1. Hand each team member a stack of post-it notes and ask them to grade on a scale of one to ten, five questions.
2. Ask the following question and post the responses on the wall.
3. Evaluate the scores and then take action.

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She divided the book into four parts, exploring the current business landscape, essential competencies, new models for business intelligence, and the potential of Holacracy (Holacracy takes the principles, ideas, and emerging mindset articulated by many cutting-edge thought leaders and instills them in the actual structures and processes of the organization) and the role of the visionary in modern business.  She gives a wide-ranging overview of each idea, explaining each concept in clear terms using examples, stories, and graphs.

In the first part of the book, Parr Rud examines today’s business realities using the latest research on change and the global economy to provide evidence for her claims. Her explanations of chaos theory, quantum physics, systems theory, and systems thinking concepts were easy to understand and interesting especially to people who never have had any experience with these theories.

In the section that dealt with essential competencies, she shows her readers why organizations need to have good communication, active collaboration, constant creativity, and adaptability to change, as well as what it takes to be a strong leader.

Finally, Parr Rud delves more deeply into systems thinking, holacracy, and possibilities in the future business world in parts three and four.  She makes a strong argument for the idea that for an organization to prosper, leaders must create a culture of accountability. She suggests that in too many companies today, accountability is vague because systems created for reasonable employee responsibilities and organizational objectives have not been established.  She stresses that accountability underlies the integrity of a successful organization.

This book is not one you will read in a weekend, nor is it something you’ll skim over once and never pick up again.  This is a powerful resource and I guarantee you will pick it up again and again to understand current business practices and theories in the 21st century and beyond

Whether the goal, resolutions, plans, or strategic objectives you set for yourself, having the mental toughness to adhere to it is critical in achieving your desired results.  Joyner not only saw what she wanted, but was also able to reach it.  CMOE has trained and worked with thousands of managers helping them set goals to improve their leadership skills.  From our observations, typically most people are able to set goals and define strategic objectives.  Then they quickly lose sight of what they are working towards.  Adherence and persistence is often the missing piece.

Sometimes adherence is a time frame–sustaining something long term.  On the other hand, it can be the amount of concentrated effort needed.  Either way, there are really four basic principles to keep in mind as we enhance out “mental toughness” to stick with the strategies and plans that we have set for ourselves.

Clarity
First, you need to clearly know where you are headed.  Not just a general idea or plan, but a concrete target you want to obtain.  Without a clear target, you can easily become derailed or distracted.  Clarity gives you a sense of purpose and push into action.  Basil S. Walsh, an American author said it perfectly: “If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there?”

Commitment
Once you know what your target is, you must decide if you are willing to pay the price to go the distance.   You have to ask yourself, “Do I believe this goal is worth the effort?”
If so, it requires building up the courage and stamina to persist to the end.  It has to be a conscious decision that you make.  You must internalize it and believe in it to make it happen.  Concentrate and remind yourself of the positive (and negative) consequences or outcomes from your efforts.  These will become your motivating factors.  It is also too easy to bite off more that you can handle, so make certain you can fully invest in the direction you are headed.

Action Steps
While you may have a clear target and a commitment to it, it will be difficult to move forward persistently unless you know the path that will lead you there.  To be most effective, one of your actions should include obtaining the resources required.  Rather than listing short bullet point action steps, put some “meat” on it by describing exactly what you need to do, who will help or be responsible (if your target involves others), and when you will complete that step.  These intermediate steps keep the momentum going.  You are more likely to stick with your plan, if you take smaller strides.  Make your action steps visible so you have a constant reminder.  Also remember to reward and recognize yourself as you move closer to rather than to wait until you have accomplished your target.

Passion
Successful adherence and resolve requires passion.  Find way to enjoy what you are doing and aspiring to.  Begin by asking, “How can I get myself to enjoy, really enjoy this?”  It really comes down to your attitude about what you are doing.  Earl Nightingale said, “A great attitude is not the result of success; success is the result of great attitude.” Visualize yourself being successful.  You may have heard that you should “think positively.” Well, not only should your think positively but act positively.   You will, of course, experience some up and downs as you move towards your desired results.  When you experience a setback, give yourself a break, Look at where you were and where you are now.  Reigniting passion will help your through these inevitable disappointments, fear, and frustrations.   You can turn your energy into a positive direction by refocusing on your goals and how it will make a difference to you and others.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even through checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that know no victory nor defeat.”  As with any goal or strategy, despite our best efforts we may not always find success.  But we can feel better about ourselves and our contribution if we have done our very best to persistently work to achieve something great.

