Getting to performance excellence

‘Success is 90% will, 10% skill; if you’ve got the will you can get the skill’

Motivation is the foundation for performance excellence. Everything we do is driven by our motivation and is the greatest strength we possess. We feel good when we harness that strength, giving us the focus and resilience to achieve success, the feeling it brings re-charges our motivation to do more. Without the desire or will to do something then, at best, it will produce poor results, and at worst, it will not happen. This can leave you and the individual you manage, frustrated, demotivated and unable to achieve their objectives. We are all motivated by different things, and what motivates you will not necessarily be what motivates others

‘Seek first to understand then to be understood’ - S Covey

You cannot control the motivation of an individual, but you can influence it and in so doing either restrict or release it. Only by talking with, listening to and actively seeking to understand, what the person wants to achieve, can you realise whether you are restricting it or releasing it. Harnessing and aligning individual aspirations with those of the organisation is fundamental to achieving performance excellence.

Three Questions to ask yourself as a manager:

Do I understand what the individual wants from their work? Do I restrict or release their motivation?

What do I do that has a positive effect on the individual’s performance? What should I do more of?

What do I do that has a negative effect on the individual’s performance? What should I do less of?

The ABC of releasing motivation

There are some simple questions you need to ask to support an individual to get from motivation to application:

A – Align the individual’s motivation and strength with the organisation’s goals. 

B – Believe they can achieve it and support them to gain knowledge and skills     

C – Commit to what they want to see, and what you want to see

Align  (individual)                    Believe  (manager)                  Commit (both)

Don’t know how to apply it?      Where can it be applied?            I can do it

Don't know how to do it?            How can they practice?             I know what to do

Don’t know what to do?              How can they learn?                 I know what to learn

Can't/don't want to do this?         What's in it for them?                I want to do it

NB. You may need to move from one stage of commit back to align before you can influence an individual to get from ‘I don’t or can’t do this’ to ‘I can and want to apply it’