Thank you for listening to The Champion Forum Podcast with Jeff Hancher! Has anyone ever failed to meet your expectations? I know it's happened to me, and it will happen to every leader eventually.
The question is: what will you do when it happens? The answer lies in having an understanding of performance management. In today's episode, we'll reveal the five questions that will help you drive accountability and increase the performance of your employees.
Performance management is the ongoing communication process between a supervisor and an employee and one of the most significant ways to accomplish your organization's strategic objectives. Many leaders fail to incorporate this into their leadership strategy because they have not been taught how to do it.
The first step in holding people accountable is ensuring that there are very clear expectations. Once you set your expectations, you must determine what to do when someone fails to meet them.
Here are five questions you can use in an accountability conversation:
Do you know what the expectation is?
Can you tell me what the expectation is?
Can you tell me why meeting or exceeding the expectation is good for you?
What behaviors will you change in the future to ensure that you meet or exceed the expectation?
What do you think we should do if this behavior continues?
Asking questions helps establish a culture of accountability and gives you the greatest gift you can give as a leader: feedback. Giving and receiving feedback is vital to ensuring that your expectations are clear and realistic.
Application Activities:
I always recommend that new leaders take time to set expectations with their team and show their team what they can expect from their leader. If you are a tenured leader who never had that conversation, I want to encourage you to have it as soon as possible. My team has developed a PowerPoint you can use for this process. You can access it here.
Many people struggle with confrontation. They are afraid of saying the wrong thing or offending someone. But when you have clear expectations and use the five questions in this podcast, you'll ensure that you create a dialog instead of just bringing down the hammer. Practice using these five questions the next time you need to address an unmet expectation, whether at work or home. If you're uncomfortable, try starting with someone you trust and have a good relationship with, and address an expectation that doesn't have massive consequences. Getting a small win will help build your confidence to handle more significant issues.
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