In this ‘coaching for success’ blog, we explore some of the traits that lead to high performance, some pitfalls to developing high performance teams and how to use what we know about high performers to develop these traits in others.
What do high achievers look like?
Have you ever wondered what a high performer looks like when you have no performance data? In other words what are the traits that make them successful?
Inevitably, specific skills and knowledge contribute to success in certain roles, for example musical aptitude is probably helpful if you want to be a pop star. But there are also some widely researched and reported traits that are common to all high achievers irrespective of role. These include:
- They take personal responsibility for their performance
- They seek out challenging tasks and opportunities
- They enjoy and see value in striving hard for success
- They believe their skills are dynamic, that they can improve
- They actively initiate their own learning and consume information and data concerning their field of expertise
- They have high levels of persistence and tolerate set-backs
What do they want from a coach?
High performers are a joy to coach because, as you can see from the traits above, these performers crave feedback, challenge and growth. However they do not readily accept instruction and they will not engage in the coaching process until they see value in what the specific coach has to offer. Respect for a coach has to be earned, it is not conferred by title alone.
High achievers value being listened to and challenged, so when you adopt a facilitating approach it will pay dividends in terms of helping high performers define their own goals and routes to success. You will need to establish the value you bring by explaining something about your personal track record as a performer and as a coach. Respect from the coachee can come from both your expertise and how you operate in the coaching relationship.
Explore what they want to improve and resist any urge to offer praise as a means of assuaging personal feelings of discomfort when they are ‘hard on themselves’. High achievers set very high standards for themselves which can be unsettling if they exceed what we might expect of ourselves.
Guide them through your questioning to identify ways to achieve their goals and ask them what you can do to assist. Sometimes their requests may seem rather perfunctory. Again, resist any desire to offer ‘more’ by lettin the high performer determine what they need. Finally make them aware of resources which grow their knowledge or build their skills, offer feedback and help them identify new challenges. Let the coachee drive the agenda as much as possible but ensure you arrive a clear and tangible plan of action.
The challenge
So why is it that high performers often receive the least coaching in a team? When we ask front line managers there are often two common responses:
- High performers don’t need any help, they are doing just fine
- Uncertainty about what to offer someone who is performing so well
The problem is that by focusing coaching time on those in the lower and mid-quartiles of performance there is an unexpected and detrimental consequence; performance coaching quickly becomes associated with poor performance instead of being seen as a path to ongoing performance improvement
We have heard sales and service team members describe the strategies they use to avoid coaching. Team members also speak of how they minimise the duration of coaching sessions by quickly agreeing to suggestions, or by coaxing suggestions from their manager simply so they can move on.
When coaching is associated with under-performance and coachees avoid it, even the high performers will evade coaching support, leading the manager to conclude that coaching is a waste of time as no-one wants to be involved in it, and a negative spiral of decline is established.
Develop a champion mentality
So how do those without the high performer traits see themselves? Often our mid and lower performers are driven by desire to avoid failure rather than seek success and to ‘blame’ external factors for their performance. These performers also like goals which do not threaten embarrassment and view their skills as a fixed asset.
How do we alter this pattern of thinking? Build a relationship which respectfully challenges these beliefs. For example:
- I appreciate that the leads provided this month are not great. What can you do to make the best use of them?
- How can you adjust your behavior to build rapport with these customers?
- I respect that you do feel that 10 sales this month is realistic. How would you feel if you did achieve this?
By helping our coachee to adopt alternative beliefs about their performance potential we position them to experience personal growth. This positive affirmation will reinforce the new patterns of thinking, which result in a virtuous circle.
By focussing on developing high performer belief traits you will cultivate people who take responsibility for their own development, who ask for feedback and seek out learning opportunities. And of course, if you have all of those characteristics, you will have ‘replicated your champions’.