When I’m working with a new client, I usually ask them about their team and ask them to tell me who is doing well and who needs support. It always surprises me if the manager has to think about the answer; part of being an effective manager is being aware of which people are the backbone of your team and which ones are potentially dragging the operation down and need more support.
Knowing who falls into which category will help you understand what needs to be done to develop your people and ultimately improve the overall performance of your team, save you time and money and provide a better service to customers.
The easiest way to categorize your people into different levels of capability or performance is to chunk them into thirds:
- Lower segment – performance/behaviour is below expectations
People in this group may need clear guidelines and direction setting out what your expectations are in terms of performance standards. Allow plenty of time to give very specific work instructions and feedback. Consider assigning a mentor to help support them.
- Middle segment – solid, reliable, steady – the foot soldiers.
These colleagues require less direction but still need to know what is expected in terms of work outputs. It’s very easily to neglect people in this group so remember that giving feedback is just as important to them as in the other groups. There may be people in this group who show potential to move into the Upper segment.
- Upper segment – dynamic, forward thinking and shows a desire to exceed expectations.
People in this group are highly motivated and willing to take on new tasks and responsibilities. There is a risk though that if they begin to feel that their work is no longer challenging enough that they may start to think about moving on. Therefore, make sure you have a comprehensive development plan for them which will continue to stretch them. This could include acting as a mentor for others or as being suitable for secondment opportunities.
There are other models that can be used to categorize team members such as the People, Performance, Potential model, but whichever technique you choose remember that putting individuals into categories is just the first step, you need to do something to change their attitude/behaviour/performance.
We’ve found that the most effective way of bringing about a positive change is through coaching. Regular coaching should be a fundamental part of the manager’s role. No matter which segment an employee is in they will all benefit from regular coaching although the style used can range from a very proscriptive approach for those in the lower segment to a more informal and ad hoc style for the upper segment.
Regular coaching doesn’t just have a positive effect on performance, it’s been shown to have a positive influence on employees’ motivation, and we’ve seen many instances where it’s helped organisations to improve levels of employee engagement and attrition (employee and customer!). One of the businesses we worked with saw a dramatic fall in the number of customer complaints being received, an increase in the number of queries being dealt at first point of contact and a big improvement in their Trustpilot rating all of which was achieved within the first six-months of us working with them!
If you’d like to know how you can help you to improve your team’s performance, then please check out the training we offer:
CFA Training are experts in developing management and leadership skills, and customer service skills in people. If you would like to know more about how we can help you, or your business, to be successful then please contact Neville Beardsmore for more information.
Tel: 0121 247 5736 / 07984 030 180
Email: neville@cfatraining.co.uk