Most of us agree that Leadership is really important, yet so few leaders actually manage to reach a level of success that does them, or their people justice. The everyday pressures take over and people start to act before they think. It's a very common problem, however, thankfully it is one that can be resolved with some focus and dedication, that ultimately leads to good habits forming and taking over from the pressured reactions. 

It takes time and dedication to reach this point, but the good news is there are a lot of ways to do this, and they can be tailored to your style and abilities. It's just a matter of making it a priority in your own self learning, or making it available and supported for your people. After all, great leaders empower others to become the same, and that is what will really benefit your business and your people.

In today’s show I will take you through some of the core steps for achieving exceptional leadership with a particular focus on the value and skills achieved via becoming an exceptional coach. Giving you some clear direction on how you can structure your business to make sure that you can maximise the potential of your leaders. Outstanding Leadership is the glue that holds a business together, and is the key ingredient for developing and sustaining a positive and successful culture. In recent years there has been a lot of talk about empathy and authenticity in leaders. Both of these topics are now seen to be critical to being an outstanding leader. One who can engage their people and improve, and drive a rewarding and positive culture that leads to amazing business outcomes. I covered these core traits earlier this season, but they are still worth touching on here as they help a good leader become exceptional, as you need to combine several key traits to really reach that level.

Throughout my career, I have helped many businesses in the area of leadership. Sadly it is a common issue that can have massive negative impacts on both the culture and people, as well as the finances. However, there are several things you can do to turn this around, and ensure you are providing your people with exceptional leaders, whilst also helping your people to become exceptional leaders themselves.  

Introduction

Performance Appraisals, or evaluations, are a process where job performance is measured, documented and evaluated.  This can occur as a formal process or in a more informal way. Either way there needs to be a goal to be achieved and an outcome that can be measured. It all sounds very black and white and process driven, with very little room for humanity. This is where many companies go very wrong. If we can't allow the human side to enter our performance appraisals we are setting ourselves up for failure, as we are cutting out a key part of what makes our business function. People are your greatest assets in any business, and you need to think of all of your internal processes from this view point, if you really want to build a sustainable and successful business that is run by engaged people.

If you are still in the start-up phase, then planning for your business evolution is very important, and is often your sole focus. Early in the development of organizations processes tend to be very fluid, as people are asked to step in and perform multiple roles.  The performance evaluations during these early stages may be more informal, occurring over a series of conversations that are suitable for the changing environment.  As the company grows there is a need to move toward formal performance evaluations that is part of a systematic approach used to help manage employee performance, and conversely employee engagement and success. Whilst also establishing internal accountability and acceptance. At this point this needs to be done in a way that is positive and accepted, otherwise people start to feel like they are being watched and judged in a way that creates distrust and fear. Many organizations suffer from this, in fact often performance appraisals are feared by both the appraisee and the appraiser. This does not benefit anyone. Performance appraisal should, and can be largely positive experiences. To allow this to happen in your business you need to focus on more than just metrics, and open the process to all aspects of what engages your people in the workplace.

Show Objectives

This week’s show focuses on maximizing your performance appraisal process and establishing it so that you are actually engaging your people, and not just judging them unfairly or suddenly. Done well you will find that Formal Appraisals can be a big positive in an organisation, but they do take focus to get them right. So why do they have the habit of generating so much fear and unrest for everyone involved. In essence formal appraisals were once mostly just used to judge success against very black and white parameters and metrics, often unexpectedly or without prior communication. Regularly forgetting that you are dealing with people, not just numbers.

Introduction

Performance Appraisals, or evaluations, are a process where job performance is measured, documented and evaluated.  This can occur as a formal process or in a more informal way. Either way there needs to be a goal to be achieved and an outcome that can be measured. It all sounds very black and white and process driven, with very little room for humanity. This is where many companies go very wrong. If we can't allow the human side to enter our performance appraisals we are setting ourselves up for failure, as we are cutting out a key part of what makes our business function. People are your greatest assets in any business, and you need to think of all of your internal processes from this view point, if you really want to build a sustainable and successful business that is run by engaged people.

