How to Balance Performance – People

0
245

How to Balance Performance – People. So, which comes first? People or Mission? It seems to me that the trend is moving towards “If you take care of people, the mission takes care of itself.” However, I was a military leader for 37 years. There were many examples where if not for the specific direction and accountability of the chain of command, the mission would not have been accomplished. But, its never as simple as “either/or.” Business leaders and even colleagues of mine have continuously used the “mission” to push ever increasing performance and efficiency, exacting a huge cost on people. Leaders can only use even the noblest of missions a finite number of times before it rings hollow with people forced into crushing workloads and time away from their families. When people are pushed, they tend to perform …. but for how long?

So, lets start with people then. People First! There are some fundamental truths here. The people’s performance executes the mission. Without them: failure. But if the mission comes second, what about those absolutely necessary tasks nobody wants to do? Those that take huge personal risk and sacrifice? When do we rise to an occasion if the idea is to always put individuals before the mission? If we take care of people yet are unprofitable, have shoddy healthcare, and cannot protect citizens at home or defeat our adversaries … does it really matter?  

We now arrive at the REAL start point. Regardless of your personal journey to this point, regardless of how you contextualise and explain your perspective on this dialectic debate, the reality for all leaders and coaches is you MUST do BOTH. The question therefore becomes; how?

Lets do some math to get a handle on some of the “how.”

Vision + development + alignment = purpose

By developing and explaining the vision, with clear objectives and rationales, the team has a vector for performance. Individual leaders will break down objectives further for their individuals and teams. This forms the backbone of the performance objectives. Leaders must thereafter demonstrate how individuals and teams will develop and advance through the accomplishment of the vision. This “translation” of mission objectives (vision) into personal development goals creates alignment between the mission and the people executing it. The result is common purpose. A purposeful accomplishment of the mission alongside purposeful development of the individuals and teams. 

Competence = trust

Leaders must demonstrate competence in the visioning, guiding, and directing of the team. BUT … they must also demonstrate competence in the skills of leading and developing individuals and teams. There will be a requisite level of technical competence from the leader, in whatever the team does, in order to garner trust from the team. On the flip side of that coin, even leaders that give 100% trust at the outset of a relationship, will need individuals and the team to demonstrate competence in their execution to sustain that two way street of trust. This accountability is essential to trust.

Technical/professional acumen + leadership training = Development 

To maintain any level of real technical expertise, all professions must continuously learn. In the military realm, new tactics, new weapons or technology, and ever-changing environments and adversaries means that leaders and teams are always studying and learning. But even with aggressive innovation and experimentation that will not be enough. Leaders will need individual team members to develop their own leadership skills in order to ensure the team will sustain itself. Only when these two areas of learning are accomplished, do individuals and teams fully develop.

Coaching + Leadership = Development

The bottom line is leaders need to coach and mentor, not only direct, their teams. This is the only way that the execution of the mission will be purposeful. I call this “inspired execution” in that the coaching and mentoring of the vision into translated individual goals inspires self-starting and innovative behaviours. The fuel for the fire of inspiration is mentorship and coaching of the individuals.

Performance = easy metrics; Development = hard metrics

It is relatively easy to measure performance metrics. These are the milestones by which organisations gauge the accomplishment of the mission. It is less easy to measure the development of the team or its individuals. Meaningful metrics are not merely performance based but rather focused on the effects they achieve. (i.e. not units produced but rather sales made) This obviously depends on the team and the organisation. But applying the same approach even to educational areas of development becomes difficult. Measuring courses taken and opportunities given may fall significantly short in assessing the effectiveness of mentoring and coaching the team. That doesn’t mean you don’t measure these things, but rather use them only as indicators of a larger metric. (I would put some thought into what that is for your specific organisation)

LEAD and COACH

LeadandCoach
Vision  + competenceTrustTranslate into Personal Development (Purpose)
ObjectivesMentoringTeam/personal goals
PrioritisationFeedback LoopsValued inputs/outputs
InspirationIndividual Purpose“Inspired Execution”
   

Balance check. Pull out your calendar/prioritisation system. Begin to colour code which events/priorities (2 highlighters/colours) are performance vs that which are related to people. I think you will find overwhelmingly your priorities and calendar are oriented towards performance. To correct this, do this homework:

  1. What people focused things can you add to your calendar/priorities to enhance team/individual abilities to accomplish the mission?
  2. What routine individual mentoring & feedback can you insert into your calendar/priorities?
  3. On existing performance/mission focused events, how can you “set intentions” in order to coach/mentor/translate into development?
  4. What key opportunities for individual and team development, linked to priorities/calendar, can you make happen for them?

The intent here is to create mechanisms, organisationally aligned from values to feedback & reward/advancement, that support both the mission (performance) and people (development). 

Previous articlePeople before profits
Next articleInstitutionalised Candour the key to change
Scott Clancy
Major General (ret) Clancy served in multiple squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in the Canadian Armed Forces as a tactical helicopter pilot. As a Director General on the RCAF staff his responsibilities included all personnel, operations, logistics, infrastructure and strategic planning for the entire RCAF. His last years of service saw him as the Deputy Commander of the Alaskan NORAD Region and finally Director of Operations for all NORAD in Colorado Springs. His 37 years of military experience leading and mentoring multi-faceted teams in the US and Canada have resulted in a book entitled Developing Coaching Leaders. Since retirement from the RCAF, Scott served as a senior mentor on courses delivered to senior officers of the RCAF and is a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He has been featured on CNN Morning, AC 360, CBC News and CTV News.