Showing posts with label Performance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Performance. Show all posts

How to Improve Work Performance Instantly

A leader must know how to improve work performance instantly no matter what obstacles get in the way. One of the biggest challenges a leader faces in their role has to do with making sure that they have enough qualified people to get the work done. It seems like every time they get a good employee, they either get promoted or they leave the organization to go explore a different opportunity. Over time, this can get very discouraging and start to affect the overall productivity and performance of the entire organization in more ways than one. The morale and motivation of people can drop and they can start to feel overworked. I have personally seen this happen time and time again and have finally figured out a way to solve this problem.

It really comes down to being proactive and when a leader can start to become proactive, they really know how to improve work performance instantly. I developed a concept called "Build the Team Before You Need the Team" which consist of three key components. They are to always be developing your people, empower your people to make decisions, and make it okay for your people to make mistakes so they can grow. By implementing this strategy a leader will never have to worry about whether or not they have enough people to fill any roles that become available no matter which ones they may be. Not only will the leader have little trouble filling positions, they will have improved work performance at the same time. Now let's jump right in and learn how to improve work performance instantly.

The first thing that I recommend a leader do to start building the team before he/she needs the team is by getting in the habit of always developing their people. This is how to improve work performance while obtaining several benefits at the same time. This creates a win-win situation for both parties because the more the people know, the stronger their skill set will become and they will be more prepared to take on both current and future responsibilities. The leader wins as well because the more he/she develops their people, the easier their job will become and they also will have people who are prepared to fill future job openings as they come up quickly. This is important because anything can happen at any given time.

Someone can give sick, get a serious injury, walk off the job, had an unexpected major life change that requires them to move to another state, and the list goes on and on. A leader wants to put the organization in the position to maximize profitability and the best way to do this is by staying staff of the best people. I remember when I used to run supermarkets as store manager. I built a reputation of always being fully staffed with an abundance of great people. If a job opening came up, I just about always had someone in-house that could step right in immediately and do a good job. I'll only reason why I was always able to do this was because I made it a priority to make sure that we will always developing people to backfill every position in the store.

I acted as if there were never going to be candidates that were qualified outside of my building and because of this mindset we hardly ever had a staffing issue. The other cool thing about this is that most of the time our people were developed so strongly that even if we did have candidates outside of our store; our people were better qualified for the position. I can't really think of another store manager in that company that took people develop their as serious as I did and it paid off. This stuff work's and this is how I know how to improve work performance.

The second thing the leader should do is empower his/her people to make decisions. This has a lot to do with what was just shared but empowerment in itself builds leadership skills. In my opinion, empowerment is one of the most powerful ways of developing people but at the same time one of the most under utilized concepts as well. People are so used to being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. There's nothing wrong with this but if you really want to know how to improve work performance at its highest level, a leader has to teach their people how to fill a leadership role.

Every once in a while instead of the leader telling their people what to do, the leaders should ask them what they think needs to be done next. The leader should also let it be known that if something happens and a decision needs to be made right away and the leader just so happens to not be around that its okay for someone else to make a decision. One of my mentors told me that making the wrong decision is always better than making no decision. That is so true and I still think and act on that statement every day of my life as well as teach it to others. I want you to share your comments about this on my blog as well as any questions you may have about this. Go there now why they're fresh in your mind!

The third thing that I highly recommend that leaders do is to make it okay for his/her people to make mistakes or even fail. They must be very careful with this tip because traditionally we are taught that making mistakes are bad. Think about it, every time students make a mistake on the tests they took back in school they lost points and if they make too many mistakes they end up failing the test. The truth is mistakes are good because they help people learn. The more mistakes people make the faster they will learn. Another one of my mentors by the name of Alex Mandossian said that "There is no such thing as failure, there is only winning and learning". What a great mindset to have!

Let's refer back to what we were just talking about earlier regarding empowerment. When a leader empowers someone to make decisions, there will be times where they make the wrong decision but the leader must support it. If they don't that person may not feel comfortable making a decision ever again in the future. So what the leader has to do after supporting the decision is to share with that person what they would have done differently if it wasn't the correct one. If it was the right decision, congratulate them and celebrate the win. Now in the future, they'll know how to handle that same situation if it ever comes up again. By doing this over and over again they will begin to develop the decision-making muscle of each person they empower.

