Raising performance

Raising performance: image of a high jumper clearing the barRaising performance for individuals and charities…

Following my article last month on leadership stress, I’ve had lots of conversations about how we address the issues I raised, which invariably leads us to talk about performance management.

I get the sense that generally, in the third sector, we tend to struggle with the challenge of managing performance.

Not everywhere, of course. I’ve worked with scores of charities, and I’ve come across no shortage of outstanding people and plenty of really high-performing teams.

But I’ve also seen lots of organisations where that’s not the case.

And where it isn’t the case, it’s invariably because “difficult” conversations are routinely avoided, and performance that’s mediocre at best, is regularly ignored, excused, or brushed under the carpet.

As you’d imagine, I’ve heard lots of speculation about why this seems more prevalent in the non-profit sector (which, by the way, I do think it is).

Because it’s a sector built on compassion. Because we don’t pay well. Because we like to be seen as nice. Because we have more people with lived experience or protected characteristics which makes things more nuanced. Because, because.

All these things may be true. But they don’t make the issue any less pressing to resolve.

Indeed, in one of the first charity CEO roundtables I hosted over ten years ago, one of the most seasoned leaders there said, “It’s almost as if there’s a moral offset in the sector – that we think because we’re doing good, we can get away with not really doing it well. And that’s something we desperately need to address.”

At that roundtable I shared a great framework for raising performance. One that’s worked consistently for people in my coaching programmes over the last ten years, which is based on asking yourself these four questions, in this order:

Are they clear on what good looks like?

Do they genuinely want to achieve it?

Do they have the skills required, and if not, do they have the potential to develop them?

And if the answer to all the above is yes, what needs to be deprioritised or taken off their plate so they can actually do what you’re asking?

Asking the questions in that specific order is really important (as I explained in this more detailed article) – if the will isn’t there, the question of skill is irrelevant.

But more than that, it highlights the fact that clarity is key. Clarity of expectation is the absolute foundation of any performance management conversation, which in turn is a cornerstone of all high-performing organisations.

This speaks directly to the point Sarah Hughes made in her keynote at the Third Sector conference recently, when she said “I want us to have a new social contract with the workforce around what is expected between us, because I think there are a lot of unrealistic expectations both ways.

That’s what I call a “bullseye observation”.

Because if we don’t share the same expectations, how can we ever agree on whether someone is meeting them? And if we already suspect we’re never going to agree, is it any wonder we avoid the conversation?

For any group of people, the first step to improving performance is always to align on expectations; to explicitly agree what good looks like. Always.

There’s a whole spectrum of approaches to creating that alignment, from executive fiat (take it or leave) through “you propose, and I’ll review”, to genuine co-creation as a team.

But however it’s done, as I touched on last month, what’s critical is that those expectations have to be about more than just the job. They’re about both the personal, and the inter-personal; both the technical and the behavioural qualities that we need to see in each other.

So, what does all this mean for leaders who struggle with performance management?

First, it means aligning clear expectations with your own team, both for them and for you.

Next, it means consciously adopting a framework for managing performance that works for you and for them, and modelling the kind of robust but thoughtful performance conversations with them, that you want them to embed and cascade with their own teams.

And last, it means putting the scaffolding into the organisation, in terms of appraisal, development support, exit processes, and so forth, so that they can act on what they find, raising performance one person at a time.

That might sound daunting, but it’s not rocket science. You can get support to help you through it, and it will be transformational for your organisation, and for your own levels of stress.

And nothing will change unless you do.

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