How To Improve Performance: Break The Rules
Great managers spend the most time with their best people.
Great managers share one common trait.
Great managers (by definition: a person or persons controlling and directing the affairs of a business, or institution), do not hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom - exposing the fallacies of standard management thinking. They do not believe that with enough training, a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They do not try to help people overcome their weaknesses. They consistently disregard the golden rule. And, yes, they even play favorites.
Each "great" manager described in the Gallup findings was identified based upon the bottom line performance results he or she produced in their organization, and was directly connected to their boosting the engagement levels of the people who work for them.
The front line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees.
In today's challenging economic and talent market, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But no matter how generous the pay, or how strong the training, the company that lacks great front line managers will suffer.
Spend the most time with your best people.
The most commonly expressed view during the interviews with 80,000 great managers challenges traditional human resource management and development beliefs. Thousands of great managers feel strongly that: "People don't change that much. Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That is hard enough."
The Four Core Areas of Managing People:
1. Select people based on talent.
Great managers select staff members based on talent, rather than experience, education, or intelligence. Gallup defined "talents" by studying the talents needed to achieve in 150 distinct roles. Talents identified are:
- Striving - (examples: drive for achievement, need for expertise, drive to put beliefs in action)
- Thinking - (examples: focus, discipline, personal responsibility)
- Relating - (examples: empathy, attentiveness to individual differences, ability to persuade, taking charge)
2. When setting expectations for employees, establish the right outcomes.
Great managers assist each individual to establish goals and objectives that are aligned with the needs of the organization. They help each employee define the expected outcomes, what success will look like upon completion. Then, they get out of the way.
3. When motivating an individual, focus on strengths.
Great managers appreciate the diversity of the people in their work group, state Buckingham and Coffman. They recognize that "helping people become more of who they already are," since each person has unique strengths, will best support their success.
4. Development; find the right job fit for each person.
Your job is not to help every individual you employ grow. Your job is to improve performance. To do this, you'll need to determine whether each employee is in the right role. Then, work with each person to determine what "growing in his role," and his potential to contribute to the performance of your organization, means.
Develop a promotion and hiring process that supports placing people in positions that "fit." Establish career development opportunities and succession plans that emphasize "fit" over experience and longevity.
If you're not already breaking the rules, try it. You may not only be doing things right, you may also be doing the right thing.
