________

What are the secrets to a #highperforming #team?

There really is no secret to building a high performing team.

At the risk of making this sound too simplistic, here are 3 things that you may wish to look at when you want to build a high performing team:

1. #Clarity – Clarity of purpose, direction, instructions.

2. #Communication – Effective communication is the bedrock of psychological safety and inclusiveness. Everyone needs to be able to voice their thoughts, concerns, and their opinions. I often hear that communications need to be a 2-way street. But I beg to differ. Communication is multi-directional – everyone needs to be communicating with everyone else – to learn from one another, and to support one another.

3. #Cognitive #diversity The term “Diversity ” has become a cliche these days. Most think that diversity is about education, race or nationality. And I beg to differ here again. It is much MORE than just education, race, nationality. It is about embracing people with different backgrounds, beliefs, experiences AND Thinking Styles.

And here’s the catch: All the above 3 Cs are interconnected. You can’t have one without the other for a high performing team.

And I ended the post with this question:

There’s one more C. Do you know what it is?

__________

And I received a number of responses. Here are some of the answers I received:

• Culture,
• Connection
• Compassion
• Collaboration
• Character
• Competency
• Customer
• Caring
• Coordination
• Co-operation

All very good answers, however they weren’t the answer I had in mind.

So here’s the fourth “C”:

#Civility

If you want to build a high performance team, then you will need to ensure discussions, arguments and disagreements remain civil.

Being Civil means respect – even if you do not agree with what is being said.

It doesn’t mean a high performing team is one that has no disagreements or arguments. Far from it.

In fact, a high performing team would be expected to have more disagreements.

However once a decision has been made, the entire team will align itself behind that decision to make it work – putting differences aside.

Civility creates a certain #climate around the team – one that is respectful, authentic, and candid.

About the Author

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP.

He is an Author, Facilitator, Consultant and a Coach. Steven has more than 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is a Certified Solution-Focused Coach (CSFC), Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coach Federation (ICF), and MBTI® (Step I & II) certified practitioner.

Culture is also one of the things I always talk about in my workshops and talks.

The fact is, I too, sometimes struggle to fully explain what Culture really means.

Is it the collective behaviour of the people within the organisation?
Is it the values espoused by the people within?
Is it the artifacts you find in the organisation?

Recently I came across an article by Dr. Cameron Sepah, titled “Your Company’s Culture is Who You Hire, Fire, & Promote”.

And I was completely blown away by his article.

I couldn’t have described Culture better than he did in his article.

Here’s an extract of what he said in his article:

“Your company’s employees practice the behaviors that are valued, not the values you believe.”

Dr Sepah also sets out to talk about the “No Assholes” rule.

Read about what he has to say about these people in your company.
I’m confident you will find his article very enlightening.

Happy reading.

Click here for article

For the uninitiated, all able-bodied males in Singapore have to serve in the armed forces (The Army, Navy or the Police) for at least 2 years usually before they head-off to college or university.

As a senior instructor in the Army, I had the privilege of picking my co-trainers.

So I decided to approach one of the junior instructors to ask if he will join my team.

His answer was a firm “NO! You always pull rank!”

I was shocked.
I was hurt.
And I was confused.

What was wrong with using my rank to get things done?

But that was the TURNING POINT in my life.

After I joined the Corporate world, I set out to change my leadership style.

I read voraciously on leadership and motivation.

Bit by bit I put into practice what I learned on leadership and motivation.

One day I was asked to build up a regional team in Asia Pacific.

I switched from being COERCIVE and COMMANDING, to being AFFILIATIVE and DEMOCRATIC.

Eventually I built a regional team so cohesive that we achieved 0% attrition rate; hit almost 100% of all KPIs; and almost 100% engagement rate.

Over 10 straight years!

I don’t remember his name. But I still remember how he looks like.
And if I see him one day, I will thank him for making me who I am today.

So what kind of leader are you?

If you would like to find out how you can be a better leader, check this out: Leadership Styles Questionnaire

Ask employees what they want improved.
Ask what excites them.
Ask how you can help them do better.

