Leadership Lessons: The Importance of Performance Goals and Standards

How Can You Hit an Invisible Bull's-eye?

"We're falling behind. My team is not hitting its goals. Why am I the only one losing sleep over this?" Have you ever found yourself asking these questions?

Some Perspective

One of the most important things a manager should do is involve individuals or teams in goal setting. Together they can determine, agree upon, and document goals as well as the standards of performance. Employees need guidelines to tell them how they are doing.

With clear goals and standards, everyone understands performance expectations. Then it becomes a group effort to improve performance against goals--not just the responsibility of the manager.

The idea here is not for the manager to just set goals for others and expect compliance. Instead, the manager's role is to work together with team members to develop and agree upon goals and standards that everyone understands.

A Solution

I've worked with many organizations where managers did not understand the value of planning, and they certainly did not know how to set performance goals and standards. The bottom line is that thinking you can achieve success without planning and developing performance goals and standards is not wise.

Employees are likely to perform better and have greater job satisfaction when they are given clear performance expectations. Additionally, employees will benefit from understanding how their goals and responsibilities fit into bigger organizational strategy. With strategic alignment at all levels, the organization is more likely to achieve its set goals.

"Developing Performance Goals and Standards" is one course in Vital Learning's Leadership curriculum that helps leaders implement the SMART approach to developing performance goals and standards:

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Result-oriented
T - Time-framed

Because SMART is a collaborative process to developing goals and standards, team members understand organizational performance requirements as well as their role in moving the organization forward.

With "Developing Performance Goals and Standards," the people your managers lead will know what they are expected to do, and they will know how to work together to accomplish the goals of your organization.

"Developing Performance Goals and Standards" is a 4-hour skill-building classroom workshop or a 2-hour online course that helps your managers implement the SMART approach. Also available is our option of combining online and classroom experiences in a Blended Learning approach. This approach maximizes learning and minimizes time off the job in the classroom.

To learn more about "Developing Performance Goals and Standards" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum download this 4-page PDF or watch this brief video.

The Vital Learning curriculum is available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options and includes the following essential topics...

Disciplining - understanding how to discipline others to eliminate problem behavior
Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
Providing Feedback - knowing when and how to give feedback
And more...
For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: The Hiring Dilemma

Getting the Right People on the Bus

Do your managers consistently hire good people, who hit the ground running and become really productive? The lack of good hires impacts productivity, morale and even turnover. Why can't they hire winning talent?

Some Perspective

How many times have you met with a new hire who you knew would not work out within the first few days? Once is one time too many. Hiring the wrong person has many negative ripple effects on a team. But why do bad hires occur? In my experience, there are four fundamental reasons: the people interviewing candidates are not clear, nor do they agree on what it takes to be successful in the job.

The people interviewing candidates do not know how to conduct an effective and legal interview that uncovers pertinent information so that they can make a well-informed selection decision. The interviewing team does not have the most effective members to interview and select the best candidates.

The candidate isn't provided an effective opportunity to understand what the job and work environment are like, so they aren't making a well-informed decision when they say "yes." When candidates are unclear and do not agree on what is required to perform well in the job, the interviews will lack inter-rater reliability. This means that three managers could interview the same candidate and feel three different ways about that same candidate's ability to perform well in the role. Unfortunately, it happens all too often and leaves the interviewing team unable to make the best decision.

Many managers do not use a structured process for interviewing candidates. This is often attributed to the fact that they haven't been trained in interview and selection skills and strategies. Additionally, they may use team members who also have not been trained. All that adds up to is the probability of inconsistent success at hiring.

Because of the pressures to be productive and effectively use time, many managers go through the interview and selection process alone, rather than seek the input from team members currently in the job. This happens a lot. The common reason is "we can't spare the time away from projects and clients without falling behind." Unfortunately, the time and productivity lost from one bad hire after another far outweigh the time involving knowledgeable team members in the interview and selection process.

