What’s the fastest, most effective way to improve performance and drive results? Giving your team exactly what they need to succeed. And that starts with clarity: clarity about the task, what’s needed to complete it and how to focus effort where it counts.
For any given task, each employee has their own unique combination of ability and willingness to perform that task, which we call their Performance Readiness® level. This allows leaders to see where their employee stands, so they can better understand what that person needs in order to feel confident and able to deliver their best work.
Assessing Performance Readiness® enables leaders to adjust their approach with accuracy and precision, providing the specific amount of direction and support their employee needs to succeed. That kind of targeted alignment is the key to accelerating performance and turning employee insight into meaningful results.
At The Center for Leadership Studies (CLS), we recognize four Performance Readiness® levels, which leaders learn about in depth through our Situational Leadership® Essentials course. Here’s a quick overview of each:
Diagnosing Performance Readiness® for a task enables leaders to determine exactly how much support and direction a person requires to perform a task effectively. It allows them to meet any employee exactly where they are, and get them where they need to go.
Here’s how leaders can use Performance Readiness® to ensure employees have what they need to deliver exceptional results:
For a Performance Readiness® diagnosis to boost performance, it must be accurate. A misdiagnosis can prompt leaders to either overlead or underlead, which can impact employee engagement and the quality of their work.
For instance, wrongly diagnosing someone as R3 or R4 for a task when they’re actually an R2 might cause a leader to provide inadequate direction or support. This can result in the employee feeling abandoned and frustrated, and they may become less interested in completing the task well.
To ensure an accurate diagnosis, leaders must objectively assess the person’s ability to complete the task by asking themselves, “Is this person consistently and successfully performing the specific task?” This question allows a leader to determine the employee’s ability.
Then, they must subjectively examine the employee’s willingness. This can be accomplished by asking questions like:
By asking the right questions, leaders can avoid making incorrect assumptions about an employee’s readiness for a task and use their insights to apply the appropriate leadership style for the employee’s needs.
A Performance Readiness® diagnosis will only drive results if a leader uses it to determine which leadership style will be most effective. In other words, leaders must adapt their leadership style to meet the performance needs of each employee for each task, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
For instance, after diagnosing an employee R1 for a task, the leader knows this means they likely need to use a more hands-on approach to ensure the task is completed well and on time. This means they may need to walk the employee through every step of task completion. In doing so, the leader removes task-related confusion and fear and empowers the employee to perform with greater accuracy and deliver higher-quality results.
By contrast, an R4 diagnosis tells the leader they need to apply a more hands-off approach. Often, the best way to lead an individual who is R4 for a task is to let them complete the task autonomously. When an R4 has autonomy for a specific task, they feel trusted and empowered, which can drive their motivation to produce high-quality work efficiently. As a result, effectively leading R4s can lead to accelerated project timelines and exceptional deliverables, helping to move the organization forward.
Leaders must consider both the person and the task when assessing Performance Readiness® to ensure they’re taking into account all aspects and circumstances that may affect their employee’s readiness.
Consider, for instance, an employee who performs several tasks with a high level of willingness and ability. It would be a mistake to assume that this person would naturally excel at any task they receive without direction or support. Just because the individual performs one or even several tasks well doesn’t mean they can perform every task well. Assuming they can often results in underleading, which can diminish results. That’s why it’s important for leaders to consider the person’s readiness for the specific task and not just their performance overall.
Likewise, leaders must not assume that an “easy” task is equally easy for everyone. Every employee has unique performance needs, and these needs change over time and for every task. Leaders must also consider the person’s current circumstances when assessing their Performance Readiness® because major changes and life stressors can impact willingness and ability as well.
Therefore, for Performance Readiness® to drive results consistently, leaders must continually assess Performance Readiness® for each task and each person.
Turning ability into results across an organization is achievable when leadership is tailored to each person’s needs. At The Center for Leadership Studies (CLS), we teach leaders how to apply the Situational Leadership® Model to assess Performance Readiness® and drive team performance across the board.
Contact us today to learn more about our leadership development solutions and how they can sharpen your teams’ skills and expand their performance.
