Pillars of performance
“You can't improve what you can't measure!"
Purpose:
To build a freestanding pillar using one newspaper and masking tape.
Background:
One of the core elements of leadership and peak performance is defining your goals in a measurable way. In this process, you will have the opportunity to explore how goals affect levels of performance.
Set Up :
Stopwatch
Measuring tape
Team sheets (following this exercise) for the Green, Blue and Red teams. Each team will receive one sheet.
Coach’s sheets (bottom half of the team sheets) for the Green, Blue and Read team coaches. Each coach will receive one sheet.
One complete newspaper per team.
Pre-cut lengths of masking tape (see below for specific lengths to use)
Plenty of space for each team to build its pillar. This process works best if done in a room with high ceilings.
- If your ceiling height is less than 12 feet, provide 18 inches of masking tape to each team.
- If your ceiling height is greater than 12 feet, provide 30 inches of masking tape to each team.
Set Up :
Appoint one person to be the facilitator. This person will also act as the process timekeeper.
Divide the participants into 3 groups of 3-6 people per group.
- If the number of participants is greater than 3 groups, create additional teams
- For example, if you have 20 people participating, then you will have 2 Green Teams of 5 people each, 1 Blue Team of 5 people, and 1 Red Team of 5 people.
Ask or appoint one person within each team to be the “Coach.”
Write the Process Guidelines (below) on a flip chart or whiteboard so all participants can see them.
Process Guidelines:
- All team members must participate
- There is a 3 minute planning period and a 15 minute building period
- You will be provided with 1 newspaper and masking tape
- No other materials may be used
- Materials may not be pre-assembled during the planning period
- Pillar must be freestanding – not attached to anything other than the floor
- Pillar must remain freestanding for 15 seconds at the time measurement
Process:
1. Facilitator reviews the guidelines with the participants.
2. Facilitator hands out team sheets to each team, making sure the coach receives the separate coach’s sheet.
3. Facilitator starts the stopwatch for the 3 minute planning period.
4. Facilitator calls “Time” after 3 minutes.
5. Facilitator then calls out “Start Building” to begin the 15-minute building phase.
6. Facilitator calls “Time” at the end of the 15-minute building phase.
7. Facilitator calls on each team. One team member will read the team sheet.
8. Facilitator measures the height of the pillar and shares aloud if the team reached the goal, missed the goal (fell short) or exceeded the goal.
9. Below are some questions the Facilitator can ask as the team shares their goals and the Facilitator measures the pillar. These questions will help keep the participants engaged in the process while the other teams are being measured:
- Which team had the tallest pillar?
- Which team’s pillar stood the longest?
- What team(s) exceeded their height goal?
- What team(s) exceeded the time goal of 15 seconds?
10. After the measurements of all teams are taken and shared, the Facilitator will provide an opportunity for the participants to share their thoughts and insights about their experience in the process and the outcomes of their team.
- An example: “Let’s begin with hearing from each team about what happened. What were some the thoughts and feelings you experienced during the process?”
11. Once the participants have shared their experiences, the Facilitator directs the group to a more detailed debriefing of the process. This debriefing allows the participants to connect how their behaviors in this process relate to the behaviors they exhibit in work and in life.
Debrief:
- What was the impact of having a pre-determined goal?
- What is the impact of having an easily achievable goal and meeting a minimum standard?
- What is the impact of having a goal that exceeds the minimum expectations?
- What behaviors are important in helping a team exceed its goals?
- How do your observations and insights from this process translate to goal setting in the workplace? In your own life?
- How do the different roles in your organization help people meet and exceed their performance goals? What other support is helpful?
- What actions will you take to use goals and to help you and your team achieve higher levels of performance?
Conclusion:
“You can’t improve what you can’t measure” is an age-old adage of process and performance improvement. While setting a measurable goal is an important first step, the improvement in performance comes with identifying the most important behaviors that contribute to the outcome of the goal. Does the goal focus people on achieving a minimum standard or exceeding it? What behaviors connect to the goal to ensure people focus on doing the right thing consistently to improve performance?
An important characteristic of a leader is having an awareness of one’s behaviors and their impact on the outcomes achieved. When we are unaware of our behaviors, the goals we set may be self-limiting. Ultimately, our goal is to do the best we can to achieve excellence. Either our behaviors allow for complacency and a “goodnuf” mentality, or they continually push us to improve our performance. What are you doing to be more conscious of how your actions and behaviors influence your goals and ultimately your results? Are you settling for “goodnuf,” or are you on that skinny branch pushing past the boundaries?
Similarly, the environment we create as leaders either contributes to our growth or atrophies our skills. Are you surrounding yourself with people who hold you accountable and push you to another level?
When we set goals and align them with stretching our skills and behaviors to another level, we create the opportunity to experience excellence!
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