All leaders at every level face stress, frustration, criticism or rejection from time to time.

In short, it comes with the job!

Nevertheless, being able to persevere when things do not go as planned, to remain positive under stressful circumstances, or to accept criticism from others and use it to make things better, are often what differentiates highly effective leaders from their peers.

In our executive coaching work with hundreds of leaders across most industry verticals, two domains emerge that are key distinguishing traits between being effective and ineffective in this foundational leadership competency.

Let’s look at each and provide specific actionable strategies on how you can be better within each one.

Domain One: Effective leaders remain positive and productive under stressful circumstances

The key here is to begin by accepting the fact that difficulties, stress and pressure are part of every job.

The more you focus on how stressful your job is, the more overwhelmed you are likely to feel.

Look for ways to give yourself control of the situation and focus on a positive outcome.

To this point, try the following:

Domain Two: Effective Leaders deal with negative feedback and criticism in a professional manner

Ask yourself why your feelings are hurt when someone gives you negative feedback or criticism.

Is it because you demand perfection of yourself and overreact to any suggestion that you are less than the best?

If so, remember that everyone has things they do well and other things they do less well. Do not react so strongly to criticism that you cannot profit from the feedback.

To this point, try the following:

Going Forward

Practicing resilience and the traits surrounding this key leadership competency is something that can be learned and honed over time.

While every leader has at one time experienced the many frustrations that come from being a leader, not all leaders are open, able or willing to cope with this stress the same way.

Leaders who exhibit resilience demonstrate the following behaviors:

They also work hard to hone their craft and become better at what they do.

In a recent article we covered the 4 critical behaviors that strategic leaders usually possess that can predict how effective they will be in this area.

We now wanted to cover exactly HOW leaders of all stripes, can vastly improve their own strategic visioning.

From our experience coaching hundreds of leaders on how to develop a vision and a related long-term strategy, we have found there needs to be a combination of talent, timing, and innovative thinking.

Further, fostering a strategic vision requires laying the proper groundwork so that the vision and strategy are embraced by the key stakeholders/shareholders and therefore marshal support rather than create resistance.

What follows are five key steps that our most successful clients have utilized to create their own strategic vision while getting buy-in from the entire organization, business unit or function, in order to convey that vision in a form that leads to effective performance.

Step 1: Clarify Your Purpose

Why does your organization/unit/function exist?

What need must be met?

What opportunities can be addressed?

Be clear about purpose and continually use this purpose to center or re-center your efforts while guiding your constituents in seeing the long-term vision you are creating.

In almost all situations, this purpose should be to provide valuable products and services to internal or external customers.

Your vision should provide a concept for how your organization/area should best achieve its purpose.

Step 2: Become the King of Information

Stay constantly informed and up to date about your industry and competitors, as well as what’s happing right within your company.

Step 3: Embrace an Innovative Mindset

Innovative organizations are usually more profitable, retain higher caliber employees and lead by example.

What type of environment do you foster?

Do new ideas or challenging innovations have a chance?

An innovative or creative work environment is not developed solely through “brain-storming sessions” or a strong R&D department.

While these are important, innovative thinking should be a day-to-day activity in every functional area, not an isolated event or something reserved for “creative people.”

Create an innovative mindset and environment by:

Step 4: Translate Your Ideas Into Specific Action

The best ideas are worthless unless they are acted upon in an effective way.

People cannot embrace your vision without knowing how to achieve it.

Translate your vision into clear, actionable tasks.

As you determine your action steps, ask yourself these questions:

Step 5: Communicate Effectively

The best vision and strategy can fail if they are not communicated well.

Going Forward: Why Some Can and Others Can’t

All of us have at one time questioned…” Why is it that some individuals, and some organizations for that matter, can develop and implement an effective vision, and others cannot?”