Research has shown that job-person fit is significantly linked to job satisfaction. Thus, when new hires begin work and realize that they had the wrong impression of the job requirements, this disconnect will inevitably cause problems for them and the hiring organization. When this happens, the likelihood that the candidate will stay is low, and then the search starts all over again.

A Solution

There is a solution. "Hiring Winning Talent" helps managers, supervisors, and team members understand how to use a structured process to identify, select, and hire the best and brightest people - people who truly fit the work requirements and the organization's requirements.

Wouldn't it be great if all new hires hit the road running and then stayed around long enough to become really productive? "Hiring Winning Talent" can help your managers, supervisors, and team members hire the right people and do it consistently.

"Hiring Winning Talent" is available in an 8-hour classroom workshop, a 4-hour online course, or a blended approach option, combining the ease of E-learning and the traditional classroom experience. This curriculum includes the following essential topics:

Defining What You're Looking For - the position description, job competencies, and questioning strategies
Planning the Interview - hiring strategy, sourcing, resume screening, the interview team, great reasons to work here
Conducting the Interview - an appropriate climate, conducting the interview, responding to challenging interviewee questions
Making the Selection - decision making guidelines, evaluating candidates, communicating with candidates
And more...

To learn more about "Hiring Winning Talent" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum download this 4-page PDF or watch this brief video.

The Vital Learning curriculum is available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options and includes the following essential topics...

Disciplining - understanding how to discipline others to eliminate problem behavior
Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
Developing Performance Goals and Standards - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards
Providing Feedback - knowing when and how to give feedback
And more...
For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Failure to Launch

The Best Laid Plans....
Have you ever wondered why it is, that even with the most careful planning and organization, certain projects fail to achieve the results you envisioned? Ask yourself this question, "Did I derail my own plans because I was not willing to delegate?"

Some Perspective
We've all heard the phrase, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." From my point of view, nothing could be further from the truth.

Having been a manager for a large corporation as well as running my own consuting business for over two decades, I often think about the lessons I've learned over the years. What I know for sure is that learning to delegate effectively will make you a more effective leader. Yes, planning and organization can help, but if you aren't delegating, chances are you will constantly battle the problem of keeping up with everything that has to be done, which leads to productivity issues.
These days, leaders are charged with many challenges, including the maximization of resources. Those who are in a position of responsibility must constantly be in the mode of developing talent. And, one of the best ways to do that is by delegating tasks.

Delegating accomplishes two things. One, it expresses your confidence in your team members. And two, delegation motivates team members to step outside of their box and go beyond the previously defined limits of their potential.

I've also worked with team leaders who had other preconceptions, which always seemed to hold them back from delegation: "Some people are basically lazy, interested only in their paycheck and fringe benefits." Or, "If I grant team members additional responsibility my authority will be challenged." Does that sound familiar? These preconceptions are often the reason team leaders hesitate to assign tasks to their team members, resulting in a lack of productivity, low motivation among the team, and in general, real problems in the workplace.

What's holding back the team leaders in your organization? In my experience one of the main reasons team leaders hold back is that they do not have confidence that they know "how to" delegate effectively, and that the assignment will be done well, and the belief that they have done so in a manner that demonstrates real leadership.Many team leaders can benefit by a deeper understanding of the skills that those who delegate effectively use and put into practice every day.

A Solution
Experience in working with hundreds of organizations has proven that management skill levels, like the ability to successfully delegate work, have a direct impact on business results:

Increased productivity
Maximized resources
Developed talent
Motivated employees

The Vital Learning formula for boosting skill levels and results is found in our "Delegating" program. This 4-hour skill-building workshop will help your leaders do the following:

Explain the need for delegation
Use delegation of task to motivate
Explain and ask team member's view
Specify responsibility and authority
Confirm team member's understanding and set up time for review

To learn more about "Delegating" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum download this 4-page PDF or watch this brief video.

The Vital Learning curriculum is available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options and includes the following essential topics...

Hiring - knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
Disciplining - understanding how to discipline others to eliminate problem behavior
Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
Developing Performance Goals and Standards - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards
Providing Feedback - knowing when and how to give feedback
And more...
For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org