WHY EMPLOYEES CHOOSE
TO PERFORM
Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D
Parkview Health
August 17, 2012
www.bretlsimmons.com

Why did
you they
choose to perform?

Why do you care?

JOB PERFORMANCE
• Task behaviors
• Extra-role
behaviors
• Withdrawal
behaviors

CHOICE
Responsibility

HOW IS THE WRONG QUESTION

There is no prescription for
employee performance

PERSONALITY
OR
ATTITUDE
Which is a better predictor of
job performance?

Attitudes!

Partner with your employees to continuously
improve the systems that so strongly affect their
attitudes about you, the organization, and the work
that they perform

JOB ATTITUDES
• Organizational commitment
• Job satisfaction
• Trust in the supervisor
• Justice (fairness)
• Engagement

ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
I want to be here
• Affected by doing this work
with you
• Job Satisfaction
• Justice

• Pay
• Opportunity for
promotion
• Co-workers
• Work itself
• Supervisor

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE
• Consistency
• Transparency
• Voice
• Appeal
• Ethics

Willingness to be
vulnerable to another in a
situation involving risk

ARE YOU TRUSTWORTHY?
• Ability
• Integrity
• Benevolence

• Master, then continuously improve your job
• Care about the people you work with, work
for, and serve
• DWWSWWD
Trustworthy

Engagement:
Investing the head,
hands, and heart in full
work performance

ENGAGEMENT
• Value Congruence: expect people to behave at work
consistent with the highest values they espouse in themselves
and others
• Psychological safety: trusting interpersonal relationships
in fair and supportive organizational environments
• Core self-evaluation (personality trait):
self-esteem, self-efficacy, emotional stability, locus of control

HIRE FOR PERSONALITY
• Conscientiousness
• Internal locus of control
• Healthy self-esteem

RECOMMENDATIONS
• Measure commitment and satisfaction regularly
• Be honest with yourself and with those you’ve been given
the privilege to lead about the results
• Invite accountability
• Treat the organization as an unfinished prototype
• Encourage people to make daily progress doing work that
really matters

WHY EMPLOYEES CHOOSE
TO PERFORM
Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D
Parkview Health
August 17, 2012
www.bretlsimmons.com
bret.simmons@gmail.com
(775) 336-9576