration applications such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Hangout, these alternatives to in-person interaction provide a great opportunity to stay connected. Nothing can fully replace in-person interactions, but there are definitely some good alternatives.
As you can see, there are some challenges to overcome with online training, but we have found that they can all be solved in one way or another. At Cornerstone Learning, we are an employee engagement consultancy at our core, and just happen to have the ability to create online training. So we know what best engages your people. The courses we build are high quality, highly engaging and effective. And if you're in need of a high quality LMS without the high price tag, we have an excellent solution for that as well.
You bring the training, we transform it. Let us be your online training partner. Your new and existing employees get the training they need in a safer and effective format. Let us help you make the switch.
We are an employee engagement consultancy at our core with the ability to develop online training, so we know what truly engages your people more than a standard online training authoring company. Contact us today at info@cornerstonelearning.com and let us partner with you to transform your training.
The New Performance Environment - Negativity Island
The Island of Negativity is where negative people go to thrive. And if not dealt with quickly and in a positive way, just one negative person can destroy an entire performance environment, so we need to be prepared to respond.
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The Island of Negativity is where negative people go to thrive. And if not dealt with quickly and in a positive way, just one negative person can destroy an entire performance environment. Their attempts to expand their island’s territorial boundaries by recruiting negative converts to join them become successful and the islands population begins to grow exponentially. These negative individuals and their eventual island mates are the ones who are always sitting around, letting things happen to them. They are the victims. They have made making excuses, placing blame, and justifying failure a core competency.
Negativity is one of the great detractors to anyone or any organization's path to success, so we need to be prepared to respond when we begin to hear statements like "That will never work.", "It's not my fault." and "That's just the way it is." We do this first by keeping focused on making things happen, no matter what. Once we have our self-discipline we begin to respond to those negative statements with positive ones such as "How can I help?", "What can we do to make this situation better?" and "Let's figure out some options." By responding with statements like this we don't give the negative individual what they want most, a friend on their island.
This individual, through our positive actions, will eventually have to make a choice as the island begins to gets lonelier and lonelier. Either leave the island or go to another organization that allows for Negativity Island to grow. And this is the exact outcome we want. Either the individual will change their behaviors and become a positive force within our organization or they can go and be disruptive in another.
As an individual we always need to remember: We control what we can control, influence what we can influence and when we can't control or influence, we keep moving and making things happen.
Join us next week as we discover the cure for the dreaded annual review cycle - Performance Connections.
And for more detailed information about how to lead your own performance be sure to check out our Lead Where You Are book or online training! Both have greater insights and give you an actual plan to begin leading where you are.
For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!
Taking Stock of Ourselves (Or Our Leaders)
There are many 360's out there and most of them measure that same leadership competencies and traits that we've been measuring over the past 30 years. But our organizations and our leaders have evolved. It’s time to measure the now.
Each year, and even more so this year, it is important to take stock of how we are doing as leaders, or as an organization, how our leaders are doing. 360s are an important tool for gaining these insights. When a leader receives feedback from every direction, they gain perspective that helps them understand how people feel about working with them. This well-rounded view of their strengths and weaknesses gives them the ability focus on the right areas to grow, improve and succeed.
There are many 360's out there and most of them measure the same leadership competencies and traits that we've been measuring over the past 30 years. But our organizations and our leaders have evolved. Leadership is no longer about planning, directing, controlling and managing. As leaders, our jobs should be concentrated on inspring, enabling, facilitating and developing. And this is where our LeadView 360 comes in and how we're different than other 360's measuring the past. It's time to measure the now.
What differentiates our 360?
The LeadView 360™ is focused less on generic leadership or organizational skills and behaviors and truly hones in on engaged leadership and collaboration, today's leadership. It focuses on a leaders ability to engage their team, create an environment of accountability and transparency and leverage change agility.
Our philosophy is that leadership should be consistent to your entire sphere of influence - every leader no matter where they are in the organization should have consistent leadership, not situational leadership. We don't break out results based on roles of evaluators. This provides accountability no matter the segment of the population being asked to evaluate.
What We Measure
The skill set and behaviors of the evolved leader. The focus is on creating environments of engaged performance and accountability through enterprise-wide leadership, not just functional.
