Succeeding through Behaviour? by Angela Baron

As Gordon Brown left Downing Street with his parting words “it’s been a privilege” hanging in the air and the blame for the end of 13 years of Labour government on his shoulders, you can’t help but wonder that he may have been thinking “what did I do wrong?” The economy prospered under his stint as Chancellor when, it could be argued, we almost attained that most elusive goal of a Labour government – full employment – and he was praised by fellow world leaders for his handling of the banking crisis.   

So why did we, the electorate, decide his performance was not up to scratch? Was it his record or his behaviour which was often compared to the more media friendly persona of Tony Blair, David Cameron or the newcomer on the block - Nick Clegg?

The political analysts will ponder that one for some time but the HR literature points to behaviour as a key driver of performance. More and more organisations are measuring not just what individuals achieve but how they do it. Getting good results is not enough if nobody likes how you do it and distrust your motives. To perform at our best we want our managers to behave like we matter, like they understand we want a say over how we do our jobs.

A key finding from the CIPD’s recent work on performance management was around alignment. Managing performance is about ensuring that objectives, behaviour and effort are all focussed in the same direction. That teams work together to achieve objectives with leaders exhibiting leadership skill and team behaviour. That leaders can enable people to believe there is a common purpose that everyone in the organisation is working towards.  Where leaders support their teams to do great stuff rather than direct them in the detail.  Performance measurement is now about getting clarity about what needs to be done and holding people accountable for things they are responsible for as well as establishing some measurable outcomes. 

High performing leaders understand that they are responsible, at least in part, for the performance of others by the direction they give, the examples they set and the sense of shared purpose they are able to engender in their teams. Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg had better take note of the leadership literature that indicates that a key role for leaders is developing and communicating a shared vision that people can believe in.

Further down the organisation high performers are increasingly defined as much by their willingness to contribute to team objectives and share their expertise as for their specialist skills and knowledge. The Human Capital literature tells us that it’s not just the input of individuals that is of value but the way in which they share their learning and apply their knowledge and skill in ways that add value to the organisation. They will only do this if they can trust their leaders and each other to behave in a way which is best for everyone.

So the focus on behaviour brings another dimension to performance measurement. None more so than for our political leaders whose every action is subjected to the media microscope. Our new Prime Minister had better beware, successful leaders depend on successful teams so watch your behaviour!