Have you fallen into the performance trap
Of not having enough courage
To give the people you lead
What their performance deserves

Here’s one way you’ll know
If you’re treating everybody the same
Or nearly the same
When you hand out rewards
Then you’re not giving people
What their performance deserves

Here’s another way you’ll know
If it’s time to make decisions
About who to reward and how much
And you get anxious
Worrying about what people will say
Like any of your high performers
Or some of your whiney
Poor performers
Your courage has slipped
And you’re not giving people
What their performance deserves

High performers know what they deserve
And when they don’t get it
They get ticked off
They get fed up real quick
And they start looking
For greener pastures
And they will find them
Sooner or later
And they’ll be gone

Poor performers quickly learn
That whining and complaining
Usually gets them more
Than their performance deserves
So they whine and cry
Complain and blame
With persistence
And you give them more
Than their performance deserves
So they will shut up
And leave you alone
And what do they do then
Go right back from where they came
Poor performance

So what are you to do

You have to dig deep
And find the courage
To do what you know
Needs to be done

And how

Tip #1:
Take a close look
At the bottom of your
Leadership heart
And you will find
This undeniable truth

The corporation is not a welfare state
People are to earn what they get
And get what they earn
If they want to be on welfare
They need to be somewhere else
It’s as simple as that

And if you don’t have the courage
To give them what their performance deserves
Some would say you should go with them

Tip #2:
Get out the microscope
Crawl under the lens
And look for your fear
The fear that holds you back
From giving people
What their performance deserves

Is it a fear of conflict
With those who want more
But whose performance
Deserves less

Is it a fear of not being liked
By the whiners and complainers
Who perform poorly

Is it a fear of doing things a different way
A fear of rocking the boat
A fear of being different than your peers
Maybe even of your boss

You’ll never cross the line
To leadership excellence
Until you find the fear
That keeps you
From giving people what their performance deserves
And conquer it

Tip #3:
Take a slow cruise
Down consequences lane
Open your eyes
And take it all in

If you aren’t giving people
What their performance deserves
High performers have little respect for you
Poor performers laugh behind your back
No one takes you seriously

You may not see this
You may not hear it
You don’t want to believe it
But you can feel it
Because it is true

You have given up
The heart and soul
Of what it takes to lead

If you’ve chosen to give it up
You can choose to take it back

It is never too late

There is only one thing
And you have to do it

Give everyone what their performance deserves
Not more
Not less

You are free to choose

Jump start employee motivation
Put the fuel to performance improvement
Stoke the fire of employee job satisfaction
And your own

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

On which side of this line do you stand?

