Adapting Your Approach To Performance

Practical practices during impractical times

The human experience in today’s workplace is fluid and rapidly morphing into a new world of work. The world has suddenly shifted to a virtual workforce due to the international crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. There will be lasting changes in the way we work and how we collaborate moving forward regardless of how this pandemic plays out over the rest of the year and beyond. 

As you seek to evolve your approach to Performance Management in the midst of the new norms thrust upon us in 2020, consider how you might implement and evolve these core best practices in performance in order to effectively meet urgent business demands during this critical time in your organization.

Great Performance Still Starts with Clear Objectives

There is a cannon of business literature on what OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are and how to implement them across both your business. But there is very little research or advice on how the OKR approach to goal-setting lays the groundwork for effective performance. In a virtual workforce, it becomes even more important when trying to engage employees and keep them on track and aligned with organizational priorities. 

A unified approach to creating and publishing effective Objectives and Key Results across the organization creates the framework for continual performance in an organization that needs to be able to pivot teams, units, or the entire organization, on a dime to meet the moment-to-moment demands of business during these fluid times. 

Fuel Your Performance with Effective Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition

Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition (CFRs) serve as the fuel for performance toward OKRs. They provide a context for important discussions around critical team and organizational objectives — they are the why behind the what. CFRs help get buy-in, gauge motivation and ability, and help leaders assess the psychological needs of their team members as they work together towards their goals.

Conversations: An authentic exchange between a leader and individual contributor or team member, aimed at having a dynamic and rich discussion, centered on performance — from both the leader and individual perspectives.
 
Recognition: Expressions of appreciation of great performance toward goals and acknowledges the good work of individuals and organizational values, while promoting healthy motivation and engagement during the pursuit of corporate, team, and individual objectives.

Conversations Are Key for Successful Remote Work

Individual performance is most effectively nurtured through one-to-one conversations between a leader and an individual. The most critical conversations are not only based on progress toward objectives, but also the skill and motivation of the individual or teams pursing those objectives. Because many of us are working, or will be working, in remote settings for some time, we easily run the risk of losing transparency into goal progress as well as the psychological needs of our people. Performance conversations now take on a new level of responsibility for maintaining clear communication about progress, expectations, roadblocks, and the overall engagement levels of individuals and teams pursuing critical goals.

When using FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams, be sure to have your objectives front and center in the conversations. Have ongoing conversations around what’s happening regarding goal progress, what mounting needs there are related to the goal, any physically or emotionally challenging needs, or how the timeline is adapting as work is completed, are all critical conversations that organizations need to be having on a weekly, or bi-weekly basis. Especially if more than one person is working towards a common objective, team leaders and managers are the keystones that keep the objectives stable and steady. 

Ongoing and effective conversations around performance toward objectives keep work flowing, help others in their motivational needs, and allow for the creative problem-solving process when necessary — just as would happen in the office and sometimes even better when we aren’t distracted by other coworkers in our office space.

Feedback Helps Keep the Objective Top Of Mind

The dynamic is different when we’re at home, somewhat isolated from the everyday face-to-face interactions with others. Especially, if your team is new to working remotely, there is bound to be a moment where gaps in accountability naturally happen if you don’t have an effective feedback strategy toward the execution of your objectives. Feedback will always be an effective leadership practice when pursuing team and individual objectives, but it becomes even more meaningful when the road to success is more ambiguous and rapidly shifting.

Effective feedback serves to keep performance flowing toward the objective and increases teamwork, accountability, and helps influence future performance. As we’re all settling into our new normal, it’s important that everyone supports team members and holds one another accountable as you work together to achieve a common goal.

5 Tips To Help Teams Provide Peer Feedback

1. Focus feedback on the objective rather than the person. You can provide as much feedback you think is necessary, but if the feedback isn’t relative to the goal you’re collectively pursuing, it can seem personal and out of place. When giving feedback to teammates, stay focused on the process and the problems related to pursuing the goal. Team feedback should be factual, not just based on personal perceptions, and it should help contribute to the overall objective.

2. Consider whom this feedback serves. Ask team members to think about whether or not their feedback is because they want to say something because they’ll feel better, or is it because they think it will genuinely help improve the process or achieve the goal?

3. Provide context for the feedback. Is it relevant to the receiver? Make sure feedback serves your common objective and the work you’re both doing, not something that’s “out of left field.”

4. Be Intentional with your feedback. A lot of things can be miscommunicated, misinterpreted, or left out when people give feedback off-the-cuff. Preparation makes it more clear, concise, and meaningful. Learn to give feedback as an intentional attempt to improve things.

5. Be descriptive. Without specific examples, it can be difficult for individuals to understand exactly how to implement feedback. Instruct team members to be objective and specific. Consider how it pertains to the objective team members are both working on and don’t pass judgment. Even if it is positive feedback, let the receiver know exactly what prompted you to give positive feedback.

Effective recognition practices for an employee’s ideas are a powerful way to make a positive impact on engagement, loyalty, and even productivity. Especially when times are uncertain, and employees may feel uneasy, effective recognition is a meaningful practice that allows leaders to assure that team members are valued and appreciated. Remember that the quality of recognition you give and how you do it is important, but in times like these, it might help to make your recognition more frequent and virtual.

Find a platform that you regularly collaborate on and customize your own form of recognition or use tools available to you. Quality recognition can ease tension and demonstrates that, even now, you see the efforts your employees are putting in and the good work they’re doing. Recognition should be focused on activities and achievements toward specific team and individual objectives. 

Jason Diamond Arnold is the Director of Leadership and Performance Solutions at Inspire Software. Visit https://inspiresoftware.com/  Connect Jason Diamond Arnold