These are all great ways to motivate employees, help improve employee retention and get employees happy about working in your organisation.

These are also great questions if you want to come across as a caring boss and enlightened manager.

I’ve been seeing articles after articles advising managers to conduct “Stay Interviews” and change the way they do employee performance appraisals by asking questions.

These are not bad approaches I must say. It is always good to approach employee performance appraisals by asking more questions and listening to what the employees themselves have to say.

Stay Interviews are also a great approach to employee retention and motivation.

In fact, in our organisations today, managers don’t ask their staff enough questions. Questions when asked in the right way and at the right time could bring about tremendous benefits to both the staff and the manager. The right questions can also spark creativity and innovation, and also help the manager keep their feel on the pulse of the organisation at large.

In our organisations today, managers don’t ask their staff enough questions

But here’s one huge downside to asking questions that most people don’t realise.

If you’re not ready to take action on the feedback, comments and suggestions you receive from your staff and employees, and you are just asking questions for the sake of asking questions, then don’t even start!

If you’re just asking questions because the consultants and coaches say so, then don’t be surprised if the entire approach backfires on you.

The fastest way to breed cynicism and demotivate your employees is to ask them for their opinions, comments and feedback just to brush them aside and do nothing.

The fastest way to destroy credibility and trust is to ask your employees for their inputs and then sit on them and/or ignore them.

The fastest way to breed cynicism and demotivate your employees is to ask them for their opinions, comments and feedback just to brush them aside and do nothing.

The fastest way to destroy credibility and trust is to ask your employees for their inputs and then sit on them.

So if you decide to take the new approach of asking your employees more questions, then be prepared to take action to address their concerns and implement their suggestions.

Otherwise if you’re not even sincere about taking action, then don’t even start.

About Steven Lock

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is a Facilitator, Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.

But how much of this will actually come true? Will artificial intelligence and robots really take over EVERYTHING – including our lives, our thoughts and our world?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. And here’s what I think:

The rise of artificial intelligence & robots is inevitable. Look around us and you will realise that we are already surrounded by technology. Our devices are getting smaller and they are also getting smarter.

What used to fill an entire room (full of vacuum tubes) can now fit snugly in our pockets and on our wrists. In fact, the devices we have now in our pockets and on our wrists have processing and computing power that far exceeds those vacuum tube machines back in the 1950’s.

And these technologies will continue to revolutionise. Processing power will continue to increase and eventually computers and machines will replace many of the processes we now do and many jobs will be replaced. Some folks have gone as far as to predict a world run by machines and humans being subjugated as pawns on a human chessboard.

I can’t predict what will happen in 100 years from now. But what I can tell you is this: artificial intelligence and robots will not be able to completely replace the “human” in Human Beings. As far as I can see, human emotions cannot be encoded – at least not just yet. Human relationships cannot be reduced to a string of computer code.

human emotions cannot be encoded

A machine could replace an accountant – because accounts are based on fixed rules. A machine could replace an IT Programmer – because programming is also based on fixed rules. However a machine cannot replace human emotions, because human emotions cannot be encoded. Feelings cannot be encoded. Machines can’t feel. Machines do not have a conscience (well, some may argue that some humans too have no conscience, but that is beyond the scope of this article!).

Machines may be able to replicate the REACTIONS to emotions, but they can never ever feel the emotions that humans can. The range of emotions that a human being can experience is so complex that no machines will be able to replicate them.

What Can We Do?

So what am I alluding to?

If you are a HR Practitioner, it would do well for you to go back to BASICS – and put the “Human” back into Human Resources. Learn to engage your colleagues on a “human” level. Put the emotions and relationships back into your interactions with your colleagues. Step beyond the policies, rules and guidelines that plague our organisations today. In other words, put the HUMAN back into Human Resources.

Put the emotions and relationships back into your interactions with your colleagues. Step beyond the policies, rules and guidelines that plague our organisations today.

The same applies to the rest of us homo-sapiens. Put the human back into all our relationships and all our interactions. Whether you are in sales, marketing or education, we should all work at putting the human back into all our relationships and interactions.

