How do you manage performance during uncertainty?

As your Executive Coach I would recommend actively listening to your team and ask what their needs are to be successful. In setting goals, I would ask if the goals seem attainable to get buy-in; if yes, then discuss what could get in the way of them achieving the goals.

One of the best and proven way is to use PDCA 1) Plan - Plan what is your objective and how to execute them. You may set your objectives using SMART method which has been explained by other members below 2) Do - Start execute your objective 1 by 1 3) Check - Check how is your achievement at the moment. This is reflection time whether you need to make some adjustment or you are on the right track 4) Action - You may start to plan your next action on the direction for your next objective in here or you can continue to improvise your current objective

As a manager it is important to communicate objectives with great care. This is to ensure that the objectives are communicated powerfully and accurately so that the meaning cannot be diluted or misinterpreted by the team. A powerful communication strategy ensures the team is also energized and motivated to achieve the respective goals.

For me, setting clear expectations and making sure those you expect from understand what is expected of them is key. It ensures effective flow of communication and optimal performance. The other thing is support during execution of projects and facilitation to ensure the team has resources needed to complete their work.

Managing performance during uncertainty requires a multifaceted approach. Embracing agility, effective communication, technology, and a strong focus on employees and customers are all critical components of success. By setting clear objectives, being proactive in risk management, and maintaining financial prudence, your organization can not only weather uncertainty but also emerge stronger and more resilient in the face of future challenges. Remember, uncertainty is a constant, but with the right strategies, you can turn it into an opportunity for growth and innovation.

Both Feedback & Coaching are an ongoing process. They should be provided to team members for both professional skills & behavioural developmental areas- - each aspect of the feedback should be connected to growth - a suggested roadmap should be provided to improve Regular checks should be done to know the progress & challenges.

"Certainty" is never promised to anybody. In reality, "uncertainty" is the name of the game- be it in business or even more so in our personal lives. They say that one is only as good as his "yesterday's" performance and tomorrow is always another day. As soon as the leader understands this, he will keep on motivating his team ( and his organization) to maintain a "beat your own best performance always" mindset. Work on helping clear obstacles for the team to get to their goals, individually and collectively. Yet be always mindful and ready to accept less than stellar performance. Never give up on people - specially if conditions that lead them to where they "finish" are beyond their own control.

Understand what is happening within your business- things like what are the short term goals, And which long term goals are still relevant. Now break them down to KPIs at your team's level. And get alignment. What worked during the good Times might be a waste for your business/buyers today.

It is essential to provide regular feedback and coaching to effectively manage performance. By offering ongoing communication and guidance, you can ensure that team members have a clear understanding of their objectives and expectations. Regular feedback enables you to address any concerns or challenges that may arise and make necessary adjustments as needed. Additionally, coaching provides an opportunity to support employees in developing their skills and capabilities, which can enhance their performance and increase their confidence in uncertain circumstances. By consistently offering feedback and coaching, you can help individuals stay focused, motivated, and aligned with clear and realistic objectives.

Feedback should always be immediate and behaviour specific, with clear conversation about possible solutions that the team member can take action on. Positive feedback reinforces the behaviour and also motivates individuals. Resources , support and touch points are essential to ensure that the feedback is acted upon.Feedforward ( future oriented solutions) is another way to enable proactive action and clearly indicating interest and investment in the team member’s growth. Performance coaching is a great way to enable employees to the next level through collaborative solutioneering and hand holding . A caveat is that the solutions need to emerge from the employee and owned by them , pull rather than push is the starting point for change.

You cannot overcommunicate during times of uncertainty. Even when you have no news to share. People will fill the gaps you leave if you don't. Keep repeating key messages and not assuming they will be heard and understood the first time. TEam performance will rise or fall with the quality and clarity of your communication.