In conclusion, knowing how to improve work performance instantly is simple when you know this strategy and is not used even close to as much as it should. "Build the Team Before You Need the Team" gets a leader into a proactive mindset of continuous professional development of the people within his/hers organization. People are a leader's number one asset and the more they focus on their development, the stronger their people will become and the stronger the entire organization will become. People want to learn and grow but they need a leader who is going to take the time to help them and when this happens they win, the leader wins, the customer wins, and the organization wins. Visit my blog today to post any questions you may have as well as any feedback on this information. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Rob Moore helps people in leadership positions get their people to perform better no matter what they do. Give him the people who are challenged with a lack of motivation, low productivity, under performance, poor attitudes, and he will turn them into top performers.

Show Up, Step Out, & Shine!

http://www.leadershipperformancetips.com/


Original article

Take the Guesswork Out of Improving Performance at Work

Taking the guesswork out of improving performance at work can be easier than any leader thinks. There are many different organizations out there in the world with several different structures when it comes to roles and positions. From my experience, it doesn't matter what company a leader works for, every role/position is crucial to the overall success of the organization itself. Some people would say that the leader is the most important person which I agree with to a certain extent but without people working under him/her, there is no organization. Each leader's primary function is to develop the vision, share the vision, and then teach coach and counsel their people towards that vision. Each company needs as many strong leaders as they can find or develop but they cannot do all of the work themselves.

There are just far too many tasks that need to be completed on a daily basis. So, why do I bring this up? It is because a leader needs to understand that their people as a whole bring just as much of value to the table as they do. Both parties need each other in order to be successful. This is why it is so important that one of the first things they do within the organization is Level the Playing Field. They can do this by letting it be known that no one is better than the next person, that everyone's role or position is just as important as the next, and that everyone has the same opportunities. Improving performance at work is a simple as implementing this strategy along with its simple tips. Now let's jump right into this by going into a lot more detail on each point.

The first thing a leader needs to establish in both his or her mind as well as the minds of the other people within their area of the organization that they are responsible for, is that no one is better than the next person. People were not born better then the next person so why should things change now or ever. When people realize this, it keeps both morale and confidence high because it gives them a feeling of significance within the organization. Significance is one of the six basic human needs that have to be fulfilled just about everyday.

Once established, work performance as well as productivity reaches its highest point which leads to morale reaching its highest point. Leaders have a responsibility to do everything in their power to protect the self image of their people. When a leader does not do this, they're leaving a window open for people to mistreat other people either on purpose or by accident. There is no "I" in team and it takes team work to make the dream work. The leader has to get people to understand that they are all on the same team and the only way they are going to succeed at a high level is by total collaboration. I want to hear your feedback so visit my blog to leave comments on this piece of information.

Second, the leader needs to help his people understand that everyone's role or position within the organization is just as important as the next. This is critical when it comes to improving performance at work. There is no possible way that things can run smoothly and as efficient as possible if any one of the roles is missing. This has a lot to do with what was just mentioned with a slight difference. Before I was talking about having mutual respect with one another, here I want to talk strictly about goals and positions. Traditionally, people would say that that each of these roles or positions has different levels of importance. I can clearly understand why people would say something like that but I believe that they are not seeing the big picture. Yes, leaders are extremely important. Yes, leaders on the ones with the vision. Yes, leaders can make or break a company and I can go on and on but is only true to a certain extent.

For example, let's say we have a leader who is running a supermarket. This leader can be a store manager, assistant store manager, customer service manager, etc. Now let's say that it's a Saturday and the person that collects the carts outside called out and for whatever reason could not come to work that day. It's so busy that customers are starting to complain that there are no carts inside of the building for them to shop with because they're all outside in the parking lot. No one else will come in to work to fill the shift and nobody else in the store has time to help out because they're so busy doing what they have to do. Right now the cart retrieval position looks like the most important position in the store for that day because it's the biggest problem at that time.

The truth is that the cart retrieval position is one of the most important jobs in the store but people only realize it when the position is not filled. Every job is important and an organization cannot reach success with holes in their structure over a long period of time. When a leader understands this and utilizes this knowing, improving performance at work becomes easy. All roles and positions are just as important as the next and need to be treated that way all of the time no matter what is going on.

