August 2008
In this issue...
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Vantage Point:
"A position that affords
a broad overall view
or perspective."
The American Heritage
Dictionary, 4th Ed., 2006.
When you want to improve your performance, whether it's on the job, or in a sport, or in some other aspect of your life, what do you do? There's a four-stage cycle that allows us to move to higher and higher levels of performance. I call it the Learning Cycle; you might also call it the Performance Improvement Cycle. As I describe it, you'll recognize it as a pattern you follow when you are seeking excellence in your own performance. Here, we'll talk about how you, as a manager, can use the same cycle to help your employees pursue excellence.
In the last issue of Vantage Point, we looked at negative feedback. Feedback is one of the stages in this cycle. Rather than treating feedback as a goal in itself, it's better to see feedback in context as one stage in this cycle.
Let's look at all four stages in the learning/performance cycle:
1. Intention.
In this stage, the manager communicates expectations, goals, and standards to the employee. The goal is to form a shared intention. When this stage is done well, the manager and the employee are on the same page.
When this stage is done poorly, we see management by mind reading. The employee has to read the manager's mind to know what's expected. Is it a surprise when the employee's performance does not match the manager's expectations?
2. Action.
The employee puts the intention into action. Ideally the actions reflect the shared intention the manager and employee have created. But that may not be the case. Actions may reflect habits, or the employee's own intentions, or organizational routines that neither of you control.
3. Results.
What results were produced? It's always exciting to see the results of our efforts, whether it’s election returns, a jury verdict, the weekly sales report, or where a golf ball lands. This is why feedback is so important.
Employees hunger to know the results of their actions. The ideal is lots of feedback, delivered quickly, and delivered in a direct and concrete way. I just watched an episode of "Deadliest Catch." Those crab fisherman get perfect feedback! Within a few days, their catch is weighed, they know the results, and their checks are in their pockets. When employees are able to see the results of their actions, promptly and directly, they are able to improve their performance.
When the Results stage is poorly done, the employee has no way of knowing how he or she is doing in meeting expectations. An employee who is in the dark cannot engage in the next stage of the cycle.
4. Reflection.
Did the result hit the mark or miss it? What factors contributed to any shortfall? What can be done differently next time? How can the employee grow and become even more successful?
This stage involves a process of inquiry into what's happening, what factors contribute to the current level of performance, what factors are open to change, and how performance will change. When done well, this step naturally leads to adjustments during the next iteration of the cycle.
Like the Intention step, the Reflection step should be a mutual inquiry shared by the manager and the employee. When there is no mutual exploration, feedback stands by itself, and the employee has no guidance as to what to do with the information. I call this drive-by feedback – the perpetrator delivers the shot and then disappears. Drive-by feedback occurs when the manager is uncomfortable with the performance cycle and wants to get it over with as quickly as possible.
When done well, the manager is acting as a coach, facilitating the employee's reflection and learning. This stage deepens the employee's commitment to excellence, and sets the stage for the next iteration of performance. However, many managers are not yet familiar with how to facilitate another person's reflection and learning. Professional coaches are highly skilled at helping people learn from their experience. That's one reason the field of coaching is exploding. Managers can and should learn this crucial skill.
Using the Learning Cycle
Each stage of the Learning Cycle is important. Observe how each stage, when done well, contributes to the next stage, in a "virtuous cycle" that leads to progressively higher levels of engagement, commitment, and productivity.
I have presented the Learning Cycle as if it starts with the Intention Stage. However, you can view the cycle as starting at any of the stages.
You might start with Reflection. What's your theory about why things are going the way they are now? What might you do to test that theory? That's a scientific approach: develop a hypothesis and conduct an experiment to test it.
You might start with Action. How much of the day-to-day work you do is done by habit, either your habit or an organizational routine? Try something different. Do something in a different way and see how it works.
You might start with Results. You know what your current results are. Do you want your results to be different? If so, what do you want?
All of these are valuable ways of looking at managing and improving performance. Just remember to pay attention to all the stages of the cycle. That’s the key to guiding others to excellence.
Book Review:
Unleashed! Expecting Greatness and Other Secrets of Coaching for Exceptional Performance
By Gregg Thompson and Susanne Brio
The most common question managers ask me is, "How do I motivate my team?" This is a classic example of how the wrong question will quickly lead you astray.
You can't motivate another person. If you think that's your job as manager, you're taking responsibility for the wrong thing.
What you can do is help your people become aware of and tap into their own goals, values, aspirations, motives. You can help them become aware of the barriers to their own success. With awareness comes new possibilities for action. Following this path, you can help them unleash their own greatness!
If you want to deepen your ability to lead in this manner, then Unleashed! is the book for you.
The authors, Gregg Thompson and Susanne Brio, are the President and Director of Coaching, respectively, of Bluepoint Leadership Development, Inc. In the 17 years I've known Gregg, I've learned that he has no use for easy answers. He pushes and prods; he challenges his clients. This book is true to that form. He invites you to dive in head-first.
Gregg and Susanne start by pointing out that coaching is a way of being, not a way of doing, and so it cannot be reduced to a simple formula. Rather, the book delves deeply into three principles:
- You have to earn the right to coach. It doesn't come with the job title.
- A high performance coaching relationship is a partnership built on appreciation, confrontation and accountability.
- Coaching involves an intense form of dialogue the authors call Dangerous Conversations. Well beyond a simple exchange of information, a dangerous conversation takes the participants outside their comfort zones and challenges them to consider new perspectives.
Here's an example of the challenging nature of this approach to coaching. One goal of a Dangerous Conversation is that by the end of the conversation, you have said everything you need to say to the other person, and you have no regrets. How many of us can say that we manage our important conversations in that way? How many times today have you ended a conversation with important truths unsaid?
Unleashed! has become a valuable reference for me in my coaching practice. When I get too comfortable, it reminds me to move closer to the edge, and gives me some great ideas for how to do so.
If you are committed to generating a highly performing team or organization, this is the book for you.
As a manager, how well do you manage each stage of the Learning Cycle with your Direct Reports?
As a performer yourself, how well do manage each stage of the Learning Cycle for yourself?
Which stage is the weakest link for you? What actions can you take to strengthen that link?
Quote from Garrison Keillor: "If you don't get your pants wet, it means you didn't go fishing." If you think you're fishing… are your pants wet?
Copyright 2008
Ann Kruse, Leadership Coach