Because if we don’t, we may one day run the risk of permanently losing the “human” side of our being.

NOTE: This is an opinion piece. You are free to agree or disagree with what I have written. And if you disagree, my only request is that you disagree like a human – with sensitivity.

About Steven Lock

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is a Facilitator, Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.

If you are, then you know you have to really stretch your hiring dollar and ensure you hire the right people for your organisation. It’s clearly a buyer’s market these days.

As a hiring manager, there is a whole host of confusing advice out there about who you should be hiring and what you should not be hiring for.

there is a whole host of confusing advice out there about who you should be hiring and what you should not be hiring for

I’m sure you have heard some consultants and professional recruiters say that you should hire for Culture Fit. I’m sure you have also heard of calls to hire for Attitude (in fact there is an entire book written on why you should hire for attitude). Some have even said that you should just hire for Personality.

More recently some consulting professionals have come out to preach that you should look for people with potential. In other words, hire people with the Growth Mindset.

So who is right and who is wrong?

So who is right and who is wrong?

What exactly should you be hiring for?

Should you hire for Culture Fit? Or should you hire for Attitude?

What about hiring for Potential or Growth Mindset?

And why would you not hire for Personality?

What Would You Consider When Buying a New Home?

I’d like you to imagine with me for a moment.

You are contemplating buying a new home. What would you look for in your new home? What would you consider before putting down the deposit for your new home?

Would you consider the location?
What about the environment?
Accessibility to and from public transport?
Your new neighbours?
What about carpark facilities?
Would you also consider the growth potential of this new asset you’re about to purchase?
How about the built-in floor area and space?
The internal layout and built quality?

I bet that as a potential home buyer, you would probably consider most, if not all of the above! (and perhaps even more!)

Would you make your purchase decision simply based on just one of the above criteria – say, carpark facilities?

Hiring is like buying a new home

Hiring is just like buying a new home – an asset with the potential of future growth and appreciation in value. It is not a trivial matter that you base your decision to hire on just one criterion. For instance, you cannot simply base your hiring decision just on attitude alone. Similarly, you cannot base your hiring decision just on growth mindset alone.

Hiring is just like buying a new home – an asset with the potential of future growth and appreciation in value

In order to minimise your chances of hiring the wrong person, you will need to consider a combination of factors.

So what is the correct combination that will maximise your chances of hiring the right person for the job?

Here are four areas that I always consider when I hire someone.

This approach has worked wonders for me. It has helped me hire a regional team that achieved 0% attrition and almost 100% KPIs for 10 years straight.

This approach has worked wonders for me. It has helped me hire a regional team that achieved 0% attrition and almost 100% KPIs for 10 years straight

The secret to my success: The CAAP® Model

Culture
Culture refers to Cultural Fit. It is important to select a candidate who is able to fit in with the prevailing culture of the organization or team. Selecting a candidate with the incorrect cultural fit could potentially spell trouble for both the candidate and the organization or team.

Take for instance, the corporate culture at General Electric Co. (GE). GE is well-known for its intensely competitive culture. When Jack Welch was the CEO, he was known to have categorized the employees into three categories: the top 20%, the middle 70% and the bottom 10%. The bottom 10% is the result of a process known as “Forced Ranking”. The top 20% will be showered with praises and financial rewards. The middle 70% would be managed differently and given stretch goals. The bottom 10% will be purged from the organization. As a result of this practice of “bottom slicing”, it created an intensely competitive environment within GE.

Therefore for a new hire to be successful in this case, the candidate needs to be able to fit in and adapt to the highly competitive GE environment.

