Achieving Superior Work Performance Jim Gilchrist B.E.S.

Career Advancement Employment Services Achieving Superior Work Performance Jim Gilchrist B.E.S.

When Work Performance is Insufficient the opportunity to fully develop our individual careers our ability to function as an effective team our capability to effectively manage others the stability and profitability of our organization $ we loose…

When We Improve Work Performance career satisfaction, personal development and the opportunity to assume greater challenges innovative and progressive teams superior leadership and managerial effectiveness organizational competitiveness and increased profitability FINANCIAL SUCCESS we will have…

Superior Work Performance Occurs when we consistently exceed the pre-determined performance expectations of a work task or role by meeting quality expectations within expected time frames This requires that we: Properly determine what the performance expectations are Use measurable performance indicators to provide relevant feedback regarding meeting these expectations

The Problem is… Organizational Managerial Team Individual Because, despite all good intentions… we fail to set realistic performance expectations, and we fail to consistently measure results, due to our misunderstanding of the role and significance of all of the variables that have an impact on work performance We need to understand the real reason why Person A consistently out-performs Person B we often fall short on performance at all levels…

The Solution Can Be Found When We… educational background, technical skills, industry experience, and a rudimentary understanding of their personality THE key to achieving superior work performance comes from fully understanding the impact of WORK PERSONALITY go beyond a typical analysis that focuses on a person’s

Superior Work Performance • the required educational background, • appropriate technical skills, • relevant industry experience, and • the necessary work personality characteristics that FIT with the requirements of their specific employment position, specific manager, and their specific team in their specific organizational culture will be sustained over time when the person involved has:

We Can Define Work Personality In general top performers will display strength in these performance categories: Problem Solving Capability Concentration Skills Personal Motivation Environmental Motivation Productivity Traits Interpersonal Skills Communication Skills Emotional Stability Ethics and Integrity as an individual’s combined personality characteristics that are relevant to their performance in the workplace

Problem Solving Capability • Different positions require the ability to work with problems of varying complexities that may span anywhere from one day to several years (scope) • It is critical to measure an individual’s ability to plan, think strategically, analyze problems and to anticipate the consequences of various courses of action within the required scope of their respective position • Knowing an individual’s current scope allows you to predict how fast an individual’s scope may grow and when they will be ready for a greater level of responsibility The ability to effectively solve problems is a cornerstone of work performance

Concentration / Attention we need to ensure that an individual can eliminate or reduce errors • This will require a person to be able to concentrate, make good decisions and take appropriate action while dealing with situational stress • They will need to be aware of changing concentration requirements, and then adapt quickly in order to perform effectively • And they must also understand and be capable of reducing the impact of task inhibiting distractions Since superior performance requires the ability to maintain quality within appropriate time frames

Personal Motivation We need to understand each individual’s personal motivational criteria, and whether • they have proactive or reactive tendencies in specific situations • their energy is focused towards goals or away from problems • they are motivated by external judgments or their own standards • they are motivated by finding alternatives or they prefer established procedures and how each personal criteria is supported in the work, with the team, by their manager and within the organizational culture High motivation and superior performance go hand in hand

Environmental Motivation Here we need to be aware of: • The motivational elements that are involved in a person’s decision making • How they react and adapt to environmental change • What frequency of change or growth they require • Whether their working scope is focused on broad or specific activities • The type of human environment they prefer • Their preferred work organization • And their work rule structure, which outlines their personal rules and expectations for others A mismatch between a person’s personal motivation and what is offered in the workplace environment will reduce performance

Productivity Traits We need to evaluate a person’s: • Conscientiousness and self-discipline • Ability to process information and their preference for diverse activities • Decision making style, speed, accuracy, and implementation abilities • Initiative, willingness to take action, and how they anticipate problems • Ambition and source of achievement motivation • Flexibility and ability to change their work approach • Organization and planning capabilities • Tenacity (determination to stay with a problem until it is resolved) • Ability to maintain their focus over time • Self awareness and subsequent self-improvement commitment Superior performers develop consistent work productivity traits

