Our model of Consulting, Training, and Coaching, together through one unified team, makes us feel like human and organizational Alchemists. We love unlocking potential, turning lead into gold (C players to A players).
An overwhelming amount of research has been done around the topic of human engagement and performance. Four ideas always rise to the top.
PURPOSE-CLARITY-FEEDBACK-APPRECIATION
- Purpose: People long to be connected to a cause or purpose larger than themselves. Leaders do you have a compelling why? Are you communicating and connecting the why to the work regularly? It can’t be all about the money.
- Clarity: People want to know their roles and expectations. I asked a prospect once about his team’s struggling performance. Do they have job descriptions, something in writing? His response, “They KNOW what to do. I just want them to act like adults and figure it out.” Hmmmmm.
- Feedback: This one skill is the most avoided ‘work’ in any organization. I recently witnessed a large corporation mishandle an underperformer. Everyone knew and talked about bad performance. Leaders and workers emailed, had meetings, and shared feedback; that is with everyone but the bad performer. (More about underperformers next week.)
- Appreciation: We wrote about this two weeks ago. Know what inspires your individuals and your teams, take the time to give meaningful, effective appreciation.
I hold tight to the theory that 95% of people are not getting out of bed tomorrow with the goal to do mediocre work on the job. Do you and your leaders know how to bring out their best? We are training Human Alchemists, don’t miss the next class.