Attitude
In today’s highly competitive business landscape, candidates with the right cultural fit are no longer sufficient. The candidates should also possess the right work attitudes. For instance, a candidate with a positive attitude will not give up easily when faced with a challenge or a seemingly daunting task. Some examples of positive attitude include:

– Willingness to take on new challenges
– Willingness to take responsibility for things that go wrong
– Willingness to admit mistakes and learn from the mistakes
– Find ways to overcome obstacles

In contrast, bad attitude may include:

– Blaming others when things go wrong
– Criticising others behind their backs
– Self-centred
– Arrogant

Aptitude
Aptitude is the ability and capacity to learn. The aptitude to learn should not be confined to just learning new skills or knowledge. It includes the ability to connect with people; to establish strong relationships with co-workers and peers; and the ability to learn and function as a team.

People who possess the aptitude to learn are continually in a learning mode. They usually possess a high level of personal mastery. They are inquisitive and feel they are part of the team or organization.

Personality
Personality is important because it governs how a person behaves towards others and how the person reacts to others. It governs how a person works within a team, how he/she communicates with others, and how that person makes decisions and manages change.

Conclusion

So what am I saying? Am I saying that my approach is the right one for you?

If you thought so that way, you could not have been more wrong.

What I’m saying here is this: this CAAP(R) hiring approach has worked wonders for me. But it may not be suitable for you – because it all depends on your situation and your current organisational context. However you will not know if it will work for you until you give it a try.

If it works for you, great and continue using this approach for your hiring!
And I would love to hear from you why and how it has worked for you.

If it doesn’t work for you, then it simply means you have to continue looking for a formula that works for you – perhaps even tweaking the CAAP(R) model to suit your environment and context.

Whatever the outcome, the bottom-line is that in this age and time when the economy is so uncertain and the business landscape changing at break-neck speed; and when automation and robotics threaten to take away our jobs, you can’t afford to hire the wrong people for your organisation.

Finally, none of these will work for you if you’re not even clear about what you are looking for in your new hire in the first place.

If you would like to find out how you can apply the CAAP® hiring approach in your organisation to maximise your chances of hiring the right people, check out my book:

The Right Talent – The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.

Get your copy here: https://www.futurethink.com.sg/the-right-talent-book/

Or if you prefer the e-version, it is now available on Amazon Kindle and Kobo.

About the Author

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is a Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.

Over the last decade, this company has grown by leaps and bounds and have established bases as far as the United States of America. Its entity here in Singapore is a small but rapidly growing one, and it has plans to grow and expand here in South East Asia over the next several months.

As part of its aggressive plans for expansion here in S.E.A, the Managing Director of the Singapore office realised that it was important for them to build and establish a strong culture here in Singapore and within the South East Asian region, that includes offices in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

When I met with the M.D. to discuss the details of the workshop, he made it clear that he wanted to the leaders in this region to be effective leaders leading the growth of the organisation over the next several months.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

So based on the information gathered from the M.D. during the meeting, I decided to discuss Leadership Styles with the leadership team for the workshop. As this is a growing team, the leaders needed to understand how their leadership styles would affect the organisation at different stages of organisational growth and maturity.

We all know that we can’t use the same leadership style for all people in different circumstances. But the challenge is that most of us are not aware of which styles we use most often and how to switch between styles in different situations and when dealing with different people.

The Power of the Team View

So the workshop focused on the six leadership styles by Dr. Daniel Goleman but we discussed only the Consolidated Group Style Report as shown in the picture above.

From this report, it is very obvious which style the leadership team tend to gravitate towards. For those who are familiar with the six leadership styles, the Democratic Style has a strong correlation to positive performance. However, we all know that too much of a good thing can be bad. And it is no difference in this case.

A leadership team that is too democratic tends to breed mediocrity in the long-term. The team will most likely end up in endless meetings and discussions. Coming to concrete decisions may be an extremely long drawn-out process.

And herein lies the power of the consolidated leadership styles report.

The report avoids highlighting the individual styles of each individual, but instead highlights the leadership style of the entire leadership team.

I have conducted this same exercise for different leadership teams and the conclusion is always the same – the leadership team knew exactly why they have been ineffective just by looking at this chart, and instantly knew what they needed to do in order to be more effective going forward.

What about YOUR leadership team?

Do you feel that your leadership team is ineffective in leading your organisation, but don’t know exactly where the problem is?

