Over the last few weeks, I have been conducting performance reviews with my team at work. I had a wonderful opportunity to sit down (about an hour at a time) with each employee to talk about their work performance and to gain valuable feedback about our work environment and how we can improve. This got me thinking about RAWR’s top four areas of expertise: (1) Leadership Development, (2) Self-Satisfaction, (2) Maximizing Performance Capabilities, and (4) Better Training.
These four areas of expertise or what I will use for this blog, the Big 4 can be utilized in your daily lives to improve a handful of categories. In this case, the Big 4 was used to give feedback, receive feedback and collaborate ideas to better the process.
Leadership Development
I do not see myself as a manager. I don’t like this word. To me, this is someone who sits behind the pack barking orders. I like to see myself as a store leader. I may delegate a task that needs to be done but will always be there working side-by-side or leading by example. My “position” doesn’t make me greater than anyone else. My “position” allows me to be a leader and develop leaders within the team. During my performance review, I ask what time of manager (or leader) they would. This gives me insight on their thinking when it comes to guiding individuals and it allows me to understand with motivates and does not motivate this person. During our time I always like to give them challenges to help with their overall development and empower them to be a leader among the team.
Self-Satisfaction
This is a great time for me to discover what motivates them as a person. I ask engaging questions to understand more about their lives and their goals. This is a great time to talk about the environment we try to create at work and situations that will make them stop before they react. My goal is not to pursue anyone but to give them enough evidence to believe in the culture that we create at work. Not everyone has the same mindset about things, and may not take certain things as serious as others but it is important that people develop self-worth in the position that they are in. It is important that they understand that they have an opportunity to develop themselves and make an impact on others.
Maximizing Performance Capabilities
At times this can be a really fun and engaging time in the performance reviews or a really difficult situation. No one likes to tell other people that they are lacking in areas. But, if communicated properly it can be a positive experience for both. People need to know that you care about them and their abilities. If someone is not meeting expectations it is important that you discover why. Yes, you have your observation of why these people are lacking certain skills, but communicating and asking questions can be extremely beneficial. Maybe someone was not meeting expectation because they were trained wrong and you had no idea, maybe someone has a lack of motivation because you are not challenging them. Getting to know someone and how they tick can change an average player to an all-star. Get to know the people you work with and find out what motivates them and how to motivate them.
Better Training
This is a time I want to know where they see a lack of training in our program. This is a great view through the eyes of someone who has gone through training and doing the day-to-day grind. There may be elements we are missing in our training and we might not see it. Or there are things missing that you and the other person both see and agree on. I want my team to be involved and implement their ideas and see that we are putting them into effect. I want to know how they felt we trained them and where they felt like they were not given the tools to succeed. This overall feedback helps better our future employees and current. And overall it helps the leadership team become better as a whole.
The Big 4 can be broken down and analyzed separately or can be talked about as a whole. What areas in your development or your organization’s development could be improved? If you say none then you are not taking a deep enough look. There is always room for improvement. If you are interested in having RAWR come to your organization or want to work one-on-one with us contact us at rawrnonprofit@gmail.com to set up a meeting to see how we can help one another.
-Sean C.
rawrlearning.com 