Are You ready and fit to perform?

A Fitness Test

Isabelle, (not her real name, my client)in her mid thirties, seems to have everything one needs to be a superb performer: she is very intelligent, analytically far ahead of her colleagues, brings a lot of working experience into her job, has been trained and educated in good universities and has obviously the right talent for her job. If something new needs to be set up, a project to be pushed through or a problem case to be turned around, ask Isabelle.

Her boss is pleased and promotes her to a director with the intent to let her grow further and develop into an asset for the company. The new job scope requests her to move very strongly into business development, show initiative to get new customers, create new services to offer and lead a team of people to support her with this task.

Like a plane on the runway, ready to start, she gets the all clear sign…. but then doesn’t push the throttles enough, starts to move slowly – and then can’t get the speed she needs to take off. Is she overloaded or is the plane not fit for flying?

A brief “load check” shows: she is not overloaded. Neither her skills set, experience, talent and training nor her time efficiency indicate that she could not cope.

Then let’s check her “other” fitness to perform. This “other” fitness test looks at a very different set of elements and factors which determine whether she is able to “fly”. We look into her mental, emotional, physical and social fitness respectively her shortcomings which might keep her from taking off.

And we find a number of issues affecting her:

She doesn’t like to approach customers and being vulnerable to their arguments, moods and agendas. Before, she was the provider of data, analyses and reasons and regarded herself as a very good - but not accountable for profit- admiring supporter of her boss. This discloses a mental mindset which is limiting her ability to take on responsibility and wanting to get in front of her existing and potential customers, to influence and cooperate with them and create mutual beneficial business.

So far her job and position had allowed her to stop projects she didn’t like by just “ analyzing them to death”. (her way of expressing it!) She was not responsible for getting a contract. Now she is and can’t play any longer around. She gets angry about this new situation in which she has to bear the uncertainty of having to take business risks and accept potential “failures” and about the loss of certainty and control as the analyst-authority in the company. She gets emotional and even attacks her boss in front of other staff when asked to discuss a new project under the premise: what do we need to make this project a success rather than whether or not we run this project.

Her light overweight and complete absence of physical exercise seem to have a negative impact on her. It is obvious that her overweight creates a negative self-image which adds to her moody behavior and her lack of exercise is written on her body posture and leads to a sloppy appearance (according to her boss) when dealing with existing or new customers. She accuses her counterparties, of course, to be moody and not forthcoming.

Last but not least she is not the most loved one amongst peers and reports because she is playing politics, which even upsets her boss, although she is very loyal to him and does not target him in her “games”. She wonders why her staff and colleagues are not more pro-actively supporting her.

With one word: she is mentally, emotionally, physically and socially (MEPS) not yet fit to perform.

We agree to run through a MEPS Performance Coaching program with her. The process and results of which will be published in my next blog shortly.

The heavy burden of managers

The saying goes like this: people are joining companies but are resigning because of their managers. Practical experience shows that there is a lot of truth to it.

In the many workshops I have been quoting this there were a number of participants who didn’t like this insight and in order to lessen the felt burden I frequently heard managers and HR people saying: people need to learn how to deal with difficult bosses, also the talented and good staff we have.

This is definitely true for everyone, also the good staff, no matter on which level they are and develop to. To be able to deal with any kind of reports, peers, bosses and other stakeholders is an invaluable skill, especially when they are difficult.

And we all know that the “difficult people in my environment” are sometimes not the problem but me who is just seeing the others as the”hart to deal with” people. True, true…

There is though another angle to look at. When you have high potential and talented employees around you another factor comes into play. No matter how the economic situation these people have almost always a choice. They will find another job!

This is what some clients told me why they left their managers:
“It takes two to tango and why should that burden be on my shoulders only. I can contribute a lot more in a company which has leaders who are collaborating with their people. And I have a choice!”
“I am more than happy to learn dealing with a difficult boss but only if the work I am supposed to do helps me to develop my career. If my boss puts me into a job which I am not here for and which does not require what I am good at then what’s the point of staying. I have a choice!”
“If my boss does not recognize what I am doing what do I have to expect. I have a choice and have already a new job secured”

For managers and leaders this could very well mean:
The employees you really need and want have choices, so make you their choice!