Good Performance is No Longer Good Enough!

Performance used to be defined as productivity. If you were productive you were performing the job. Productivity in turn was measured by pieces, outcomes, or throughput. How many things you made, did, filed, moved, assembled, or created determined how productive you were.
Sometimes, if you just looked like you were busy you were considered productive, and therefore a good performer.

Not so today. In fact, productivity is only a piece of how performance is measured today.
And a small piece at that. Not only is the definition of performance different today – it’s bigger. More encompassing. Broader, and more complicated.

How you do the job matters almost as much as doing it. The methods, tools, and approaches you choose count just as much as what you produce. Are you efficient? Do you always look to improve the processes you use? Are you open to changing your approach when it becomes obsolete or inefficient?

Or do you just bear down and do what you have been doing, the way you’ve always done it, longer and harder?

Performance also is defined by how well you work with others, in a team environment?
The days of the lone wolf retreating to their office, cube, or workstation and not having to interact with anyone for hours, days or weeks at a time are over.

We live in an interconnected world. That goes for our work as well. Every job is connected to every other job in some way, at some point, somehow. Research and Development affect Marketing, the first shift affects the second, and on and on. So performance today demands that you communicate with, interact with, and get along with others. Increasing Customer demands mean that the only way to excel is to rely on the collective strengths of everyone in the organization. Performance no longer can be defined only as the contribution you make to your job. It’s also defined as the contribution you make to the team!

Another component of performance today is flexibility. How adaptable are you? Are you willing to try new things? Are you willing to add new skills? Are you willing to learn to do something you’ve never done? Are you the first one to volunteer for a new opportunity? Do you pride yourself on having the ability to “figure it out”? Or, do you sit back, hunker down, and play it safe and quiet?

This expander definition of Performance is much different than the old reality approach of “teach me a single set of skills, let me apply them the same way for years then leave me alone for the rest of my career!”

Performance is defined differently today. What are you going to do about it?

Here are some suggestions:

• Let go of the old definition of performance: Simply “doing the job” is no longer good enough. Take a close look at all the “intangibles” you bring to the team, department, organization, and most importantly, Customer.
• Update your definition of Performance: Sadly it doesn’t matter what you did or accomplished last year, last quarter, or last week. Being a Good Performer is defined in today’s environment by “What you have done for me Lately”
• Redefine your own performance: Figure out which of the “intangibles” you are really good at. Make that your calling card. Are you really good at getting the team to make a decision? Refine that skill. Use that skill often, and make that part of your everyday performance.
• Be a student of the business vs. simply a student of the job: Look up and out at the Industry, Marketplace, and Customer vs. down and in at only your job or task.
• Be open to new approaches: Don’t say “no” or “that won’t work” before you even hear the complete story, see the approach in action, or get a chance to try it out for yourself.
• Contribute to the team: It’s not just about “you” any longer. Your performance will be measured by what value you bring to the team. So….you should understand who your team is, what the organization needs from the team, what impact your job has on them, what they need from you.
• Check your attitude: Attitude counts today. How you interact with others counts just as much as the interaction itself. Are you always positive, or always negative? Are you moody? Do people avoid dealing with you because you are a pain? If your answers are Negative, Moody, and/or to be avoided, you need to check and change your attitude.
• Increase your adaptability: Try it. Give it a shot. Give it a run. Look for other ways of doing something. Be open to something different. Let go of the old and pick up the new. Become the most “Change Adaptive” person on the team.