focused performance conversations

by: Dr. Albert Haddad

Is your team a STAR Team full of STAR Performers? Are other managers trying to poach your team members because you lead such a successful team?

Does everyone in your team know what they are doing, feel appreciated and led well? Do they commit to the goals and objectives of the teams and give more than their 100%?

How comfortable are you to talk to your team members about their performance, to praise them and to pull them up without losing their respect or dedication?  Have you ever wondered why so many times managers do not feel comfortable or confident in having the difficult performance conversation with their staff? Why do managers leave the difficult performance conversation to the eleventh hour when all that can be done is to remedy the behaviour or sack the staff member?

A high performance team is full of members who are cognisant of their purpose, are committed to achieve their goals, confident in their abilities, competent with their skills, comfortable with their achievements, able to congratulate good and to confront low performances.

How do your team members measure up?

Looking at the characteristics of a STAR Team above, how would you rate your team? Are you able to say the following statements about every member of your team?

• Cognisant of Team’s purpose - My team member is able to articulate what he or she needs to do to accomplish the team’s goals.
• Committed to Achieve Team Goals – My team member contributes in action and in kind to attaining and reaching the team goals at all times.
• Confident in Their Abilities – My team member knows their strengths and limitations and always tries to match and improve their abilities to achieve targets and meet different challenges that the team face.
• Competent with Their Skills – My team member knows what is required and why, has the experience to problem solve and make decisions, and demonstrates a positive and model attitude to others in the team.
• Comfortable with Their Achievements – My team member has a healthy attitude toward his teammates regarding achievements and contributions in a way that fosters healthy collaboration rather than destructive competition.
• Congratulate Good Performance – My team member is able to recognise his and her own as well as others good performance and speak good and encouraging words to the team members involved.
• Confronts Low Performance – My team member is able to show ownership of the team’s behaviours, performance and achievements. He or she is willing to positively and constructively confront those who are not meeting the team standards in order to achieve better performance.

If you rated your team members high on all these seven characteristics, then you have a STAR team. If you have not, then you will need to start working on improving the team by concentrating on the right areas of each team member.

How do you improve people’s performance?

You can improve your team members’ performance by having consistent and focused performance one-on-one conversations on a regular basis. Below is a format of a performance conversation that has a proven track record on achieving higher performance levels in teams. We’ll call it the STAR performance conversation.

A typical STAR performance conversation may be conducted on a daily basis, weekly or monthly basis. It may be formal or informal. The main point is that you are consistent in conducting the conversation and the follow-up afterward to maintain your monitoring and feedback on performance. This creates certainty and confidence in your management and leadership capabilities.

The (STAR) Conversation:

 At the end of the conversation you and your team member are aware of the goals, what needs to be done, what actions are going to performed and by when, and the results by which you will measure the work.

This will go a long way to assist your team member to become more cognisant of their team’s purpose, committed to achieve the goals, confident in their abilities, competent to perform their tasks, comfortable with their undertaking, clear about what makes their performance good or low.

Now go and practice this STAR method. Drop me a line and give me your feedback on info@leadwise.com.au