In a downturn, people look to improve upon roles and responsibilities that they already have. “The economic pressures of the downturn forced companies to re-examine everything they were doing and come up with a new model,” said Harry Griendling, CEO of DoubleStar, a human resources consulting firm. No matter how you say it, the underlying idea is asking for more, but offering less.

This is a good concept in and of itself. But do all of us really need to go down this road? Rumor also has it that the economy is in an upturn. Most economists predict U.S. employers will add about 2.4 million jobs this year. But the Economy is not set to fully recover until around 2014. In the meantime, how does one make sure the many hat wearing workers continue to increase the profit and productivity of their employees in today’s economy? How do those who hold jobs, keep their jobs and increase their value to add tenure in an organization? Instead of buying into the latest gadget, you go back to the basics, like your people and your bottom line.

John Villere said, “Your bottom line starts with your front line.” Sounds like a good place to start to me. CMOE’s Bottom Line Leadership specifically targets front-line leaders, mid-level managers, and senior executives to help organizations build these skills and increase the energy they’ll need to accelerate performance improvement throughout the organization. Once your people in your organization know how what they contribute, effects the bottom line, you will know how to improve your contribution and in essence, wear another hat. Bottom Line Leadersip teaches businesses how to use the resources that they currently have at their disposal in a smarter way.

So get back to the basics: metrics, knowledge base, performance. You will find that the practical application of the most basic processes will gain you the fastest results.

In a recent conversation with a colleague we discussed the ideas of the Psychoanalytical theory and whether it is relevant in today’s society, specifically with regard to the ideas of positive reinforcement. As I thought a little more deeply about this concept, I realized that these ideas are clearly applicable and prevalent in the workplace today.
Do you see the effects of positive reinforcement in your organization? Are your employees being recognized for their hard work? Or are they starving for a little appreciation? If the theory of Positive Reinforcement is applicable in the workplace, and we recognize our employees for their hard work, employees will become more motivated and easier to coach, and will help the business grow over the long term. By taking the time to recognize the effort your employees put forth, they will naturally become more dedicated and will want to achieve your organization’s goals. With the right goals, scorecards, and metrics, you truly can make a difference to your bottom line performance.

So what are some ways that you can acknowledge your employees? I have witnessed a number of ways in which you can recognize employees in order to motivate them and make them more coachable. Here is a list of five very quick, very simple ways to show your employees that you notice and appreciate what they do for you:

1. Simply say “thank you”
2. Take the time, even if it’s in passing, to learn of their successes
3. Reward effort as well as success
4. Publicly announce their success
5. Offer the right incentives to succeed

There are many other ways to show appreciation to and acknowledge your employees for their hard work, efforts, and success. Just remember that by recognizing their labor, you can help your business grow and ultimately achieve the result you want and a boost to your bottom line.

In order to accomplish these goals, leaders need to have the ability to define simple, meaningful productivity measures for each associate or worker, create visual or graphic individual scorecards, and regularly facilitate powerful conversations about the results the scorecards show.

The individual productivity scorecard immediately begins to speak to the performer.  This productivity scorecard will help highlight the reasons for noticeable improvements in productivity as well as the root causes of any productivity shortfalls.  The scorecard becomes the source of motivation.  It can challenge people to do more, be more creative, achieve their potential, and become more committed to the organization.  With the help of a productivity scorecard and a coach who is willing to discuss and explore productivity-enhancing ideas, people will get excited and engaged about the challenge of improving productivity.  It is all about measuring performance and coaching people around what matters most.

What will drive a better bottom line for the business and create value for your customers as well?  CMOE team members are willing to talk with you and offer a free one-hour consultation on how our-productivity improvement process works, how we can combine effective leadership, coaching, feedback, problem-solving, and goal-setting skills to drive eye-popping improvements in the productivity of your business.

Just yesterday we received this e-mail from a frustrated senior executive:

“(The president of our company) has been on an absolute rampage about expenses lately & specifically complained last week that “education” on our P&L is up considerably this year.  Coaching & counseling is largely seen as a negative. I’d like to turn it somehow to a positive.”

