The Formula for Workplace Performance

Let’s talk about the word “performance” – what does it mean to you?

If you’re a business owner or senior leader, you likely have a positive connotation associated with workplace performance – you see it as the key that drives the whole system forward. It’s important, and you expect it of everyone. In your mind, only good things can come from emphasizing performance, and you’ll bang that drum all day.

This is fair, but here’s the thing: this isn’t how most employees or even middle managers feel about the word. Of the thousands of employees and managers we’ve talked to over the years, many of them have come to see “performance” as a bit of a bad word.

Why Does the Word “Performance” Have a Bad Rap?

Between subjective annual performance ratings, performance improvement plans that are little more than a pathway to termination, and mass layoffs that claim to be targeting “low performers,” the term has left a bad taste in many people’s mouths. It represents unrealistic expectations, unfair evaluations, and a disregard for employees’ capacity and mental health.

If you’re an avid Dilbert fan, you’ve seen the jokes. The Pointy-Haired Boss and Catbert, the so-called “Evil Director of Human Resources,” hide more than a few soul-crushing policies and schemes under the banner of improving performance. They’re both funny and a little painful because of how close to the truth they are.

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If we’re honest, the bad vibes directed at performance are well-deserved. The way we’ve approached it has created unnecessary stress and even trauma for many people at work. 

Yet we all know that performance isn’t a concept that we can totally ignore. Without it, organizations don’t survive, and we all lose our jobs.

At its most basic level, “performance” can be defined as the act of carrying out duties or responsibilities to achieve an intended result.

Does that sound like a divisive concept? No. In fact, you could argue that this is the basic definition of work. Regardless of your industry or position, every person’s job is to act in a way that produces results.

Work is Performance; Performance is Work.

This concept is at the core of what it means to be an employee and, thus, is at the core of what it means to be a manager.

The problem is not in the concept of performance, but in the management of performance. Since the dawn of the Industrial Age, managers have approached performance as something they need to control and evaluate. Inadvertently, we have dehumanized the process, disengaged employees, and made it harder for them to do their jobs well. Our zeal for measurement, ratings, and documentation has caused us to forget something important:

Our job isn’t to manage performance – it’s to enable performance.

How Can We Do That?

As managers, we create the conditions for people to do their best work. We are not here to reactively sit in judgement over other people’s actions but to proactively resource, empower, and remove hurdles so that others can succeed.

In our experience working with thousands of clients over the years, the best managers are often described as allies and coaches who play a critical role in helping teams accomplish their purpose. They don’t micromanage their teams but give them what they need and then get out of the way so that everyone has the space to do what they do best.

In our experience working with thousands of clients over the years, the best managers are often described as allies and coaches who play a critical role in helping teams accomplish their purpose.

In other words, their core focus is not on evaluating people, but on figuring out ways to advance the work.

In our pursuit of higher performance, it’s easy to start by blaming the individual when issues arise. Instead, we need to stay curious and start by looking at the broader system. In any workplace, there are many elements that need to work together for anyone to succeed, so managers need to learn to direct their energies to creating the environment and culture that naturally leads to higher performance.

A Formula for Workplace Performance

To understand how individuals and teams can perform at a high level, let’s look at a basic formula from the world of organizational psychology. If you look at each of the three elements separately, you’ll begin to see how they relate to each other and how you, as a manager, can influence each piece.

Motivation

For our teams to improve their performance, people need to change their behaviours, which won’t happen without some motivation to do so. This can come in the form of external motivators, such as deadlines, rewards, or consequences. It can also come from internal motivators, like the need for purpose, fairness, social connection, status, power, and many others.

Regardless of where motivation comes from, as managers, we need to get to know the people we’re working with and understand their unique motivational makeup. For instance, it’s important to know whether a team member appreciates public recognition or is mortified by it. The better we understand someone, the better we can create the conditions that keep them engaged.

Ability

Even if someone is motivated, they may still struggle to perform if the challenge exceeds their current ability. In my first couple months in a new construction job as a young adult, I remember my manager telling me that he’d like me to “move a little faster” in my work. If I found myself waiting on someone else, for instance, I should simply anticipate what the next step is and start working ahead on that task.

I looked at him and said, “I’d love to do that, but the problem is that I don’t know what the next step is – I’ve never built a house before!”

All the motivation in the world couldn’t make up for the fact that I didn’t yet have the knowledge or skills to perform at a high level. I like to think I got there eventually, but it took some time and intentional coaching on the part of the manager for my ability to improve.

Regardless of where motivation comes from, as managers, we need to get to know the people we’re working with and understand their unique motivational makeup.

Environment

The first two elements in the formula are focused on the individual, but we also need to zoom out and look at the broader context that a person finds themselves in. While it’s easy to point our finger at a person when performance is wavering, the root cause is often found in the surrounding system, structures, or culture.

Edwards Deming, a renowned engineer and consultant credited for the quality revolution at Toyota in the mid-1900s, is often cited as saying, “94% of the problem is a systems problem, and 6% is a people problem.” The culture of a workplace ultimately determines what behaviors are normal and encouraged. A manager’s role is to help shape this culture and create an environment that naturally promotes and directs efforts toward the right activities.

Admittedly, a formula like this always makes things seem simpler than they really are, when in practice, activating these three levers takes skill, experience, and patience (and a little bit of luck).

Knowing the formula is one thing, but it only becomes helpful when we learn how to put it into practice. Many of the best managers we’ve surveyed and worked with probably couldn’t recite the equation we just shared, but they intuitively know how to influence all three elements regardless.

For a broader perspective on what managers focus on to improve the performance and engagement of their teams, check out The Essential Five framework from our new book: You Can Manage: A Practical Guide to Becoming the Manager Everyone Wants.

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If you want to learn more about this topic, check out some of our related resources and products..

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