Elevating Business Results through Team Performance Habits

As a business leader we are always seeking ways to elevate business results through team performance habits. One of the best ways to foster high-performance is building habits. There is a lot written about ensuring everyone has clear goals and expectations. This is important. However, the best way to ensure high performance is that your team consistently perform the right activities in the right way.

No amount of goal-setting will result in performance if no action or the wrong action is taken. Having a goal to learn guitar will not result in being able to play unless you practice. Anyone else have a “guitar” in the corner? Great intentions but too little action toward achieving the goal.

Even if goals aren’t entirely clear, taking the right actions regularly toward achieving even a goal is likely to yield a better result. Practicing playing the guitar at least once a week, will gradually result in a semi-competent guitar player.

In life and business, high performance comes from “consistently” and “regularly” practicing the right activities in the right way. And, repeating it to the point that these then become daily / weekly habits, where actions are almost automated. We become more efficient at completing lower order activities, this frees up our mental capacity to navigate complex challenges.

Building and sustaining habits takes time. There are always competing priorities, and perhaps physical and motivational barriers, that can get in the way. As a leader who wants a High Performing Team, your role is to help them identify and develop the right habits for success and support them to stick.

Start your High-Performance Team Journey today with our Top Tips:

Agree what SUCCESS looks like

Positions descriptions are essential but doesn’t necessarily drive high performance. For example, a Sales professional job description outlines the need to make outbound sales calls. Defining how many to do each day or week, what strategies to use, how often to follow-up helps them to be successful. Talk to your top performers about what they do to achieve their results and sharing / refining is key.

This can be via training, documenting what to do and how to behave for success, samples of ideal work weeks etc. It helps individuals plan and prioritise time in their diaries for critical activities.

Regular 1:1 Meetings to Support the Development of Habits

Your team will spend time on what you focus on. Making time for regular one to one meeting that include checking on how individuals are tracking against agreed activities and encouraging the development of habits is essential. This requires you to spend time helping them identify and overcome barriers through effective coaching, training and systems support.

This requires active listening and your investment your competency as a coach. For example, just telling an Engineer that his code is Buggy will not change the results. Breaking down the tasks for the next sprint and asking the employee to talk through their options / ideas and encouraging them to think of ways to test concepts will be more effective. This is more effective coaching.

Be Patient

Building new habits takes time. Turning any new activity/action into a habit takes anywhere from 18-254 days depending on complexity.  It’s important to understand what factors can be set up to drive positive habit-forming behaviours. Raise these in your coaching discussions.

To help you get started you can download our FREE Resource by subscribing here which provides a framework for habit building.

Not Confident in Coaching?

Impact HR run short courses for leaders and small business owners looking to improve their coaching skills.

Our Coaching for Performance course is a short course that is affordable and run in short 1.5 hr. and 2 hr. sessions to help get you started. Visit our upcoming courses here.