Managing Performance from Individuals

A key responsibility of every Leader is to reduce the span of variability in the performance of individuals within their team.

For example, the distribution of individual performance within a team often resembles the classic ‘bell curve’.

A small number under-perform, with the majority of the team at an ‘adequate’ level and a select few over-achievers.

Leaders of high performing teams develop individuals to improve their performance and the result is to ‘squash’ the bell curve and move it to the right. This result demonstrates that all members of the team are performing at similar levels compared with their targets.

The way to achieve this is to diagnose the specific development needs of each individual and to put in place an active plan to improve the capabilities, planned activities and the motivation of each individual.

Personal Development Plans should never be a half yearly exercise for your HR department. Successful leaders know that they are a route map to improving individual and team performance.