In the last issue we discussed the number one priority that will maximize the success of your Strategy Execution Management process - organizational alignment. We highlighted that leading executives need to:

• Start REAL communications early,
• Squelch employee complacency,
• Identify false urgency and turn it into true urgency,
• Motivate employees and focus on alignment to the strategic objectives,
• Hold one-on-one, off site meetings every 6-8 weeks to track employee progress and discuss concerns, and
• Begin to tie personal employee goals to the organizational initiatives.

In this edition we are going to delve further into tying employee goals to organizational initiatives. In order to do this successfully, we utilize a tool known as a performance agreement. When properly implemented, a performance agreement will transform unspoken and misunderstood expectations into an agreed-upon set of activities, results, and consequences that ultimately drives organizational performance towards its desired strategic initiatives.

Building your performance agreements will require three key components:

1. An understanding of employee motivational factors,
2. A framework to build the agreement, and
3. A method to monitor, change and update the performance agreement.

To get started, let's briefly frame what we mean by accountability as it lies at the heart of the agreement. Bruce Klatt sums it up well. Accountability, he says:

• Is a statement of personal promise,
• Is neither shared nor conditional,
• Is meaningless without consequences,
• Is for results (activity alone is not enough),
• Belongs to everyone in the organization, and
• Requires room for personal judgment and decision making.

Readers will find this definition is common sense; however, one may wonder why accountability would require room for personal judgment and decision making?

View it this way - if you're not allowed to use discretion on the job and instead you're just told what to do, then it is implied that no decision is up to you and hence you're not really accountable for any outcome.

Understanding Employee Motivation

You can likely identify individuals exhibiting passive resistance in your organization. They comply with decisions, yet do very little to deliver. The likely culprit - you are trying to hold them accountable, all the while limiting their autonomy. Remember this:

Compliance is not commitment.

The basis of any transaction (monetary or otherwise) is the promise of a fair deal; however when concerning the complexity of human interaction in an employee/employer relationship - a fair deal is far more complex than just money in exchange for time or results.

Money for time will bend an employee to your will, but is unlikely to lead to a committed, engaged and truly accountable workforce that will strive to exceed customer demands.

What is it that employees need to turn their compliance into unwavering commitment for your organization's success?

According to Daniel Shapiro, employee emotions stem from five predictable core concerns that when properly addressed deepen commitment:

1. Appreciation (recognition of value)
2. Affiliation (emotional connection to others)
3. Autonomy (freedom to feel, think and decide)
4. Status (standing compared to others)
5. Role (job labels and related activities)

So if you and your executive team can proactively identify employees trying to express any of these five concerns, you can take affirmative action and begin steering individuals towards greater results.

Keep in mind that some employees may not be able to express that it is one of the five points above that they need and you will have to use your emotional intelligence to sleuth out what they are trying to convey to you. At the root, it will almost always be one or more of the five factors.

While you're busy unearthing your employee's motivational factors to apply to an agreement, you will want to start forming the accountability agreement framework itself.

Building an Accountability Framework

Each employee's performance agreement is unique. Ideally, the employee will utilize the framework provided and enter the terms of the agreement in his or her own words. This approach limits passive resistance and miscommunication. It will be hard for the employee to misunderstand what they are trying to achieve when it is written in their own words.

Step one relates somewhat to our last issue and priority one - organizational alignment. However, it needs mentioning again. An employee must understand how he or she relates to the overall organization. The individual needs to understand their role towards the success of the whole AND be able to communicate the key initiatives the organization is undertaking to meet its vision.

An employee needs to be able to communicate how the top three or four activities he or she undertakes on a regular basis moves the organization towards its vision - we call these Primary Job Responsibilities (PJRs). PJRs are somewhat like a job description; however, they are focused only on the main tasks an employee undertakes on a regular basis. Job descriptions are valuable, but the high level of detail can lead to resource gaps. An employee might be technically responsible for a task, but if it is listed as somewhat of a tertiary duty it can easily become neglected.

At this step, the employee will need to work hand-in-hand with you - the executive or manager. Success lies in the skills to hold a meaningful and effective conversation.

At the beginning of the goal setting process it may not be immediately clear what specific goals are acceptable to undertake. The manager/executive can guide the employee by providing insight into the overall initiative each set of goals relates to. If you have difficulty framing the goal, start with what you are trying to achieve or measure. Measures are by nature quantifiable, and therefore can help towards making goals quantifiable.

This goal setting step lies at the crux of the performance agreement and will need to be undertaken in a fully engaged two-way discussion.

Concerns, intentions, actions, expected results and outcomes need to be discussed, and when completed the performance agreement should clearly convey a sense of direction.

Make each goal within the agreement SMART (specific, measureable, attainable, realistic and timely). Discourage the use of subjective words such as effectively, efficiently etc. These words convey meaning, but are difficult to evaluate. Avoid high level conceptual items or lofty and unrealistic expectations. This framework will help ground each goal in an achievable reality.

A single goal should not be used; rather many goals targeted at an initiative will prove fruitful. Again, the manager/executive can walk through expectations of the goal, but as the employee is ultimately responsible, it should be they that put it to writing.

Each goal must carry consequences. What does it mean to both the employee and the organization if it is met or exceeded? What does it mean if it is missed? What does the employee want from the relationship? What does the employee want from achievement of the goal(s)? Simply by discussing consequences, the relationship between you and your employees will begin to mature, helping you to build insights into the motivation factors discussed earlier.

At this stage define each goal with what is meant by "missed", "met", and "exceeded" rather than when evaluating performance so that the expectations of success are crystal clear.

Goals can simply be weighted by the manager and agreed upon by the employee. If it is a larger goal that is bound to take up more of the employee's time, be sure to account for it in the weighting. A weighting process will naturally shake out a form of performance management that will make tracking stars and slackers easy for senior management.

This is a tough process. Get a first draft done and don't worry too much about getting it perfect. Expect that changes will be made during the performance period. Management will likely have some suggested changes to the wording of the agreement and perhaps a few further comments. Once feedback and modifications are incorporated, approve the employee performance agreement and get on with achieving the strategic initiatives. Remember - you will be discussing it with the employee at a regularly scheduled meeting long before the end of the performance period right?

An Easy Way to Keep the Performance Agreement Current

The final piece to create an effective performance agreement is to implement a process that accepts, records, and allows for change in the external and internal environmental to play out. We regularly recommend our clients utilize a functional program that records the employee's performance, track the goals, allows for easy scoring, goal weighting etc. If you are searching for such a tool, you can find out more here.

In the next issue we will close up our four part framework by discussing the pivotal importance of increasing organizational adaptability and how to do so.