Everyone's best doesn't look the same

So, I said that next I would talk about variability of results.  This is a really hard topic.  Let's face it, there is a spectrum of ability in the human race.  Everyone that works for you is not going to be a super star.  Your job as a leader is to know your people and their capabilities well enough to construct SMART goals for each of them that stretch them enough without discouraging them.

The difficult part of the equation for you as a leader is a function of how much discretion you have in your company to reward performance.  If you have a lot of discretion, it is much more difficult.  I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but it is real.

In a tightly structured system where you have little discretion, it is as easy as determining whose goals brought more to the overall objectives of the organization, and then ranking.  You can then explain results via strength of goals, not always a welcome message, but easily crafted and delivered.  If your salary structure involves a point system (like the Hay Points) there are identified measures for goals to help you with your messaging.

In a more open structure, the challenge for the leader is much greater.  If A worked twice as hard as B to deliver half as much, how do you allocate the rewards available to be spread among your team?

The task for the leader in this type of environment is to identify how strong the goal plan is, and what percentage allocation achievement of the goals will yield, when goals are being formulated for the performance period.  This makes goal setting a three step process for the leader.  Step One, sit down with each employee and their draft goals.  Step Two, evaluate all of the goals in terms of organizational impact and stretch for the involved employee.  Step Three, go back to each employee and inform them of the strength and impact of their individual goal plan.  Make sure that you have thought about how they can strengthen their position by modifying their goals.  Take great care not to use other employee's goal plans as examples.  That could create a very unhealthy competition in your organization.

Never forget that healthy organizations involve employees striving to be the best they can be.  When employees believe success is achieved by being better than someone else, you undermine teamwork and solidarity.  It is your job to keep each employee motivated to be the best they can be, not comparatively better than a peer.  That said, the reality is that everyone knows that humans all fall on a spectrum of performance.  Most adults know when someone is better at something than they are.  Your job as a leader is to help the people you lead accept themselves as they are, understand that their contributions have value, and help them grow into the best they can be.