THE PERFORMANCE EQUATION

THE PERFORMANCE EQUATION

Ask any group of professionals to define the elements of performance and you will get a list, a long list. Ask them to define the relationship between these elements and you will get a discussion, a long discussion. Long lists and long discussions are not actionable.

I have reduced these lists down to four basic elements and defined the relationship between each element.

Knowledge (1)
To achieve high performance people must “know” what they are doing, and be “proficient” in doing it. Knowledge of the steps in a good decision making process, for example, increases one’s performance in decision making. Knowing how to do each step in a decision making process also increases performance. The more in-depth the knowledge the more one knows what and how to do things.

Skills (2)
Skill is one’s level of proficiency in doing tasks. Knowing the steps in decision making, and knowing how to do each step, does not necessary mean one can perform each tasks well. Knowing how to play golf, for example, does not translate into being a good golfer. One must be able to swing the club’s with some proficiency – we call that proficiency skill.

Roadblocks in the Environment (3)
To achieve high performance, people must have the opportunity to use their ability to perform. Environmental roadblocks are those aspects of an organization’s infrastructure and culture that inhibit the use of ability. A training program to develop high performance teams, for example, may be rendered useless by a hostile culture and negative attitudes as participants learn that, “This is not the way we do things around here!

Attitude (4)
To achieve high performance, people must be willing to use their knowledge and skills, and be willing to overcome the inherent environmental roadblocks that will inhibit their performance. When we consolidated the elements related to the willingness to perform we came down to one element, attitude.

There has been a great deal written about the effect of attitude on performance.

To maximize performance and the organizations return on its investments in performance, you must ask three critical questions:

1. Do people have the ability to perform?
2. Do people have the opportunity to perform?
3. Do people have the willingness to perform?

If the answer to any of these question is no, maximum performance will not be achieved.

Ready for the next step? Call or email me at Brian@basearchgroup.com with dates and times that work for you, and we’ll set a meeting.

Regards,
Brian Anderson


President, BA Search Group
P.S. - Visit www.basearchgroup.com for a complete overview of my services, or visit my blog for leadership tips at
http://basearchgroup.blogspot.com/.