Performance Management Training Course - 1 Day

The fundamental goal of a performance manager is to find an answer to a single question:How can we get the best performance from ourselves and others?

You need to get the best performance from others, because the success of the whole enterprise is based upon the individual success of each team member. To succeed, we need to inspire others to give their best possible performance. We need to help them reach their full potential.

In order to do this, we must develop our performance management skills.

Performance Managers need many skills, but above all they must have clarity, reason, and positive emotion.

Clarity means: Clear thinking, clear communication, clear standards, clear goals.

Reason means: Rational plans. A logical analysis of the current situation. Treating everyone as reasonable, intelligent human beings (ie with respect).

Positive emotion means: Having a positive expectation that everyone can improve.

You will do a self-assessment against a checklist of skills needed by performance managers and discover your relative strengths and weaknesses. You will also have the opportunity to tell us, what specific questions you want answered during the course and which skills do you most want to develop?

This will set our learning objectives for the training.

In a general way, we all share the same goal, which is “to add value to others”. We can only succeed at work, by adding value to our clients, colleagues, and organisation.

1. We cannot succeed if we fail to add value.
2. We cannot succeed if we detract value from others.

Therefore, we should only do and say those things that will add value to others.

We should all be value adders.

Each of us interprets the general principle of adding value in our own specific way.

We will discuss the power of setting specific goals. In order to help people maximise their potential, we must sell them on the idea that they win by adding value, and by setting specific, progressive goals.

We will show you how to set goals and begin to plan for their achievement.

Goal setting is the first step to achievement.

In order to help people set clear goals, we need to develop skills as a communicator.

We need communication skills that are clear, rational and positive.

To eliminate misunderstandings, we must open up channels of clear communication to make ourselves clearly understood.

We will show you techniques to improve the accuracy of your language.

Most words have multiple interpretations. So, when you say one thing, they picture another thing. The solution to this problem lies in asking for, and giving clear unequivocal definitions (exact meanings), to key words and phrases.

We will discuss how to find the right words to express your exact meaning. And how to use the same method, to extract exact meanings from others.

Having a goal is not enough, you must find rational ways of achieving it.

We must also treat everyone reasonably, and similarly, we can never accept unreasonable behaviour.

We will discuss what it means to be rational and reasonable and ways to achieve both.

Part of reasoning is critical thinking. We need to develop our critical thinking skills, but we must not become over critical. We must be optimistic, but not just wishful thinkers.

We will ask you to distinguish between optimism, critical thinking and cynicism.

Our goal is to develop the concept of rational optimism. We will use the methods of rational optimism to affect others.

Based upon the knowledge gained so far we are now equipped to transform negative conversations into positive. We are now rational optimists, and we can use our skills to positively influence others.

It is possible to have the right intentions, but to use the wrong language and as a result, mess up.

We will examine the role of language. How well do you influence others towards the positive? It is not enough to be nice. You must also be skilled.

We will summarise the morning session and ask you how you will use your new knowledge to perfect your performance management language skills.

There are four ways to handle poor performance in others, but only one of them works. These are anger, upset, evasion or reason.

Anger never works well, nor does getting upset, nor does evasion. The only productive way to handle poor performance is through the use of reason.

We discuss the results of responding to poor performance with anger, upset or evasion. And what it means to have a rational response to poor performance.

We will discuss the role of self-image psychology. The self-image is the sum of a person’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs about who they are. Self-image gives a person identity.

The self-image is a hugely important concept, because people always act in accordance with their self-image.

To get the best performance from others, you must systematically strengthen their self-image. Youmust limit all negative comments of their performance to behavioural statements, and not attack or denigrate their character or identity.

We will show you how to do this.

Everything you say will either: Build them up. Not build them up. Take them down.

We will speak in ways that reflect this fact.

The purpose of your performance management is to simultaneously change their behaviour whilst at the same time, build up their self-image. This is a highly skilled job which most people cannot do. As they attempt to change a person's behaviour, they accidentally destroy their self-image.

To be skilled in critiquing other people's behaviour, whilst building up their self-image, you must become more aware of your use of language.

We will break language into two sets, factual and opinionated.

The same distinction is also called:

• Objective vs subjective
• Feedback vs insult
• Helpful vs hurtful
• Rational vs derogatory

We will eliminate words that are hurtful, derogatory, subjective or insulting. We will show you how to use words that are purely objective, helpful, rational feedback.

This section of the course is a game changer, which you will find hugely beneficial.

Now you know how to word your message, you can engage in a process of behaviour modification. The other person is less likely to fight you when your message sounds right and feels right.

Once you have engaged the other person's willingness to improve, and gained their commitment to make changes based upon the feedback you have offered them, you need to reinforce that change.

If you don’t reinforce that change, many people will fall back into their old, bad habits.

We will show you how to reinforce the change, and keep their new behaviour going until it becomes the new normal. This reinforcement includes the use of appreciation, praise and encouragement.

Social motivators are the intangible, non-monetary, aspects of motivation.

They are feelings based upon the words you use, everyday.

You need to establish the right atmosphere in the office and establish the right culture. We will show you how.

It is important not only to correct poor behaviour, but to inspire excellence.

We finish on a discussion about continuous improvement, which is the eternal quest to move closer to our ideals. We know we can never reach perfection, but the attempt is worth the effort.

We will discuss how we can instil the ethos of being happy with our performance, but never completely satisfied.

On this course you will have learned many powerful concepts, and techniques. We will ask you which ideas you found the most powerful and how will you apply them.