Eric helps us to think through problems and arrive at manageable solutions.
Performance Principles™
Performance Principles is an e-letter written by Eric Herrenkohl that focuses on creating the business you want by building the organization you need. This is copyrighted material. However, you can copy, reprint, or forward these newsletters in their entirety so long as any use is not for resale and the following copyright notice is included intact: Copyright © 2010, Eric Herrenkohl, Herrenkohl Consulting. All rights reserved. www.herrenkohlconsulting.com, 610-658-9790.
Know, Like, Trust
I recently joined a group focused on helping CEOs to build effective business relationships with their peers. Several years ago, I would have felt the pressure to quickly sell our personnel assessment services to at least one of the members in order to justify the time I spend at the group. I hate to waste time, and I want to know that the investments of time I make will pay off. But I have had to learn that sales occur in the context of relationships. I picked up a principle from my friend Bob Perkins that applies in this situation . . .
Performance Principle: Often, people have to know you, like you and trust you before they will buy from you.
1. First, people need to know who you are. Maybe you meet them at your child’s soccer game, or at a board meeting, or at church.
2. Then, they have to like you. At a minimum, you don’t annoy them and hopefully they like the idea of spending more time with you. Ideally, there is a level of rapport with the person that allows you to speak and interact with them easily.
3. Finally, they need to trust you. Often, this means that they have had the opportunity to see you work, or hear you speak, or otherwise experience you in action.
When I apply this principle to my own business, it makes me more patient. I realize that business develops in the context of relationships, and relationships take time.
Questions to Consider:
- Are you reaching out to brand new people today with the goal of developing relationships today that could turn into business tomorrow?
- Are you taking the opportunities to invest in relationships and spend time with people in social situations where you can develop good rapport?
- Are you doing what you say you will and providing value to people in ways that cause them to trust you?
- How else does the principle of know, like, and trust apply for you and your business today?
What is Your Real Job?
What is your real job?
I recently had a realization: 10-15% of my job is to be a writer. Up until now, I have treated writing as something that is peripheral to my real job of personnel assessment, coaching, and speaking. I focus on bringing in new clients and doing a great job for those clients . . . and then once a month I scramble around like a madman to get Performance Principles written and sent out.
And then it dawned on me – if I don’t spend time writing about how to solve people problems in business, no one will know to hire me! Writing is not something that I do in addition to my real job – it is an important part of my real job.
Furthermore, there are times (like this month) when I miss my self-imposed deadline for sending out Performance Principles. In the past, it did not bother me if I missed the deadline as long as my other responsibilities were going well. Right now, however, it is driving me crazy! Missing a deadline means that I am not doing my job well – and that is unacceptable to me. By clearly seeing that writing is an important part of my job, and by defining the percentage of time I will spend writing each week, I am raising my own standard of performance.
Performance Principle: Take the time to clearly define your job. Draw a pie chart of your key responsibilities. Figure out the percentage of time you should be spending on each activity each week. Inevitably, there will be some areas that you are neglecting. Ask yourself if you can delegate these responsibilities. If you cannot or should not delegate these responsibilities, give them the time each week that they deserve. They are not something you do in addition to your job – they are your real job!
Questions to Consider:
- How do you create value in your job? What is it that your boss and/or your clients value most about what you do?
- What low-value responsibilities can you delegate to others?
- How can you focus more time and attention on the most important things that you do?
The Best People Need the Best People
When Lyndon Johnson entered the Senate, he was one of the first Senators to understand the power of a high-caliber staff. During key Senate hearings about the Korean War, Richard Russell of Georgia, the most powerful Senator of the time, borrowed some of Johnson’s staff to support his hearings. Every evening, two legal staff prepared an analysis of the day’s sessions and created questions for Russell to ask the next day. Every morning, a public relations staff member prepared an opening statement for Russell that communicated key insights from the session the day before. Even without staff support, Russell would have led successful hearings – he was a brilliant student of U.S. military policy. However, the hearings were more effective and more efficient because of the staff Johnson loaned to him. From that day forward in Washington, Congressional staff became key players in the political drama. And, having learned this lesson from the first-term Senator from Texas, Richard Russell predicted that Lyndon Johnson could one day be President.
Performance Principle: The best people need the best people. The most effective people realize that they have a better chance of winning if they build the right team of people around them. Many of us are control freaks. We feel better if we can have our hands in every project and every decision. In so doing, we are limiting our results and impact. We must learn to let go and rely upon the intelligence and abilities of others. Don’t focus just on what you can accomplish yourself. Focus on what you can accomplish with the right team of people around you.
Questions to Consider:
- Are you a control freak?
- What responsibilities are you doing today that someone else could do better?
- How can you surround yourself with talented people and leverage their abilities to get better results?
