Banish Standard Performance Reviews
Harvard Business Review published a fantastic piece called, Reinventing Performance Reviews, that I consider a must-read for CEOs everywhere.
It’s about Deloitte’s initiative to banish the typical performance review in favour of something ‘…squarely focused on fuelling performance in the future rather than assessing it in the past.’
Finally!
Deloitte is tossing some old standards out the window. No more annual reviews. No more 360 peer reviews.
They’re going simple and lean.
Here’s an example. They’ve developed a rapid method to get leaders to identify their most valuable employees. For each team member, immediate team leaders ask themselves:
- Given what I know about this person’s performance and if it were my own money, would I award this person the highest compensation and bonus?
- Given what I know about this person’s performance and if it were my own money, would I always want this person on my team?
- Is this person at risk for low performance?
- Is this person ready for promotion today?
I highly recommend you take the time to peruse the full article in detail. It will likely cause you to reconsider your entire approach to performance reviews.
Building an Executive Team that Kicks Ass
In 20 years of coaching, this is one of my favourite techniques for creating a spectacularly-strong executive team full of A+ players.
It’s a tried and true system for keeping tabs on the progress of your execs without consuming huge amounts of your time.
Coaching Triad
Once a quarter, schedule a 20 to 30-minute meeting with each of your execs and their coach – all three of you must attend the meeting for this to work.
Follow this exact agenda for these meetings:
- The exec shares for 7 to 10 minutes about where they’re making progress and where they need improvement.
- You share for 7 to 10 minutes about where you see the exec making progress and where you see a need to improve.
- For the remaining 7 to 10 minutes, the coach offers any needed commentary and clarifies the areas where the executive needs to grow. The coach makes note of these focus areas.
I’m telling you, magic happens in these sessions. People are forced to be concise and transparent. You quickly get everything out on the table. You get to observe the coach in action. And best of all, you’ll get follow-through. You’ll create clear accountability.
In less than 3 hours a quarter, you can easily cover a 5-person exec team. In my mind every CEO on the planet needs to do this.
This is a ridiculously efficiently, crazy-powerful way to manage the performance of your execs. Go forth and conquer.
Love the Big Egos
“To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one you become selfless.” - Mike Krzyzewski, Coach, Men’s Olympic Basketball Team USA
I had the absolute pleasure of hearing the amazing Mike Krzyzewski speak at a Chicago conference about what it was like to get the best out of professional athletes. The CEO of one of my clients arranged for us to attend the keynote to kick off our strategic planning sessions.
Coach of Duke University’s basketball team for the last 40 years, and more recently of the Men’s Olympic Basketball Team USA, Mike shared his wisdom and insights as I feverishly took notes. One thing he said really hit home on a topic I’d never heard articulated so well.
He talked about coaching the men’s basketball team and how the conventional wisdom is to check your ego at the door.
He suggested that made no sense in the world. He essentially said, “I want you to bring your ego and bring it all, in all of its glory - because your ego is that thing that drives you to be great - to push harder, fight harder, train harder - and we want all of that.”
His challenge and job as a coach was then to take the individual mass of egos and align them into one common ego – into the thing that we call team.
“Create ownership,” he said, “by letting them come up with their own rules for how they work and live.”
The light bulbs and fireworks went off in my head! Of course! Since I heard Mike Krzyzewski speak, I’ve even caught myself a few times, trying to squish the ego rather than direct it. And I see leaders make the mistake of checking the ego of an amazing, high performing person. They clip their wings, and keep them from soaring by try to make them smaller.
By the way, by ‘ego’ I make a distinction between a constructive and a destructive ego: between someone who walks around telling everyone they are the best thing since sliced bread – versus someone who takes incredible pride in their work, is highly competitive, and has a strong desire to be the best – without diminishing others.
In my work with high performing executives on leadership teams, the most successful company has people who are incredibly proud and driven. Because I naturally love and appreciate that personality style I generally try to make it stronger - to pull out the best in them. That’s my job as a coach.
Creating a Common Ego
About 10 years ago a client, who owned a number of very successful restaurants, shared one of the secrets of his success.
“Kevin,” he said. “I have learned that if you can learn how to hire and work with divas, they are the most talented and high performing people in a retail environment. It takes a different skill set that most people have – and they end up firing them. But I love them! They are performers! They are dramatic and they bring my restaurants to life.”
