Performance conversations that count

Get your team on track with solution focused performance conversations to drive increased activity and quality for your organisation.

Avoiding these common mistakes in your weekly link-ups can change your interactions from ho-hum to go-get’em!

1. Allowing your staff to dredge up this week’s problems and drama.
   Let’s face it the role of leader can be an emotional rollercoaster with rewarding moments and some painful moments when clients and stakeholders both seem to let us down. Spending your entire time rehashing ‘what the client said’ and ‘then what happened’ simply magnifies the problem in the mind of your team member. This takes valuable time away from focusing on the solution and the steps required to get there.
2. Telling staff what to do.
   Commitment to a plan of action is dramatically increased when people plan the course of action themselves. If you are spending the majority of your time telling them what to do instead of asking what needs to be done then you may be wondering why so little actually gets done.
3. Letting perfect get in the way of better.
   Staff who are fearful of making an error need to come to terms with their current reality, however imperfect, and plan for a better future. Calm acceptance of the situation and a clear focus on growth and learning will turn that weekly link-up into the battery recharge that hard-on-themselves-types really need.
4. Demanding compliance to individual and team targets without an explanation of why they work.
   This will get you a result some of the time. 50% of high achievers love to have the clarity that targets provide. The other 50% will drive you crazy with flagrant dismissal of these ‘rules of engagement’ unless you can provide a clear and coherent link between the stated targets and quality outcomes.
5. Focusing only on the short term.
   Paradoxically giving airtime to where a team member sees himself in 3 and 5 years time will bring greater energy to the demands of this week than a mere focus on the short term. We all work harder for leaders who see beyond who we are today to who we can become.
6. Neglecting to manage the talk-time breakdown.
   Who is doing all the talking here? When the manager is taking up all the talk-time it is usually a sign of overly dependant staff or a sign that you are just plain boring them. You should be aiming for a 70/30 talk time breakdown where they do 70% of the talking, at least. Asking the right questions will have them talking about what they will achieve and how they will get there. When your team member is talking you know you’ve got them owning the ideas and committing to action.
   

Isabelle coaches CEO’s and high performing executives. She trains leaders to coach around Australia, in New Zealand, Singapore and China. Isabelle is the founder of Mackerel Sky – Leadership Matters. She runs leadership programs for business and associations to build capacity and retain top talent. Call 1300 898 321 from anywhere in Australia or +61 (0) 408 008 454. www.mackerelsky.com.au