Making The Business Case For The Resources You Need
The ability to measure the contribution of support functions is essential for many reasons.  High on the list is the ability to know when to celebrate the best efforts and direct resources to these critical components that ultimately grow the people and improve the processes that drive our operation.  Making the business case to justify resources or additional resources can be more difficult if the outcomes of your effort are distant.   This can be the case if you’re responsible for long project cycles, when the outcomes are changes in human behavior or skill development, or in the case of health care, for instance, we are talking about the emotional and qualitative well-being of a patient.

Balance Scorecards – Only The Beginning
The Balanced Scorecard methodology initially attempted to capture metrics to measure the effectiveness of those that support the operations.  The original four sections were a first attempt at broadening traditional financial metrics by adding Customer, Learning and Growth, and Internal Business Process as categories.  The second wave of Balanced Scorecard methodology focused on the linkage of the strategic parts.  This cause and effect approach gave both context and connectivity to the overall strategic plan. In addition, the more altruistic, or ‘soft’ components were added as well.

If You Can’t Measure It You Can’t Demonstrate Your Value Added
Yet the most common response to creating metrics for quality, hard to count results or long cycle R&D projects remains “You can’t measure what I do”,  “I can see how that would work in the manufacturing side but it won’t work around here”.  ‘We tried that last year, didn’t work”.

Demonstrating The Quantitative Value Of Quality
A few simple steps can guide the process of discovering quantitative metrics for quality improvement efforts.  If we consider and take ownership in the outcomes of our qualitative effort we go a long way to capturing a measure of our effectiveness.  For instance, if we develop the skills of our leaders, and they impact the motivation and skills of our rank-and-file, what will change?   The connection between people development and the resulting performance improvement can be clouded by many factors but, overtime, we must prove our efforts.  Just a few examples of comparisons include:

1. Close rate of those that completed a sales training module vs. those that did not.
2. Average annual performance review scores of those leaving the company vs. those that stay.   Obviously those staying are more likely our winners.  But taken over time, as an average, what is the trend?  Is it getting better or worse?  Why?
3. Enrollment in company benefit programs as a measure of engagement, commitment and loyalty
4. Break down retention rate by department, supervisor, job description, tenure

Demonstrating the outcomes of your effort is obvious when your outcomes are quantitative in nature.    Failing to own and communicate the results when the outcomes are more qualitative or long term is failing to make the business case for the critical contribution of your efforts.

The most important discovery we have made over the course of many years is that the data alone won’t drive your business to the next level of bottom line performance. We have learned that the way the data is used by leaders has a direct impact on whether the results they see are ordinary or extraordinary. The way leaders interact with the individuals with whom they work either has a negative or positive impact on the results that leaders so desperately seek. The key to leveraging the metrics and boosting employee performance is making the data meaningful to people. It doesn’t matter if you are a scientist or an assembly worker: if you know how your efforts contribute to key results, what those results mean, and how to make the scoreboard move in your favor, you tend to become more engaged and motivated by your work. The magic of metrics is all about how leaders coach, communicate, and solve problems with other members of the organization. They have to help people interpret the data and create metrics that feed business results, and they need to make it personal. If leaders can connect individuals to the metrics driving the business’ success at the very core, if they can help employees see how they fit and why they matter, then every person will suddenly become personally invested in helping the organization improve its bottom line.

The trick is having the ability to position, explain, and use the data in a way that motivates and inspires people. This power resides in the leader’s ability to support, coach, and assist employees, as well as work through the barriers and interference that they will inevitably encounter. There is no inherent value in data. Motivation doesn’t come from analyzing the numbers. Business performance takes a sudden leap when trusted coaches help the people around them figure out ways to be challenged and stretched beyond their perceived abilities. If people gather relevant data about themselves, about the factors that are critical to their own success, analyze those factors with a coach, and then set realistic, meaningful goals grounded in the information they have gathered, they are more likely to want to perform in a superior way.

If you already have a system to measure performance, help your leaders learn how to use that information to its maximum effect, motivating members of your organization at all levels to perform to the very best of their abilities. We can help you enhance you bottom line leadership using the resources you already have at your disposal—your people.

Yet if not properly or effectively done – performance reviews can result in a lost opportunity for the performance management process or at least make your life miserable.  Performance Reviews are traditionally held at the end of the year or within the first part of a new year.  Below are proven techniques that can help you conduct a productive and highly effective performance review.

