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To Turn Goals into Results - Change the Conversation

Posted by: Andy Elkind on Jan 26, 2010

Tagged in: coaching

It's a new year and leaders at all levels are in the process of setting annual performance goals.  To turn these goals into results it's important to change the conversation from a focus on what to a focus on what, why, and how.

What.  Goal setting conversations often begin - appropriately - with a focus on what.  What, specifically, is the goal that we want to achieve?  It's important to set a SMART goal that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.  After all, the more clearly that people can see a target, the more likely they are to achieve it.

Unfortunately, goal setting conversations often fall short because they fail to consider two other key questions: why and how.

Why.  In most organizations, goals are the outcome of extensive discussions about future direction and business strategy.  Yet too often, leaders fail to "connect the dots" and help their people understand why the goals are so important and how they contribute to broader strategic aims.  If you want your team to buy in to the importance of achieving this year's goals, it's important to communicate clearly the "why behind the what."

How.  From a coaching and development perspective, the most important question to ask and answer is how.  This year's goals are undoubtedly higher - and harder to achieve - than last year's.  So, how are we going to succeed?  How can we build on best practices and execute more consistently and more effectively?  How can we develop and implement new practices to respond to competitive challenges and capitalize on new opportunities?

By focusing on what, why, and how, you can get the year off to a strong start and set a course for turning your goals into results.

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Author: Andy Elkind

Andy Elkind is Vice President of The Elkind Group, a San Francisco-based firm that provides consulting, coaching, and training services to transform organizations.  The Elkind Group aligns strategy and performance so that the front-line makes a greater contribution to the bottom line.  Andy can be reached at aelkind@elkindgroup.com

Are You Coaching or Keeping Score?

Posted by: Andy Elkind on Nov 17, 2009

Tagged in: coaching

With all the new reporting tools that are now available, it's easier than ever to be seduced by the expanding array of performance metrics.  So if you're a sales or service leader, ask yourself this tough question.  What are you actually doing to move the needle on performance?  Are you really coaching, or are you just keeping score?

The difference is in how you answer three questions: What?  So what?  Now what?

What?  The first question is about awareness.  As you look at the metrics, what do you notice?  What has changed?  What has stayed the same?  What's the trend?  How does this individual's performance compare with the performance of other members of the team?  How does this team's performance compare with other teams?

So what?  The second question is about analysis.  What is the root cause of the results?  What are the behaviors that account for the numbers?  What is this person or team doing - or not doing - that is making a difference?

Now what?  The third question is about action.  What are you going to do to help change behaviors so that your team can produce better results?  Do you need to help people develop better skills?  Does your team need access to additional information or new tools?  Do you need to change underlying attitudes and beliefs?

If you're answering all three questions and following up with appropriate action, then you're coaching and improving performance.  Congratulations, and keep up the good work!

If you're not answering all three questions and following up with appropriate action, then you're just keeping score.  Isn't it time to get off the bench and into the game?

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Author: Andy Elkind

Andy Elkind is Vice President of The Elkind Group, a San Francisco-based firm that provides consulting, coaching, and training services to transform organizations.  The Elkind Group aligns strategy and performance so that the front-line makes a greater contribution to the bottom line.  Andy can be reached at aelkind@elkindgroup.com

Do It Now

Posted by: Andy Elkind on Oct 06, 2009

Tagged in: coaching

What separates the most effective performance coaches from their less effective colleagues?

There are many factors that make a difference.  These include: preparing in advance, establishing trust, analyzing for root cause, active listening, asking powerful questions, gaining buy-in, and following up - to name just a few. Many of these critical success factors require coaches to master new skills.  So, as coaches continue to focus on these factors they can make gradual and incremental improvements in their coaching effectiveness.

But one critical success factor is really a mindset - an orientation where a simple shift can yield an immediate and significant improvement in coaching impact. What is this powerful factor?  A focus on urgency. Any coaching session should conclude with an action plan that specifies: who will do what, by when, and how will we follow up to assure success. Less successful coaches tend to answer the "when" question with a date sometime in the future.  "Let's check in during our next one-on-one and see how it's going" or "I'll follow up with you toward the end of next week and see if you have any questions." The best coaches focus instead on what an employee can do right away that will make the biggest difference.  "Let's go take some calls right now and see how this goes for you" or "Try this now and I'll sit with you this afternoon to see how it's working."

