Finally an Easy Tactic for Performance Improvement 2
| The easy universal tactic to improve performance is to establish high standards. OK, so how to you “establish” them correctly? There is a trick. According to the researchers, you have to be genuine and consistent in your communication.
The consistent part will be easy enough. Choose the expected quality, deadlines and interaction values and so on, then communicate them and keep communicating them consistently. You must model them as well.
Now, the genuine part may be a problem. You will have to continually show your belief that your workers can achieve higher performance. In the study, managers who had high expectations managed in a different way: they walked and talked as if they believed their employees could meet high standards, providing positive feedback regularly. And the employees responded with a 3 to 1 performance improvement! This was very different than managers who did not exhibit these beliefs.
You might be thinking, “Great, I just have to act well and I’ll get better performance!” But you don’t have to fake it. This study shows that if you set high standards for your workers, they will respond, so believe it and show it! |
Posted on: May 13, 2008 10:20 PM
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Finally an Easy Tactic for Performance Improvement
| There are a lot of reasons not to “push” your project workers. You may believe there are too few doing too much work anyway, right? Can’t push’em too hard or they will push back, you think.
Before you cut them too much slack, though, check out research from a university study, where academics have proven that when leader has high expectations of the workforce it results in better performance. This wasn’t any tiny sample, either. Results are based on twenty-five years of studying banks, schools – even the Israel Defense Forces for goodness sake.
This is got to be one the easier tactics I have recommended. It certainly does appear that all you have to do is come up with your high expectations, communicate them, and you are done! Afterwards just bask in the praise you get from having such a high performance workforce. The research showed, however, that there are two factors that are crucial when implementing this tactic. What do you think they are? I’ll explain more in my next post. |
Posted on: May 12, 2008 07:01 AM
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Is the Training You Plan in Your Training Plan Bland?
| Is the training you plan in your training plan bland? Is it going to be delivered in a classroom with a lecturer like a black and white newsreel from the early twentieth century? If so, is it out of some kind of corporate cultural inertia? Certainly you realize that improvements in training have occurred in the many decades since these newsreels.
Of course different topics benefit from different delivery strategies and interactive techniques, but boring reduces “stickiness” of the learning. And attendees wonder whether it is really that important if so little effort has gone into it. Younger generations fins it difficult to stomach the classic lecture. Any hour put into training should bring learning and performance improvement for your project. So make some checks before you commit to training:
These questions are the basis for your due diligence to avoid the wasted time of bland training. |
Posted on: May 07, 2008 10:48 PM
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What’s Really Possible Against Office Gossip
| Think of all the interaction problems workers have: personality conflicts, communication miscues, interdepartmental disagreements, frustrating delays from passive-aggressive behavior, clashes between organizational silos, and so on. Don’t you think it’s time to eliminate office gossip from all that?
You want to say “No,” but there is “Yes Yes” in your eyes. You don’t believe it is possible to really get rid of it or you would have taken care of it a long time ago.
Think again. One guy already did it and his company thrived. Your overall tactic is to clearly classify office gossip with all the other unprofessional behavior that is typically specified. It will work even if you are working only within your project.
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Posted on: May 05, 2008 10:23 PM
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Downsizing? Think Ahead.
| Many executives are having to protect their bonuses by downsizing in this economy. But before you open a Save the Executives nonprofit organization, make sure a knee-jerk layoff response does not play havoc with your projects now and in the future. Think of the situation this way: The organization may need to shed total workforce compensation, but someone better be looking for alternatives to laying off high-performance workers who will be needed to perform to make lean projects successful as well as when the upturn begins and you are asked to achieve results fast to capture market share.
Ideas to point you in the right direction:
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Posted on: April 29, 2008 10:25 PM
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