Your challenge, as a leader, is to learn how to manage and appreciate the egos of the people on your team – to see how you can improve your skill set to bring them together – and direct them towards common goals, and the greater good of the organization.
Is Your Team Leading vs Managing?
“A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.” - Leroy Eime
Everyone has a definition of the difference between leading vs managing.
In my world, it’s simple: a manager works with a group of people to optimize their performance to do today’s work effectively - in a way that’s good for the customer, and profitable for business.
Some think that people can work autonomously without any form of management. I strongly disagree.
Whether it’s a peer-based or hierarchical system, managers are incredibly valuable as catalysts to keep things moving forward – to help people align, to focus on what’s most important.
Leaders are completely different.
Leaders take people to places they haven’t been before, and thrive on change. They define ways to cut the existing path, and create new opportunities. And while leaders are sometimes good at day-to-day coordination, their most important skill is to get people to follow them, and to change how they think and work to get to a new place.
Growing Leadership
“The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” - Theodore Roosevelt, American President
In young companies, good managers are the often the most trusted, reliable people. But as the company grows – and your executive team grows with you - there has to be an increasing ratio of your direct reports that are highly effective leaders – not managers.
Let’s say you’re the CEO of a $10M business, and most of your direct reports are effective managers. Only one or two of them have the ability to become leaders. There’s the potential to grow to $50M, but you’re stuck at $30M because it’s five managers and you.
In order for the company to grow, you need to hand off leadership responsibilities, bit by bit. In theory:
- At $20M two of the people you work with need to be leaders
- At $40M three need to be leaders
- At $60M four need to be leaders
- At $80M all your direct reports need to be leaders.
The executives I’ve seen succeed have been committed to handing over their leadership abilities – and to making a lot of tough decisions. Not all great managers make good leaders – it’s just not in their DNA. So when they try, they don’t enjoy it, aren’t effective – and it creates stress and tension for everyone.
A Winning Combination: Strategy and Operational Optimization
What works is a leader who charts the course to where you are going next, and a manager who pulls it all together. Successful leaders (typically successful entrepreneurs) have an amazing right and left hand – amazing managers who make it all work.
The point is that there’s a natural place for all of us to thrive. If you are in a leadership role and don’t enjoy change or resist it, it’s an indicator that you may be a better manager – so be the best one you can.
Crafting a Life of Productivity Fuels Peak Performance
I pulled on my helmet and gloves and gripped the wheel. Only two months before, I had left the racetrack annoyed after a mediocre day.
This time - things were different.
Driving cars at the limit has long been a passion of mine. It provides me an opportunity to feel inspired, alive and challenged. It's a time in which I feel I am getting to the core of who I am as a person. It is also a perfect chance to discover fundamental rules relating to high personal performance.
On this particular day, I joined some friends at the Pacific Raceway in Seattle, Washington to give our cars a workout on the track. The reality is that these days are easy for the cars and a real challenge for the drivers! Unlike the last time I was there, I was absolutely flying – effortlessly. I was locked in "flow" and it felt like I was floating around the track and could do no wrong. My car was doing things I did not think it was capable of – dancing through the corners faster than I ever had before and passing technically faster cars with ease. I left feeling amazing and wanting more.
Hours later, as the adrenaline wore off and I realized what I'd been doing, I asked myself, HOW was that possible? The car always had this capability, but somehow I was able to pull it all together on that day.
I have found this amazing place of peak performance a number of times since, in some obvious and some less obvious places.
What I notice is that in those moments, not only am I able to do things much better than normally, but I also feel spectacular at the same time.
High-productivity states are moments in time where everything feels easy and enjoyable. Hours drip away. You simply forget everything that's going on in your life. You become consumed with what is in front of you. Fear is absent. You feel lost in whatever you're doing. All of your attention is used up on the task at hand. Everything appears simple.
What's more is that when you're in these states, you're the "best" version of yourself. You will have instant clarity and focus. You reach further and higher than normal. You push yourself and meet the challenge head on.
You feel brilliant.