Transparent communication goes a long way in times of uncertainty. But the greed to protect the topline & bottomline needs to be overridden and entire picture needs to be shown. Put the outcomes forward with associated effort required and co-create the goals. Trust begets trust. Not doing so results in unrealistic/unachievable targets being set and that's when the stress sets in. Further, non achievement creates further complications.

Communication is a key to success. Communication is not only speaking but firstly listening or in many instances learning to listen to the opinions and ideas in the team. People react to changes differently hence you need to find a right approach to your team, if you want to be successful, and this starts with listening, enquiring and understanding what your team really needs.

While times of uncertainty make it difficult to predict outcomes providing certainty of process is within our control as leaders, times like this require us to be agile and to adapt that process. This places the importance on clear communication to reduce confusion. It’s tempting to over complicate things, be mindful of what you goal(s) or expectations are and communicate it as clearly, as often and simply as possible.

In times of uncertainty, setting clear and realistic objectives is paramount. These objectives should be adaptable to changing circumstances. While it's essential to have long-term goals, breaking them down into short-term milestones can provide a sense of direction for your team. Clearly defined objectives act as a guiding light, ensuring that everyone is aligned and working towards a common purpose.

Recognition is crucial , specially the simplest one, like saying thank you every single day, to all the employees. Let them know that times might be very difficult but all of them add value to the organization and that they are all doing great . Those really simple attentions will be well received and it is also important that managers don’t let the nonverbal communication ruin their respect. Paid attention to people and they will respect and recognize you.

Managing performance during uncertainty, it is essential to define clear and realistic objectives. This involves setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART objectives). By setting clear goals, team members have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, even in uncertain times. Realistic objectives are important because they are achievable given the resources and constraints at hand. It is important to regularly review and reassess objectives during uncertain periods to ensure they remain relevant and aligned with the changing circumstances. By defining clear and realistic objectives, provide a sense of direction and focus to the team, fostering their performance and productivity.

There were two crucial events in my professional career so far. My supervisor showed great appreciation and empathy during these two events, which were significant for my family and me personally. It doesn't take much. Give employees some time off when they need to handle something in their family. Invite employees to a casual meal in a relaxed atmosphere. Listen when you hear something "personal." Refer back to it in a later conversation.

I've read in a Gallup study that about 60% of employees in the US leave their jobs because they don't feel recognized. I believe it's crucial to make people feel valued in the organization. Even small gestures can brighten someone's day. Also, when clients appreciate the good work done on projects, it's important to share that feedback with the employees. It boosts their confidence and makes them believe in themselves even more.

Clear objectives provide a sense of direction and help employees understand what is expected of them, even in uncertain times. These objectives should be specific and measurable, allowing for clear evaluation of progress and success. Regularly reviewing and reassessing objectives in light of changing circumstances is essential to ensure that they remain relevant and realistic. Providing support and guidance to employees in navigating uncertainty can also contribute to managing performance effectively. By defining clear and realistic objectives and providing necessary support, organizations can maintain performance and productivity even in times of uncertainty.

Ensure that your support of well-being is sincere. A pizza party or a gift every month in times of uncertainty will just make leaders seem more disconnected, and add to the uncertainty. Communicate your expectations but always make sure you listen to what your employees need. Provide your employees with options to explore programmes that can aid them in creating behaviours that can help them stay mindful and engaged during times of change. In this way, they can create habits that can help them during any of these times. People are more important than things. Take care of the people and the things automatically take care of themselves.

Uncertainties come with their share of surmise, skepticism and worries for the workforce. It is important to be transparent with the team so that they rather hear facts and truth from authentic sources than speaking about it among themselves and further adding to grapevine. It is important for the management to neither scare them with pessimistic approach, nor give them false sense of hope and comfort by following overtly optimistic approach. It is best that the management shares them with facts regarding the uncertainty and the approach it is following to steer through the uncertainty. After this, team can be allowed room for their own interpretations and choices to support the organisation.

