Evaluations

When it comes to evaluations, don’t wait until the end of the year to have yours. People need ongoing encouragement and check ins to ensure that they are improving what was talked about and waiting for a yearly review will not be in anyone’s best interests. To make the review process more smooth have more ongoing discussions to prevent any problems from surfacing later. No one likes surprises when they could have learned about it, and changed it, earlier.

 

It is also important to remember that what gets measured gets changed. If you have an employee with a poor attitude, but who performs well and the only that is measured are sales, then they will probably not change their attitude. If the attitude needs changing, make it a larger part of the weighted total.

 

Set specific goals. Make sure to really get to know the person, what their job is, what they think their job is and what goals they have. Use this information to customize their job description to accurately reflect them as an individual. Then, set specific goals for them to achieve and measure that progress on an ongoing basis. When people feel that they are understood and involved in the process, they are more likely to succeed.

 

Align their personal goals with organizational strategy. Once their job has been customized to reflect them and you know what their personal and career goals are, you can put that in context to the larger strategy. Work with them to see how their performance interacts with the organization. This can create better engagement and make them feel more valued in their role when they see how it relates to the bigger picture.

 

The review process is not meant to be done only once or twice a year. It is a time to really discuss the job, the concerns and work together to solve problems on an ongoing basis. As people and relationships grow, so too should the process. Waiting until the next review to let someone know how they are doing is not going to improve trust, efficiency or success for anyone. Getting to know people, their insights, their values and their goals and working with them consistently will have a positive impact on everyone.

Coaching and accountability

There was an article that was published today in Precision Nutrition that discussed why people struggle to attain the look they want.

Even though people are educated, eat well,  and exercise, they are not always able to achieve their fitness goals.

Part of the problem is the fact that people are not accountable to anyone, and therefore, are not working hard enough to achieve them. Something happens to derail them, and these common setbacks make it harder for them to realize their ideal version of themselves.

Achieving the body you have always wanted is very hard; it requires commitment, determination, hard work, clean eating and adequate recovery. If you are finding it hard to achieve your goals, then it may be time to try to recruit others to your cause.

Find a workout buddy. Having to meet someone at the gym who has similar goals to your own can increase your chances of following through on a workout.

Hire a coach. There are plenty of options for this one: personal trainer/small groups/online or virtual coaching. The main thing is that someone else is overseeing your plan and checking in with you to check on your compliance.

Partner. The nutritional aspect of your plan is often the hardest, and it is harder when you are busy, have a family to worry about and struggle to make food. Talking to your partner about your goals and getting their support can be a huge weight off your shoulders. That person is there with you every day keeping you on track, and may even join you in your adoption of a healthy lifestyle.

Reaching your goals is possible, but it takes hard work and proper coaching. Working with others can help you get there, and stay there.

Respect

In an article in the Harvard Business Journal, the author notes that 50% of employees do not feel respected by their bosses. This directly translates into poorer employee engagement and performance.

 

The simple act of respecting those that you work with, and who work for you, will increase the productivity of the staff. The challenge is that some managers may not be aware that they are not respecting their staff.

 

It is important to respect those you work with and make the effort to treat them how they want to be treated. If you are not sure how your actions are perceived, ask a trusted colleague or mentor to keep an eye out for you. When you learn how your actions affect others, it can be easier to change.