If you are still in the start-up phase, then planning for your business evolution is very important, and is often your sole focus. Early in the development of organizations processes tend to be very fluid, as people are asked to step in and perform multiple roles.  The performance evaluations during these early stages may be more informal, occurring over a series of conversations that are suitable for the changing environment.  As the company grows there is a need to move toward formal performance evaluations that is part of a systematic approach used to help manage employee performance, and conversely employee engagement and success. Whilst also establishing internal accountability and acceptance. At this point this needs to be done in a way that is positive and accepted, otherwise people start to feel like they are being watched and judged in a way that creates distrust and fear. Many organizations suffer from this, in fact often performance appraisals are feared by both the appraisee and the appraiser. This does not benefit anyone. Performance appraisal should, and can be largely positive experiences. To allow this to happen in your business you need to focus on more than just metrics, and open the process to all aspects of what engages your people in the workplace.

Show Objectives

This week’s show focuses on maximizing your performance appraisal process and establishing it so that you are actually engaging your people, and not just judging them unfairly or suddenly. Done well you will find that Formal Appraisals can be a big positive in an organisation, but they do take focus to get them right. So why do they have the habit of generating so much fear and unrest for everyone involved. In essence formal appraisals were once mostly just used to judge success against very black and white parameters and metrics, often unexpectedly or without prior communication. Regularly forgetting that you are dealing with people, not just numbers.

Introduction

Performance Appraisals, or evaluations, are a process where job performance is measured, documented and evaluated.  This can occur as a formal process or in a more informal way. Either way there needs to be a goal to be achieved and an outcome that can be measured. It all sounds very black and white and process driven, with very little room for humanity. This is where many companies go very wrong. If we can't allow the human side to enter our performance appraisals we are setting ourselves up for failure, as we are cutting out a key part of what makes our business function. People are your greatest assets in any business, and you need to think of all of your internal processes from this view point, if you really want to build a sustainable and successful business that is run by engaged people.

If you are still in the start-up phase, then planning for your business evolution is very important, and is often your sole focus. Early in the development of organizations processes tend to be very fluid, as people are asked to step in and perform multiple roles.  The performance evaluations during these early stages may be more informal, occurring over a series of conversations that are suitable for the changing environment.  As the company grows there is a need to move toward formal performance evaluations that is part of a systematic approach used to help manage employee performance, and conversely employee engagement and success. Whilst also establishing internal accountability and acceptance. At this point this needs to be done in a way that is positive and accepted, otherwise people start to feel like they are being watched and judged in a way that creates distrust and fear. Many organizations suffer from this, in fact often performance appraisals are feared by both the appraisee and the appraiser. This does not benefit anyone. Performance appraisal should, and can be largely positive experiences. To allow this to happen in your business you need to focus on more than just metrics, and open the process to all aspects of what engages your people in the workplace.

Show Objectives

This week’s show focuses on maximizing your performance appraisal process and establishing it so that you are actually engaging your people, and not just judging them unfairly or suddenly. Done well you will find that Formal Appraisals can be a big positive in an organisation, but they do take focus to get them right. So why do they have the habit of generating so much fear and unrest for everyone involved. In essence formal appraisals were once mostly just used to judge success against very black and white parameters and metrics, often unexpectedly or without prior communication. Regularly forgetting that you are dealing with people, not just numbers.

Introduction

Performance Appraisals, or evaluations, are a process where job performance is measured, documented and evaluated.  This can occur as a formal process or in a more informal way. Either way there needs to be a goal to be achieved and an outcome that can be measured. It all sounds very black and white and process driven, with very little room for humanity. This is where many companies go very wrong. If we can't allow the human side to enter our performance appraisals we are setting ourselves up for failure, as we are cutting out a key part of what makes our business function. People are your greatest assets in any business, and you need to think of all of your internal processes from this view point, if you really want to build a sustainable and successful business that is run by engaged people.

