Performance management is getting trickier!

Performance management is becoming trickier and trickier! 🤔

Gone are those days when you proposed any scale-up target to the salespeople, who silently took it even if it was stressful or sat with a hidden smile when it was child’s play for them!

The new generation, maturing at a much younger age to analyse and understand implications for themselves, is making things different and more challenging. It is a matter of perception of... “pleasure"🕺or “pressure"🙇♂️ This is influenced by an individual's self-assessment of their capabilities and their performance drive. How a manager manages this kind of undulating mental frame and steers the zeal of performance with due conviction is a real-life challenge 🧗♀️

The time has come when a simple ‘motivational talk’ doesn’t ignite the spirit of the salesmen. On the other hand, looking for 'volition' is a difficult expectation, as the world mostly revolves around, "what's in it for me?”

Leading a new generation is a scientific art that requires a psychology-based approach to ignite the inner potential of juniors. More often than not, it is a multi-touchpoint process and cannot simply be done by one manager/leader. Culture, context, and communication matter a lot. Most organisational functions are transitioning towards collaborative processes, rather than relying on individual talent for performance🧠

In my view, it is more to do with following a scientifically proven process to build/steer essential elements of a performance, rather than just inspirational effort. Hence, the critical processes led by a manager/leader, e.g., goal setting, goal selling, and coaching, are crucial to instil courage to follow performance methods for reaching their goal. Is this not the essence of "leading their own way"?

What's your take? 💭