Issue 16 · January 2010

A personal message from Joan

Welcome to the January edition of my newsletter. To my long term subscribers – I hope you like the rebranded format. The content style stays the same – what Gavin calls 'your blend of wit and wisdom' (!) but with a different look. Let me know what you think?

To those of you reading for the first time, a special welcome. My aim here is to share ideas, tips and techniques on how to motivate staff to high performance (and how you can help managers to do this), to update you on developments and notify you of special offers. I hope you enjoy the read and I’d love to hear from you with any feedback.

In this month's article I've outlined a technique you can use to describe what you want from your staff called 'reverse thinking'. I’ve used this technique many times with managers who've been struggling with defining the behavioural aspects of a job. Not only does it work, but it's a lot of fun to use in your training or coaching. Any questions? Just drop me a line at joan@10mmt.com.

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How to describe what you want from your staff using 'reverse thinking'

Research consistently demonstrates that staff members who know what is expected of them are both more productive and have higher levels of job satisfaction than those who don't. Clarity — about what our specific contribution to the organisation needs to be and why our contribution is important — is highly motivational and leads to improved performance.

Here's one technique you can use to clearly describe what you want. It's based on the 'spooky but true' principle that it's often easier to describe what you don't want rather than what you do want.

What you might call reverse thinking. Here's how it works.

STEP ONE

Describe what you don't want:

• What would this look like done really badly?
• What would other people be saying about them, if they were doing this badly?
• What don't I want to see?

An example

Imagine we are aiming to describe to our staff what we mean by 'open to change.' Here's what I would expect to see if my staff member was not open to change:

• Doesn't demonstrate any interest in proposed changes
• Doesn't plan to incorporate changes
• Doesn't try out new things
• Doesn't give feedback on the changes
• Gives in as soon as there are any difficulties implementing change

STEP TWO

Of course you then need to reverse the description!

An example

Performance objective – open to change

• Seek information on the proposed changes
• Plan to incorporate the change
• Actively seek to experiment with changes
• Objectively evaluates changes and gives feedback
• Seeks to overcome any difficulties implementing change
• Helps others to come to terms with change

So, a quick and easy way to describe what you do want – by firstly describing what you don't!

Would you like to see more descriptions of behavioural performance objectives?

Then take a look at 'The Managers Toolkit – 176 Behavioural Performance Objectives'. It's a gold mine of information and a quick and easy way to describe what you want from your staff so that you can get what you need from your staff (or see my 'Special Bonus Offer' below).

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Joan recommends

Motivating your staff with powerful performance objectives DVD

As I've said in the article above, clarity of expectations = improved performance and improved job satisfaction. But many managers find it a challenge to achieve clarity. They find it difficult to explain, in simple language, what effective performance looks like in practice. So what? Here's what's important:

• If you get clear with your staff on what you want from them, you’ll get more from your staff of what you need from them
• Your staff can’t give you what they don’t know you want

For example, if you need your staff to be 'better team players' you need to be able to describe what 'team playing' looks like. If you want them to be 'solution focused' you need to explain what 'solution focused' looks like in practice.

In this workshop I show managers how to achieve clarity using powerful performance objectives that define effective performance for both the 'what' of the job — the quality, quantity and time elements — and the 'how' of the job: the behaviours.

Why not watch a session?

You can view Session One – What do you want from your staff? How to find out what you’re not clear on.

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Special Bonus Offer

Not only does the purchase of this DVD include a comprehensive downloadable workbook it also includes a copy of my e-book The Managers Toolkit – 176 Behavioural Performance Objectives, a gold mine of information and a quick and easy way to describe what you want from your staff so that you can get what you need from your staff. See more of my e-books on 10mmt.com.

Order online now or call 0208 878 8993.

Very best wishes,
Joan

Enjoyed these articles?

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Joan is the author and presenter of the 10 minute management toolkit. Her monthly newsletter is full of tips, hints and ideas on how managers can learn how to motivate their staff to high performance.

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