The Metiss Group's Blog

Most leaders are aware of the different behavioral styles people have at work and have taken measures to leverage those styles among their team.  Some conflict may arise when the deliberate, contemplative analyst works with the free-wheeling, aggressive sales person; or when the rigid, critical quality manager works with the scattered, impatient marketing associate.  But most of these conflicts are manageable because the behaviors are observable and the co-workers can easily identify the cause of the discord.

It’s the conflicting workplace motivators or values causing deep disputes that can damage a team’s performance.  What happens when the caring, selfless HR Manager and the no-nonsense, bottom-line oriented Operations Manager disagree over a termination?  Or when the dogmatic, judgmental Buyer and the over-achieving, controlling Branch Manager oppose a new product line?  These disagreements often end in stalemates, irreconcilable impasses, and sometimes unjust or irreparable personal attacks.  The reason for these unhealthy clashes is that we often don’t understand and appreciate our internal motivations and those of our coworkers.

Empower your team to assess workplace motivators; share the findings, talk about the likely conflicts, and prepare for solutions before confrontations arise and you be successful even through the most difficult situations.

Many industries and sectors are reporting increased sales and healthier business prospects.  Similarly, hiring activity had increased and the demand for top talent is as strong as it’s been in years.  Whether you realize it or not, you are in jeopardy of losing your ‘A’ Players.

How prepared are you for your top performers to leave unexpectedly?  Most leaders are ill equipped to handle the sudden departure of their ‘A’ Players and, worse, elect not to deal with it until it happens.  The chances of it happening now are greater than ever.

Create a succession plan for your direct reports.  The plan should include:

• cross-training functions and assigned tasks (who’s going to do what when the star leaves?);
• key job function documentation (how does the star do their work?);
• sourcing options to back-fill the position (how are you going to replace the star?).

Empower yourself to create a succession plan for your key direct reports and you’ll sleep better knowing you are prepared for the unthinkable.

After two down years, we are now seeing hiring activity as strong as it’s ever been.  Companies are getting more and more aggressive attracting ‘A’ players.  And whether you believe it or not, your ‘A’ players are probably listening.

What are you doing to keep your ‘A’ players?  An occasional pat on the back and a consistent pay check will no longer keep them around.  In fact, when asked, employees indicate that lack of recognition and feeling undervalued/unappreciated are among the top reasons for leaving their employer.

Regular and constant positive feedback are essential.  Not once in a while, not weekly, but daily.  Superstars warrant and deserve some positive affirmation each day.

Feedback must be timely, specific (not just “good job”), and relative to their behavior.  For example,  “The amount of preparation you put into that meeting was evident and the way you were able to facilitate input from all the participants to actually reach a consensual decision demonstrated great leadership skills.”

Empower yourself to praise your ‘A’ players and know you’ve made a huge step in ensuring their success and that of your organization.

With the first quarter of the calendar year having just finished, now is a good time for performance reviews.  Students receive performance grades each semester which typically lasts three months.  Public companies are required to report their performance each quarter.  Why do most leaders review performance of direct reports annually or semi-annually?  This is particularly troublesome when studies have shown the typical leader writing a review only recalls performance over the previous six weeks.

The two biggest reasons given for avoiding quarterly reviews are: 1) leaders don’t have enough time to write the review, and 2) their performance review form is too difficult to use.  We recommend simple quarterly reviews for at least three of the four quarters in which the leader has the direct report fill out a one page sheet of paper (5×7 cards work too) answering these four questions:

1.  What did you accomplish last quarter?
2.  What are you going to accomplish next quarter?
3.  How did you demonstrate our core values?
4.  What are your personal development plans?

Benefits: the leader spends little to no time writing the review and is not encumbered by any form; the direct report receives a review of performance quarterly and direction for the next quarter to stay on track with the leader’s expectations.

Try simple quarterly reviews to empower your direct reports for success

“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?” — Benjamin Franklin

Whether it’s the strengths based books from Marcus Buckingham and Tom Rath, your high school sports coach, or your grandmother’s cagy advise, we’ve all heard the maxim “use your strengths for success.”  Many leaders go as far as to assess their direct reports to determine their strengths and encourage them to capitalize on their unique abilities.  But what happens when those strengths are taken to an extreme?

An excess of anything can result in undesirable consequences.  Leaders need to be aware how this might impact their team.  One of the more common workplace challenges is the domineering associate recognized for delivering results and overcoming obstacles who, when taking their strength to the extreme, alienates those around them.  Another is the deep thinking, reflective associate successful for their profound problem solving abilities who, when getting too wrapped up in collecting and crunching data, fails to meet deadlines.

Empower your direct reports to identify, leverage, and capitalize on their talents.  Praise them when they succeed in this approach; but be prepared to offer course corrections if the behavior becomes too extreme.

Based on Patrick Lencioni’s book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” trust is the basic foundation for a high performing team.  Teams cannot engage in healthy conflict, commit to each other, hold each other accountable, or achieve sustainable results with an absence of trust.

So how does a team build trust?  According to Lencioni, “Some of the most effective and lasting tools for building trust on a team are profiles of team members’ behavioral preferences and personality styles.  These help break down barriers by allowing people to better understand and empathize with one another.”

The psychometric instrument the team uses is not as important as going through the exercise.  Whether you use Myers-Briggs, PI, DISC, or another assessment tool, the value to the team is in having each team member share their results, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and learn to leverage each team member’s strengths.  The shared vulnerability exhibited in the exercise creates a team bond and an inherent level of trust.

Empower your team to take an assessment, then share and discuss each other’s results to experience high performing success.

In 1976 J. Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham developed a key model of work design called the Job Characteristics Model. It has since become the basis for many job enrichment strategies and still implemented today.  Hackman and Oldham contend job satisfaction, motivation, and productivity result from the application of their model.

The core dimensions of the model are: job variety (ability to perform multiple job functions), job identity (how the job affects the organization), job significance (how the job helps society), autonomy (how much independence the job has), and feedback (what happens as a result of the job).

As leaders we may not be able to influence our direct reports’ variety, identity, significance, and autonomy but we can easily impact the feedback dimension of their accomplishments.  Unfortunately, once the results of a job have been completed and delivered, we often forget about them and move on to the next task.  Communicating to your direct reports the outcomes of their efforts will go a long way towards helping them embrace their jobs and be more productive.  Celebrate the positive outcomes and learn from the not so positive results; in either event, recount what happened (in most cases the outcome is positive).

Empower yourself to share the end product of your team’s efforts and your team will be more productive and successful.