Do you feel that your leadership team can do better leading your organisation, but don’t know how to go about improving?

If the above questions resonate with you, then the Leadership Style Questionnaire is just the tool for you. It will show you exactly why your team is ineffective and what you should do to improve.

Discover your own Leadership Styles here

Author Bio

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is a Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.

So who should be leading a organisational culture change?

https://hbr.org/2016/11/hr-cant-change-company-culture-by-itself

The author of this Harvard Business Review article says it should be the busniess leaders’ responsibility. HR should be a “resource” for helping them achieve it.

Do you agree?

 
Here are some tips for you as a leader or a manager on how to approach a performance review:

Self-Reflection

Before you jump to the conclusion that the employee is a poor performer, you need to do a little self-reflection.
 
As Leaders and Managers, sometimes we get so caught up with our own objectives and agendas that we overlook the fact that disengaged employees and poor performers may be the direct result of our own actions (or inaction).

“As Leaders and Managers, sometimes we get so caught up with our own objectives and agendas that we overlook the fact that disengaged employees and poor performers may be the direct result of our own actions (or inaction).”

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do they have the necessary resources (tools, money, time, skills) to do their jobs?
• Have I provided them with the required guidance to do their jobs?
• Have I given them proper instructions for them to get their jobs done?
• Have I clearly communicated my expectations and objectives to them so that they understand what they need to do?
• What have I not yet communicated to them so they are able to get their jobs done efficiently?
• What might I have done to cause the employee to under-perform?

We need to accept the fact that not all under-performers are incompetent or disinterested in their jobs. We need to accept the fact that some employees under-perform because we as leaders and managers fail to provide them with the right environment, resources and the necessary support and guidance for them to excel. Many times, employees do not perform up to expectations due largely to our neglect and oversight.
 

Begin a Dialogue

Start a one-on-one dialogue with the employee in question. Your dialogue should be focused on the possibilities and solutions rather than on the problems and the past.

 
Use the following STAGES* model to guide your dialogue with your employee during the performance review:

S – Set the Stage

 

T – Be specific about the Topic

 

A – Ask for opinion

 

G – Give evaluation

 

E – Establish action plan

 

S – Set review date

First, set the stage for the dialogue with the employee.
 
This is the time for you as the leader or the manager to outline and explain why this dialogue is taking place and what the employee can expect from this session with you. This is your opportunity to establish the correct rapport and to create an appropriate climate for the dialogue.

Second, be specific about the topic you want to discuss with the employee.
 
Clearly identify the topic for discussion and ensure the employee fully understands what you will be discussing. Avoid addressing too many topics or subjects during a single dialogue. Be focused. It is best to focus on one topic at a time.

Third, ask the employee for his/her opinion.
 
Here you may ask for the employee’s self-evaluation or self-assessment of the issue or topic you are discussing with him/her. If this is a performance issue, ask for the employee’s self-assessment of his/her own performance in that area.

Fourth, give your evaluation of the employee’s performance.
 
This is when you provide the employee with your honest evaluation of his/her job performance. Remember to stick to the specific subject/topic/issue that both of you had agreed to at the beginning of the session. Do not digress. Focus on possibilities and solutions – not problems and the past. Remember, the aim here is to get the employee to move forward and to improve. So the focus should be on the options and possibilities.

Fifth, establish an action plan.
 
Agree on an action plan with the employee. It is important that the employee agrees with and is fully committed to the action plan. Ensure that the action plan is reasonable and actionable, so that the employee is able to work on it and make progress towards improvement.

Finally, set a review date.
 
Again, it is important that the employee agrees to the timeline and the review date. The review date should not be too far off into the future, nor should it be too soon that you do not allow sufficient time for the employee to take reasonable positive actions to make progress.

Review Regularly

Once the performance review is done, you need to follow-up regularly to ensure that the action plans you have agreed upon together with the employee is executed and done as agreed. Schedule regular mini-reviews between major review milestones.
 
One of the biggest mistakes most managers and leaders make is to put off consistent, regular reviews. Doing a review once a year or once every six months is not sufficient when managing an under-performer.