Areas of Measurment:
Credibility and Trust
Enterprise Leadership
Leadership Effectiveness
Coaching
Creativity and Innovation
Change Agility
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Communication
Conflict Resolution
Broadening Interests
Strategic Thinking and Acumen
Written Comments
Feedback
We assist in turning the 360 feedback into change. A 360 without any insights can easily do more damage than good. That's why we provide a debrief of the results with one of our performance advisors who have been trained to give these insights. And don't worry, the debrief is already baked into the cost of the 360, so no additional fees apply for that!
Contact us today to learn more about how our LeadView 360™ can help you or your organization gain the needed insights to succeed and turn those insights into change.
If you are interested in a fully-customized 360 to be used organization-wide, we can offer a highly cost-effective option for that as well and would love to discuss this option with you.
The New Performance Environment - How to Own Your Own Performance
The true measure of any organization and its people are the consistent results they deliver and how those results are achieved. It creates an opportunity to shift the old performance model to one where we are leading our own performance. It is your performance, your impact, and your career in your control.
Subscribe to the Lead Where You Are Podcast on all your favorite streaming outlets! Simply click one of the buttons below.
The true measure of any organization and its people are the consistent results they deliver and how those results are achieved. It creates an opportunity to shift the old performance model to one where we are leading our own performance. It is your performance, your impact, and your career in your control. Shifting to proactively accepting more responsibility, actively pursuing personal and team performance, and taking control of performance activities and results may not completely eliminate surprises, but it certainly allows you to lead the conversation, control the development activities, and take more ownership of the results.
Making the shift to leading your own performance versus performance that is leader managed or just annually reviewed sounds great, but how do we get there? By proactively leading where you are and developing a personal blueprint for your personal performance actions and behaviors that are aligned to your team’s and organization’s culture, direction and priorities.
This blueprint starts with establishing a foundation of greater awareness by creating and cultivating enhanced organization, situational and self-awareness. From there, you create a framework for focused development that assists in enhancing your professional eligibility (your required job and technical skills), suitability (your natural behavioral traits and characteristics matched to your position) and viability (the actual impact of both your eligibility and suitability combined). Then, ongoing reinforcement and continual enhancements allow you to reach your full potential while increasing your organizational value and relevance.
Once the foundation, framework, and enhancements have been set, establishing an ongoing “performance connection” is the key to evolving and shifting the performance model from leader-directed, mid-year and end-of-year performance reviews to employee-led performance connections that pursue performance. We'll discuss this in much more detail in a few weeks.
If you follow your performance blueprint, by the end of the year there will be no need for managing performance. You will have been enabling and leading your performance all year long. It is your performance, your impact, and your career in your control.
Join us next week as we discuss Negativity Island and the effect just one negative person can have on an organization.
And for more detailed information about how to lead your own performance be sure to check out our Lead Where You Are book or online training! Both have greater insights and give you an actual plan to begin leading where you are.
For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!
The New Performance Environment - Employee-Led
Employee-Led performance is the key to shifting performance results from top-down driven to one that is employee owned, leader supported and enabled by the organization.
“The problem with specifying the method along with the goal is one of diminished control. Provide your people with the objective and let them figure out the method.”
― L. David Marquet, Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders
In a traditional performance environment, much of the role and responsibility for ensuring performance results, conducting performance feedback, developing accountability and providing effective change management resides with formal leaders in the organization. In addition, training focused on developing core leadership skills, activities and behaviors is generally reserved for these leaders and not the general employee population.
This leader-led performance model, unfortunately, limits true performance ownership and we limit the potential and impact of having everyone no matter what their title or position lead from where they are.
Employee-Led performance is the key to shifting performance results from top-down driven to one that is employee owned, leader supported and enabled by the organization. As a foundation, it is important for an organization to create a baseline of expected leadership skills, activities and behaviors that everyone from senior leadership to entry level individual contributors understand and exhibit. This creates a foundation of common leadership expectations and a “language” of leadership that defines your organization.
Of course, roles and responsibilities vary and the level of leadership impact changes but developing a core set of leadership competencies in everyone and giving control and responsibilities to create ownership is critical to tapping into and leveraging the value of every employee leading where they are.
Tips for implementing an employee-led performance environment:
Create awareness and set an expectation that everyone can and should lead where they are.
Support developing the leader in everyone with coaching and training.
Establish cross-functional employee-led teams chartered to improve a specific issue or process. Provide resources and support the team. Give the goal, not the method.
Reward and recognize employee-led success.
Come back next week as we discuss how to own your own performance!
If you’re looking for help in administering your employee survey, or just need help in building an effective survey question list, don’t hesitate to contact us! We’re here to enable your success.