Failure is a Knowledgeable but Harsh Teacher
Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen is currently the leader of the 2,200 mile Tour de France. Rasmussen is an excellent cyclist, but is known by many cycling fans for his humiliating individual time trial two years ago. Coming into the day poised to take 3rd place in the Tour, Rasmussen crashed several times, changed his bike twice, changed his wheel twice, and as a result of his crashes finished the day with his bare bottom hanging out of his bike shorts. As a result of that one day’s performance, he failed to finish “on the podium” in Paris with Lance Armstrong and the other top finishers.
After that performance, Rasmussen had to make a decision. Would the humiliation of such a performance be the end of his career or the beginning of it? If he allowed his terrible performance to define him, he would never regain the mental edge required to be a champion. But if he learned from the experience and moved on from it, that bad day would make him a stronger racer. He had to decide if his failure would define him or develop him. From his performance this year so far, it seems to have developed him.
Performance Principle: Failure is a knowledgeable but harsh teacher. It makes us plunge the depths of who we are. It causes us to face our weakness as well as our strengths. It seasons us and strengthens us. But it also whispers condemnations in our ear and tempts us to believe that our failed actions show that we are failures. The trick is to learn from failure while rejecting the self-condemnation that wants to accompany it.
Questions to Consider:
- What is a recent failure that you have experienced?
- What has that it taught you?
- Are you learning the lessons failure can teach but refusing to view yourself as a failure? If so, you are on the road to being a champion.
Leadership in a Psychiatric Hospital
People have all sorts of interesting stories from previous job experiences. One of my clients spent a number of years managing a department in a psychiatric hospital, including 5 years heading up the crisis intervention team. In a psych hospital, he says, it is when things are going well that you have to be especially aware. Those peaceful moments are often closely followed by big problems. The parents of one patient cannot visit him today: how will he react? Another patient has a history of behavior problems. This morning, he is perfectly calm: will he be in a fit of terror by the afternoon? Anticipating problems before they occur is key to keeping the psych ward running smoothly.
Performance Principle: Leaders anticipate problems. They are aware of how everyone around them is doing. When everything seems fine is the time to anticipate what could happen next. Individual performers are self-focused. Leaders are acutely aware of how everyone else is doing.
Questions to Consider:
- Are you at risk of losing a key individual performer? How can you make sure she stays challenged? Who will fill the void if she leaves?
- Is your team coasting on past successes? Are they prepared for the next set of challenges?
- Are people starting to take your most important clients for granted? How can you add more value to those client relationships?
The 80/20 Principle is Alive and Well
I recently worked with a client to set clear goals for their managers and staff. In this process, we uncovered a common problem: the firm’s partners spent too much time coaching underperformers and not enough time developing their most effective people. The underperforming staff always had a problem or an issue that the partners needed to address. The top performers figured things out for themselves. Yet with more time and attention, the top performers could dramatically increase their own productivity. The bottom performers showed limited improvement.
As leaders, one of our responsibilities is to make sure that, while everyone is valued, we invest our time in key employees who can then lead and develop other people. Do you invest your time in your leaders? Or, do you spend most of your time with your “problem children” whose issues always demand your attention? Many times key employees won’t monopolize your time because they are capable, independent, and can make do on their own. It is up to you to pursue them, to build your relationship with them, and to make sure they understand how their efforts fit into the larger corporate goals.
Performance Principle: Before you spend your time solving people problems, invest your time with your most effective people. In that light, here are some questions to consider this month:
Questions to Consider:
- What steps can you take to invest your time with your key people?
- How can you be of value to your biggest contributors?
- What type of help or support to your top performers need?
- What type of coaching do your most effective leaders and manager need?
Walk Out of Your Store
Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a fast-growing chain of retail clothing stores. The president of the organization encourages his store managers regularly to walk out of their stores, and then walk back in. This executive is not advising his managers to take a break. He wants them to get a fresh perspective. How does the store feel when you enter it for the first time? Does the merchandising project the feeling and the style we want to represent? What merchandise stands out at first glance? Are these the products we want to be promoting? How would our customer perceive our sales people upon entering the store?
These fundamental questions are often shuffled aside because of more pressing daily tasks. This executive realized that the physical act of walking out of the store and then reentering prompts his managers to refocus on the important instead of the urgent.
We are all well versed in whatever demands our immediate attention. But, can we step away for a moment and see the forest as well as the trees? Are we able to evaluate our day-to-day work in light of our larger goals?
Performance Principle: Walk out of your own business and view it through the eyes of your customer. Are you focused on what is important or just what is urgent? Gaining perspective and asking such questions helps you to keep yourself and your organization focused on the most important goals and actions.
Questions to Consider:
- When you walk into your own business and observe it as if for the first time, what do you see?
- What’s working?
- What could be better?