Courage falls into many arenas

You have it in some

Maybe not in others

Here a few to consider

Courage to understand your leadership self

After Martha’s thirty plus years in the corporate world

And Thad’s twenty plus consulting

We make this observation

There is a knowledge deficiency among leaders

It revolves around

A singular subject

Called self

Often you don’t see who you really are

Don’t have conscious awareness

Of your beliefs

Your fears

Your needs

Your values

This means you do not grasp

How much your unconscious stuff

Takes control of the steering wheel of your life

And how much that holds you back

Without this knowledge of self

You go through life

Like a puppet on a string

Your unconscious making you

Dance a jig to its own music

And you feel empty and unfilled

Not knowing what is gnawing at you

Intuitively sensing though 

That you absolutely can

Be better do better do more

As leaders

As spouses

As parents

As children

As friends

As volunteers

And more

 Courage for what is right

Maybe you have slipped into a quandary

Knowing the right thing to do

Yet not

And why

Fearing consequences

Mainly to self

Self looking more important

Taking priority over right

Holding onto the easy way out

Creating the illusion of better

Especially in the short run

But sooner or later you find

You can’t leave self behind

And in the end

Right always wins

In the end

Why wait

Courage is needed on another front too

Courage to stand up to bullies

We have our own theory about bullies

Who flash aggressive behavior

And use intimidating tactics

It is nothing more than a cover-up

For their tightly wrapped feelings

Of inferiority and insecurity

Protecting what they do not want known

About themselves

Ah and could they be projecting

Assuming others are laced

With the same feelings

Of insecurity and inferiority

As their own

The same with those

Who show their big egos

Seeing others cower

Watching them fail

Is not about others at all

It is about the self

About being threatened

Being found out

Not measuring up

Listen up everybody

Look at the real you

Smart and strong

Competent in countless ways

And secure in who you are

No backing down

Stand up and be counted

Not willing to be tough

Not willing to get

In dog fights with bullies

Holds you back

Being intimidated by anybody

Holds you back as a leader

 Bottom line

Yes leading is about wisdom

That is, having leadership knowledge and skills

Like how to motivate employees

Or make performance improvement plans work

Or maintain employee job satisfaction

But leadership also is about courage

Equal partner with knowledge and skills

Happy New Year…Martha Forlines and Thad Green

Summary of Quick Tip for December 14, 2009: If you’re understaffed, overworked, and feeling out of control, here are nine tips that will help.

If you want to be a better leader, take a look at what’s behind the common sense and surface benefits of these nine suggestions.

Glance over these tips, and then get a feel for what lies underneath them.

1. Whatever you think the problem is, that’s not it. Talk with employees who are living with the problem. They see exactly what it is.
2. Whatever you think the solution is, that’s not it either. Ask employees how they’d solve it. They know solutions that will work.
3. If you want to make things better for yourself, you have to make things better for those you lead.
4. The only way you can make things better for others is to call on them for input.
5. It’s fine and dandy to get group input, but everybody has their own individual issues. If you truly want to make things better for others, you can do it best one-person-at-the-time.
6. It’s not what people say that matters the most, it’s what they’re not saying that will turn things around for them. All you have to do is get them to talk.
7. You can’t lead in a vacuum, no matter how smart you are. The people you lead know things you can only know by talking with them.
8. Guessing will kill you every time. If you want to roll the dice, go to Las Vegas. Otherwise make informed decisions by getting ideas from those you lead.
9. Stop being surprised when employees come up with good ideas. Remember, they’re closer to the problems than you are. This gives them a tremendous problem-solving advantage.

The big picture is found in the Belief System of Motivation and Performance. It says there are three conditions for motivation in the workplace.

Employees must believe each of the following:

1. “I can meet performance expectations.” (Belief-1)
2. “I will receive what my performance deserves.” (Belief-2)
3. “I will like the things I receive.” (Belief-3)

When these conditions are not met, employee motivation suffers, like a ship without a sail.

When motivation goes down, effort declines, and then performance falls off.

It boils down to this. When motivation is an issue, you have a problem.

You will avoid these problems, if . . . you choose to use The Belief System.

So how does this relate to the nine tips above?

When people aren’t performing up to par, they always know why.

When morale is in the pits, employees always know why.

You can guess, but they know.

If you want to know, ask!

You’ll solve problems quickly, and avoid many others.

Okay, so what do you ask?

Ask what the problem is.

Ask what is causing it.

And while you’re at it, ask what solution would work for them.

This will lead you to good solutions.

You could be wrestling with Belief-1 problems (“I can’t do it”), or Belief-2 problems (“I will not get what I deserve even if I perform well”), or Belief-3 problems (“They won’t give me what I want, or they’ll give me something I don’t want”).

It doesn’t matter. You approach them all the same. Ask and listen.

And remember, whatever the problem, if they could fix it, they would.

This means they need some help. That’s where you come in.

To solve problems, you need information. They have it. So get it.

Then you’re armed to make good decisions. Nice benefit from just a little bit of conversation, isn’t it?

Think about it. This really is easy. Ask, listen, and then decide.

And hear this.

If you want to get employee performance improvement and better results from those you lead, you have to know

(1) how to motivate employees and

(2) how to improve employee job satisfaction.

You will not see a better way to do all this than with The Belief System of Motivation and Performance and the ask-and-listen approach.

Martha Forlines and Thad Green