Characteristics of High Performance Organizations

I just read a paper that attempted to determine the factors that create a high performance organization. They author's definition of high performance organization is 'an organization that achieves financial and non-financial results that are exceedingly better that those of its peer group over a period of time of five years or more, by focusing in a disciplined way on that what really matters to the organization'.
Based on the literature review of over 200 articles, the author categorized the factors that influenced success. Those organizations that were high performing had the following characteristics in common:
Autonomy 
1. The organisation has a flat structure: there are few hierarchical layers.
2. In the organisation people of different organisational units can easily cooperate.
3. The management of the organisation allows experiments.
4. The organisation has an open culture.
5. In the organisation organisational members have the freedom to decide and act.
Continuous Improvement and Renewal
 6. The organisation has adopted a strategy that clearly sets it apart from other organisations.
7. In the organisation processes are continuously improved.
8. In the organisation processes are continuously simplified.
9.  In the organisation processes are continuously aligned.
10. In the organisation what matters to the organisation's performance is explicitly reported.
11. In the organisation both financial and non-financial information is reported to organisational members.
36.  The organisation continuously innovates its core competencies.
37.  The organisation continuously innovates its products, processes and services.
Openness and Action Orientation 
12.  Management of the organisation frequently engages in a dialogue with employees.
13.  Organisational members spend much time on communication, knowledge exchange and learning.
14.  Organisational members are involved in important processes. 26.  Management of the organisation allows mistakes to be made.
29.  Management of the organisation welcomes change.
30.  The organisation is performance driven.
Management Quality 
15.  Management of the organisation is trusted by organisational members.
16.  Management of the organisation has integrity.
17.  Management of the organisation is a role model for organisational members.
18.  Management of the organisation applies fast decision making.
19.  Management of the organisation applies fast action taking.
20.  Management of the organisation coaches organisational members to achieve better results.
21.  Management of the organisation focuses on achieving results.
22.  Management of the organisation is very effective.
23.  Management of the organisation applies strong leadership.
24.  Management of the organisation is confident.
25.  Management of the organisation is decisive with regard to non-performers.
31.  The management of the organisation always holds organisational members responsible for their results.
Workforce Quality 
27.  The management of the organisation inspires organisational members to accomplish extraordinary results.
28.  Organisational members are trained to be resilient and flexible.
31.  The management of the organisation always holds organisational members responsible for their results.
34.  The organisation has a diverse and complementary workforce.
41.  The organisation grows through partnerships with suppliers and/or customers.
Long-Term Orientation 
38.  The organisation maintains good and long-term relationships with all stakeholders.
39.  The organisation is aimed at servicing the customers as best as possible.
41. The organisation grows through partnerships with suppliers and/or customers.
42.  Management of the organisation has been with the company for a long time.
43.  New management is promoted from within the organisation.
44.  The organisation is a secure workplace for organisational members.

By learning and implementing these characteristics into your own organization you can improve your processes, leadership, employee engagement and customer satisfaction and become high performing.

To read the complete article:
deWaal, A. (2012). Characteristics of high performance organizations. Journal of Management Research (4) 4, 39-71.

Create positive impact

I just listened to a speaker who said that the purpose of life is to create positive impact. Wow! How profound when you stop and think about that, create positive impact.

When you adopt this philosophy your life takes on a different meaning. You approach life, relationships and work in a different manner. One in which you do your best to improve the world around you and leave it better than when you arrived. 

I will personally take this as a challenge and I encourage everyone to do the same. Create a positive impact in whatever you do. Make decisions for the right reasons. Be great at whatever you do and strive every day to leave a good impression and improve your life and the lives of others. 

People and processes

Leadership is about people.

Management is about processes.

Those individuals that truly want to be successful and help themselves, their coworkers, employees and organization grow will use both.

Leadership is the ability to connect with people and influence them toward a central purpose. Leaders are present at multiple levels in and around organizations and teams and some leaders elevate their group while others bring it down.

Ideally, leaders work to improve and bring people up, but that is not always the case. Effective leaders hold high standards and their influence is to raise the bar for performance.

Managers seek to create systems and make things run more smoothly. They seek to understand what is the best way to accomplish a task and then create a system to do it that all the time. In this way, there is little energy wasted and things run smoothly. Unfortunately, this is assuming that there is one way to do things. Most of the time there are numerous ways of accomplishing tasks and the environment is always changing so that the process is evolving. Managers that seek input and are constantly striving to make things better will be successful.

Managers that seek to have operations run smoothly, elicit input from their people and work with them to achieve greatness are the most successful. These are the individuals who have blended their ability manage both their people and their processes.

Power of systems

Yesterday, I was at an event and saw a bunch of people scrambling around to prepare. This particular situation was due, in part, to having new employees who were not fully aware of their responsibilities, but it got me thinking about the value of creating systems.

When an event or a process needs to be completed more than once, and needs to be done the same way, it is wise to create a process for how to do it. This makes it very easy to create consistency, decrease set up and take down time, and systemize the process so that everyone knows how things are going to be done and what needs to be done.

When organizing an athletic event, this includes making sure the floor is clean, the gym is scheduled and blocked off, the bleachers are out, the facility is set up for the sport, the score board is set up and in running order, the referees are scheduled, the benches are set up for home and away teams, there is water available for athletes and other necessary equipment is set up and ready to go.

This can be put down into a checklist to be done the day of, just prior, and at the conclusion of every event for that sport. Once this is created, it should be communicated with all the individuals who are responsible for that sport and copies should be kept in an easily accessible manner.

Having a system in place makes it much easier for everyone involved and allows updates to be done easily, and errors to be evaluated and addressed quickly.