While the stories behind why some strategic visions fail and others succeed are many, there is usually one or more of the following criteria missing that torpedoes a plan before it comes to fruition:

In order to ensure your strategic vision not only is fostered and grown, but more importantly, acted upon, use this 5-step methodology culled from over 25 years of working with some of the most effective leaders and organizations in the world to ensure successful visioning and implementation of that vision.

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And why not.

Running the day-to-day nuts and bolts of an organization is one thing, but having the vision to see beyond the here and now and set the direction for what’s next is quite another.

With that being said, most organizations are not confident in their ability to assess if their job candidates for critical leadership roles are strategic in their orientation.

After all, this is a way of being and thinking that simply can’t be taught – so how do you even assess whether a candidate possesses such skills or not?

From our 25 years of assessing executive leadership on this competency there are a handful of behaviors that if demonstrated, will more often then not predict effectiveness in this area. 

Note: It’s about the behavior a leader exhibits and not how they verbally express their strategic orientation. 

Strategic Behaviors That Matter

First off, having strategic vision means that one is able to identify long-term goals and champion the implementation of different or alternative ideas.

Leaders who are competent at strategic visioning generate creative and strategic solutions that can be successfully implemented – not offer pie in the sky rhetoric.

Often they have a track record of thinking in innovative ways and support similar thinking in others, as well as putting ego aside and embracing a new or innovative idea that was not their own.

From our assessment of executive talent globally, here are the top four behaviors that matter. 

In short, your strategic leaders need to behave in this way:

1.) They view tactical problems or initiatives from a broad perspective and emphasizes solutions that support strategic objectives

2.) They generate new ideas/solutions that can be successfully implemented

3.) They can champion their ideas to successful implementation

4.) They support and champion the strategic initiatives of others

So how do you know if your leaders possess these inherent qualities? Let’s address that next.

Questions That Determine Strategic Thinking

In our time assessing, coaching and interacting with top leaders, we have developed a set of 5 key assessment questions that help to determine if a leadership candidate has demonstrated “strategic vision.” We encourage you to use these in your evaluation process.

Ask these questions to all your final candidates:

Going Forward

Assessing the strategic orientation of potential leaders is not that difficult.

You can increase your assessment effectiveness by using the interviewing questions above and by assessing all final candidates against the 4 behavior statements that matter. 

Keep in mind that it’s about the behavior a leader takes and not how they verbally express their strategic orientation.

Don’t be fooled by a great salesman. Rather, look for the meat and substance behind the words showing innovation, adaptability and the necessary traits that will foster continued growth and innovation within your company.

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Rather, managing others requires a set of people skills that, when combined with a strong sense of integrity and professionalism, allows you to work through other people to accomplish important objectives.

As a manager you must encourage performance through motivation and feedback and also hold people accountable.

While this topic can be extremely comprehensive and notoriously difficult to master, we’ve narrowed success in this area down to six key domains of mastery – based on our years of successful client engagements – that if achieved, lead to a consistent and repeatable process for managing others successfully.

We also follow each of the six domains with a link for further reading on that domain that will expand and enhance your ability to manage others.

Domain #1: Demonstrate Strength of Character

There is simply no way around it: a manager must possess a sense of personal responsibility and accountability.Personal strength of character is one of the most important competencies and traits of successful management.

Developing your own personal code of conduct and adhering to it at all times is a very important skill to possess.  Doing so will inspire and motivate others to do their personal best  and is the first step in mastering management of others.

Remember: your peers and subordinates are always watching what you do and what you say.

For example, demonstrating the following behaviors is recommended:

For more on this topic please read: As A Leader, Political Savvy Is Not About Being Political

Domain #2: Develop and Share Your Expertise

The best managers continually expand their knowledge and grow their skillset so that they increase their contribution to the organization.

In turn, they share this knowledge and expertise with peers and subordinates to help them move the business forward. 

To these points we have found that to be an effective leader, you should do the following:

Tip: If it’s a large organization, using Google Alerts makes this task easier then ever!