In today's demanding and complex performance environment, most coaches have many things to do and not a lot of time to do them.  If something: isn't important, don't do it.  If it is important, do it now.

As the great sage Hillel asked, "If not now, when?"

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Author: Andy Elkind

Andy Elkind is Vice President of The Elkind Group, a San Francisco-based firm that provides training, coaching, and consulting services to transform organizations.  The Elkind Group aligns strategy and performance so that the front-line makes a greater contribution to the bottom line.

Up or Out

Posted by: Andy Elkind on Aug 18, 2009

Tagged in: coaching

On a recent flight I found myself seated next to a career officer in the US Army.  I thanked him for his service and we spent the flight talking about the Army's approach to leadership training and its "up or out" policy.

"Up or out" means that military officers are expected to continue to acquire new skills and advance in their careers.  If they don't consistently move "up," then they are asked to move "out."

Later that week the "up or out" approach came to mind as I was working with a call center client.  Like many call centers, this one had a large team of friendly, capable, hard-working, and highly productive CSRs.  But they also had a group of persistent poor performers - reps who had failed to achieve service, quality, and productivity standards for months and sometimes years.

This group of poor performers was only about 10-15% of the total workforce.  But the supervisors were expected to spend 40-50% of their coaching time with this small group.  And despite this intensive and focused coaching, many of the poor performers did not improve.

Firing employees is never easy.  But who benefits when perpetual poor performers stay on the job without any obligation to improve?

Not customers - who don't receive the courteous and high-quality service they deserve, or have to wait far too long to receive it.

Not other CSRs - who have to work harder to take up the slack and correct the problems caused by their less capable colleagues.

Not supervisors - who squander most of their precious coaching time with agents who cannot or will not improve.

Not the company - which pays for poor productivity and pays again when customers defect to competitors because of poor service.

The bright side of today's challenging economic environment is that there are plenty of people with good skills, strong experience, and positive attitudes who are eagerly looking for work.  Isn't it time for your company to take an "up or out" approach to managing performance?  If not now, when?  

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Author: Andy Elkind

Andy Elkind is Vice President of The Elkind Group, a San Francisco-based firm that provides training, coaching, and consulting services to transform organizations.  The Elkind Group aligns strategy and performance so that the front-line makes a greater contribution to the bottom line.

Neuroscience Research Supports the Value of Performance Management

Posted by: Andy Elkind on Jul 22, 2009

Are you feeling up-to-date with the latest research on effective performance management?  Try this simple quiz.


True or false?  To perform at their best, employees . . .

  1. Need to understand the dynamics of their industry and their company's strategy and competitive positioning within that industry.
  2. Need to know the specific behaviors that they have to demonstrate on the job in order to implement their company's strategy.
  3. Need real-time information about how well their company is doing.
  4. Need timely and specific feedback about how well they are performing and where they have opportunities to improve.
  5. Should get their feedback from their immediate manager.

All Done?  Check Your Answers

The correct answers are: 1) True.  2) True.  3) True.  4) True.  5) False. 

Wait a minute - number 5 is false?  Feedback from management is practically a sacred principle of modern management practice.  How can this be? 

It turns out that each of us has a self-image that we've created and refined over a lifetime of experience.  When we experience something that conflicts with this self-image - for example, negative feedback from our manager - it creates internal conflict which psychologists call cognitive dissonance.  In response to this feedback, we could learn new skills or change our behavior.  But we usually don't.  Instead, we maintain our self-image by "rationalizing away the feedback, and either attributing the cause of the performance failure to external factors out of our control or discounting the source of the feedback."

That's the conclusion of Charles S. Jacobs in his new book Management Rewired - Why Feedback Doesn't Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science. 

Jacobs emphasizes that employees do need timely and specific feedback.  "It just can't come from the manager.  Instead, managers will need to install systems to provide employees with an objective source of feedback."

Hmmm.  An objective source of feedback - sounds like Performance Management applications will continue to be one of the most important applications in the Enterprise!

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Author: Andy Elkind

Andy Elkind is Vice President of The Elkind Group, a San Francisco-based firm that provides training, coaching, and consulting services to transform organizations.  The Elkind Group aligns strategy and performance so that the front-line makes a greater contribution to the bottom line.

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