Avoiding the four deadly sins of performance development.

• Author: Watson, Scott C.
• Position: Business & Finance

IT IS MUCH HARDER than it looks. Most organizations grossly underestimate the influence required to motivate a successful, mature, adult professional to change his or her behavior. Influencing a permanent change is even more difficult. Yet, if investments in performance development are to create a real financial return, significant influence is exactly what is needed.

There are four major mistakes made by educated, well-intentioned, business leaders trying to improve performance in their sales, support, and service organizations. For example, executives are seduced by the illusion of rapid results, only to discover later that the path of least resistance also is the path to least results. While most of these mistakes are avoidable with foresight and vigilance, no organization is immune to the temptation.

Many companies set out to improve revenue. customer relationships, and business results. These include blue-chip firms, growth companies, businesses moving through deregulation, and those making steady progress. Their development efforts are focused on many areas: sales, negotiations, service, strategy, communications, and coaching. Some achieved a performance revolution; others settled for slower evolution. Even in a number of the most successful initiatives, however, executives and managers tended to make the same costly errors again and again. It takes a conscious effort to avoid these miscues and realize lasting business results from investments in employee development.

Mistake #1: Executives who delegate when they should instigate. There are times when executives should "pick a fight" with the status quo. Of course, delegation always will be a fundamental survival skill for overwhelmed CEOs, but there are some things that never should be handed off. Few would argue that middle managers or human resources staffers can set the corporate agenda effectively, yet this is exactly the approach taken by a majority of organizations that embark on a major development effort. In many cases, only the most senior executives truly can capture people's attention and create a sense of urgency that results in new ways of doing business.

When FedEx needed to initiate major changes in the way it approached customer negotiations, the senior sales executive declared: "You can't do what you did 10 years ago--even as the market leader. If you employ the old techniques, you'll be out business." The success of the entire initiative depended on his relentless message. Only he could cut through the chaos and clutter of corporate life. It worked. The entire sales organization took notice and moved quickly to embrace...