For more on this topic please read: Understanding Your Leadership Identity

Domain #3: Build Your Team

Effective teams begin by selecting/hiring competent people.

4. Stays current and shares this new knowledge with others

5. Explains actions and decisions transparently

6. Listens to input of subordinates and encourages their involvement

7. Disciplines poor performance while rewarding excellent performance

8. Is consistent and fair with all subordinates and peers

9. Provides personal and outside coaching help to develop top talent

As a manager, take your responsibility for hiring motivated and competent people very seriously. Otherwise you will weaken the overall team.

If you have not done so, take a course, read a book, and use validated selection tools like those provided by rd&partners, to make your job easier.

In short, make a commitment to follow these best practices no matter how busy you are:

For more information on building an effective team please read: Are Your Individual Performers Prepared To Work As A Team?

Domain #4: Encourage Open Communication

Effective leaders clearly articulate their expectations for the group and for each member of the group.

They encourage people to ask for clarification when they are uncertain. 

In addition they work hard to:

For more information on how to communicate effectively please listen to our special Leadership Leverage podcast: Woo: A Secret Ingredient To Effective Leadership

Domain #5: Plan and Organize (Daily)

 Each day consider all that must be accomplished, the various deadlines or timeframes to be met, and the work steps required.

Prioritize the work by importance and deadline and by consideration of critical tasks that must be accomplished before other tasks can begin.  

In addition ensure you:

 See our article on delegation to learn How To Deal With The Discomfort Of Delegation

Domain #6: Challenge and Develop Others

Effective leaders set high expectations for their people.

If you expect mediocre performance that is what you will get!

To ensure you do this well it is imperative that you:

Consider this a long-term investment in the future success of your group. In fact, providing executive coaching services to your top talent is a best-in-class practice.

 Go here to learn more about stakeholder centered coaching that specifically facilitates this process.

 In Conclusion

 Obviously, effectively managing others is not an easy task.

You must develop skills in many areas in order to be successful.

The effective leaders we know, have coached and that are the most successful are those who understand that management is all about people.

Those individuals work hard at being good leaders and keep honing their skills over time and never remain stagnant.

Do not be discouraged if you cannot master all these skills simultaneously – these are skills that take a moment to learn intellectually, but a lifetime to master.  

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In recent years we have seen the availability of management positions decrease and as a result, numerous professionals are electing to make careers through individual contributor roles that allow more influence and accountability, without cumbersome titles or management duties.

Given this trend, rd&partners examined 360-degree performance appraisal data on over 300 individual contributors surveyed over the last several years.

Some quick background on the respondents:

The Top 4 Most Indispensable Competencies

What we consistently found was that there were four key competencies that the best individual contributors exhibited that proved to be the most indispensable for the companies that hired them.

Here are the top four competencies that consistently ranked for effectiveness in the role of individual contributor:

# 1 Able to Effectively Plan & Organize Their Work:

Effective individual contributors are competent at managing their time and the time of others.

In addition, they effectively handle multiple demands and competing deadlines.

They excel at identifying goals, developing plans, estimating time frames and monitoring their progress without much oversight by management.

Those that plan & organize well demonstrate the following behaviors:

# 2 Strong Interpersonal Communication:

Individual contributors who are competent at making relationships work, listen effectively and develop rapport with others.

They are able to articulate their thoughts and ideas clearly, present information in a straightforward and logical way, and they ensure that they are understood.

They are also very good at sharing information with others in order to improve overall work progress.

Those that have effective Interpersonal Communications demonstrate the following behaviors:

#3 Effective at Collaboration:

Individual contributors who effectively collaborate are able to maintain cooperative work relationships with others.

They complete their own tasks for group projects in a timely and responsible manner and directly contribute to reaching the group goal.

Those that do this well demonstrate the following behaviors:

#4 Able to Deliver Consistent Results:

Individual contributors who are effective in delivering results assume personal responsibility for achieving outcomes and work effectively with little direction.

