From worst to best
Every senior leader can have a department or section whose performance bumps along the bottom. Line manager after line manager gives it a go, but with little impact.
When you start in post as a senior leader or chief executive one of the best ways to make a strong impression is to make the worst performer your top priority. It is possible to transform the performance of the worst into the best.
As others see that happen, it raises their ambitions for their own areas. Part of that is disrupting the pecking order or what has become accepted as the ‘natural order round here’.
The motivation to avoid becoming the ‘biggest problem to solve’ can lead to a significant improvement for the whole organisation.
So how to turn the basket case into the trail blazer?
Four key areas are below.
1. Expectations are everything
The department which has underperformed for years may have lost all sense that it can ever be anything different. Turnover is often an issue. People leave that part of the building alone, avoiding instigating a conversation that no one wants to have. Confidence is on the floor.
Coming in new and saying that you know it can be different is the starting point. Say it with conviction too, as though it is inevitable and merely the first part of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Even if a middle leader who would rate their section’s performance as 2/10 sees it could be 4/10 in the short term, that can still be transformative. After all, it represents a doubling in performance.
More important than that it is all about momentum. As soon as an area gets some traction, it can be extremely addictive. It all generates a sense of ‘what can we do next?’
Some ambition helps too. Saying that the department can move off the bottom’ or ‘get close to the average’ is as good as being damned with faint praise. Articulating that they can go from worst to best is much better. People start to think big, and when they do that they think creatively.
2. Analyse the detail
One issue of perennially underperforming departments is that leaders stop looking at the detail. They note that it is propping up the table, raise their eyes and focus attention on other areas.
Yet identifying the first steps for transformation lie in a fresh pair of eyes looking properly.
Checking on the bottom line will only go so far. You need a range of evidence and in detail. Go beyond the headline figures and key outputs. Gather all the evidence you can find. Look at the customer and employee surveys, the mid-year reports and at anything anyone can send you. Your job is to synthesise and evaluate the key elements.
Even better to source your own primary evidence as part of the process. Spend a day with the department and see what they do and how they do it. Where are team members wasting time on tasks that don’t matter? How do other stakeholders interact with them? How is the organisation creating bottlenecks which you could remove?
Not only will this show you some quick wins it will also demonstrate you are listening properly to those on the ground, and not just the team leader or line manager. When communication channels open up, so do new possibilities for action.
3. Keep the focus narrow
Your research may indicate that everything needs to improve, and quickly. Yet as the old saying goes, if you prioritise everything you prioritise nothing. The section already knows it is performing badly. Repeating the same message they have heard from everyone else for years is not conducive to success.
It almost does not matter what you choose but you must limit how many you choose. One priority is enough, two at the outside if they are small enough. Ideally they are fundamental enough that they lead to improvements elsewhere but if they are too broad you may not get started at all.
You are looking for the power of everyone focusing on the single priority and sticking to it. Underperforming areas are used to false starts, and the ‘new big thing’ which fades away soon after it has started. They need to see you focus on the single priority, to keep asking questions and celebrate every tiny success. Through this you are modelling what they should be doing. Get them talking and keep them that way.
Your interest has to sustain beyond the point they ever thought likely, or even reasonable. When you present as more excited about their success than they do it can be infectious. Be bothered and stay that way.
4. Prioritise their needs
If the underperforming section really is your priority, then those who work there need to see it. No harm in others seeing it too. Even if you are not spending an equal amount of time with all you oversee, you can at least demonstrate your leadership style and that you do not give up on people easily.
When the new technology arrives, let them trial it first. This also applies to the ICT refresh, the furniture update or redecoration. Show your colleagues that you mean business, and that you really think there can be a transformation.
Do the same with the professional needs of the staff, particularly the team leader. Leadership coaching, training for the basics, online courses all make a difference. Anything that the team needs to see a significant shift in the one key priority can go their way. In meetings ask the opinion of the team leader and bring them into the conversation.
Ultimately you are teaching them they need to ask, and for that to happen they have to work out what they need. If the improvement is going to sustain in the long term the team, and its leader, have to take responsibility. By modelling it first, you give them the best chance.
Remember that:
By setting an expectation that the worst can be the best you can shape everyone’s expectations, including the weaker performers in the stronger areas.
Pace matters. When you give people what they need it is fair to expect them to move quickly. Rapid improvement may not happen straight away, but increased levels of engagement can be generated quickly.
How can I help you?
1. One to one coaching programmes for senior leaders who are swamped by their jobs so they can thrive in life. Click here to discover where you are on your journey from Frantic to Fulfilled? Just 5 minutes of your time and you will receive a full personalised report with guidance on your next steps!
2. Team coaching programmes - working IN a team is not the same as working AS a team and yet they are often treated as if they are the same. I help teams move from the former to the latter, and generate huge shifts in productivity and outcomes.
3. Talks, workshops and seminars - including topics relevant to the two areas above plus explaining Gen Z to Gen X.