Showing Empathy and offering a listening ear without judging for me is key It's one of the things that is often overlooked or forgotten about Very rarely do we look beyond that sick off,that absenteeism or that sudden drop in performance 🤔 It's often a performance improvement process without finding the root cause Oftentimes the relationship with employees is purely transactional and it calls for a paradigm shift to make meaningful progress

As a manager at work, an educator outside, and a mentor at all corners, I believe in providing support by speaking to my team whenever it is required. To some, these may be just a string of sugary words but one cannot deny the power these words have in dire times. When one feels dejected, these words of support could mean everything.

It seems this is a long lasting debate. Theory seems to be pretty clear, but landing theories in times of uncertainty is rather difficult and counterproductive. There are several reasons behind the uncertainties a company, a team or an individual is going through. Exploring those reasons might give everyone a sense of reality and for sure will bring up some tools to work with. Starting by listing down vulnerabilities could be a great source of valuable information and setting objectives around those could provide a sense of working on things that really matter. It all goes down to how much do we all want to know about the truth and how energetic we feel to face it.

Monitoring and evaluating performance, if anything should be more consistent when the business is facing uncertainty. Performance evaluation is crucial if the business headcount has to be reduced and a high performing team is an absolute with strong leadership to get companies out of problematic times.

Constant communication and "in the moment feedback" is key. Organizations that wait for the performance evaluation period to give feedback miss out on building trusting and high performing teams.

Monitoring employees is not a negative experience. It gives the manager a chance to learn about success in goals and celebrate the wins. Praising employees and helping them achieve goals will align the team and build better relationships.

I believe this is the most important part. When uncertainty reaches a working environment people have te feeling of losing goals and to reduce productivity. Continuos monitoring and coaching is what will keep the workforce alert and will help the group to pass through rough times as a team. PR with colleagues is very important to keep a healthy work environment.

There is a commonality among the 20 diverse transformations I've led: stress from uncertainty makes most people behave in ways they might not normally, often subtly. So you must keep watch for signs of stress. For example, one might normally regulate their frustration at operational challenges but more quickly get annoyed when under stress. Build your stores of compassion & patience when leading people thru uncertainty. Change can also be isolating so I recommend creating community. Facilitate real connection that also serves the biz: sharing circles, problem solving crews, safe spaces to share real feelings in team meetings, etc. At work, we can forget that humans are emotional beings. So, honor people's humanity during uncertainty.

We are in the VUCA world which mean volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity where we experience the situation of constant, unpredictable change that is now the norm in business, workplace, industries and other areas of life, Managing performance in the VUCA world is non negotiable and this require right engagement, clarity and reassurance. And it important to Provide coaching, training, support, time, and resources to help the staff member succeed. Monitor, observe staff member's performance and giving objective feedback is critical during occasional performance review is very important during uncertainty to reassure the employee or team to keep adding values.

Uncertainty leads to a comma state. It's dangerous if we don't state our stand to all stakeholders and scribble an action plan for each expected outcome. To deal and perform under uncertainties, it needs 1) Avail Expert Judgement 2) Brainstorm within the core team more frequently 3) Understand through case studies for similar situations 4) Share your position, method of dealing uncertainty with clarity and keep standard frequency for regular communication to all stakeholders and tell them not to predict or manipulate any situation until unless it is properly evaluated with facts

Good lessons should be learn from performance cycle. As Knowledge Management advises, good practices should be communicated and move to next cycle by updating procedures and regulations.

Managing change expertly - whether managing performance or impact- requires paying attention to the emotional field of your self and your people. The inevitable nature of change means just about every team will experience a period of being disoriented and disheartened, which aligns with the period of time when the old way of doing things no longer works, but the new way has yet to take hold. This is the point at which many leaders and teams give up. If you pay close attention to your own emotions and the emotions of your team, you’ll know when you’re there, and recognize that this is when you need to provide extra support, reassurance, and motivation, and most of all genuine attentiveness and listening to your team.