Assessing Performance on the Impact Grid

In my last post, Introducing the Impact Grid, I shared my thoughts on a way to assess your team and the Impact that they are making. The purpose of the four quadrants was to set the stage for how to use the tool to assess your team. This article will focus on how Performance, the Y-axis, comes into play on the Impact Grid.
 
I tend to measure the success of a team by looking at how they perform. But as we know, it isn’t always the results that matter, because HOW they perform and HOW they go through the process of working towards success often comes down to the Values.  It’s not that they are counter to each other, but they need to be in balance. Because the best people in the world, who can’t get crap done, are just good people, but are not reaching their full potential of impacting others.
 
LOOKING AT PERFORMANCE
The best thing about measuring performance is that you can typically create metrics that can help provide a quantitative assessment to the level of performance. You can establish goals and targets that you can then use to measure your progress.
 
Whether you call them Performance Metrics, Key Performance Indicators, or Goals, you need to establish what success looks like. More specifically, what success looks like for them in their role. Whether it is using a scoreboard for comparison, a clock to keep time, or a destination on a map, making sure the rules of the game and defining success is key to any relationship.
 
For each team member, they should understand what is expected of them and what it will take to move them up the Y-Axis to increase their level of performance. Goals need to be understood, and alignment should exist between you and the team member. You should strive for agreement, but if not, then alignment at the minimum needs to be in place where expectations are understood.
 
Besides understanding what the scale is for them, the team member needs to be clear, where they are on that scale currently, and have clarity to what it will take to move up the scale to become a high performer. Many times, leaders fail to explain why they are where they are with concrete examples. Further explanation may be needed to explain why their scale is somewhat different from other team members based upon experience, expectations, and past performance.
 
REASONS THEY MAY FALL SHORT
As leaders, it’s important that once you are able to critically assess their performance, that you take time to determine how their performance matches up to your expectations. It’s completely possible that a person who is putting in the effort, can still not achieve the agreed upon goals. A good leader will dig deeper to truly understand how they are falling short and more importantly, WHY they are falling short.
 
Here are a few reasons:The Goal is Wrong
Many times, we tend to set an obscure goal or target that isn’t based upon evidence or history. It is a desired result based upon the dream killer… Hope. Many times, those goals are pulled out of thin air or out of the nether regions. 
 
This can be a huge disservice to your team member and the organization as a whole. It devours their energy and enthusiasm and replaces it with frustration and a decline in self-worth.
 
It is essential that goal setting is done jointly and that you have alignment on what is expected. An eager and ambitious person may agree to a goal with plenty of confidence in themselves but lacks the competency to determine if it is even achievable.
 
As a leader, revisit the goal. As they perform and you are able to gather data, reassess whether the trajectory is appropriate. Are the resources and processes adequate to achieve the goal. Don’t be afraid to reset.

Misalignment
If you lack clarity in regard to the goal and of what success looks like, it’s easy to apply your own interpretation. When you tell a friend you are going to treat them to a good meal and your definition is this incredible food truck, while theirs is a fancy steak dinner with a white tablecloth, well, there will be some disappointment.
 
Not catching this early is more than a morale killer. It can lead to resentment and conflict. AS a leader you become frustrated that they are not achieving the results you expect. While they are getting angry that apparently, they can’t do anything right or possibly they start to believe that you are completely clueless.
 
If they start venting their frustration to others, it can create a toxic and hostile environment that will impact the working relationship of your team.

As a leader, you need to make sure there is clarity on the goal. To do this, make sure it is a SMART goal. But more than that, share the WHY behind the goal. This can create greater understanding of the purpose and also where there may be ways to adapt their approach to the goal.
 
Appropriate check-ins, not check-ons or check-ups, to review alignment is a great way to prevent someone from getting too far off course. Make sure that they can explain they WHY in their own words and apply it back to their situation. This reinforces that it’s not about hearing your words repeated back to you, but they know why it is important to them and the team.

They Lack Competence
Often, you see people under perform because they simply lack the competence to perform their job. The skills required to be successful may not have been transferred to them through on the job training. They simply don’t know how to do it successfully.
 
With this you need to establish a skill assessment on what is needed for the role and then where the employee is at in comparison. This will determine the gap that exists, and you can then put together an action plan to improve their skill set to help them become successful.
 
During this stage, it is important to match the expectations to where the person is relative to their competence. If you maintain the high standard associated with perfection to a person just starting out, they will always be lacking. 
 
High performance is not a single definition. It is relevant to the respective individual - where they are at in their growth process and the role they are playing now AND in the future. I do hold some people to higher standards because expectations for them are different. 
 
The key is that they know this, and they understand why it is the case. Communication is the critical step in all relationship and vitally critical here. You need to make sure that they understand the benefits they enjoy and the rewards that they receive will be appropriate to the higher expectations.
 
Transparency is the key to maximizing the real value of the Impact Grid. Working with your team members so they understand where and how they bring Impact with their performance. The level of Impact that they have now and the potential you see from them on how they can Impact the future.
 
While high performance is critical to the success of any team, it is the impact of that performance that separates people. It is the high performer who becomes a Person of Impact  that leads you Beyond Today.

---