“One of the biggest mistakes most managers and leaders make is to put off consistent, regular reviews. Doing a review once a year or once every six months is not sufficient when managing an under-performer”

Consistent, regular reviews to ensure the employee is making positive progress and that the employee is taking concrete actions is extremely important if you want to see measurable and tangible improvements in performance.

Performance reviews need not be the dreaded year-end exercise leaders and managers have to go through with their employees. When approached and done correctly with the right attitudes, performance reviews can be a very powerful tool to motivate your employees and to re-kindle their passion for their work.

Know someone who might benefit from this article?
Share it with them!

About the Author

STEVEN LOCK is a Speaker, Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him two decades of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

He is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. This model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach. Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the Author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is also the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been featured on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital and other publications. His comments on Team Collaboration was quoted in the Spring 2014 Edition of the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven holds a Master of Business (Information Technology) from Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. He is a certified DISC & MBTI® (Step I & II) practitioner.

Recently Steven was invited as a guest speaker to share about his CAAP(R) High Performance Model with over 600 delegates at the Vietnam HR Summit 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City.

*The Manager’s Coaching Toolkit by Dr. David Allamby

As this was my first time to Vietnam, I was initially a little apprehensive about how things would turn out. But to my pleasant surprise, the entire event went extremely well. It was very well planned and organised. The entire event, including the various break-out sessions were all very well executed. It was a grand event.

My session on The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High Performance Teams was the second last session of the day, and I was concerned that by the time it got to my speaking slot, the audience would have been zonked out after hearing so many speakers speak before me.

But I was wrong.

The audience remained ever-attentive. And they were so eager to hear what I had to say.

After the entire event was over, I realised the real learners weren’t the audience that day — I was. And here are 3 things I learnt at the HR Summit in Ho Chi Minh City that day:

After the entire event was over, I realised the real learners weren’t the audience that day — I was

1. They are very well-read.

As a guest speaker for the event, I had the privilege to join in their break-out sessions. These break-out sessions were led by many established and senior executives from various organisations in Vietnam.

The moderators and presenters were from MNCs such as HSBC Bank, AkzolNobel, Uber and Intel. One of the presenters focused on advanced management concepts particularly from Stephen Covey – the author of The 7 Habits of Effective People.

I was totally amazed at the depth of knowledge of some of these presenters. The depth of knowledge and understanding of the various management models truly surprised me. They were clearly very well-read and they understood many of the management concepts that would put many of us to shame.

I was totally amazed at the depth of knowledge of some of these presenters.

2. They are hungry for new knowledge and skills.

Even though the average Singaporean worker is 15 times more productive than an average Vietnamese worker, I could sense that they are on an accelerated trajectory. These people were HUNGRY for new knowledge and skills. These people, given sufficient time, will catch-up with Singapore and other nations here in ASEAN. And with the TPP in place, Vietnam’s overall economic outlook is set for an explosive growth.

These people were HUNGRY for new knowledge and skills. These people, given sufficient time, will catch-up with Singapore and the other nations here in ASEAN.

3. It is a matter of time before they catch-up with us.

With Vietnam on an accelerated economic trajectory, it is only a matter of time before the typical Vietnamese worker catches up with the Singaporean worker.

I worry that Singaporeans have become very much complacent. Many I have encountered seem to have an arrogant streak in them. Many think they are very well educated and therefore already know whatever there is to know.

The bad news is, arrogance and complacency, will only lead to stagnation. And while Singaporeans stagnate, the other nations and economies around us continue to surge forward. The closing of the gap may not be obvious at this time because Singapore is still very much ahead in terms of growth and productivity. However given sufficient time, this gap will close.

As the saying goes, “Time and tide waits for no man”. And it is a matter of time before their economic trajectory intersects with ours and we’ll find ourselves on an even keel with these fast growing economies.

arrogance and complacency, will only lead to stagnation… it is a matter of time before their economic trajectory intersects with ours…

Author Bio
Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is a Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.