Article 5 Proper Work: Operating The People Lever

The second lever of Proper Work is People, the most crucial lever in business after strategy, or even before it? Once you know where you are going, having the right people to get you there is vital. Your strategy is worth nothing without people to execute it, and hiring the right people for each role in your business is crucial.

Recruitment and selection require a clear understanding of the skills and experience needed, which will help you create a shortlist of suitable candidates. However, looking for individuals who possess the necessary attributes of the role and can get things done is essential. The most talented people can identify problems and work towards finding solutions. These are the people you want working alongside you, and it's important to remember that perfection is only sometimes necessary, and making progress is the ultimate goal. Talent attracts talent, so look to your current team for referrals when searching for new candidates. In my experience, the best people on my team have referred the best people I have recruited.

Motivating your talented team should be your next priority, which is vital for optimal performance. Creating a positive work environment through careful adjustments of the levers allows everyone to work at their very best. You are applying the psychology of the 'Nudge' (Thaler and Sunstein 2012) to foster an atmosphere that encourages in-flow performance. Everyone wants to feel valued, and with the right motivation, most people strive to do their best. Those who don't should not be in your business.

Continual learning is essential for fostering a positive work environment, which we all crave, whether we realise it consciously or not. Such an environment encourages the ongoing development and honing of skills necessary for delivering excellence. Shared learning experiences stimulate collaboration across different functions and structures, especially within teams.

For example, we utilised shared learning to educate the management and sales teams on Strategic Account Management principles. After experiencing a decline in market share, it became evident that a shift in our sales approach was necessary. The decision to transition from product and specification selling to account management emerged collectively through shared learning and after experimentation with a couple of our customers. This shift was not imposed but embraced by the entire team, leading to a deeper understanding of the importance of customer relationships and an ongoing culture of continuous learning.

Thus, shared learning creates a shared experience and creates a common understanding. Your business becomes a place where an attitude of learning and trying by doing is not just encouraged but is everyday practice. Tuning the levers to create a positive workplace and learning environment enables folks with a shared understanding to be comfortable making decisions and allows all to work their best. To quote General Stanley McChrystal, "A system requires shared consciousness before it can reap the benefits of empowered execution' (McChrystal et al. 2015). Shared and continual learning create shared consciousness.

Performance management is often associated with stressful quarterly reviews, but it doesn't have to be that way. When provided with timely and constructive feedback, performance management can become a helpful tool for motivating individuals to excel. Feedback should be given to make people better, not feel better. The most motivational feedback I have ever received was, at the time, a kick in the guts. The ultimate goal of performance management should always be to help people improve and reach their full potential, achieved using conscious feedback that encourages individuals to do their best and follows three basic rules:

Rule 1 – time sensitive

Give feedback promptly, as soon as possible, after the relevant performance event. The more time between the event and its feedback, the less effective it becomes.

Rule 2 – appropriate communication

Ideally, feedback should be delivered face-to-face or, at a bare minimum, via telephone or video conference. Remember, NEVER use email as a medium for feedback.

Rule 3 - Use the Situation-Behaviour-Impact (SBI) model to provide feedback.

The SBI model created by Sloan Weitzel and detailed in his book 'Feedback that Works" (Weitzel 2011) is summarised as follows:

Situation:

Describe the situation where the action occurred, and stick to the facts; this is no place for opinion or speculation. Focus on the act, not the person. Be clear and concise, which is only fair to the person receiving the feedback, positive or negative.

Behaviour:

Describe the observed behaviour and actions of the person.

Impact:

Share the impact of their behaviour on you, themselves and others involved. Share the emotions experienced by everyone and the expectations moving forward. The effect on you is particularly potent as the person receiving the feedback often does not consider this aspect.

Whether your feedback is for good or bad performance, use these simple rules to encourage performance improvement, setting clear expectations for improvement. Clear and timely feedback encourages us all to do our best. Practically, it is prudent to document any verbal feedback in a follow-up email for clarity and reference to avoid confusion, allow the receiver to reflect and ask further questions, and provide a recorded history.

