We were working with our business owner clients in the Advanced Leadership Forum last week. The past two months have been focused on delegation refreshers and mastering feedback. As part of our commitment to XtraMile impact, we broke these owners down into groups of three and had them run through scenarios to practice giving meaningful, effective feedback.
In one group, they got stuck on how to handle a messy employee performance problem. As I listened to the details of the situation, I recognized a pattern we have seen in hundreds of SMBs. I asked the owner these five questions:
- Who does he (problem performer) work for? Does he know who his leader is?
- Does he know what to do at work every day?
- Does he know how the business makes money?
- Does he know how his work fits in with his team, other teams?
- Does he know the score? Are we winning or losing today/this week?
In this situation, we were not able to answer yes to many of these questions. Leaders, it is our job to be able to answer ‘YES’ to all these questions, before we start giving performance feedback to our employees. Profitability and efficiency are directly linked to employee engagement. Employee engagement is directly linked to yes answers for these five questions.
Here is another question your employees are asking themselves.
“Does my leader care about me and are they helping me become successful?”
As you work with and around your team this week, ask them these questions. The answers will help you discover untapped performance potential.
Download our free handout on How To Manage an Underperforming Employee.