Involvement is a Performance Strategy

I've been doing some strategic planning work (with some of my favorite people at Wildfire Strategies) for a pair of hospitals in NYC in the last few months, and in one of the hospitals, the CEO had already drafted his ten points of focus for the next few years. We saw two main ways forward: stick to his well-crafted ten points and lose the buy-in of the hospital, or go back to the drawing board and find a way to integrate his objectives into a greater strategy.

We quickly came back to what we knew was true: if we didn't involve people in the discussion and prioritization of what was in the strategic plan, they wouldn't care about executing it. We could talk, cheerlead, and explain our cute little heads off, but if people didn't feel like they had a voice in the proceedings, we would fail.

"But Kate," I hear you saying, "this is all well and good, but I'm not involved in organizational strategy-setting." Good news! You can use this same principle in smaller ways to drive performance on your team.

Next time your team member comes to you and says, "I've finished with the analysis, what should I do next?" don't answer. Instead, respond with, "What do you think you should do?" or "If I weren't here, what would you do?" This gets them thinking about how to move things forward, gives them a stronger feeling of ownership over the process, and, who knows? They might just have a better next step than you would.

Or when you're trying to figure out what kind of professional development to give the team, don't just assume they want AI skills; ask them. Do an anonymous poll so people can feel safe admitting where they feel weak.

Or when you're struggling to meet a deadline, call your team in and ask who has bandwidth to help you with your time-sensitive work. Then, when it's done, circle back and ask to help them finish what they paused to help you out.

Committed employees do more. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workforce report, "When employees are engaged, they are more productive at work. They are absent less and produce more. They build better customer relationships and close more sales." And involvement breeds commitment. (And a good joke - in a ham and eggs breakfast, the chicken is involved, the pig is committed.)

What are some small ways you can start loosening your grip on control and start involving and encouraging your employees to engage more?