I alluded to negative performance earlier; most people strive to do their best, and those who don't should not be in your business. Let those not trying to do their best, or worse, the downright destructive, work for your competitors. If you are lucky enough to have HR support, their guidance and support through a negative performance management process is priceless, particularly one ending in termination of employment. In these situations, it is only fair to the person leaving your business that you stick to the facts, focus on the act, and provide clarity and brevity. Conduct yourself with humanity and integrity; it is tough enough for the person being managed out of your business; redundancy is nothing to look forward to for most.

Formal performance reviews are not always practical. They feel artificial because they are. Instead, real-time feedback (using the SBI model) is a real-world conversation that fosters immediate improvement and builds trust between employees and leaders. Trust is a reflection of you and a massive element of your reputation for integrity. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Do you have credibility?
• Are you considered reliable?
• Can you build intimacy?
• Are you orientated to think about others or yourself? (Are you selfless or selfish?)

Your reputation as a trusted leader who acts with integrity is enhanced with the more credibility you have, the more reliable you are, the greater your ability to build intimacy, and the less selfish you can be. With trust, performance management conversations become powerful feedback, and coaching follows naturally and is instrumental in translating feedback into tangible results. Suddenly, we are making meaningful progress (Fox 2016).

Effective coaching requires trust between the coach and the individual, who must also be ready to accept coaching and a willingness to change. The 4-square model below illustrates when the factors of ability and willingness to change are right.

Coaching will succeed when an individual has an evident ability and a willingness to change. If the ability is not quite there, revert to a teaching approach. If the ability is there but with a reluctance to change, use 'command and control' (issue order and monitor progress) to complete the task. Finally, if we have an employee with low ability and low willingness to change, you must ask why they are in your business?

If you are receiving coaching, consider that this 4-square model is also beneficial. Are you ready to accept coaching? If not, why not? Or, at the other extreme, is it time to seek opportunities better suited to your ability, which may motivate your willingness and which you may enjoy much more?

Leadership plays a pivotal role in creating a culture of excellence within an organisation. A transformational leader skillfully adjusting the levers with a dedicated and professional team can quickly drive significant impact. Conversely, poor leadership is often the greatest obstacle to meaningful progress. Be sincere in your leadership, and you'll have loyal followers who will go anywhere with you. Cultural change naturally follows, and this is what we want because, ultimately, a good culture determines the performance and sustainability of your business. In other words, the leader sets the tone for organisational culture. Your actions speak louder than words; do things right by doing the right thing.

So, in the end, the most important person you must develop is yourself. To lead and develop those around us, we must lead by example and invest time in developing ourselves. To that end, here is a list of habits to consider adopting in your development:

• Read anything and everything. I have learned as much from fiction and biography as from non-fiction and business works.
• Expose yourself to as many learning opportunities as you can.
• Mentor and coach. You get as much from this as your student.
• Be mindful of who and what you listen to and watch; it affects your outlook.
• Raise your standards and expectations by setting clear objectives for yourself.
• Prepare and then act. Don't procrastinate, and take time to rest and recover.
• Don't lie to yourself.
• You have two ears and one mouth for a reason; use them proportionally and listen more than you talk.

How you act and react will powerfully influence those around you, and it's in your control to determine if your influence will be positive or negative on your business and employees, your family and life, and the world we all inhabit.

References:

Fox, Jason. 2016. How To Lead A Quest: A Guidebook for Pioneering Leaders. John Wiley & Sons.

McChrystal, G. S., C. Fussell, D. Silverman, and T. Collins. 2015. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. Penguin Books Limited.

Thaler, R. H., and C. R. Sunstein. 2012. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. Penguin Books Limited.

Weitzel, S. R. 2011. Feedback That Works: How to Build and Deliver Your Message. Wiley.