In short, they are dependable and responsible.

Those that do this well demonstrate the following behaviors:

Going Forward

Being an effective Individual Contributor is learnable.

Further, with the expanded roles of individual contributors in many companies, it is becoming more and more vital to hire effective individuals that can handle larger roles and be more self-directed.

The key to finding and developing the right people is understanding your company’s core competencies ahead of time, as well as the competencies that are needed in order to be effective within your organization.

This effectiveness can be increased by taking the time to actively go through the four competencies above that our research has shown lead to the most desired outcomes and the most qualified individual contributors.

If you would like to find out more about your organization’s existing talent and whether you have the type of individual contributors with the competencies we’ve found lead to the most success outcomes, please contact us, or try one of our employee assessments free of charge.

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 Rather the degree of improvement is determined by the stakeholders/raters of the Leader over the course of the engagement.

At the end of the day, a true definitive leader and the organization that has hired them wants to see continued improvement in both their leadership and results within the organization.

When you can tie direct business results and objectives to focused, stakeholder driven changes in behavior, a virtuous loop is created whereby the organization and the individual all drive towards the same goal – and get there faster.

While you may never have heard of Stakeholder Centered Executive Coaching, the methodologies and processes behind this style of behavioral modification elicit lasting change because of its tight focus.

By highlighting singular aspects of a leader’s behavior that will garner the most significant impact on the organization – while at the same time directly involving stakeholders – a cohesive and feedback-driven criteria ensures change is outlined, measured and actuated.

What is Stakeholder Centered Coaching?

Stakeholder Centered Coaching (SCC), developed by Marshall Goldsmith, is a practice based upon achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for the leader, their people and their teams.

As the business world becomes more complex with changing technology and global endeavors, the role of a leader is also growing in complexity making it more difficult to efficiently and effectively dedicate time to developing oneself.

SCC is a practical methodology that is neither time consuming nor difficult to understand.

In its simplest form, SCC is about an understanding that we are all successful largely because of inherent traits and also in spite of those same aspects of how we behave.

A recurring theme often involves being successful because of certain beliefs AND in spite of those same beliefs.

Consider, for a moment, one of the most pervasive natural beliefs of successful people – the statement: “I am successful”.

In other words, leaders that think this way have a high degree of self-confidence, which for the most part is a good thing, right?

For instance it gives you the courage to apply your ability and strengths.

But, at the same time, it may also cause you to have difficulty accepting the validity of feedback inconsistent with your self-image.

Here’s a great quote from a CEO of a Fortune 100 Company who has had many “ups and downs” on the admiration scale:

“Success can lead to arrogance. When we become arrogant we quit listening. When we quit listening we stop changing. In today’s rapidly moving world, if we quit changing, we will ultimately fail.”

Equipped with this understanding, those that engage in SCC see dramatic results in developing themselves as leaders.

But, in order to succeed you will have to follow a disciplined practice.

While this practice is simple to understand, it can also be difficult to implement.

However, with that being said, the disciplined practice used in SCC will be of value to anyone whose goal is a positive, long-term improvement in his or her own leadership behavior.

What Are The Beliefs and Principles That Underline SCC?

The most successful approach to Stakeholder Centered Coaching involves modifying behaviors that take advantage of the positive aspects of successful people’s beliefs,

while at the same time overcoming negative aspects that can interfere with development.

Based upon this understanding and through the application of coaching skill, a developmental process is tailored for each individual to maximize the positive aspect of the beliefs and to overcome the negative aspects that can interfere with development.

For example:

How Does the Process Work?

SCC is not theory.

It is about action.

Success in this process does not have to take up a lot of time. In fact, using this methodology is very time efficient.

It involves the following steps:

Stakeholders will participate in a mini-survey midway and at the conclusion of the coaching engagement where they provide anonymous feedback on the degree of improvement perceived.

The survey focuses only on the behavior the leader set out to improve.

