Improving your employee’s performance is the best way to improve business performance. Most business owners are unclear about how to improve employee performance. In this presentation you will learn the 10 reason why your employees don't always do what they are supposed to do. You will learn 7 ways to improve your people’s performance immediately. Turn your good employees into great employees and your problems into good performers. This presentation was delivered at the 2012 International Sign Expo in Orlando, Florida, by Kevin Poland, CEO of The Renaissance Group (www.renaissanceconsultants.com). They help business owners grow their business, increase profits while also increasing owner satisfaction and freedom.

1. How to Improve Your
Peoples Performance
By Kevin Poland
The Renaissance Group
©2011. The Renaissance Group. All rights reserved.

2. Purpose of Today’s Session
• To improve employee
productivity and
performance
• Understanding why people
don’t always perform up to
your expectations
• What to do about it

3. People, Performance and
Problems

4. People: Where are You Now?
• What employee productivity and
performance issues come to
mind?
• What would you say is the root
cause of these issues?
• How do you currently handle
these issues?

5. Employee Engagement
According to a Gallup Organization
study:
◦ 29% are engaged
◦ 54% are not engaged
◦ 17% are actively disengaged

6. Employee Engagement
Dilbert on engagement:

7. What is Employee Engagement?
An "engaged employee"
is one who is fully
involved in, and
enthusiastic about their
work, and thus will act in
a way that furthers their
organization's interests.
Wikipedia

8. Why Improve Employee
Productivity?
• Business performance (growth)
• More effective + efficient = productive
• Money is lost through employee
issues:
▫ Bad estimates
▫ Poor production or installation
▫ Missing deadlines
▫ Treat customers poorly

9. The Work Required to Grow
Entrepreneurial
Managerial Technical

10. What is Management?
Getting results through others
When you do things yourself you are a
technician, when you get things done
through others you are a manager.

11. Improving Employee
Performance
1. Believe it…own it
2. Learn how to improve
performance
3. Changing your own behavior

12. The Management Function
• Your employees are your score
card; their success or failure
reflects upon you
• A managers reason for being is
to help their employees be as
successful as you need them to
be
• Part of your job is to improve
employee performance

13. Management Training
• Most management training revolves around
two main themes:
▫ Motivation & Attitude
◦ Your job is to make sure your people are
happy and motivated and that they have a
“positive” attitude

14. Curing Performance Problems
• Treating the problems or the symptoms?
◦ Trying to motivate
◦ Attitude adjustments
◦ Through money

15. Motivation & Attitude
• Clearly both play a role in
performance
• How can we use them to
improve performance?
▫ Become an amateur
psychiatrist?

16. Failing to Improve
Performance
• Because your solutions are
not related to the problems
• What are the real causes of
employee performance
issues?
▫ We have a Top Ten

17. Top 10 Reasons
1. Think they are 6. Think their way is
performing better
2. Don’t know what 7. Think something is
to do more important
3. Don’t know how 8. Consequences
to do it affect performance
4. Don’t know why 9. Fear
5. Obstacles 10. Incapacity

18. Perceptions vs. Reality
• When asked “why people don’t
perform?”…How did you answer?
• The majority of managers lead
with putting the blame on the
employee

19. Reason #1
• They think they are doing it
• If your employees have no
idea how they are doing they
have no reason to change
• Tell them…
Behavioral Coaching:
Feedback

20. The Magic of Feedback
Behavioral Coaching
and providing effective
feedback is the fastest
and easiest way to
improve employee
performance.

21. Reason #2
• They don’t know WHAT they are
suppose to do / what is expected of
them
• Four parts to not knowing:
1. What specifically to do
2. When to begin
3. When to end
4. What “finished” looks like

22. Reason #2
Don’t Know What To Do
• What should you do about it?
• Tell them; but how do you tell
them?
Position Agreements
and
Delegation Agreements

23. Reason #3
• They don’t know HOW to do it
• Show them
• How do you show them?
Documented Systems
plus
Training

24. Reason #4
• They don’t know WHY they should
be doing it
◦ Why are we doing this work? or
Why are we changing?
◦ Do they know the importance of
their work?
◦ How it fits in to the big picture?

25. Reason #4
Don’t Know WHY?
• What should you do about it?
• Tell them; Effective Communications
▪ Meeting Rhythm
▫ Inspirational Communications
▫ Staff Meetings
▫ Employee Development Meetings
▪ Behavioral Coaching

26. Reason #5
• There are obstacles beyond their
control
• Remove them
• How do you do that?
Daily Huddles
&
Employee Development Meetings

27. Reason #6
• They think your way will not work /
think their way is better
• Convince them
• How do you do that?
Documented Systems
and
Employee Development Meetings

28. Reason #6
Your Way Will Not Work
• Occurs when you are describing
work from memory vs. operation
manual
• If you are changing the work
• They must believe
you…QUANTIFICATION

29. Reason #7
• They think something else is more
important (unsure of their priorities)
• Most jobs include a myriad of things that
can be done at any moment in time

30. Reason #7
Something Else More Important?
• How do your employees know what
their highest priorities are?
• Tell them
• How do you do that?
Effective Communications
Meeting Rhythm

31. Reason #8
• Consequences affect whether they do
what they are supposed to do
• Behavior is a function of consequences
• Change the consequences and
performance will follow
• How do that?
Behavioral Coaching

32. Positive Consequences
• Employee comes to you and says they
are stuck or behind schedule.
• What do you do?
• Is this a positive or negative
consequence for the employee?
Positive Consequence

33. Negative Consequences
• You go to your “best” employee and
give her a big special project
• What do they do?
• Is this a positive or negative
consequence for the employee?
Negative Consequence

34. Reason #9
• Fear – they anticipate future
negative consequences
• Change the consequences
Behavioral Coaching

35. Reason #10
• Incapacity – personal limits
• Need the “Right” Person
• How do you do that?
Systems:
Recruiting & Hiring

36. Summarizing Today
• Why do managers fail to improve
performance?
• Their solutions rarely address the
cause of the performance issue.
• When solving a performance
problems where is the best place
to start? The most obvious.

37. Review the Reasons
1. Think they are 6. Think their way is
performing better
2. Don’t know what 7. Think something is
to do more important
3. Don’t know how 8. Consequences
to do it effect performance
4. Don’t know why 9. Fear
5. Obstacles 10. Incapacity

38. What To Do About
Performance Issues
1. Position Agreements
2. Delegation Agreements
3. Documented Systems
4. Effective Training
5. Effective Communications
6. Meeting Rhythm
7. Behavioral Coaching

39. What Really Motivates
“Pay enough so that money isn’t an
issue, then give your employees:
▪ high recognition
▪ autonomy, and the
▪ opportunity to learn and grow,
and watch them excel.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

40. Your Opportunity
• Grow your people (talent):
▫ Engaged employees
▫ Improved culture
▫ More effective
▫ More productive
▫ Improved employee
performance
Improved business performance

41. How Can We Help You?
Growth by DesignTM Program
Complimentary Strategy Session

42. Contact Information
Kevin Poland
CEO/CMO
The Renaissance Group
 813.636.9181
Kevin@RenaissanceConsultants.com
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-poland/b/b02/b1

43. Brought to you by the
International Sign Academy
To see more information about other ISA seminars and
webinars throughout the year visit www.signs.org.