I was working with my friend Pete the other day on coaching his people. I asked him about his coaching style. He told me he coached the same way his boss coached him when he was younger. Tell the person what he or she did wrong and how to fix it. That’s human nature, right?

“So,” I asked, “How is that style working for you?” “Not so well,” he replied.

Pete’s problem is one I see quite often. Under the guise of effective leadership, leaders try to coach and motivate but sometimes the leader may be the biggest hurdle. Many leaders get in the way of their people’s motivation. We hinder them, we hold them back, we do little things that actually de-motivate them. That’s human nature.

Stop this insanity. Aim for truly effective leadership. Follow these tips and you’ll find your people will be more motivated and more productive. It just takes a little clearvoyance on your part.

80/20 Concept

Spend 80% of your time with the people who are the most productive. You will find this to be a much better use of your time and energy.  Talk about more effective leadership!

Spend 20% of your time with the people who are the least productive. Seems counter-productive to our human nature but it works.

Expectations vs Aspirations Concept

When something is expected and a person meets or fulfills that expectation, he or she is at zero.  It’s what was expected; they have only arrived at the standard. They are not ahead of the game, they did not do more than you had wanted, they did just enough to fulfill an expectation. This is instinctual to our human nature.

An aspiration is more than what is expected. It starts off above zero, it gives people hope, encouragement and self worth. Which of these is guiding your coaching?  Expectations or aspirations?  Effective leadership grows more positive people.

The first thing to think about is: How do I determine if it is a strength or weakness?

The definition for the standard is the lowest acceptable performance, and it is applicable to the position, not the person. Everyone in the same job position should have the same standards.

Watch the performances of your people and measure them against the standard. When they perform above the standard, coach them to “aspire” to do even better. When they perform below the standard, coach them on the “expectations” of their performance.

After a short time, Pete found that he was more energized, his team was more energized, production was improving, the environment was more positive and sick days had decreased. Set a goal to make 80% of your coaching be focused on aspirations and you’ll find yourself sharing Pete’s benefits.  Human nature and effective leadership hand in hand!

Tools for You

These tools will help you get out of your own way when it comes to coaching your people to perform at a higher level on a more regular basis.

Aspiration Tool #1     

PIE: Positive reinforcement for something done above the standard that you want them to do again.  (Watch the how-to video)

Aspiration Tool #2     

COACH: Socratic Method coaching, getting them to come up with a better way of doing something specific, while giving them positive feedback for a job well done.  (Check out this blog post on the Socratic Method)

Expectation Tool #1      

GAPPP: A positive coaching method for someone who has performed below the standard on a specific performance, and this is the exception rather than the norm. This is either the first time the employee has performed below the standard or it’s a non-critical performance element. Talk through the barriers that kept him/her from performing below the goal that was set. This goal might in fact be a standard of the job.  (Download the GAPPP Worksheet)

Expectation Tool #2      

BIRRR: A direct coaching method to express the urgency required to change a behavior, to improve the below standard performance immediately. This is a much more direct conversation with a team member whose performance is critical…it needs to change and it needs to change immediately.  The behavior has either been addressed previously or it is a function of the employee’s job where the impact of non-performance is critical. (Download the BIRRR Worksheet)

Dedicated.

Does this describe you? Would you say you have purpose? Would you say you have passion? What would others say about you?

What does your purpose, passion and dedication point to? Work? Family? Church? Social groups?

A very holy weekend was celebrated recently for two of the world’s largest religions, Judaism and Christianity. Both celebrated people full of dedication. Jesus’ purpose was to save all men while Moses was full of passion about saving the Jews. Your purpose may be on a smaller scale, but your dedication should be just as great.

What does dedication mean to you? Dictionary.com defines dedication as wholly committed to something, as to an ideal, political cause, or personal goal. What sacrifices are you willing to make to reach that goal? Your current behaviors will show where your purpose, passion and dedication lies.

Are you spending your time and energy doing what you really want to be doing? Have you hung your purpose on a hook for later? Now is the time to have purposeful dedication. Don’t wait.

Make a goal.  What things get your passion fires burning? How will you manifest these things and make them happen? What sacrifices will you make? What are the benefits to you and others?

Need to get some clarity on what your purpose is?  Get a copy of Embrace Your Freakness.  You’re worth it.

Are the management styles on your team or in your organization keeping employees under functioning?

The bottleneck. That narrowing part of the bottle that slows down the liquid before it gets to your mouth so you aren’t flooded with beverage. Bottlenecks are good for keeping our shirts clean, but when it comes to business, they can be disastrous

When it comes to business, bottlenecks are a place or person where ideas or projects get slowed down, much like a beverage bottle, but worse. In today’s business world, people try to get more things done every day. Yet, many times that creates bottlenecks, not on purpose although not by accident, by behaviors. Whether it has to do with management styles or a lack of employee empowerment, the bottleneck usually involves limited delegation and an absence of the Socratic method.

Last post, we looked at some general questions to ask of the team or organization.  What about you personally? Read More »

Seriously. It’s a lie. 

How do you manage time? You can change what you do during that time.

It isn’t usually time that’s the issue. It’s energy.

Many of us start the day with a bang and end with a whimper. The decline starts around 2:30 pm for most of us. This is such a phenomenon there’s an energy drink market that focuses solely on this concept. These drink makers know you are going to hit a wall 5 to 6 hours after you start work. So if they know it and we know it, why don’t we do something about it?

You can have an impact on how hard you hit the wall, what time you hit it, and how to avoid that wall altogether. It’s called energy management. Each of us begins the day with a certain amount of energy. This energy comes from four energy centers.  The four energy centers are: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Every hour of every day you are spending energy in these four areas. If you don’t fill up in each area, you will run out. Just like your car will run out of gas if you don’t refuel it, your mind and body will run out of fuel if you don’t refuel them.

How do you refuel? Read More »

Are the management styles on your team or in your organization keeping employees under functioning?

The bottleneck. That narrowing part of the bottle that slows down the liquid before it gets to your mouth so you aren’t flooded with beverage. Bottlenecks are good for keeping our shirts clean, but when it comes to business, they can be disastrous.

When it comes to business, bottlenecks are a place or person where ideas or projects get slowed down, much like a beverage bottle, but worse. In today’s business world, people try to get more things done every day. Yet, many times that creates bottlenecks, not on purpose although not by accident, by behaviors. Whether it has to do with management styles or a lack of employee empowerment, the bottleneck usually involves limited delegation and an absence of the Socratic method.

Some people want to keep control of things. They naturally avoid delegation and employee empowerment.  The thought is, “I know how to do this (best), so I might as well do it myself instead of wasting my time and others to explain the whole thing.” Sometimes it seems delegation will take too much time.  Other people pick a management style (out of all the management styles) where employees come to them with ideas, if only to have them give their stamp of approval. At times this may be necessary, other times it is not.  It takes practice to put in place a culture of employee empowerment.  Using the Socratic method (using questions to make employees think) does not come naturally to many people, but leaves leaders not so drained and employees thinking for themselves.

Ask these questions… Read More »