How to approach the Performance Review
While leaders should be coaching throughout the year, the yearly Performance Review is the one time when the leader has a formal opportunity to provide his or her employees feedback.  Leaders owe it to the employee to take this process very seriously.  The Annual Review should be an opportunity to create open and candid discussions.  Typically the annual performance evaluation should not be a surprise to the employee. Your goal in the review should be to link performance to employee capabilities and to a developmental plan. Be SPECIFIC!

How to write the Performance Review
Start by providing the employee the opportunity to “tell their story”.  You might even have them write it in 3rd person – “Jeri did….  This provides an opportunity for coaching –know the employee’s successes as well as the areas for developmental opportunities.  Review  their comments as well as your own.

Review the last year’s Performance Evaluation.  Where were they last year?  Are they still being coached on the same things?  Where has significant improvement been made?  How have they impacted the team?  The department?  The organization? How have they increased workplace productivity?

Open your files.  Hopefully, you have developed a system that records your routine coaching with the employee.  Your records might follow a coaching guide or simply contain notes about the employee’s capabilities or competencies.  You can have notes from meeting notes / participation, feedback sessions, and team input
Your file should also have productivity metrics or scorecards, specific examples via observation and be linked to any performance management issues.

Do not include vague comments such as “Kelly is a great employee.”  These are useless without the specific behaviors on why the employee is good, outstanding, etc.   Also be careful  of the “halo” and the “pile-on” effects.  Good employees need direction on specific areas for them to grow, improve and do better.  Get examples of when or where the employee showed strong performance, weak performance, new employees.

Remember, in order for the Performance Review to be most effective, obtain employee feedback and write the plan together.  Have the employee take ownership
Let them make the first draft   Provide feedback, input and recommendations.  Collaborate together to finalize the plan but remember – this should be their plan

Where and When to Conduct a Performance Review
Conduct review in semi-public places, an office suite, a meeting room, or break out room.   The area needs to be relaxed area, not intimidating.  A desk can provide a barrier and the bosses office can be intimidating.  Do not meet in restaurants or hotel lobbies (too loud and no privacy).

Schedule a time when you can talk without interruptions.  Make certain that the employee knows that this is their time.  Most leaders preferably like to conduct reviews at the beginning of the day so the employee can reflect upon the review and start implementation of any development plans

How to Follow-up a Performance Review
Following up with the employee should be part of the performance evaluation.  Review the plan at least quarterly – how is their progress?  How is your support?  What changes need to be made, if any?  Set a specific time with the employee to check in on actionable items.  Note dates/times for follow up on capabilities / competencies and don’t forget.   If you can’t meet at the time set, make new arrangements before.

Performance Evaluations – when done effectively, can increase workplace productivity, provide welcomed feedback and are rewarding to the quality performers.  They also serve as a useful tool for the manager in a performance management situation.

Dr. George Odiorne wrote “Things that don’t change remain the same.  Things that remain the same quickly become obsolete”.    He goes on to suggest that if we look at our behavior and our processes that are no longer serving us, no longer making sense in terms of what we need now or what we aspire to next, and speed up this process of obsolescence we become innovative.  It’s a matter of leading the marketplace and active process improvement.

These changes or innovations don’t have to be monumental.  Simple opportunities for improvement present themselves if we just maintain an open mind.  My favorite example is wheels on suitcases. The wheel was invented when?  And humankind has been toting around suitcases for how long?  Yet it’s only been 20 or 30 years that wheels have become a common fixture on our luggage.  If we had done this sooner would it have been a worthwhile innovation?

Some of my favorite examples of ‘slow to innovate’ are in packaging.  Some of us remember the old metal quart oil cans.  Now who thought these were a good idea?  You needed to store a specialty spout that almost always dripped and was quite impractical.  Sure it was before the wide use of plastic, but there were many types of containers at the time that had spout-like openings.   An old waxed milk carton would have worked better!

Innovations in the way we communicate, seek and use information and enjoy our music are only a few examples of changes that became innovations which increase our productivity and increase profitability, delight us and have made fortunes for those that chose to imagine.

Encourage and empower  your people to find innovations that can improve your process and ultimately increase your profitability.  Don’t wait until the competition finds a way.  Lead the ‘idea marketplace’.