Performance Mindset- Part two

I am a middle-level manager and currently managing a team of ten officers. I am relatively new to the organisation though familiar with leading teams. I completed my probation period and have been working with the team. I note that team and individual performance is a concern in this organisation.

The team I lead have been with the organisation longer than I have. I have noted there needs to be a systematic process in place to manage performance. As a result, I find that each member has a different understanding of what they are expected to deliver. Managing their performance has therefore been very difficult. How would you advise me to address this situation without causing disruption? Robert

Hello Robert,  this is now part two of my earlier advice on how you address the issue of performance within your team. Remember you have now addressed the mindset, and your team are at the point where they appreciate the importance of performing as a team.

The competition of part one now allows you to introduce and work with simple tools that will help you embed the concept and culture. To help you manage team performance, think about setting up tools your team can use. These tools should be focused on communicating your team’s success. What you report is important, and the team should be able to link what they have achieved and how these achievements are linked to the organisation’s performance.

Consider developing a one-pager of a reporting template. This template should be short and concise, communicating the team’s overarching Key performance indicators (KPIs). More importantly, they should be linked to the organisation’s KPIs. You could also develop checklists to guide and help the team to think through what activities need to be created to develop the reports.

You may also want to consider developing an online dashboard; this would be automated and accessible to the team so they can easily monitor their own performance. Allowing team members to access this dashboard also lets them decide what aspects must be the focus. This will create a mindset of ownership. While the above provides two – three simple tools, another area that you may want to consider as you shift your team’s thinking is to clearly define the desired behaviour and attitude that you want your team to demonstrate as they deliver their work.

This speaks to behaviour competencies. These two are equally important as we speak about performance. Again since this is the first time you are likely developing these, you should start small; start with three or four.  Given that the focus is to get the team to deliver, you could consider one that describes the behaviour of commitment to achieve goals. You may want to consider Commitment & Drive for Results, defined as “Displays commitment to the team and organisation’s mission; is strongly motivated to achieve goals and act with accountability to deliver quality results”.

The other behaviour you could consider is “Teamwork & Relationship Building, which may be defined as “Initiating and maintaining positive relationships with others; discerning and appreciating the values, concerns or feelings of others”. The final one to consider that speaks to how your team behaves as a professional unit is Resilience & Resourcefulness defined as “possesses the personal resourcefulness to behave professionally in the face of challenges and resolve difficult situations effectively”.

I hope the above is helpful. As I said last time, start small and take baby steps. Good luck

Caroline Mboijana, Managing Director, The Leadership Team (U)  [email protected]