Our experience suggests that the steps in this process must be rigorously practiced for at least 6 months before there is certainty that the change will be rooted in with enough rigor to become sustained.

The more powerful benefit for the leader is that soon, the process itself becomes a habit.

Truly successful people are committed to getting better every year, and the greatest gift for a self-actualized leader is when this process becomes an ongoing discipline.

How Is This Method Different From Other Coaching Methodologies?

The fundamental principles of SCC – attention on the stakeholders, emphasis on the future, and parallel behavior/perception change – are distinguishing features of this process.

The practical, and sometimes counter-intuitive, nature of involving the stakeholder allows the leader to turn these stakeholders into the true coaches, as they are the best “experts” in how the leader’s behavior can improve with them.

The coach’s role moves more into the background as orchestrator, cheerleader, and integrator.

Together this offers a transparent process that highlights the leader’s personal interest in development.

In fact, these two elements are critical in lasting behavior change that is recognized by the individual, their team, and the organization.

Additionally, most coaching and leadership development engagements focus on a process of feedback as the key to improving.

However, while feedback is indeed an important part of the process, we emphasize FeedForward – a very simple process focusing on suggestions for the future.

In fact, a key aspect of improving as a leader is to change the perception of stakeholders regarding a certain behavior.

The problem lies in the fact that most people do not readily give up their prior assumptions, opinions, and beliefs.

Long lasting behavior change occurs when a leader undergoes improvement in a specified behavior and those around that leader both recognize and support that change – thus Stakeholder Centered Coaching!

The SCC method provides the structure and guidance required to allow the leader to realize lasting change that will have a significant impact on the organization, often resulting in stakeholders and others modeling the process in their daily encounters.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, a true definitive leader and the organization that has hired them, wants to see continued improvement in both their leadership and results within the organization.

When you can tie direct business results and objectives to focused, stakeholder driven changes in behavior, a virtuous loop is created whereby the organization and individuals all drive towards the same goal – and get there faster.

This is what SCC is all about.

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It’s not surprising because of the strong “not created here” mentality between work units, and the natural competition between groups which are often fueled by pay systems that pit groups against one another.

The ability to bridge this discord and build and sustain effective peer relationships is a “game-changer” for most leaders.

It is a true selection differentiator when it comes to consideration and success at the most senior levels.

That is, those who do this well usually go on to senior executive roles where they execute these roles successfully.

Those that don’t…simply don’t.

Their careers are often derailed at one level below.

Possible derailment factors, culled in studies done by V.J.Benz (1967) who did a 30 year study on the subject, concluded that one major reason for leader incompetence was their inability to form effective relationships.

Another study performed by Lombardo & McCall who were inspired by Bentz to conduct similar research in 1983, concluded that the most frequent reason for leadership derailment was insensitivity to others (read as peers)

Why is this?

3 Ways To Create Positive Relationships

In our experience the answer to this has three reasons that are interrelated:

1.) Those that effectively build relationships with their Peers understand that their most important Team is their Peers and not their Direct Reports.

Do you look at your “world of work” in this way.

If not it’s time for you to play catch-up as some 40 years ago Peter Drucker wrote in his book The Effective Executive (1966):

“The people who are the most important to the effectiveness of an executive are not the people over whom he has direct control. They are people in other areas, the people who are “sideways”…his Peers…Unless the executive can reach these people, can make his contribution effective for them and in their work, he has no effectiveness at all.”

2.) Those that effectively build relationships understand that effective leadership is not about them. It is about others.

Our friend and colleague Jim Kouzes writes in his book entitled The Truth About Leadership (based on 30 years of research):

“Leadership is a team sport, and you need to engage others in the cause. What strengthens and sustains the relationship between leader and constituent (read as Peers) is that leaders are obsessed with what is best for others, not what is best for themselves.”

3.) Those that effectively build relationships have a strong sense of self-regard. They understand their strengths and limitations and acknowledge them…. publicaly.

