In recent weeks I have spoken to many managers and business owners at two regional trade shows. Their greatest challenge continues to be how to activate consistently better employee performance — how to get more done with less in today’s tough economy. I shared that what activates today’s exceptional employee performance is connection.
Employees who are intellectually connected — they are good at what the job requires — feel capable, confident and able to succeed.
Employees who are emotionally connected — they love what they do or are passionate about doing it (or parts of it) — feel empowered and animated by the work.
Employees who are personally connected — they connect as people to their managers and teams — feel part of something important and become more loyal and committed.
The most critical role in this connection process is today’s manager. It is today’s manager’s responsibility to attract, hire and retain the right talent — and this starts with a clear definition of the performance attributes and requirements of each job. I call this a “Talent Matrix” — a summary of the required talents, skills and experience to be successful in the job. Learning to define the key performance attributes encourages a more successful hiring/realignment process — one that uses talent-based/behavior-based interviewing to determine employee fit. This is how to connect employees intellectually — right person, right role.
Once the right person is hired/realigned into a role that plays to what he/she is naturally good at, the connection level can be augmented by activating their passions. All of us perform better when we do things that we enjoy (see Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience). Sculpting components of the jobs, adding responsibilities that play to employees’ talents, values and interests, connects employees emotionally to their work. Link these sculpted components to responsibilities that also add value to the organization.
Finally, loyalty is dependent on personal connection. Managers who have strong personal relationships with employees through constant performance feedback, coaching, mentoring and open communication, have employees who work more successfully, think more openly and are more loyal. A supportive and personal relationship is critical in a workplace whose primary product is “the customer relationship.” As it has been said, “how you treat your employees will determine how your employees treat your customers” — translated: the rapport you build with your employees determines the rapport your employees will build with your customers.
Exceptional performance is a function of connection — intellectual, emotional and personal. The stronger the connection, the greater the performance. For more resources on this see First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham, my book, Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition, or The Gifted Boss by Dale Dauten.
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