Strategy becomes reality if the Performance Leadership Process in the organization is working well. The first question that comes easily to mind is why should we name the key execution process Performance “Leadership”, and not Performance “Management”? Firstly, for engagement and innovation, the performance process should be more about people, their behavior and their development, and less about their results, metrics and the assessment of their performance. Especially dangerous for motivation can be the evaluation of performance for bonuses. Secondly managers should start to act more like coaches and be less like judges and critics. The critical features of a strong strategy execution oriented Performance Leadership Process are discussed below.

 

The purpose of Performance Leadership Process is to align every team member´s actions with the strategy and values of the organization.

 

 

 

 

Effective Performance Leadership follows the principles:

1. Leaders create buy-in from managers by actively involving them in the company strategy. This means meaningful active inclusion in strategy formation, and lots of open discussions after the direction has been set.
2. Managers coach their teams to understand the strategy – to understand the map, the area on the map that has been chosen for exploration, and the direction towards the vision. Managers with their teams define their own concrete actions based on the strategy.
3. Managers acting as coaches help individual team members to ”suss it”. Concrete actions to execute strategy are discussed and agreed on a personal level.
4. Goal setting on all levels includes objectives tied to strategic goals, core competencies and critical behaviors based on core values.
5. Managers as Coaches discuss continuously (two hours every month) behaviors, actions, learning and results with team members and with the whole team.
6. Managers guide positively concentrating mostly on strengths and giving lots of feedback. Good and excellent performance is recognized. A special process is in place for handling weak performance effectively. Goals and objectives are reviewed at short intervals, when the environment is changing quickly.
7. Competence development is closely tied to performance. Competence Development and Performance Leadership form one single process, not two separated processes.  Talented people are given new opportunities, and new talent is continuously recruited. Competence is mainly developed by applying new ideas to every day work, challenging new tasks and colleagues, not by seminars or programs.
8. Performance is evaluated continuously and jointly with individuals and with teams. Performance assessment is not a once-a-year event bringing surprises to both sides of the discussion table. The main issue is performance development, not bonuses and salary increases.

Companies that focus first on people in their Performance Leadership process create a strong emotional bond with their people. This emotional bond – or touching the heart – is the fuel that creates not only good results, but sustainable good results.