Achieving Superior Work Performance

Career Advancement Employment Services

Innovative Solutions For Performance Improvement Please Click Mouse To

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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

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When Work Performance is Insufficientwe lose…

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

When We Improve Work Performance we will have…

when we consistently exceed the pre-determined performance expectations of a work task or role

by meeting quality expectationswithin expected time frames

Superior Work Performance Occurs

This requires that we:

Properly determine what the performance expectations are

Use measurable performance indicators to provide relevant feedback

regarding meeting these expectations

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 ofall 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

The Problem is…we often fall short on performance at all levels…

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

The Solution Can Be Found When We…go beyond a typical analysis that focuses on a person’s

• 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:

Superior Work Performance

In general top performers will display strength in these performance categories:

Problem Solving CapabilityConcentration Skills

Personal MotivationEnvironmental Motivation

Productivity TraitsInterpersonal Skills

Communication SkillsEmotional Stability

Ethics and Integrity

We Can Define Work Personality as an individual’s combined personality characteristics that are

relevant to their performance in the workplace

• 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

Problem Solving Capability The ability to effectively solve problems

is a cornerstone of work performance

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

Concentration / Attention Since superior performance requires the ability to maintain quality

within appropriate time frames

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

Personal 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

Environmental Motivation

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

Productivity Traits

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

Interpersonal 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

Communication Skills

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

Emotional Stability

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

Ethics and Integrity

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

Putting It All TogetherWe should not view these performance categories as a “checklist”

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

The Only Way To Ensure Performance is to properly assess where we are

as compared to where we want to be

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, andthe opinions of others

in order to verify their accuracy

• pre-determined performance objectives help us to maintain focus toward effective performance gap reduction solutions

Assessing Relevant Work Personality There are no easy solutions

• 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 parametersidentifying strength maximization opportunitiesidentifying weaknesses minimization strategiesdeveloping an awareness of the where, when and how of likely mistakesdetermining performance inhibiting stress responses and effective stress control techniquesassisting in setting appropriate performance targets establishing subsequent developmental goalscreating effective support and coaching programs

Improving Performance With the accurate determination of performance gaps we can:

• 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

Valuable Applications Of Assessment Individual, Team, Managerial, Organizational

 

Performance

Key Interactions

En

viro

nm

enta

l Com

fort

InterpersonalComfort

Emotional StabilityEthics and Integrity

Problem SolvingConcentration

MotivationProductivity

Communication

Stress

Career Advancement Employment Services

Burlington, Ontario Canada

1 (905) 681-8240

www.careeradvancement.on.ca

info@careeradvancement.on.ca

Jim Gilchrist B.E.SPresident