In our decades of working with, developing, and coaching executives it is without a doubt that collectively they have more than enough skill and intelligence to be highly successful.

From our point of view what set the best ones apart is their ability to know their limitations, surround themselves with others who fill their gaps, and perhaps most important of all, freely and openly admit to their Peers that they are aware of and comfortable with their shortcomings.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, leaders who create effective Peer relationships do the following effectively:

Clearly, it leads to more efficient use of time and resources with the easy exchange of both ideas and talent.

In addition, leaders who do this well attract and retain better employees and inspire them to be relationship builders too.

As a result, they build companies that clients trust, stick with and enthusiastically recommend to others.

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However, “political” behavior is, by definition, neither positive nor negative.

The “goodness” or “badness” of political behaviors resides not in the wielding of influence itself but in the means used and the objectives obtained.

Clearly organizations are a complex labyrinth of egos, issues, rivalries, sacred cows and personal sandboxes.

Leaders who are “politically savvy” accept these facts and deal with them.

To them these are everyday elements of “organizational life”.

As such, they are able to influence successfully within and outside of their direct area of responsibility, understand the underlying issues and context, the personalities involved, and get things done in this labyrinth with the least amount of disruption for maximum benefit.

In short, they are “politically savvy.”

Being politically savvy is a key competency to success at the senior leadership levels and those who do this well more often then not, do the following:

As you read through the list below take note of where you rate yourself – 1 (low) to 5 (high) – on each of the following for statements

A Closer Look at Being Politically Savvy

Able to Analyze the Situation or Context

Politically savvy leaders understand the organizational culture, each group’s roles and responsibilities, and know who the key influencers are in each area.

Those that do this well can answer the following questions skillfully about their organization.

What is the image and reputation your organization hopes to project?

What behaviors are considered acceptable within the organization?

Who has influence in the organization?

Remember that organizational influence comes from many sources: title and direct authority, credibility, expertise, or a long history within the organization.

Who are your key stakeholders?

These are the folks you need to help you be successful and are usually your peers.

Capable of Building Partnerships and Alliances

Politically savvy leaders effectively build alliances within the organization to help them achieve their objectives.

Those that do this well can answer the following questions skillfully about their partnerships and alliances.

Keep Conflict to a Minimum

Politically savvy leaders effectively keep conflicts small and concrete.

They are skilled at separating people from the problem by looking at the nature of the problem, not the person presenting the problem.

Those that do this well can answer the following questions skillfully about their ability to keep conflict to a minimum.

Build a Strong Reputation

Politically savvy leaders effectively develop and nurture their influence and reputation in order to be politically effective in the organization.

Those that do this well can answer the following questions skillfully.

The Bottom Line

In conclusion, being politically savvy is learnable.

It begins by accepting that organizations represent both the best and the worst of the human condition.

Having said this, you can increase your effectiveness by taking the time to actively answer the sets of questions outlined above and work hard on those areas you identified for yourself as weaknesses to become politically savvy and foster a better work environment and organizational outcomes.

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Are the results you deliver on time?

If you do deliver results on time, are they completed without sacrificing other factors like quality, or alienating your peers/co-workers?

Without a doubt, it’s not only important to produce results, BUT to be able to produce results “on time.”

However, everyone’s work is a link in a bigger chain of events within an organization.

If the initiative you are responsible for is late or lacks the necessary quality, your key stakeholders are directly impacted. It’s not just you that has to account for these issues, so too does the entire system.

No leader works in a vacuum and no leader achieves results by themselves.

Here’s quick checklist to see how you are doing as it relates to getting things done.

Make a mental note of how many of these apply to you:

So how did you do?

Ready for some feedback?

If you mentally acknowledged any of the above issues you are:

NOT THAT EFFECTIVE IN DELIVERING RESULTS ON TIME.

Not to worry as many leaders are less than effective on this very issue.

