The 1st Assessment Is In the Books

15 May The 1st Assessment Is In the Books

The first assessment of 2018 Team performance is in the books. This means the Managers and Team Leaders in my Coaching Program have taken stock of how their Team and they performed in the first quarter. This quarterly review is essential to keep Teams and Team Leaders, at every level, appropriately focused on the goals established in the annual planning process.

The Annual Plan should be seen as a 12 month Action Plan. This means there needs to be Milestones (and every quarter is a natural Milestone) where the Team Leader(s) responsible for the Action Plan’s Outcome pauses, reviews the progress made in the last 90 days and determines what has to happen in the next 90 days to achieve the next quarter’s goals.

Here are the elements of the quarterly Assessment:

A. Review of the quarter:

1. Did the Team meet expectations? If not, why not (i.e. unreasonable expectations, lack of resources, time, energy, Team Member performance, ineffective leadership)?
2. Did the Team operate efficiently (not only met expectations, but did so with appropriate use of resources – i.e. number of personnel, time, energy)?
3. What improvements did the Team make in the work processes they used to meet expectations?
4. What individual Team Member development took place to create/support a High Performance Work Team?
5. Identify your use of the 3 A’s – Attraction, Attention & Appreciation – to enhance Team Member engagement and performance.
6. Review your performance as Team Leader with the Team. Was it superior – satisfactory- unsatisfactory? Why?

B. Preview of the next quarter:

1. Will the Team meet expectations? If not, why not (i.e. unreasonable expectations, lack of resources, time, energy, Team Member performance, ineffective leadership)?
2. What must be done to remove the internal barriers that could stop the Team from meeting expectations? (i.e, better communications with other Teams; change in composition of the Team – adding new Team Members and/or removing existing Team Members; additional resources).
3. What must be done to response to the external barriers that could stop the Team from meeting expectations? (i.e. recognizing and responding to new competition).
4. What improvements have to be made in the work processes the Team usse to meet expectations?
5. In what areas do individual Team Members need to improve to create/support a High Performance Work Team?
6. What will you do to improve your performance as Team Leader? (i.e. better communication; enhance Team Member engagement and performance through the use of the 3 A’s – Attraction, Attention & Appreciation).

The Coach’s Corner: A 12 Month Annual Plan is a short term strategy developed by a Leadership Team with (hopefully) a 30,000 foot view of the business. However, the actual implementation of the Annual Plan is done by Teams that, even though they may have been introduced to the 30,000 foot version, operate at the 10,000 foot level – the tactical level. Because of this difference in perspective – tactical rather than strategic – most Teams can only effectively operate with a 90 day horizon. The opportunity to review, reset and refocus the Team’s efforts once a quarter is essential for the effective and efficient operation of a High Performance Work Team. So, start doing them.

I could be wrong…but I’m not.