Performance Management:
Today’s Leadership Challenge Isn’t so Easy
By Y. Renee Lewis

The world moves faster today when compared to 10 years ago. Companies feel the pressure to decrease time to market and improve the quality of products while delivering on ever-changing customer expectations to maintain competitive posture – that is, be adaptive and nimble. Driving results is difficult even for companies who have the benefit of dedicated and knowledgeable employees to leverage. Unfortunately, this level of dedication is harder to find as companies have less time to develop the powerful mutual trust commonly nurtured over a significant time period. For relatively new companies and others with an ever-changing workforce, achieving improved results by only depending on a dedicated workforce is near impossible today.

Every day, corporations more closely resemble a collection of independent contractors than the tenured and top-down structured workforce of our parent’s day. This shift has a significant impact on how we develop, manage and evaluate our staff – particularly the leadership qualities for each and every employee. For example, in the past, an investment in leadership training and strategic communications could have an impact for many years, gradually influencing change while the performance management process continually reinforced the direction of the organization. Internal promotion standards recalibrated leadership gaps from the knowledgeable and trained pool found within.

Not only have the dynamics of the development of leadership changed, but also the definition of leadership. Thanks to people like Peter Drucker, leadership is no longer defined in terms of characteristics such as visionary, teacher, knowledgeable or driven. Leadership is now defined by one’s ability to achieve the results the organization needs to achieve – either as an individual or as a member of a team. Louis Gerstner, retired CEO of IBM puts it best in Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?: “Superb execution is not just about doing the right things. It is about doing the right things faster, better, more often, and more productively than your competitors do. It calls for a commitment from employees that goes way beyond the normal company employee relationship. It is all about what I call a high-performance culture.” Strangely enough, very few employees master the skill of delivering results or tout the importance of being adaptable and nimble. At the same time, it’s at the heart of all we do, who we are and the success of our organizations.

The question really is how do we drive these behaviors and get consistent results? Leveraging core values throughout the performance management process is a critical – and underutilized – component to developing a high-performance culture. Core values set the norm and provide the foundation upon which the long lost “trust” relationship between the employee and the organization is re-established. Core values are the “corporate culture” or “corporate personality.” They are the standards by which it will exist and operate. To be effective, they must first be demonstrated from the very top and reinforced throughout the formal and information evaluation process.

In other words, leadership development processes are only as good as the values that drive them. For example, if the common understanding is political back stabbing will get you promoted – that’s the behavior you will see as employees focus on achievement of their goals. On the other hand, if the organization values collaboration and team work, then those behaviors will fuel the actions taken to achieve the goals, particularly when the rewards and consequences attached to the goals are well understood. The management team is responsible for setting the core values (examples include: treating others with respect and courtesy, the customer comes first, innovation or exceptional performance gets recognized) and demonstrating them regularly. And, remember, employees consistently model the behavior of those above them.

Do your performance measurements stress and reward personal behaviors that demonstrate the core values of the organization? Do employees understand how those core values create a differentiation for the organization? For example, measuring communication for communications sake has little value; measuring how effective an organization has become in communicating its strategy and vision is an outcome-focused, high return activity. Or, stating that customer service is important may have little value – unless you empower and recognize those who are creative in their ability to understand and respond appropriately. (Think about why Ritz Carlton maintains their esteemed position in the hospitality market.)

So if you think someone in your organization is failing, consider this. Try to view that individual as a leader. Instead of evaluating the situation by looking at his or her personal attributes, rather look at the leader’s ability to set goals and achieve results. Next, look at how that leader exhibits the core values of the organization because you’re assured the majority of the department also exhibits those behaviors and how they contribute to the strategic direction. Finally, see how the performance measurement system reinforces delivering the rewards – and consequences – associated with achieving the goals that collectively improve results by recognizing adherence to the core values. Then you’ll know the performance management system is specifically designed to deliver on organizational goals such as accelerate growth, improve profitability, increase management efficiency or improve customer relationships.

Y. Renee Lewis is president of Pensare Group, a consultancy specializing in helping organizations and its leaders achieve measurable results by harnessing the potential within. She can be reached through their website at www.pensaregroup.com.