If you are still in the start-up phase, then planning for your business evolution is very important, and is often your sole focus. Early in the development of organizations processes tend to be very fluid, as people are asked to step in and perform multiple roles.  The performance evaluations during these early stages may be more informal, occurring over a series of conversations that are suitable for the changing environment.  As the company grows there is a need to move toward formal performance evaluations that is part of a systematic approach used to help manage employee performance, and conversely employee engagement and success. Whilst also establishing internal accountability and acceptance. At this point this needs to be done in a way that is positive and accepted, otherwise people start to feel like they are being watched and judged in a way that creates distrust and fear. Many organizations suffer from this, in fact often performance appraisals are feared by both the appraisee and the appraiser. This does not benefit anyone. Performance appraisal should, and can be largely positive experiences. To allow this to happen in your business you need to focus on more than just metrics, and open the process to all aspects of what engages your people in the workplace.

Show Objectives

This week’s show focuses on maximizing your performance appraisal process and establishing it so that you are actually engaging your people, and not just judging them unfairly or suddenly. Done well you will find that Formal Appraisals can be a big positive in an organisation, but they do take focus to get them right. So why do they have the habit of generating so much fear and unrest for everyone involved. In essence formal appraisals were once mostly just used to judge success against very black and white parameters and metrics, often unexpectedly or without prior communication. Regularly forgetting that you are dealing with people, not just numbers.

Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organization such as processes, tools, products, and services, etc.   The improvements can be small and incremental, or they can be more breakthrough in nature. Continuous improvement itself is a key ‘hidden area’ that many businesses miss out on, losing the massive gains it can give. Not because they don't want it, but because they don't understand how easily it can be included in the business structure. How it can be part of the people make up of the business, allowing it to take on a life of its own that benefits everything, people, culture, bottom line and success. In fact Continuous improvement can be one of the best tools for engaging your people for success, and it costs you nothing but can give back more than you can imagine.

One of the key issues to grasp is that this should be an “ongoing” process if you really want to get maximum benefits for your people and your company. It should be part of the DNA of your company, embedded into the culture, not just an activity that your organization undertakes to tick some boxes and move on.  The most successful organizations can instill a culture of continuous improvement, which adds benefits and cost savings to all areas of the business. While actively engaging your people and creating sustainable success.

According to a seven-year study by GiANT Worldwide, the average team functions at just 58 percent of its potential because it is not intentionally capturing the genius of each person. Instead, it relies on the drive of just one or two "leaders." This is just the tip of the iceberg! Imagine what that means for your business. How many more clients could you serve, and what would revenue and sales look like, if you harnessed more of the team’s capacity? This is what focusing on Continuous Improvement as part of your business culture and people engagement strategy can achieve for you.

Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organization such as processes, tools, products, and services, etc.   The improvements can be small and incremental, or they can be more breakthrough in nature. Continuous improvement itself is a key ‘hidden area’ that many businesses miss out on, losing the massive gains it can give. Not because they don't want it, but because they don't understand how easily it can be included in the business structure. How it can be part of the people make up of the business, allowing it to take on a life of its own that benefits everything, people, culture, bottom line and success. In fact Continuous improvement can be one of the best tools for engaging your people for success, and it costs you nothing but can give back more than you can imagine.

One of the key issues to grasp is that this should be an “ongoing” process if you really want to get maximum benefits for your people and your company. It should be part of the DNA of your company, embedded into the culture, not just an activity that your organization undertakes to tick some boxes and move on.  The most successful organizations can instill a culture of continuous improvement, which adds benefits and cost savings to all areas of the business. While actively engaging your people and creating sustainable success.

