The week starts. We sit together in a meeting, talk about our recent results and plan our next steps. At this point, I realize I would like to improve the skills of some of my employees. They could do their job so well that it’s really easy for them! Become true high performers! How do I get to this place of relaxed productivity and what can I do as team leader to achieve it?
Only high performers – thanks to awareness?
First, I look at the status quo. I help everyone figure out where they stand right now. The easiest way for me to do this is to work out the competence for a particular task, and whether the person is aware of their competence level, which means actively thinking about it.
Awareness makes a difference here. If both competence and awareness are low, the employee often doesn’t even know that they haven’t mastered a task yet. For example, many people think they are great at driving a car, even when they’ve either never done it before or are unskilled drivers.
When someone becomes aware of their lack of skill or knowledge, it is initially unpleasant. At the same time, this is what makes improvement possible in the first place! As a leader, I achieve this by giving feedback, asking questions, or letting them try out the task. The employee is now driving a car for the first time, so to speak, or I ask whether they have observed all the traffic signs so far.
Improving skills with a plan
So, I initiate greater self-reflection. Once the awareness is there, we can use it to create an individual development plan. Our goal is higher performance that is achieved with ease. In the plan we determine together which skill to improve, in what way, and the kinds of support needed. So we do a few theory lessons and then attempt to drive.
In the end, things run on autopilot. Every step is memorized. The entire team continues to develop into top performers, everyone stays motivated, and we achieve our goals with more ease.
I learn more about the “4 Stages of Competence” in the course “Performance” within the Chief of the Year Masterclass!
