Page 47 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

Performance and Effectiveness

William Daniels defines three key components to making an individual
contributor highly effective: (1) clear goals and objectives; (2) control
of necessary resources; and (3) immediate, reliable feedback. 1

Geary Rummler and Alan Brache define six performance
factors that support high performance: (1) clear performance
specifications—procedures, output, and standards; (2) necessary

support—resources, priority, authority, time, and encouragement; (3)
clear consequences—motivation, incentives, and rewards; (4) prompt
feedback—performance versus expectations and praise; (5) necessary
skills and knowledge—training and learning to perform; and (6)
individual capability—experience and physical, mental, and emotional
capacity. 2
Clark Wilson defines six areas of a sequence used by managers who

are successful at producing output through others. Abstractly, they are
(1) goals, (2) planning, (3) execution, (4) feedback, (5) adjustment, and
(6) reinforcement. 3
Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles identify three elements that
“turn on” the people in an organization: (1) clear and meaningful
goals, (2) resources and the clarity to achieve them, and (3)
encouragement and support for progress. 4
The commonalities in these lists (and elsewhere) are the basis for
the six types of overtness presented here.

1. Be Overt About Your Purpose
What are you trying to do? It’s amazing how diffi cult it can be to
answer that question in a meaningful way. If you’re sitting at a com-
puter, you might answer that you’re checking your e-mail. If you’re
attending a staff meeting, you might say that you’re trying to learn
something—or perhaps just stay awake. If it’s early in the day, you
might read off some of the items on your to-do list.
All of those replies may be honest and accurate, but none of them
really answers the question of your purpose at work. The issue of why

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