Trying to boost productivity through a ‘management by results’ style only works well for your high performers – the people who are already running at capacity.  Pushing them further will only serve to burn them out.  It’s far more effective to focus on your average performer, the people in your team who seem to do OK, who do enough to get by,  but not a lot else.  These are also the people who make up the majority of your team.

It’s these average or core performers where there is considerable potential that lies dormant due to a management approach that just doesn’t work for them.  But what does work?

Leadership rather than management is what works.  We hear these terms bandied about quite frequently in performance management circles, but what are the implications for first-level managers, their managers and their people?

Leadership is a more intuitive approach and requires less time behind the desk and more face to face.  There is no space here for paper pushers!  Effective leaders know the big picture and include their people in what this means for them.  They know what critical behaviours are required to succeed at the agreed goals.  They know how to coach their people to achieve those critical behaviours by providing balanced feedback that cushions corrective feedback with high levels of positive feedback.

This last point needs a little more dwelling on.  Positive feedback isn’t about saying “good job”.  It is far more than an acknowledgement.  In reality, the only purpose of any form of positive feedback or recognition is to reinforce, or strengthen, the behaviour that you are recognising. In order to achieve this, the recognition needs to be as immediate as possible, and very specific. When this happens, your people will start to put in more discretionary effort which will lead to higher productivity.

Effective  leaders know what needs to happen.  They include their people in setting fair goals and measure them according to their agreed metrics.  There are no surprises because these metrics are available on a daily and weekly basis.  The effective leader is aware of any discrepancies before they can become an issue.

Leaders  reinforce and recognise achievement of goals and critical behaviours through some kind of peer recognition.  This doesn’t need to be expensive and is better to be more of a gimmick than monetary rewards.  The point isn’t the prize but the peer recognition.

Does this look like your organisation?  If not, you have an opportunity awaiting you, one that holds the key to employee engagement and motivation.