To Be Productive (aka 2bProductive Blog): Getting Passionate Performance from Employees

I recently read through the booklet Passionate Performance by Lee J. Colan and found it full of very good information for company leaders in how to engage their employees. Colan says to achieve the best possible performance from employees requires engaging both their emotional hearts and intellectual minds for the organization. To engage the mind, leaders must provide employees with a sense of achievement, autonomy and mastery in their jobs. To engage the heart requires proving a purpose of feelings of intimacy and appreciation. He provides 2 strategies for management and leaders to use to achieve their goals in each of these 6 areas which are described below.

Engaging the Mind via:

Achievement

1. Eliminate barriers by providing necessary resources, giving employees the authority they need to be accountable for their responsibilities, and making timely decisions when needed.

2. Define clear goals so employee can focus on them and know when they are met.

Autonomy

1. Empower employee involvement in improving their work processes and team performance.

2. Set broad and clear boundaries that allow the employee to determine the best way to do the job.

Mastery

1. Fit the right person’s abilities and interests to the requirements of the position or task responsibility.

2. Seize teachable moments to coach employees and build upon skills.

Engaging the Heart thru:

Purpose

1. Connect employee/team roles to a compelling company purpose.

2. Stay focused on activities that directly support that purpose to best take advantage of employee’s time and energy.

Intimacy

1. Keep teams small to foster better co-worker and customer relationships.

2. Create and reinforce team rituals/celebrations to create an atmosphere of fun and belonging.

Appreciation

1. Find daily opportunities to thank an employee for their contributions and reinforce the desired behaviors.

2. Demonstrate a sincere interest in employees as people.

Will these strategies work for your company? If you are already doing some, great! Let us know how it works in your organization with a comment on this post. If there are some you are not doing, try out a new one each month and let us know how it works for you by adding a comment on this blog post.