Increasing Their Performance

Increasing performance from team members is always a priority, whether we are the leader or a co-worker. Finding ways to do this, however, is not always easy…especially during times when quite a lot of nonsense is draining people on the daily.

Well, if we are leading, teaching, coaching or responsible in any way for supporting others’ growth, we often need to step back and either consider new techniques or actualize something we already know…what I call powerful reminders.

Here are 15 actions we can take or offer to others looking to increase performance in any environment.

1. Skill Mapping: What is each person’s role, what are their skills and how can they connect those skills to what is required of them?
2. Individualized Professional Development Plans are based on strengths and weaknesses and demonstrate a path for improvement.
3. Provide training on conflict management to help provide skills to individuals so they can address interpersonal challenges on their own and support a better work environment.
4. Using numbers and analyzing data helps everyone make better decisions that are grounded in reality. (do not shy away from informal measurement as well)
5. Gather feedback from peers, subordinates, insiders and outsiders is critical and can be measured
6. Goals, goals, goals
7. Invest in leadership development programs that include this subject and others people find difficult to discuss
8. Promote an environment of continuous learning and improvement
9. Look for opportunities to be flexible
10. Ritualize and recognize improvement and success
11. Integrate technology wherever possible to make work-life more productive.
12. Encourage collaboration across all departments and teams to share in the risks and rewards
13. Mentorship and Reverse Mentor Programs…talk to me about the “reverse”
14. Be more agile and demonstrate to individuals how they can be more adaptative in their approach.
15. Employee Surveys can be great. Although action is required in some way because seeking personal opinions without any change is, well, just frustrating. An organization has to demonstrate they are listening, especially when employing this technique.

Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the art of getting other people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” Helping people make their life easier and empowering them to find ways to improve their performance is a critical part of leading, teaching, coaching, mentoring and (yes we can even use some of these ideas) parenting.

Much love and all my best,

Dave