The good news is that we have found that significant improvement can be made once leaders understand and take action on two simple yet powerful techniques to help them get better results on time.

First, Some Key Issues…

There are many common issues as to why leaders do not effectively deliver results on time.

Before we describe two ways to fix these, let’s first outline some of the barriers or common issues that inhibit effectiveness in delivering results on time.

From our coaching and organizational experience spanning over 20 years in Fortune 500 organizations and global consulting firms, here are the top 5 causes that prevent leaders from delivering results on time – based on evaluating 360 Performance Appraisals Surveys conducted on over 650 middle to senior level leaders.

Top 5 Issues That STOP Leaders From Delivering Results On Time:

Two Powerful Techniques For Delivering Results On Time

From our coaching work and in our analysis, the two biggest contributing techniques used by leaders who are perceived to be highly effective at delivering results on time are:

Lets look at the two steps that effective leaders employ to deliver results consistently and on time.

Step 1: The Ability to Lay Out the Process

At first glance this appears simple right?

Yet this is the step that is most often over looked.

Why?

For a number of factors, but usually because the leader simply will not take the time to “slow down” and implement the required planning.

Yes, taking the time to lay out the work from A to Z takes effort and time, yet by slowing down it actually makes you faster!

How can “being slow make you fast?”

Simple: by laying out the process ahead of time, it significantly reduces your chances of having to keep revisiting issues over and over again or backtrack. Hence, slow becomes fast!

So, to ensure you “Lay out the process” properly, use the following questions to help you:

Lastly, with the advent of advanced technology, many effective leaders utilize project-planning software that is relatively inexpensive and can guide you through an organized process.

Examples of well-reviewed project-planning software include products such as At Task and EasyProjects.net

In addition, the output of the software (whether plain word documents or more complex mind maps) allows you to easy communicate your plans with your key stakeholders.

This “involvement of others” links directly to the second critical step in the effective delivery of results on time.

Step 2: Getting Others Involved on the Front-End

There are only a few principles, or truths, surrounding effective leadership and one of these is that effective leaders know that they can’t do it alone.

They recognize that delivering results on time in a consistent manner is a team sport and they need to actively engage others.

Another way of thinking about this is through a term that Richard Shell and Mario Moussa call “Woo.”

That is, the ability to win people over to a leader’s ideas without coercion, using relationship-based, emotionally intelligent persuasion.

Clearly, effective leaders have the ability to put themselves into the other person’s shoes but it is more than just the ability to be “empathetic.”

It is the ability of knowing your own style of communication, behavior & leadership beliefs and knowing the communication style, behaviors & leadership beliefs of those you are influencing.

The key learning point here is this: If you only influence others through your formal authority (also called “positional authority”) or through the use of data/numbers/logic you will over time drive top performers away from wanting to assist you.

Why?

Because high performance talent does not want to be told.

They need to be engaged and be in partnership.

In short, you will not have captured their “hearts and minds” unless you get buy-in on a deeper more emotional level.

Here’s a practical and quite effective tip to get others involved on the front end:

On a quarterly basis share your higher level and longer-term priorities with your key stakeholders as a way to calibrate if they are still relevant/timely/funded.  This allows for active dialog and the opportunity to engage them as resources and they you.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, effective leaders who deliver results on time do all of the following:

Special Note: Listen to Mario Moussa and I as we explore “The Art of Woo” on rd&partners Radio Show Leadership Leverage. Click here to listen now or download the MP3.

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In this post I wanted to share 6 proven steps that if followed,will effectively address any and all employee performance issues a Leader will face while affecting change within your organization in a straightforward and non-biased manner.

6 Steps To Address Employee Performance Issues

Step 1: Performance First, Solutions Second

Often Leaders reverse this order by jumping to solutions before they have adequately defined the performance issue.

This is a big mistake

Defining the performance issue first is the foundation for this process to work as intended.

If you don’t, you will discover that your haste to solve the problem has actually slowed you down.

