I am yet to find a more effective way to ensure people perform at optimum levels on a consistent basis than Management by Wandering Around (MBWA), originated by Tom Peters.
Assuming you have personalised your strategy, by ensuring that all your employees have a strategy execution plan that details what they will do to fulfill their bit in the execution of your strategy, MBWA is the follow-up and follow-through vehicle. I recommend people's individual plans be for 90 day periods. This is long enough to make things happen and short enough for anyone to take corrective action.
The key is what LeadermanagersTM do for the 89 days between when a plan is instigated and then upgraded. Get the 89 days right and the 90th day will simply be a time to celebrate performance and upgrade the plan. This revolutionises formal performance review. Get MBWA right, and gone is any anxiety about performance reviews. Also gone is performance appraisal.
MBWA is the daily conversations we have with people about their performance plan and how they are going to achieve their plan.
Here is one of the ways to MBWA:
- Make an appointment to see the individual and state that the purpose is to review their plan.
- At the beginning of the appointment make it clear the sole purpose of this meeting is to review progress towards achieving goals.
- Reiterate agreements. For example, "I understand we had an agreement that you would fulfill two productive appointments with prospects each working day", and confirm this is your staff member / employee's understanding by asking, "Is this your understanding?".
- Ask: "What has happened? Our records show you are only fulfilling one appointment per working day." (Be silent and let the person respond without judging them.)
- Ask: "What do you need to do to get back on track?" (Be silent and let the person respond without judging them.)
- Ask: "Is there anything I can do to help / support / encourage?" (Be silent and let the person respond without judging them.)
- Ask: "Is there anything else?"
- Summarise the new agreement by upgrading the plan and both of you signing it.