Lastly, a leader needs to work towards making sure that each and every one of his people within his organization understands that everyone has the same opportunities to succeed. During many of my years in management, I have seen so many people stuck in the same spot for years. Some of them even complain about where they are and believe that they can't do anything about. I have seen and personally know people that are still doing the same job today that they were doing when I first started with the company that I used to work for. Some are happy where they and others are not. When I talk to these people I hear statements like "I keep getting passed over", "I'm entitled to a promotion", "I'm the next in line", "It's not fair", and so on. All of this focusing on the negative does them no good and just keeps attracting crap into their life. People need to realize that they can be, do, or have anything that they want within reason within the organization.

Every time I do a presentation to a group of people I always have them say out loud in the very beginning "if it is to happen for me it is up to only me". From my experience, people just don't realize how much power they truly had in their hands right now. It doesn't have to be complicated. They just have to decide what they want, get focused on it, and take massive action. It's really that simple. If people don't know this they will become negative and not only take them down the wrong road but will take the other people down with them too. Improving performance at work becomes very difficult when there's a bunch of people like this in one environment. Negativity in the workplace destroys productivity, performance, and morale. As a leader you either want your people to be happy with where they are or if they want more point them in the direction to get there. Mentor them, coach them, guide them, and help them get to the position that they really want.

In conclusion, improving performance at work can occur very easily when the leaders levels the playing field. The leader plays a huge role in the success of the organization that they're running but he/she cannot do it alone. They need people to help them with all of the tasks that take place on a daily basis. In order for the leader to maximize the productivity of the people, he/she must help them understand that no one is better than anyone, that everyone's role or position is important, and that everyone has the exact same opportunities to succeed within the organization. This will help people understand that they are important no matter what their role is in the company. They are needed and appreciated which leads to the foundation of a very strong team. Now, shoot over to my blog and share your comments and questions with me right now! If you enjoyed this information you will more great tips like these there as well.

Rob Moore helps people in leadership positions get their people to perform better no matter what they do. Give him the people who are challenged with a lack of motivation, low productivity, under performance, poor attitudes, and he will turn them into top performers.

Show Up, Step Out, & Shine!

http://www.leadershipperformancetips.com/


Original article

Here's a Quick and Easy Way to Improve Performance at Work

In order to improve performance at work, a leader has to improve the overall level of communication within their organization to keep the people informed of what is going on. A level where the people working under he/she understands what the vision of the leader and/or organization is as well as why certain things are done on daily basis. Also, making sure that people clearly know where they stand in performance on a daily basis and then providing a safe environment that keeps things moving in a positive direction while limiting the negatives.

In short, I call it Creating a Culture of Transparency. When you can create this type of culture, you create a win/win situation for everybody. Some of the benefits are that people will know and understand both the long term and short term goals of the organization, why they're aiming for these goals, and where they fit into the big picture. Now let's go into more detail on how a leader can implement these strategies into their work day.

The first thing a leader needs to do in this area to improve performance at work is to Share the Vision. This can be their vision or the organization's vision but I highly recommend that they lead with theirs so they can provide the greatest impact on their people. Whether they're working for an organization or not, their people will be following them more than they are following the organization so this is critical. The people need to know the big goal that everyone will be working towards. Sharing the vision with them does many things such as providing motivation, making them feel like they're apart of something bigger than just a job, and so much more. When I look back at all of the jobs I had before I got into the corporate atmosphere, I never knew what the vision of each company was.

To me they were just jobs and I was only there for a paycheck but once I got into the corporate arena it was a totally different story. I became so emotional entrenched into the vision for that company that it was extremely difficult for me to leave them and move on to serving a higher purpose in my own personal company. I loved working for that company because of who they were and what they were about. I loved being a part of what they do and this is what a leader has to create with their people to build a strong connection. When implemented properly, this strategy alone will dramatically reduce turnover and improve performance at work which means less training expenses, less hiring, better performance, and increased productivity. I'm pretty sure I left some things out but I think you got the gist of it. Feel free to submit any questions and/or comments through the contact page on my blog.

The second thing that a leader should do consistently, continuously, and as much as possible is to Tell People "WHY". This is a great way for them to build trust with their people but is not the main reason why they should consider doing this. They should do it because people will be more willing to do something if they understand why they're doing it rather than doing something without knowing the purpose. They obviously don't have time to give an explanation for every task at every given time that has to get completed but the more the merrier. Every single one makes a difference! Think about it, let's say that someone was told to take a break at four o'clock rather than five o'clock and they really wanted to take it at five.

