WHO IS WILLING & ABLE?

Is your team willing and able?

When it comes to employee performance, leaders make the mistake of tolerating poor behaviour from an employee and then reacting by putting them on a performance management plan. They often don’t deal with performance issues when they arise. It’s clear that leaders don't want to have the hard conversations and are too difficult or it may seem like a waste of time.

The consequences of team members being put on performance management is that oftentimes, they don’t even understand why or they feel stressed, anxious or harassed and it creates confusion for the employee, therefore making their performance even worse. What happens is that it compounds stress and accelerates the problems and everyone is working under fear or worry. Not to mention their teammates being confused and losing faith in the leadership as well.?

“Performance management is like rubbing a dog's nose in a poop it did last week. It just doesn’t understand.” - a Clarism

Instead, They should shift to performance leadership. We need to learn how to build people up and see what's happening in the present and future view. Leaders need to deal with issues as they arise. When they deal with the little things then the big things don't happen. The best way is by addressing the drivers of the behaviors.

Example…There is no point in me coaching Tiger Woods on a hit that he made 3 months ago…

So we ask the questions:

Is it a willingness problem?

Is it an able problem?

Or is it both?

Have I set this person up for success and they’re failing?(that's on them.) Or have I set them up for failure and they’re failing? (That's on me.)

The results are that it is the fastest way to get your employees on the route to success.?

Honestly, you can’t boss someone into greatness. If we want to coach people, you have to care. You have to care enough to have the tough conversations and to help them get back on track.?

So next time, when things happen, ask questions instead of assuming. You can address the thinking behind the behaviour, retain your team, and have them excited to come to work.

Dave Clare, CEO & Founder - Circle Leadership

“I’m managing...”

In the ‘past life’ from which I came (and a reason why I’m no longer there, and probably why Jenny’s also no longer on the block, even though that’s where she came from), the above answer to the question:

“How do you feel you’re performing?” (and derivatives), was almost as good as it got.

You wouldn’t EVER say ‘amazingly’, because that's professional suicide for a multitude of reasons... tall poppy syndrome, getting work from folks who earn more than twice than you but know how to play the game better, a promotion to OSH... the horror list goes on.

If someone suggested that they were ‘managing’ - even if it was through gritted teeth, a furrowed brow and desperate-looking eyes – that was excellent!

Maybe not ‘happy days’ (it’s work, it’d be rude to be happy at work, right?), but it meant:

• they weren’t drowning,
• the internal, departmental NPS wasn’t going to be so great that it drew too much attention that might have resulted in more work,
• people weren’t (as) threatened, and
• you didn’t have to trod the life and soul out of a well-meaning, heart-centered employee this week...which no one loves doing, but it’s either that or the multitudes cracking it because this over-achiever-high-performing-brown-noser was making them look bad.?And the multitudes are noisy, not dissimilar to aqua ladies.

Phew, my lunch won’t be eaten or thrown out again for another week. #stayinalive

At times, the words “I’m managing” were also a desperate cry for help or attention; not very complicated ‘code words’ for someone who was in denial about the fact that they actually were a donkey on a very rocky, very steep edge...

… but because they weren’t quite falling yet, it was more a case of not making any sudden moves and stepping away slowly... a ‘future someone else’s shituation.’

Why take the lead in a situation before it becomes performance management ‘shituation’?

shituation (adj.) a less than ideal situation where the proverbial or literal ball has been dropped, which may or may not have been avoidable, and it didn’t have to get to this... but it did.?And now I have more things to ‘look busy’ managing, to justify my position in this organization.?Go team.

But is ‘looking busy just managing’ really a place that we want to live and do business from?

Does our best performance, or our better-performing people come from long-term ‘management’; with no freedom to think or flexibility for when we might (will) need it.?That little (or a lot) bit of space to tap into, because #business, #theworld and the contrast that is created by virtue of #lifehappens?

#loveagood #hashtag

Sure, there are times when life squeezes us, and we gotta step up and perform.?Plus, the greater the pressure the stronger the diamond (ohhhh, sparkly ??).

