Leadership in a Changed World - Managing Performance

In the months to come, many organisations will be navigating a rapidly changing landscape, but with change comes the potential for new and exciting opportunities.

This is number five in a series of six articles where we explore Leadership in a Changed World, in this article we cover:

Are we working productively and efficiently?
Adjusting behaviours to boost productivity
The difference between important and urgent
Asking what, why and how?
Time management methods
Hofstadter's Law
Time boxing
Effective coaching
Implementing effective coaching techniques
Coaching continuous development

Throughout this article we expand on how you can create and manage a high-performance environment through productivity methods and effective coaching techniques.

The foundation upon which our high-performance environment is built must be strong and our individual team members are the building blocks to success. To create a high-performance environment, we need to ensure our teams are sufficiently equipped to perform - equipped with knowledge, skills, behaviours and a positive forward-thinking mindset.

If an individual is struggling to perform, we need to ask ourselves as leaders, how can we identify the root of the problem and support them to get back on track?

With all the changes that we have experienced so far, managing and driving performance within teams has changed. In our previous article Leadership in a Changed World - Performance we identified some of the ways we can support individual performance;

Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Timed) objectives on an individual team member basis.
Measuring performance in a mutually agreed and understood way.
A routine schedule of one-to-one’s to inspect what we expect.
Balance wellbeing and performance using regular check-ins to find out how team members are feeling and where they may need support.
Identify individual motivators for team members and manage in a way that is tailored to individual’s requirements.

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”

Steve Jobs

Are we working productively and efficiently?

A common misconception is that people must work long hours in order to be productive. In reality productivity is the ability to achieve what you want to achieve with the least amount of effort.

How productive we are, comes down to how effectively we use our time.

This isn’t about to turn into yet another article on time management because in reality, it’s impossible to manage time! You have no control whatsoever over time. We all have 24 hours, or 1,440 minutes in a day, and that’s going to tick by no matter what.

But what you and your team can manage are what you do with your time, the tasks you undertake, the resources and tools you have available to get things done, your priorities - what’s important, decisions you make and most importantly maybe, the attention you can give in the time available.