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How to improve workplace performance?

​By Mansour Baker, SHRM-CP

Posted 21 December 2018     |     Revised 20 November 2019

Four Circles

The four circles have demonstrated that performance in the workplace is strongly influenced by management style & work climate.

The four circles to facilitate higher performance are:

1. Individual Competencies
2. Job Requirements
3. Work Climate
4. Management Styles

What are Competencies?

• They are underlying characteristics which enable someone to perform a job better in more situations, more often, with better results.
• Competencies are those factors that distinguish the best from the rest in a given role.
• Competencies can be deep seated or easily observed qualities of people (motivation, traits, etc).
• All competencies can be measured.
• Competencies are not the tasks of the job they are what enable people to do the tasks.
• They are the crucial behaviors that need to be developed to create a high-performance business.

Competency Breakdown

Competency Iceberg

​Competencies are like an iceberg, with skill and knowledge forming the tip. The underlying element of competencies are less visible but they largely direct and control surface behavior. Social role and self-image exist at a conscious level; traits and motives exist further below the surface, lying closer to the person’s core.

Research has consistently shown that while skills and knowledge remain important in the workplace, it is behaviors, the way people do their jobs, that differentiates the best performers from the rest. Competencies can be seen as the behaviors that lead to outstanding performance. 

Iceberg Model of Competencies

Competency Assessment Development

The three critical areas: 

1. Strategy
2. People: Making sure that you have the right people in place to deliver the strategy
3. ​Processes: Making sure that the right processes are in place to get the most out of suitably equipped people

The 5 Tasks in the Assessment

Behavioral Influence

Competencies seek to develop high performance business behaviors that differentiate the ‘best from the rest’. Much of what differentiates outstanding performers from average comes from how we behave. ​

​How the Brain Works

Job Requirements

Job Analysis is the process of understanding a job and presenting this information in a format which will enable others to understand the job. Job Analysis normally consist of gathering information about the jobs and the relationships between jobs, analyzing and organizing that information and presenting the information in a concise and systematic manner. This will be in the form of a Job Description​.

What is Work Climate?

The perception of how it feels to work in a particular environment; a complex mixture of norms, values, expectations, policies and procedures that influence patterns of behavior.

Why is it Important?

• Climate differentiates levels of performance among organizations, typically accounting for up to 30% of the variance in bottom line performance measures.
• Climate influences employee motivation to provide discretionary effort.
• Climate is indicative of how well the organization is realizing its full potential.
• Climate drives cultural change.

Organization Climate Dimensions

​There are six key dimensions that consistently affect organizational performance:

1. ​​Clarity: Everyone knows what is expected of them & how this relates to goals set
2. Standards: The emphasis on improving performance & doing one’s best; having challenging goals.
3. Responsibility: The feeling that staff are empowered - have a lot of authority delegated to them.
4. Flexibility: The feeling about constraints in the workplace; the absence of unnecessary bureaucracy.
5. Rewards: Being rewarded & recognized for good work, & that it is differential related to performance.
6. Team Commitment: Being proud to belong, willing to provide extra effort when needed, & trusting everyone to work toward common objectives.

Leadership & Managerial Styles

The patterns of behavior that a leader or manager adopts to plan, organize, motivate and control; it is the extent to which he or she listens, sets goals & standards, develops action plans, directs others, gives feedback, rewards, develops people and establishes personal relations.

Why are they important?

• These behaviors represent the key mechanisms by which leaders attempt to influence the organization climate.
• Different styles and combinations of styles will contribute to very different climate outcomes.
• Different people in different situations will feel motivated to behave in certain ways, dependent on the style of influence used by the leader.

​​Six Managerial Styles

There are six styles or behavior patterns, that most leaders apply to the situations that they encounter:

1. ​​Coercive Style: “Do it the way I tell you” - obtaining immediate compliance.
2. Authoritative Style: “Firm but fair” - providing long term direction, vision, standards and the rationale for change.
3. Affiliative Style: “People first, task second” - creating harmony among people, positive emotions.
4. Democratic Style: “Participative” - building commitment & generating new ideas, through consensus & delegation.
5. Pacesetting Style: “Watch me - I’m best” - accomplishing tasks to high standards; leading by example.
6. Coaching Style: “Learning & development” - focus on long term development of people.

Management Styles

Key Points:

• No single style is right in all situations.
• The key to being effective as a manager is a broad repertoire of styles and knowing when to use each to its greatest effect.
• Choosing the right style is a function of both the situation and the individuals concerned.

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