Performance Culture: By Design or Default

By Catherine Medhurst, First published on June 27, 2019

How would you describe your performance culture?

Is it a culture by design or default? 

A leader I am working with spoke to me about an employee who isn’t meeting performance expectations. The employee has reported to my counterpart for the last 12-months. Over this time the leader has had a few conversations with the individual about their performance with no consistent improvement. The employee recently missed a significant deliverable resulting in financial targets being missed for this Quarter.

Possibly my client wanted some sympathy as she shared this story. In lieu of the pity party that some leaders enjoy attending, I provided my counterpart empathy and support on how she might improve the situation. I asked her if she wanted a performance culture by design or by default. She could continue having the same old conversation (default) or she could change things up (design).

Spoiler Alert! My leader wants a culture by design! I am pleased to say our session ended with an energised leader ready to achieve a change in performance results within her team. Here is how we got to a plan of action for my counterpart and her employee. 

As a leader – you hold accountability for ensuring your team have the competence and commitment to deliver what is required of them. When someone is lacking in competence or commitment it is your responsibility to address this gap in a timely manner! The leader owes it to their employees to provide feedback and hold people accountable to the required performance standards. 

There is no excuse for carrying a poor performer.  Equally though, the leader should seek to understand why an employee is not meeting expectations. There shouldn’t be any surprises either.

In a large organisation it is easier for poor performance to go unchecked as there are more layers to hide within and other people to pick up the slack. 

In a small organisation, as is the case of my client, the poor performance is visible, and the magnitude of impact is significant.

I asked my counterpart ‘If you had a puncture in your car tyre would you drive on it for 12-months before seeing an improvement?’ Thankfully, her response was ‘No’.

My counterpart only has 4 direct reports.   25% of her leadership team is under-performing.

Effectively she is driving the car with only 3 performing wheels. Burnout Alert! Attrition Alert!

What is the blocker to achieving a change in results with this individual?

How do you move from frustration and despair to a renewed commitment and energy to address poor performance? 

In the case of my client, we needed to start with how she was seeing this person and their performance. I noticed through her language that she viewed this person as incompetent. This mindset was influencing the way she was behaving towards the individual and the subsequent results.

Drawing on the work of Stephen Covey from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I explained how her mindset was influencing her results through the See-Do-Get Cycle. Things got visual. I find it often helps with our focus to write out what it is we are trying to achieve. I asked my counterpart what she wanted from her team member. She said she wanted to see a change in performance and results.

By Beginning with the End In Mind, we reversed the model to reflect a Get-Do-See cycle:

1. Get (Desired Results by Leader): Improved Performance by the team member, ie meeting deadlines for next Quarter.
2. Do (Actions for Leader): Provide specific feedback, training & support.
3. See (Changed Paradigm by Leader): View the employee as having potential and invest time in their development. Adopt the mindset of ‘This person has potential. How can I help them’?

Whilst I may have simplified our coaching discussion in this article, the premise that if you want to see a change in someone’s performance (RESULTS), you should start by changing your thoughts and actions towards this person is clear. I am confident that if I hadn’t challenged the paradigm of my counterpart, she would have left our session still frustrated with the under-performer and unaware of how she was contributing to the results.

In closing our coaching session, I reminded my counterpart of her role as a leader and her desire to be an architect of the culture of her organisation.

As a leader her whisper will be heard as a shout.

How she acknowledges performance (either by addressing or ignoring under-performance or celebrating great performance) will be amplified across her organisation. This will set the tone for the performance culture she builds.

For any leader, whether you are leading an organisation of 10 or 10,000, when your whisper is amplified let it be one that speaks to a culture of high performance and accountability by design not default.

About the Author:

Catherine Medhurst is a Co-Founder and Principal Consultant at Know To Grow.

Catherine, CAHRI is an experienced Executive Coach, Facilitator and Change Manager, with specialties in Human Resources, Organisational Development and Workplace Relations.

If you’d like to hear more about how Know To Grow can support you to build an organisational culture by design and achieve performance success, please contact Catherine at Catherine.medhurst@knowtogrow.com.au