I Believe You Can Fly

While playing tennis recently with my kids, I was reminded how certain assumptions permeate our everyday life. As I ran puffing from one side of the court to the other, trying to return serve (and sometimes succeeding), I realized that I was out of touch with my body's capabilities.

In fact, I was surprised at what my body was yelling at me. My aching muscles and labored breathing were crying out that age and lack of exercise had slowed down my reflexes and severely reduced my stamina.

Before we started playing, I had imagined blasting lightning-fast serves, hitting perfect shots down the line, and smashing a game-winning return, just like Venus Williams does. But as we played, the gulf between imagination and reality widened.

I was living in a fantasy world.

So why did I ever imagine I would perform any differently? I wondered about this as I nursed my sore muscles. Sitting on the sidelines, deflated and defeated, it dawned on me that I had unwittingly fallen prey to this prevalent assumption: "Whatever you can believe, you can achieve."

This assumption saturates popular culture and is very much a part of America's philosophical and political heritage. It is an underlying theme in great speeches and novels -- even in popular songs. One hot song on the charts in recent years, R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly," articulated this assumption perfectly. At the heart of this assumption, is the idea that all we need is sincere belief, and we can accomplish anything.

The Gallup Organization could not disagree more strenuously with this notion.

In research with hundreds of thousands of employees and managers, Gallup has discovered that maximum performance involves at least four variables beyond mere belief: the discovery and understanding of one's innate talent; the presence of dynamic, vibrant relationships; clearly defined expectations; and appropriate reward and recognition.

Too many managers and companies operate from the false assumption that if they can just motivate employees and get them to believe in themselves, then they will get them to achieve maximum performance. Managers and companies, just as surely as the rest of us, all too easily buy into the notion that "believing is achieving." Well, as my tennis experience illustrates, this assumption is certain to produce disappointment and failure, in our personal lives and at work. So how does a company increase each person's performance? How do you get individuals to "fly" in the roles to which they are assigned?

Winning formula
Gallup's research with the best managers in the world reveals they involve the head, heart, and hands of their employees in achieving world-class performance. By that we mean they use measurement (the head) to ignite the passion (the heart) of each individual so they produce (the hands) peak performance.

To do this, great managers start by helping each individual measure and identify their talent (T). The best managers, and the best organizations, recognize the value of skills, knowledge, and experience, but understand that talent is the key to performance. These managers and organizations seek talent first, and use psychometrically sound structured interviews to identify it.

The use of these instruments adds to the success rate of the individual and the company. A meta-analysis of Gallup's structured interviews reveals an improvement in the prediction of job performance of 40% over random selection. This confirms that individuals who have the talent for a particular role are likely to outperform those who lack the talent needed for a role. Great managers help their employees achieve world-class performance by maximizing their talent.

Second, great managers care how people feel about their work. Therefore, they engage the passion or the hearts of their employees. Employees give more of themselves when they care about the people they work with and the manager they work for. The best managers create a workplace culture in which employees develop relationships that allow and encourage them to use their talents more often.

Many workplaces are war zones, where employees constantly protect and defend their turf. The best managers set up an environment in which employees feel safe about using their talents to help one another. In this environment, employees depend upon and celebrate the talents they each possess. Great managers add relationship (R) to talent, because they know that our talent develops through our relationships with other people.

Third, great managers identify what an individual does best, then assign that specific task to them. That is, they involve the "hands" of employees -- what they do well naturally -- to accomplish outcomes. And they set expectations (E) that encourage employees to succeed.

These managers know that employees respond with world-class performance when given opportunity and freedom to accomplish tasks in their own unique fashion. Great managers add expectation to talent and relationship. They do this because they know that employees who get to do what they do best every day, with people whom they care about, are likely to exceed expectations.

Fourth, great managers reinforce the right behavior through recognition and reward. The best managers are always on the lookout for opportunities to recognize and reward (R&R) their people. They recognize employees publicly; they tell others when an employee has had particular success; they hold up that employee as a role model, so others can see what they did and can learn from his success.

Great managers have a formula that helps employees reach world-class performance: T(R+E+R&R) = PPP (per person productivity). They know that to achieve world-class outcomes you must unleash the potential in each employee. To do this, managers start by identifying talent. Then they develop an environment in which close relationships can develop. They follow this up by establishing the right expectations. Finally, they reinforce positive behavior within the workplace culture with appropriate and effective recognition and reward.

Great managers start with talent. They believe you can achieve using that talent and by adding relationship, expectation, and recognition and reward. Their motto is, "I believe you can fly," and they do everything they can to help their employees soar.