Interpersonal Skills Top performers use their interpersonal skills to engage others • They see the value in collaborative work relationships and they are • eager to assume a leadership position • respected by those around them • excellent people evaluators with sound people judgment • able to build and maintain relationships • compassionate, cooperative and aware of the needs of others • imaginative, intellectually curious, and open to additional input • realistically self confident without offending their peers

Communication Skills • While everyone has a dominant communication style, it is important that their style fits with what is required in their respective role, but also that they have the capability to make appropriate communication shifts when required to adapt to their audience • Top performers are willing to express their ideas and opinions as required, and they usually know when it is appropriate to either confront others or when it is appropriate to display positive feelings and support • A person’s level of intellectual competitiveness and their basic learning style must fit the requirements of their role An effective communication fit is essential to individual performance, team effectiveness and managerial success

Emotional Stability Until rectified, a consistent lack of emotional stability can reduce the effectiveness of all the performance categories While we can score emotional stability as compared to the general population, warning signs will be evident in instances where a person has: • an extreme lack of self confidence • low self esteem or high self criticism • a tendency to act or communicate inappropriately • extreme vanity (very self-centred) • an inability to maintain focus and perform under pressure • low self-sufficiency and difficulty managing their affairs Low emotional stability will negatively impact performance

Ethics and Integrity Despite technical capability, why would you employ someone that you do not trust? • We can evaluate ethics and integrity scores compared to the general population, • but warning signs will be evident in instances where a person has: • a high sense of entitlement, where they believe they are owed something • rather than earning it via their efforts • a consistent lack of truthfulness • a high tendency to exploit or take advantage of others • a poor rule structure, and consistent justification for breaking the rules • limited behaviour control and a tendency to be impulsive • extreme authoritarianism or feelings of superiority over those around them

Putting It All Together After understanding the nature and significance of the personality categories we need to evaluate: • the interrelatedness of all the traits, and the impact that specific traits from one category will have on specific traits in other categories, • how trait interactions will influence behavours that are significant to the performance objectives • how this significance will vary depending on the person, the situation and the work environment Performance Evaluation HAS to be specific to the situation to be effective We should not view these performance categories as a “checklist”

The Only Way To Ensure Performance This requires that we: • accurately define the specific performance objective • ensure the presence of necessary education, technical skills and work experience that are relevant to the performance requirement • identify the specific Work Personality characteristics that are required to meet the performance objective • formally assess the person to identify any subsequent performance gaps is to properly assess where we are as compared to where we want to be

Assessing Relevant Work Personality To obtain value, effective personality assessment requires effort and expertise We need to understand that: • there is no one assessment tool that will fit all situations • personality assessment is a process that has to be adapted to each situation • assessment result statements should be based on the combined analysis and cross-referencing of: relevant written assessments, skilled personal interviewing, behavioural observations, and the opinions of others in order to verify their accuracy • pre-determined performance objectives help us to maintain focus toward effective performance gap reduction solutions There are no easy solutions

Improving Performance • Determine what needs to change and where the change can take place • Evaluate an individual’s motivation to change and identify barriers to change • Develop objective-specific performance solution programs by: specifying success parameters identifying strength maximization opportunities identifying weaknesses minimization strategies developing an awareness of the where, when and how of likely mistakes determining performance inhibiting stress responses and effective stress control techniques assisting in setting appropriate performance targets establishing subsequent developmental goals creating effective support and coaching programs With the accurate determination of performance gaps we can:

Valuable Applications Of Assessment Individual, Team, Managerial, Organizational Create accurate awareness and effective solution plans for individual performance improvement Improve employment candidate selection decisions, subsequent management approaches and candidate retention based on better fit Improve team selection and development, communication systems and conflict resolution initiatives Identify internal managerial prospects and develop effective management development initiatives or other leadership development programs Improve succession strategies and overall human resources planning

Key Interactions Interpersonal Comfort Emotional Stability Ethics and Integrity Performance Stress Environmental Comfort Problem Solving Concentration Motivation Productivity Communication

Career Advancement Employment Services Burlington, Ontario Canada 1 (905) 681-8240 www.careeradvancement.on.ca info@careeradvancement.on.ca Jim Gilchrist B.E.S President

Achieving Superior Work Performance Jim Gilchrist B.E.S.