and How it Impacts Personal, Professional & Organizational ROI

For more than three decades, I have had a front row seat to performance execution and achievement—from global super stars to the person I see in the mirror daily. What I have found from the front-line business level to the executive room, and from the interviews and articles in my Professional Performance Magazine, is clearly revealed in just three performance factors or levels. Once you understand the simplicity of these three factors of performance, you can calibrate everything needed for true achievement and success in your business and life!

Your ability to objectively assess yourself and others in relation to what their level of performance is and how it can be addressed, elevated, sustained, and calibrated will directly impact every ROI KPI (Key Performance Indicators). And, more importantly, the accountability factors associated with not tolerating, condoning or accepting one of the three performance factors/levels will be the catalyst to your endgame reality.

What the human resource field and talent development professionals have done for decades is to dilute, bastardize and confuse the reality of these three core variables. Far too many performance assessments are calibrated with far too much mathematics to drive attention away from the three core obvious factors/ levels. Labor professionals engage in topical deflection discussions and allowances to get everyone confused, and at the end of every scorecard, there are only three factors that matter.

 Just as I have articulated in my graduate management text books, The Managerial-Leadership Bible and Leadership Academy of Excellence Program talent development series, all of the KPIs in life, and i.e., within an organization, must be calibrated with three core Performance Factors in mind:

 1. UnderPerforming: This would be the same on a Performance Assessment as “not meeting” job, task, role defined minimum expectations; This is where you find “underachievers” against KPIs of the expected or needed TDRs (Tasks, Duties, Responsibilities) of a role/job/task.

2. Performing: This would be the same on a Performance Assessment Jeffrey Magee, PhD, PDM, CSP, CMC, CBE, is the “Thought Leader’s Leader.” Jeffrey is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Professional Performance Magazine, editor of Trajectory Code and Performance Driven Selling blogs, a former nationally syndicated Radio Talk Show Host as well as a published author of several books including Performance Execution, The Managerial Leadership Bible, The Sales Training Handbook, and Your Trajectory Code. He is also a columnist and a highly sought motivational leadership speaker. A recipient of the United States Junior Chamber’s Ten Outstanding Young American’s (TOYA) Award, and the United States National GUARD’s Total Victory Team Medal for civilian contribution to the Armed Services. as “meeting” role/job/task defined expectations; This is where you find “achievers” of expected KPIs and the corresponding, expected or needed TDRs of a role/job/task.

3. Over Performing: This would be the same on a Performance Assessment as “exceeding” job, task, role defined expectations; This is where you find “super achievers and overachievers” of expected KPIs and expected or needed TDRs of a role/job/task.

So, when self-assessing or objectively assessing an individual among your team of direct reports, the qualifier of each of the three factors or levels of performance is Context.

Context is critical in evaluating whether one is in any one of the three levels:

• Good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, sustainable or not.

• Determine how you resource, support, incentivize, compensate, train/ develop, or celebrate the person at each level.

• Is this appropriate performance acceptable, and how does it impact or influence others' standards of performance?

• What are the necessary KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) one must have to perform at a minimum “performing” level or achieve and sustain “over performing” levels?

• What is the capacity of the organization to sustain performance levels, and what is the capacity of the individual to perform at any of the three core levels?

• In determining what this means to the organization's talent needs, succession, ongoing performance coaching, performance development plans, performance improvement plans, capacity alignment and growth realities?

• What are the implications, ramifications and consequences to any of the three performance levels?

• How does the performance bar influence your culture, and how does your culture influence the performance bar?

• How do you truly know what “over performing” looks like and really means?

And more… Your ability to objectively assess yourself and others in relation to which level of performance one is at and how it can be addressed, elevated, sustained and calibrated will directly impact every ROI KPI and the ultimate endgame reality of your organization (as well as You), and what it becomes known for — Your BRAND!