There are many ways to assess a person’s performance and contribution towards helping a team to achieve its goals. One approach is to focus on the following themes:
Spirit – On a scale 0-10, to what extent do they demonstrate the required spirit?
Standards – On a scale 0-10, to what extent do they consistently deliver the required standards?
Success – On a scale 0-10, to what extent do they make a positive contribution towards helping the team to achieve success?
Imagine you want to follow elements of this approach when considering a person’s work. This involves focusing on the following themes.
Spirit
Great teams are often made up of people who have similarity of spirit and diversity of strengths. Diversity of spirit is a recipe for disaster.
Different teams also demonstrate different kinds of spirit. People who work in a hospice, for example, may follow different principles from those in a sports team or financial institution.
Imagine that you lead a team. What is the kind of spirit that you want people to demonstrate? Depending on the type of work your team does, you may want people:
To have a positive attitude … To encourage other people … To behave in a professional way … To have a strong service ethic … To be resilient … To demonstrate other characteristics.
Imagine you have described the spirit you want people in the team to demonstrate. Let’s focus on this part of a person’s contribution to the team. This invites you explore the following themes.
What is the spirit that the person needs to demonstrate in order to make a positive contribution to the team? On a scale 0-10, to what extent do they demonstrate these qualities?
What are the specific things they can do to maintain or improve the rating? If appropriate, are there any things that we can do to help them to take these steps?
Standards
Great teams have people who go beyond demonstrating the required spirit. They also have people who consistently deliver the desired professional standards.
Different teams will want people to deliver kinds of standards. Depending on the type of work your team does – and the person’s specific role – you may want them:
To perform superb work … To deliver great service … To lead fine teams … To be good at managing different stakeholders … To demonstrate other characteristics.
Bearing these standards in mind, let’s focus on this part of a person’s contribution to the team. This invites you explore the following themes.
What are the standards the person needs to consistently demonstrate in order to make a positive contribution to the team? On a scale 0-10, to what extent do they demonstrate these qualities?
What are the specific things they can do to maintain or improve the rating? If appropriate, are there any things that we can do to help them to take these steps?
Success
Great teams have many people who make positive contributions. They then aim to coordinate their people’s strengths to achieve the picture of success.
Different people will make different kinds of contributions. As mentioned earlier, however, it is vital that people demonstrate the desired spirit and deliver the required standards. Assuming this is the case, it can be useful:
To build on the person’s strengths … To make clear contracts about their best contribution … To provide them with the support to do the job … To enable them to do superb work that contributes to achieving the team’s picture of success.
Bearing these things in mind, let’s focus on this part of a person’s contribution to the team. This invites you explore the following themes.
What is the rating you would give the person regarding them making a positive contribution towards helping the team to achieve success? On a scale 0-10, to what extent do they demonstrate these qualities?
What are the specific things they can do to maintain or improve the rating? If appropriate, are there any things that we can do to help them to take these steps?
There are many ways to assess a person’s performance. One approach is to rate to what extent they demonstrate the required spirit and standards. It is also to focus on their positive contribution to helping a team to achieve success.
Let’s return to your own work. Looking ahead, can you think of a situation where you may want to follow elements of this approach? How can you do this in your own way?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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