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By Dr Graham Little PhD AFNZIM MNZIC IoD
Leadership does make a difference. Leadership pays back in many ways, first better business results, second, people more satisfied, more stable in their jobs and obviously more committed to doing the right things at the right time. For these reasons the search is on for the holy grail of leadership, what is it, how to do it, and how to train people so they do it more often and better than they do now?
Most leadership summaries are by successful people who put up their hand and said 'this is what I did and it worked'. The summaries are anecdotal, and while what the great person did worked for them, it is often hard to exactly translate that into things we as average people do because we are not the great person, and do not have the same characteristics.
Let's turn the question around, and rather than focus on leadership, let's focus on performance. Second, let's try and simplify a bit, and not make it too complicated in the first instance. What are some of the key things that are essential if someone is going to perform well time after time after time after…
Consider the questions and answers below.
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If someone is not clear on what is expected of them or do not believe it achievable, will they do it well?
It is not likely is it?
If someone is clear on what is expected of them but is unclear on how to do it, will they perform well?
Same story, it is not likely.
If someone is clear on what is expected and clear on how to do it but does not give a damn about it, will they do well.
Again, it is not likely.
The summary is that people will perform best when:
1. Goals and expectations are clear and regarded as achievable (even if a stretch).
2. Actions needed to achieve goals are clear and understood (clarity here helps greatly in gaining acceptance that stretch goals are achievable).
3. People have reasons to do it that are meaningful to them (it not possible to motivate someone, only give them reasons why they ought to motivate themselves).
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We now have three measurable factors:
1. Goal clarity.
2. Clarity of actions that best enable goals.
3. A good reason why people should bother.
It happens in their mind
We have some factors that relate to performance. If we can get these factors to 10 out of 10 and keep them there, maybe we would get lasting improvements in staff performance. We now need go back to the idea of leadership and we can now define it a bit more as 'getting the three factors to 10 out of 10'. So at leadership is not so mystical anymore, and is not anecdotal, since the three factors relate to performance in anyone, therefore if the leader focuses on these three factors they will be applying techniques that fit anyone and will have a positive result on anyone.
The problem now is that it happens in their mind. As leader we may be very clear, and very committed. But if we do not achieve clarity and commitment in their mind, we have got no gains at all.
Clarity first
Imagine people are motivated, but not clear on the direction or on the action to best achieve the results. The team is likely to be highly active, but a running about like headless chooks. So before we worry about motivation, we need to ensure full clarity.
How clear are people on the goals? They need be very clear, and they need to accept the goals as realistic, if the goals are thought unrealistic, then people will give lip service to the goal and find excuses when they are not achieved.
How clear are people on the best action to achieve the goals? I have heard it said that people need sort this for themselves; it is why they are employed. I cannot agree, or even remotely consider the point. Thinking out what to do is a crucial exercise, and getting it right is even more crucially important. Now if someone is asked to think out what to do while at the same time expected to do it their concentration must be split between creating the actions to achieve the result and doing it. Not the best circumstances to achieve top performance.
Most jobs have a steady regular component, and likely within the organization there is a sound base of knowledge and information relating to how to do it well, and get the best results. This insight and understanding needs crystallized, summarized, and put in terms readily understood. Much more detailed than job descriptions, this becomes a specification for excellence in the job, it defines the goals and outputs and the action most likely to lead to the best result. Offering people this organisational learning and insight on goals and the best way to get those goals enables people to focus completely on performance…on doing it well, clarity first. (Note: if conditions change, or goals change, or if it is felt it is time to review goals and actions, then have a workshop with the team where the focus is on 'are we being effective as we can be'. Workshops where the focus is on identifying how we can do better are working on the business by reviewing the action to get results identifying changes, and consolidating what works into the performance specifications so it does not have to be learned again.)
Emotions second
There has been so much written on motivating people it is mind numbing. In the end whatever is offered, and whatever is tried must be relevant to them, it again must be meaningful in their minds.
If you are rude to people, forget it.
If you are intolerant too often, forget it.
If you lie to people, forget it.
If you are too nice, forget it.
If you treat them like you do not like them, forget it.
If you treat people they are not important, forget it.
And so on ...
It is not hard to build list of what not to do…but what actively can we do. We have already agreed the first step; ensure clarity of goals and action to achieve the goals in their minds. When time is taken to really do this, then it is remarkable how the actions are done as matter of course, they become norms and habits of the business.
A second and very important consequence of this process is to separate goals from 'actions to get the goals', performance is then the committed delivery of the action to get the goals, and people are expected to perform.
But we still have the core emotional issue, which is the core of motivation:
What is the one thing that people are likely to make an ongoing commitment to?
Will people commit to the company? What if the company must make some redundancies, or dismiss someone liked because of poor performance? How real is it to ask people to commit to the company when everyone knows the company is committed to itself, and will not return or seldom return or will only return the commitment if all goes well? Asking people to commit to the company is just not realistic.
Will people commit to themselves and to their own work success? I suggest this is the one thing to which people will commit. Now this is no magic wand, it is not infallible, but it is a sound and sensible premise, better than any other premise I know of.
So the fundamental of all motivational strategies is another 'best action to achieve the goal', in this case the goal of achieving lasting motivation can be summarized as follows.
To ensure the best chance of achieving long term lasting emotional commitment ask people to commit to their own work success.
Well thought out goals, clear agreed actions to achieve the goals, all worked through with people so they 'see' in their mind what to do and the expected results from when they do it, all based on the person's commitment to their own work success.
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