The subject of performance is one of the most important of our lives and of our business. The reasons are not difficult to understand. At one level we are constantly judging how people perform, consciously or subconsciously. This may be easy to get when we consider a leader or manager at work: we think, of course, the annual appraisal and performance review – that’s the way things are. But it’s much more pervasive than that.
We go into a restaurant and long before we begin to think how the chef has performed with the meal, we are making assessments about the décor and especially how we are treated. In some instances how we are served is more important: if the staff makes us feel important and welcome we may well go back even if the cuisine is not as good as elsewhere.
Further, if the post arrives at 3.00 PM and usually we get it at 11.00 AM we think the performance is poor. More seriously, if when we get home our wife /husband/partner doesn’t treat us in the way that we consider worthy of us we become very discontented. Usually, when this happens over a prolonged period of time we don’t say, Darling, your performance as my partner has been poor’, instead we scream over some issue or other or simply leave and find somebody else.
Even with our children we expect them to perform as children should perform. In fact it could be said that the parent who has no expectation of performance from their child is rearing a monster.
Thus, at every level, whether we think about it or not, we are deciding when we interact with somebody else: are they performing for us?
What then is performance? In our model Performance has three dimensions.
The first of these is Direction. In order to perform we need to be going in the right direction. From an organisational point of view we like to use posher words: we say that we need the right vision and strategy. And we set goals and targets accordingly. From the individual point of view, going in the right direction from the work perspective means choosing the right sort of career in the right sort of environment, given your own strengths and weaknesses.
The second key aspect of performance is Skill. By which I mean skills and knowledge that enable one to do and complete task and activities successfully. Again, there may be other words – like competencies – with subtle shades and differences of meaning, but the gist is clear. Can we master the techniques and knowledge that enable us to get things done? In most organisations huge resources are devoted to coping with the Skill needs: we undertake TNAs (Training Need Analyses), we run Induction programmes for newcomers, we ensure that our appraisal processes discuss and discover what further skills our staff require to function effectively, and so on.
Finally, the third key aspect of performance is Motivation. This is the least understood aspect of all, whilst at the same time is the one that the most lip-service is paid to. (Please, let us never hear again the expression: staff are our most important resource!) Motivation is the energy, and the direction of that energy, that we bring to any task. Like energy it is difficult to ‘see’, and like energy its absence is always immediately felt. It is curiously the glue that holds the strategy and the skill together: without it the best strategy in the world will fail, and all the skills will avail you nothing. But motivation on its own is directionless and awkward.
Thus, if we consider our organisation and our self, we might ask, how are we performing and how would we know?
One way of knowing – the most common and superficial way – is by outputs or outcomes. In other words, most people will assume that if there business is highly profitable or as an individual they are currently making lots of money with loads of perks in their current post, then they are performing well. This may be true, but there is, too, a large a probability that it is illusory and that they are deluding themselves!
What do I mean by that? Outcomes, whilst desirable and necessary, don’t always tell the whole story and we sometimes need to dig deeper. A good contemporary example of this – that I hope makes it really obvious and incontrovertible – would be the banks. Up till 2007 every one would say they are performing at a high level; and yet this proved to be totally unfounded, and despite the fact that Sir Fred Goodwin walked away a rich man, few would argue he performed successfully; on the contrary, he took RBS in the wrong direction (had the wrong strategy), he (and most other senior bankers apparently) did not have the skills and knowledge of banking (or qualifications which often can reflect this), and their motivations, such as they were, do not seem to have been directed towards the company’s benefit, rather their own.
Hindsight is easy, but the point that is important is this: yes, by all means, let’s monitor outputs carefully, but also if we want to be a high performer, let us use other methods to establish how we are doing. There is a saying in America that ‘feedback is the breakfast of champions’. We all need feedback and that begins with our own efforts to understand where we are.
I invite you therefore to do a simple exercise, really a review of your current performance inputs. Consider your current organisation or your self personally and ask how are we, or I, doing, out of ten, on the three key aspects of performance? Ten out of ten means our direction/skill/motivation is superb, and one out of ten means we can barely spell the word, let alone understand it.
I WOULD RATE THE DIRECTION OF MY ORGANISATION ….. /10
I WOULD RATE MY CAREER DIRECTION ….. /10
I WOULD RATE THE SKILL SET OF MY ORGANISATION ….. /10
I WOULD RATE MY CURRENT SKILL SET ….. /10
I WOULD RATE THE MOTIVATION OF MY ORGANISATION…. /10
I WOULD RATE MY CURRENT MOTIVATION ….. /10
This is simply rough and ready, but having done it what do you discover? Look at which of the three areas is lowest. And any score below 6 needs serious attention. Also, ask a friend or colleague for their assessment (and compare notes after) – how accurate are you?
The beginning of all change is in self-awareness – and that includes our ability to perform at a higher level.
The Mapping Motivation Series 