For example, every business owner down under right now:

“What the struth are you doing here, EOFY year old mate??I know I had all year to get ready for you but here we are again, stressed out, burnt out and acting like we’re surprised that you’re on our doorstep again after over 100 years of you being so around about now.?Didyabringagrogalong?”

But for the most part, and I don’t know about you – but I’d prefer to be poised and ready for action in these seasons - not coming out of a desperate state of ‘managing performance’ or ‘being performance managed’ already before go time (gross)...

… lest we charge (drag) ourselves through the challenging (why am I like this) times like a half-wrung-out squirrel that’s being chased in the rain by a distracted Humicorn when the diamonds got boring.

So then, how do we shift forward from “I’m (barely... pretending to) managing” into something that isn’t a pending shituation... if it’s not one already that we're just plain flatly denying?

Is it possible that performance leadership, AND being the inspiring example of what you’d love to experience more of in your organisation - first to ourselves – be the initial “mind flex” shift?

Even if leading is the last thing we feel like doing and being right now, could it be the very thing that’ll launch us out of managing endless shituations into leading, living and loving performance?

Lisa Ferguson, Leadership Coach at Circle Leadership

UPCOMING EVENTS

Are you a business owner or leader facing the perfect storm of chaos, complexity, competition, and change?

If you are working way harder than you should, struggling to maintain the status quo, profits are plateauing, dealing with chaos and confusion within your team, and/or have no time for fun, then this event is for you…

Just tell me if this relates to you:

● You want to IMPACT the lives of your?#clients?and your?#team?because you actually do care about them.

● You want your team to bring their best self to work with excitement every day to build the?#vision?that you have for the world together.

● You are concerned about how to scale your business without losing yourself and having team members drop off left and right.

If you’re reading this and saying to yourself...

“FINALLY… these are people get me…”

…We want you to know this is not a coincidence.

We’ve been working with organisations just like you for over 25 years and have consistently been able to sustainably?#evolve?businesses and the people who lead them to?#scale?larger than they ever have before to stay?#relevant?in the hearts and minds of the people they?#serve.

So why do we call this our?#BestYearEver?Workshop, you wonder?

Because when you’re done with this?#workshop, you’ll have all the tools you need to literally make this year, your best year ever.

You will walk away with HOW TO steadily and progressively increase your?#capabilities?and your?#capacity?for greatness, so you can:

• Evolve your?#business?to stay relevant… without losing your?#team, your?#health, your connection with?#friends?and?#family, and your toys?
• Create total organisational?#alignment?…build a?#decisionmaking?filter that gets everyone on the same page without having to do all the thinking yourself
• Achieve more with less…increase your?#PRODUCTIVITY?AND?#PROFITS?in the business without having to work harder than ever.

Where most workshops get you working on the business, instead of in the business, this workshop is unique because we get your working out of your business. We get you to look at your business (and yourself) from the outside looking in. This is where real?#transformation?happens.

It would be silly to say that you don’t want the things above, because who doesn’t, right?!?

Click on the link to register your interest today!

BRISBANE - July 11th 12pm - 2pm

SYDNEY - July 12th 12pm - 2pm

LIVESTREAM

Are you a business owner or leader who is fed up with the time and energy it takes to manage your team's performance? leaders often make the mistake of tolerating poor behaviour from an employee and then reacting by putting them on a performance management plan. They often don’t deal with performance issues when they arise.?

The truth is that in the long run, it takes more time to manage performance than to lead performance.?

In this weeks live, Lisa and I are going over:

• Difference between performance management and leadership.
• How to assess where everyone on your team is.
• We will show you how to recruit people out of your organisation that don’t fit.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

WEEKLY CLARISM

THE INNER-CIRCLE

Ideally, this #newsletter is for you. Yeah, we might share the odd humble brag, but its intent is to add value and inspire more purpose-driven leadership worldwide. If you have a question on a relevant leadership, culture, or strategy topic, please ask and we will provide our insights.