According to a seven-year study by GiANT Worldwide, the average team functions at just 58 percent of its potential because it is not intentionally capturing the genius of each person. Instead, it relies on the drive of just one or two "leaders." This is just the tip of the iceberg! Imagine what that means for your business. How many more clients could you serve, and what would revenue and sales look like, if you harnessed more of the team’s capacity? This is what focusing on Continuous Improvement as part of your business culture and people engagement strategy can achieve for you.

Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organization such as processes, tools, products, and services, etc.   The improvements can be small and incremental, or they can be more breakthrough in nature. Continuous improvement itself is a key ‘hidden area’ that many businesses miss out on, losing the massive gains it can give. Not because they don't want it, but because they don't understand how easily it can be included in the business structure. How it can be part of the people make up of the business, allowing it to take on a life of its own that benefits everything, people, culture, bottom line and success. In fact Continuous improvement can be one of the best tools for engaging your people for success, and it costs you nothing but can give back more than you can imagine.

One of the key issues to grasp is that this should be an “ongoing” process if you really want to get maximum benefits for your people and your company. It should be part of the DNA of your company, embedded into the culture, not just an activity that your organization undertakes to tick some boxes and move on.  The most successful organizations can instill a culture of continuous improvement, which adds benefits and cost savings to all areas of the business. While actively engaging your people and creating sustainable success.

According to a seven-year study by GiANT Worldwide, the average team functions at just 58 percent of its potential because it is not intentionally capturing the genius of each person. Instead, it relies on the drive of just one or two "leaders." This is just the tip of the iceberg! Imagine what that means for your business. How many more clients could you serve, and what would revenue and sales look like, if you harnessed more of the team’s capacity? This is what focusing on Continuous Improvement as part of your business culture and people engagement strategy can achieve for you.

Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organization such as processes, tools, products, and services, etc.   The improvements can be small and incremental, or they can be more breakthrough in nature. Continuous improvement itself is a key ‘hidden area’ that many businesses miss out on, losing the massive gains it can give. Not because they don't want it, but because they don't understand how easily it can be included in the business structure. How it can be part of the people make up of the business, allowing it to take on a life of its own that benefits everything, people, culture, bottom line and success. In fact Continuous improvement can be one of the best tools for engaging your people for success, and it costs you nothing but can give back more than you can imagine.

One of the key issues to grasp is that this should be an “ongoing” process if you really want to get maximum benefits for your people and your company. It should be part of the DNA of your company, embedded into the culture, not just an activity that your organization undertakes to tick some boxes and move on.  The most successful organizations can instill a culture of continuous improvement, which adds benefits and cost savings to all areas of the business. While actively engaging your people and creating sustainable success.

According to a seven-year study by GiANT Worldwide, the average team functions at just 58 percent of its potential because it is not intentionally capturing the genius of each person. Instead, it relies on the drive of just one or two "leaders." This is just the tip of the iceberg! Imagine what that means for your business. How many more clients could you serve, and what would revenue and sales look like, if you harnessed more of the team’s capacity? This is what focusing on Continuous Improvement as part of your business culture and people engagement strategy can achieve for you.

 We are continuing to journey towards your success through Engaging Your People. There are so many facets of the work environment that can be worked with to give amazing results.  However they are so often overlooked as the drive to get to quick revenue takes over.Whilst we need revenue to succeed , we can't just drive towards it without taking into account our people, or at least not for too long, until things start to derail. This is where I talk about training programs being one of these hidden gems that can really support the structure and backbone of your business through engaging your people. This should be an area that you focus on as it links to everything else your people do in, with, and for your business. Hence it's one of those areas that can help complete your people engagement tool kit and drive massive returns and success.

The great news is once you realize this and start to focus on it, you will find this is not just all about formal training programs and expensive external providers. No it is so much more, and there are many low cost yet high impact solutions that make a massive positive impact in your business. The scope and possibilities are really becoming quite endless,, so if it is too daunting for you then please reach out to us directly at www.apexbrs.com, and allow us to support you through this exciting transition.