Here's the thing - you're only going to experience this state when doing the right things. For me, it's cars and coaching. Working with high performance machines and high performance people pushes me towards the same state. Not only am I at my best when I'm driving or coaching, but the feeling LASTS for hours afterward and it spills over into the other areas of my life.
Many leaders and CEOs will be familiar with this state and what it feels like. It is, quite simply, when you do your best stuff. Decisions made are more likely to be accurate. You see the problems your company is facing more clearly. Solutions are there and for a few days afterward, maybe you've noticed that life seems a lot better.
But there is a problem. It's that most people find themselves there by ACCIDENT. Instead of crafting a life of productivity around doing work in optimal states and being brilliant as often as possible, many people drift from task to task. They occasionally drop into states where they are at their best, but it’s rare.
Flow Versus Touch and Go
One of the big problems that every leader faces is getting "caught up." They are constantly fighting fires, simply trying to keep up with the onslaught of responsibilities that keep coming their way.
Occasionally, they drop into a high-productivity state and work effectively. But the moments are rare and they're fleeting. Chances are, this sounds familiar.
The challenge we face is harnessing the power of these moments by moving away from accidental brilliance and towards intentional. How do we do that? By creating purposefully productive states through the awesome power of habits and triggers.
Triggers can be almost anything. It can be finishing a run, sitting down at a certain coffee shop, having a discussion with a trusted advisor or coach, or even as simple as opening a certain program on your computer. But unless a leader builds a structure around those triggers, they will always be touch and go and "core" states will remain elusive.
Turning Triggers into Rituals
Coaching is a huge trigger for me. Sitting down in front of a driven person who's staring at a huge challenge that they're just stuck on. It drops me into that peak state almost instantaneously. As my clients and I settle into our discussions, I notice time dropping away and my passion for helping them rising. It's exhilarating and it's one of the reasons I love what I do.
Another trigger is, and this might sound odd, is getting on an airplane. Some people watch movies or read while flying - I write and think. I brainstorm. I solve problems that my clients are facing. Whenever I sit down in one of those seats, I know that however long the flight is, it will be a period of productivity for me. These days, it's a guarantee. I COUNT on that time being productive and insightful.
The key for me is the simple act of writing - I put pen to paper and instantly I feel more creative, alive and get insights that surprise me.
Once you're properly able to identify what is a useful and productive period of time for you; once you know what "getting to the core" really feels like - only then can you start to work on recreating it for yourself.
You do that by figuring out your triggers. As I mentioned, one of my triggers is sitting down on a plane. Another one of my triggers is pulling on a helmet and gloves when I'm about to race. For you, it could be anything. Here's a list of some of the ones I've come across:
- Horse riding
- Martial arts
- Going on holiday
- Coffee shops
- Public speaking
- Feedback from someone that you respect.
- Brainstorming
- Playing a musical instrument
- Painting
- Meditation / Yoga
- Cleaning
- Gardening
- Fixing mechanical problems
- Doing a puzzle
- Archery
I would love to hear about the ones that work for you.
Now the tough part - you need to start making time for the trigger to take place, and for the period of time afterwards. That's how you're going to start harnessing the power of your "accidental" brilliance. And when you do this, you're going to be at your best far more often.
When we maximize the amount of time we spend in this state, we both improve and enjoy our lives more. This extends to far more than your career. What would your family life look like if you made a habit out of being brilliant with your son, your daughter or your partner? What if every morning when you woke up, you were able to place yourself in this state?
Structure your life around these moments. I've attempted to do so for years and have reaped the benefits as a husband, as a father and as a coach. I want the same for you.
Have a great week.
Feeling Disappointed, Gracefully
I'm betting you have - at some point - experienced absolutely incredible, top-quality, 5-star customer service. You know what I'm talking about - when someone goes the extra mile and a half to make your day. And here's the thing - after you've experienced it, and it's not there, you notice! You miss it. Your expectations of a certain standard were up there. Then, when they're not met, it's disappointing.
I work with a client who experienced this exact problem on a wider scale. He is an incredibly powerful leader and he has very high standards. He is very smart - almost always right - and runs a very successful organization. As you can imagine, the expectations he has of his team are massive. Those high standards are in the rest of his life as well.
So...when those standards were not met (which was often - because they were so high) he was feeling disappointed. The charismatic leader was transformed! He became an angry mess. A coffee order done wrong was a big deal. A delivery that was running late was a slight. A less-than-amazing business quarter was catastrophic.