They might get upset at the fact that they can't take a break when they wanted to that day. Now we can possibly have an unhappy employee here. Let's apply what was just taught by adding the reason for the break time change. This person needs to go on break at four o'clock because it's a lot slower at that time than it will be at five. It will most likely be extremely busy then. The supervisor might say something like this, "We need all hands on deck and if we take the chance of giving you a break at that time you could possibly not get one and we don't even want that to be a possibility because you deserve your breaks." As you can see this makes a huge difference in the way a person views the supervisor's instructions. If you're enjoying the tips and strategies that have been shared so far make sure you visit my blog today and leave comments!

Thirdly, one of the most overlooked tips that will drastically improve performance at work is to continuously Let People Know Where They Stand so they know the direction they need to go in next. The one or two evaluations people get at their job is not the time to sit down and start addressing issues. It's a time to sit down and reward people financially for their performance over the past year. They should have a pretty good idea of what their evaluation will look like going in and not be surprised by anything on there. If they are, shame on the upper management team. The reason why I say this is because they should be constantly giving both positive and negative feedback to their people on a daily basis.

Leaders have a responsibility to develop future leaders and improve people's performance at work. People should know their strengths, weaknesses, and have some things that they're working on to take their performance to the next level. I've been in management for over 17 years and during the last half of it, I was responsible for managing other managers. Whenever one of them had a performance issue within their department, I would always ask two questions. The first one is "Did you have a discussion with the associate about the problem?" and most of the time it is a "no". Second one gets asked to the associate who supposedly has the performance issue which is "Did so and so ever talk to you about blah blah blah?" and the answer is always "no".

This is ludicrous because nothing can get solved until both parties realize that there's a problem! This reminds me of an associate that was applying for a promotion in the store that I was managing at the time. I asked him what his supervisors would say he needs to work on to get to the next level and he didn't know. I even called them all to find out the good and the bad and got nothing concrete or specific. All I got was he does a great job from one person and I wouldn't take him for that position from another person. How can this associate grow or even fix his issues if he doesn't even know what they are. Unbelievable! In my personal opinion, this is why we have so many performance challenges in the work place but the buck stops here! Nobody wakes up in the morning and says to themselves that they can't wait to get to work so they can do a bad job.

Lastly, let it be known that you will Provide a Safe Environment where people can safely speak up to express their opinions, questions, concerns, solutions, ideas, issues, etc without being penalized, reprimanded or made fun of. From my experience, most people don't like to speak up because they don't think that what they have to say has any value or won't be listened to so why bother. Leaders can only fix the problems that they know about so if they don't at least start to create this kind of environment, no one will open up. I believe that everyone has something to say that's valuable. There is no such thing as a stupid question except for the one that wasn't asked. This strategy takes more time to develop than the other three but is just as powerful.

A safe environment is a positive environment and everybody loves a positive environment. Eventually, more and more people will begin to open up on all types of levels and synergy will be created. I was infamous for always saying that "I'm always busy but I always have time". I made it really clear that any associate can come to me at any given time to talk to me about anything that they wanted to. Then I would listen and do everything in my power to either solve the problem or come to some kind of understanding. There was always something good that came out of every one of those meetings every time. Some people would call this the act of having an "open door" policy which is more crucial than most leaders think.

In conclusion, creating a Culture of Transparency can be very powerful because it creates an environment where people will always be honest and upfront with others in the workplace. There will be more people in the environment choosing to never tell a lie or try to jerk someone else's chain. The more a leader can be honest to the point of telling their people what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear no matter how much it hurts, the stronger their relationships will become.

By doing this, credibility and trust will be built with their people and they will eventually begin to do the same. People will always work harder and better for someone that they trust and respect than they would for someone that they don't. Think about it, would you really go the extra mile for a supervisor that you didn't like? Building trust is how the best leaders improve performance at work in a very simple fashion. For more great tips like this make sure you visit my blog right now!

Rob Moore helps people in leadership positions get their people to perform better no matter what they do. Give him the people who are challenged with a lack of motivation, low productivity, under performance, poor attitudes, and he will turn them into top performers.

Show Up, Step Out, & Shine!

http://www.leadershipperformancetips.com/


Original article