High Performance Leadership

Do you enjoy success? If that seems like a silly question (Of COURSE I enjoy success!) think about it from another perspective.  Sometimes we can taper down our enjoyment and appreciation of something because we know it's not perfect yet, and how can we be happy if it's not perfect? I do that somethings. It's not helpful. OF COURSE  it's not perfect: nothing else and nothing ever will be. There are no perfect people, processes, performances, or plan. If we wait for perfection, we'll just keep waiting (and probably without gaining ground...) Let's do both. Let's enjoy our current level of success and achievement while also working to improve it. Performance must constantly improve, AND we can enjoy our exiting improvements. -- doug smith  

Part of the appeal of video games is the ability to reset. All (or much) is forgiven, the table is cleared, and you're free to begin again. Fun. Forgiving. Fabulous. My favorite keyboard shortcut is control+alt+delete (or in my ever Apple world, Control Z. Make a mistake? Reset! Real life is sometimes not as forgiving. There is no real reset -- only change. High performance leaders embrace change to make it positive change. What was, is gone because you can't get it back. Reset? Change! -- doug smith  

  Do you like to be judged? Me, either. I'm never sure what to do with judgment so I'm learning to ignore it. That's not the same as feedback, though. Comments about observations -- what someone saw, heard, experienced...that is valuable. It's still up to the receiver whether or not to do anything with it, but observations are a useful tool for improvement. Judgment does not improve the experience, but careful and compassionate observation can provide useful direction. Share what you saw, heard, smelled, touched, or experienced. Leave the judging up to judges and the grading up to teachers.  -- doug smith

To start improving someone's performance, simply watch them perform their job. Let them know that you'll be watching, and then watch. If your relationship is strong enough to share feedback, that will enhance the performance even more, but it's not necessary at first. You will likely see improved performance simply by observing. Why do people perform better when being watched? It puts them on notice that their performance is important. It provides focus. It creates a reason to work at their best. You might not want to do this everyday, but it's an excellent performance tool occasionally. You might even try doing the job to see where some of the process and procedure issues are. You might be surprised. When was the last time you observed one of your team member's performance? What are you doing to improve the performance of your team? Who on your team would benefit from your observations? -- Doug Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com