The Power of Alignment

Strong leaders know the value of a high-performing team filled with those who are competent, committed, and aligned with the team's goals. They also know how one sub-performing team member can have an oversized impact on overall team performance and goal achievement. There is a real reason why the expression “a team is only as strong as its weakest link” exists.

Leaders are responsible for improving the entire team's performance, including the sub-performer. ?In a previous post, we covered the first evaluation process, called the “fit vs. alignment” issue. If the sub-performer is not a good fit, the recommended course of action would be to separate them from the team. In many cases, this is the easier of the two routes.

The second one is an alignment issue. The team member is a good fit for the role and the team but struggles to be a top performer or an inconsistent performer. The leader knows that finding a replacement for them is not guaranteed to be any better, so that leaves one option, improving their performance.

We covered in other articles the power of boundaries, clear communication, and helping people set and maintain priorities. Those are certainly clear requirements for successfully setting expectations for your team. One less-used but highly effective tool to gain alignment is to praise a sub- performer’s performance. It may seem counterintuitive to praise those who don’t perform well, but the way that you deliver the praise makes all the difference. Let’s walk through the steps.

Step 1: Praise the effort – You want to recognize the effort (even if it’s below the standard) that they are putting into the task. This effectively separates the effort from the result.

Step 2: Acknowledge the outcome – There is nothing wrong with calling to their attention when their performance is lacking. Holding people accountable to the desired outcomes is a core function of a leader.

Step 3: Course correction – highlight what needs to be done to achieve the standard you set for them. This helps the team member recognize and agree to the minimum requirements and allows you to confirm expectations. The key words to use in the section is “For the future,” as it sets the stage for discussing future performance vs rehashing what happened in the past, leading to defensive positioning.

Step 4: Remind them of the reward – People usually show up for work for multiple reasons. Financial motivations are usually high on the list but aren’t the sole reason. Providing the context of the reward mechanism is a great way to tap into people’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

When it all comes together, it looks like this:

“Thank you so much for the effort in getting out the reports on Friday. It’s clear that you put a lot of thought and energy into this deliverable. Our goal was to have the reports done by noon so we had time to review them before the 3 pm publishing timeline. This is the third week your deliverable was not delivered on time. For the future, it would be best if you prioritize this deliverable because it’s having an impact on the rest of the team. I look forward to you improving on this part of your work, as being a reliable contributor is a requirement to be promoted to the next role.”

This takes a little bit of effort (and patience) to course-correct a team member, but the reward will be worthwhile.

I want to ensure that these articles are valuable to you, so please keep sending me the course corrections!