You will then find yourself revisiting the performance issue many times over seeking clarity.

Effective Leaders simply don’t do this.

Instead, they seek and find performance clarity from the get-go.

They know that by slowing down and allowing themselves to start with effectively addressing the performance issue(s) with clarity, SLOW BECOMES FAST as they never have to stop and continuously return to define the core issue.

Step 2: Define the Deviation

The only way to define the performance issue with clarity is to identify the “deviation” in performance.

That is, what specifically SHOULD the employee be doing versus what they are ACTUALLY doing?

Using this comparison between the ACTUAL vs. the INTENDED and contrasting them is a simple yet powerful approach.

Again, your goal is to have complete clarity regarding their Performance deviation before moving on the Step 3.

Step 3: Communicate the Deviation

In plain and simple language communicate the “deviation” that you defined in Step 2.

Simply “fill in the blanks” to this Deviation Statement:

Your employee SHOULD be doing __________INSTEAD they are ACTUALLY doing  ________.

For example, let’s say your employee, in this case “Pat” is continuously missing project deadlines.

Below is how to effectively communicate this Performance Deviation:

Pat, you SHOULD be completing 99% of all your project work on or ahead of time INSTEAD you are ACTUALLY completing your project work 70% on time.

Again, your goal is to have crystal clarity about their Performance deviation and then communicate this in a plain and simple manner that does not allow for excuses or back and forth.

Step 4: Engage Them in the Cause(s)

This is KEY: You must engage them in defining the root cause of their behavior.

Ask them to contribute to defining the possible causes as to why they are not executing as they SHOULD.

Often they’ll need assistance with this step, so use the following two questions – that have been proven over time to help make definitive progress – to help you initiate this process:

The two key questions to address in this step are:

For example, let’s say you and your employee “Pat” generated the following Causes to their Performance Deviation of “Missing Project Deadlines”:

Next, engage Pat in determining the “most probable cause” by assigning the percentage of contribution each “Cause” has contributed to them missing project deadlines 30% of the time.

Here’s how this breaks down visually:

Step 5: Select the Best Solution

Now that you have collectively defined the most probable cause(s), you must then select the best Solution(s).

This step should simply flow if you have done the first 4 steps thoroughly.

In fact, this part of the process should flow seamlessly because you will have enough information to select the best solution “collectively” in an unbiased manner.

The one key question to address in this step is:

“How does our collective solution support the performance we SHOULD be doing?”

The important point here is that you have a DIALOG about how the collective solution(s) will indeed enable them to achieve the “SHOULD”.

This dialog is key to the sixth and final step in addressing employee performance issues.

Step 6: Define Consequences

This is the one step where most Leaders hesitate or diminish – DON’T!

There must be consequences for poor performance or else you will never affect change.

So what are they and how should you implement them?

The simple goal here is to have the employee define the possible consequences if they do not exhibit the “SHOULD” portion of the equation.

The one key question that will be addressed in this step is the following:

“If they continue to perform in the ACTUAL way verses how they SHOULD perform what would be the appropriate consequence(s) and by what timeframe?”

Simply use basic brainstorming techniques in collaboration with the employee to generate consequences that are both real and actionable.

These often range from actions to provide additional resources, job/role redesign, or to the ultimate consequence of job loss.

Bottom Line:

In summary, effective leaders learn and use these six steps to enable their organization to obtain from the individual employee the contribution it simply must have.

By utilizing a normalized and “non-judgmental” analysis that specifically involves the employee with real and pre-defined characteristics for success, you not only can specifically address performance issues as they arise, but also formulate a concrete action plan to prevent them from happening in the future, while affecting change within the organization.

In turn the needs of the individual employee are also met as they have defined with clarity and substantive consequences, what happens when their performance expectations are not adequately being met.

image of equation: ehow.com
image of  arrows: stanleybronstein.com
image of road sign: ubiquitouswisdom.com read more>>