Great leaders are the ultimate performance champions, providing employees with the vision, support, resources, and motivation they need to excel and grow. Improving performance includes at least six elements, as outlined in Entelechy’s Analyzing Performance Model. These elements enable an employee’s capability to perform and the employee’s willingness to perform.

The model, however, identifies another important performance enabler: desired business results. Effective leaders know the power of knowing and articulating desired business results. When employees know what we as a team — and we as an organization — are looking to achieve, great things are possible.

When employees know organizational goals, they are able to align their role with the achievement of those goals. This can instill in employees a(n):

• Greater feeling of contribution; I believe that I am making a difference.
• Increased independence of decision-making; because I know where we are headed, I can determine how to get there.
• Greater sense of accountability; I can question whether/how this particular task is going to help us achieve our goals.
• Increased productivity; I can focus my efforts on those tasks that are most likely to get us to our goals.
• Positive sense of worth; I know to what degree my contributions made a difference.
• More positive sense of team members; I know what they do and how what they do aligns to the achievement of our goals.

Of course, effective leaders know that organizational goals come to life when linked to a higher purpose or vision. For example, at Entelechy, we develop customized leadership development programs for organizations. Our projects are measured from an efficiency and profitability perspective … those are desired business results that help drive our project managers, performance consultants, and quality assurance team members. Those business results come alive when we as leaders articulate the higher purpose or vision: Make the world a better place … one leader at a time.

We believe that effective leaders empower employees to contribute in meaningful ways resulting in happy, fulfilled employees. Those employees go home to families feeling positive about their work, their company, and themselves. That positivity spills over to their relationships with their significant others, children, neighbors, etc. The world is a better place because of what we do.

What do YOU do?  And how do you empower your employees to be part of that great and noble effort? Articulate your goals and associated desired business results; then align your people so they know how what they do contributes to those results.

And last, empower them in the achievement of their tasks and projects by providing them with the expectations, feedback, tools, training, motivation, processes, and priority-setting they need to succeed. Be a performance champion. Be a leader.

Did You Know?

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