Sound familiar?
Good leaders have high standards. They usually come from an all-important concept related to running a successful business. That concept is that companies who provide a service or a product are basically doing a "job" for a customer (so they don't have to do it themselves). The best companies do an amazing job of providing that service. A great leader pushes their people to hit that mark - but because that mark is usually really high - they also find themselves constantly disappointed.
It's that disappointment that can lead to problems - that can show up at both home and at work. An angry response to disappointment can potentially upset the people that are helping you. An angry response can create stress for you personally - it steals your mental energy from the things that actually matter. An angry response also hurts your chances of hitting your quarterly goals, instead of moving you toward them.
Another way people sometimes deal with disappointment is to avoid it. Instead of saying something, a leader will sometimes say nothing at all. This is just as dangerous. Instead of the emotional response, there is no response, meaning the team member doesn't even really know that a standard hasn't been met.
So how can you - a motivated and exacting leader - maintain high standards without hurting people or your business? How can you stop yourself from reacting off-the-cuff at key moments? How can you get them to perform as you want them to?
The answer - feeling disappointed, gracefully
What is graceful disappointment? Firstly - it's NOT about lowering your standards. Instead it's about expressing disappointment in a different way. A) in a way that conveys that expectations were not met - but also B) in a way that motivates and encourages people.
What does that look like?
Method 1 - Change the View
The first thing I recommended to my client was simple. I asked him to change the view he had of the person he was dealing with:
- Consider that the person is doing the best they can with the resources they have.
Perhaps they are in the wrong role for their personality. Perhaps they had poor training. The chances are - there is a reason for their mishap. That mishap is not the result of them being a BAD person - just the circumstances. This will help to cultivate compassion.
- Secondly, view them as a peer rather than as a child.
Anyone who is a parent or has parents (that's all of us) can tell you the way a parent speaks to a child is different to the way they speak to their peers. When we are disappointed, it's natural to speak to a person as if they are a child - it shows up in our tone of voice. The battle is on! But, if we imagine that person as someone on the very same level as ourselves - we instantly have a greater level of respect for them. Our language is more graceful.
This method is an example of putting the relationship first. Performance is important - of course - but so are relationships. Creating compassion in your approach creates a better relationship with key people.
Method 2 - Push it Back
How else can we develop graceful disappointment skills? Another method I recommend is to simply push back the conversation. You might end up saying something like this:
"You know what, this isn't right. Let me think about this and we can talk about it tomorrow. Something isn't right here and we're going to need to fix this."
This has two benefits. Firstly, it allows the leader time to calm themselves after the disappointment. That "breathing room" will provide time to strategize. Secondly, it conveys disappointment to the team-member without anger. The simple statement that "something isn't right" will convey the key point - a standard has not been met.
It's a great way to be graceful and It's a GREAT managerial tool.
Method 3 - Explain the Facts
If you prefer to handle things immediately - my client certainly does - consider allowing those undeniable truths to convey your disappointment. It might sound like:
"Okay, I am disappointed here because this was a critical project. We needed X and Y to be perfect so that we could make Z happen. We had a clear agreement that this was going to be done, and I need you to go and figure out how we can fix this."
This has the benefit of conveying disappointment without emotion. The CEO in this case manages to avoid the lecture and motivate the employee to do better. This approach is all about information - the details are the important part. What exactly was not done? Just express that part.
This will strip away the high levels of emotion. You end up with better judgment and a better chance of progress.
Note: This is Difficult. Very Difficult.
Remember that for all of this, as anxiety or anger goes up, skill goes down. When a leader reacts to a disappointment from an emotional place - they make bad choices. When that anxiety or anger is placed to the side, the CEO is able to make a better decision for the company. Relationships (whether at home or at work) get better and everyone pushes themselves toward their goals.
It's no mean feat - there's a reason that monks spend years in the mountains trying to control their emotions. But, it is also the true test of a great leader. If you are able to be gracefully disappointed, your team will work harder and attempt to meet your standards every day of the week. Practice on the small stuff - when food comes out half cooked or your car won't start after coming back from the mechanic. Then let it work wonders for you when it matters.
Have a great week.
Best
Kevin