A Brief Introduction to Performance Management

By Julia Huprich

Performance management is a system designed to identify the ways to achieve organizational goals through constant assessment and feedback leading to improvement of employee performance. Performance management, unlike the performance appraisal or annual evaluation process, is an ongoing assessment of employees in a manner geared to match their goals to the organizational goals. It also makes strong use of goal-setting and metrics to identify progress and areas of individual strengths.

History and Evolution of Performance Management and Appraisal

Performance management systems, in various forms, have been employed for nearly two millennia. In the third century AD, the Chinese were not only using performance appraisal systems but were critiquing each other’s biases in their evaluations of their employees (Murphy and Cleveland, 4; Evans, 3). During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, factory managers became aware of the importance of their employees’ performance on their production outputs (Grote and Grote, 3; Murphy and Cleveland, 4). The development of the philosophy of performance evaluation systems in America has been attributed to such researchers and philosophers as Peter Drucker and Douglas McGregor, who developed ideas of management by objectives (MBOs) and employee motivation (Evans, 4; Murphy and Cleveland, 3). Spreigel reported in 1962 that by the early 1960s more than 60% of American organizations had a performance appraisal system.The system’s popularlity stemmed from the Army’s implementation of a performance management system for its officers (Murphy and Cleveland, 3). Since then, researchers have continued to develop theories of how different performance evaluation methods can contribute to the success of the organization.

Differences between Performance Management and Performance Appraisal

Employees, as well as supervisors, are often confused by the differences between performance management systems and performance appraisals. Performance appraisals, also called performance evaluations, are tools used to measure the effectiveness of an employee; most organizations conduct performance appraisals once a year during an annual evaluation process. A performance management system, however, is much more dynamic. It can use the performance evaluation tool but also incorporates other elements into the performance management cycle.

Elements of Performance Management

Armstrong identifies the five elements of performance management as agreement (of employee, unit, and organizational goals), measurement, feedback, positive reinforcement and dialogue (3). These elements ensure that the performance management process is positive, successful and a spur to employee improvement. Key to the performance management process are continued feedback and assessment, depicted shown in the performance management cycle (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The performance management cycle (recreated from Armstrong)

There are four main elements of the planning portion of the performance management cycle: role creation and development, objective planning, assessment and development planning. The first step, role creation and development, is important because an employee must understand his or her role in the organization before the performance of that role can be fairly assessed. By first defining the employee’s goal, a supervisor can then align the employee’s objectives with the organizational goals.

In performance management, employers provide continuous appraisal through feedback and re-alignment of goals based on performance. Unlike the annual evaluation process, most performance management systems are designed to meet the changing needs of both the organization and the employee. Armstrong identifies that performance assessment can include the following:

• discussing what the job holder has done and achieved;
• identifying any shortfalls in achieving objectives or meeting standards;
• establishing the reasons for any shortfalls, including changed circumstances;
• agreeing to any changes required to objectives and work plans in response to changed circumstances;
• agreeing to any actions required by the individual or the manager to improve performance (71-72).

The organizations that have chosen to use a performance management process have often done so because the annual evaluation process has failed to meet their appraisal needs. The constant communication loop of performance management enables organizations to meet both the goals of their organization and the development and feedback needs of their employees. In contrast, the annual evaluation process, which is retrospective in nature, provides no formal opportunity for employees to receive feedback about their performance, request development to increase their efficiency or ask for new goals during the year.

Role Creation and Development

In order for performance management to be effective, an employee must have a clear understanding of his or her organizational role and responsibilities. Armstrong says that the role profile “defines the role in terms of the key results expected, what role holders are expected to know and be able to do and how they are expected to behave in terms of behavioral competencies and upholding the organizations’ core values” (50). Defining the core competencies for each employee is one step in effective goal creation because it allows the supervisor to communicate personalized feedback.

Effective and “SMART” Goal Creation

There are many different kinds of objectives in an organization. Armstrong identifies that effective objective-setting “results in an agreement on what the role holder (employee) has to achieve” and “is an important part of the performance management processes of defining and managing expectations and forms the point of reference for performance reviews” (54). He also identifies the following types of objectives (54-56):

1. ongoing role or work objectives: based on the job description (e.g. an outreach librarian would publish a newsletter for distribution to patrons)
2. targets: quantifiable goals that should be met (e.g. provide support for 45 reference transactions each week)
3. tasks/projects: specified results or product (e.g. a new subject guide to be developed in 2 weeks)
4. behavioral expectations: outlines desirable and undesirable behaviors (e.g. excellent customer service to be provided at the circulation desk at all times)
5. values: outlines the values of the organization
6. performance improvement: areas that need improvement (e.g. improvement needed in database management)
7. developmental/learning: provide specific areas to meet improvement needs

Luecke notes that effective goals are recognized as important; clear; written in specific terms; measurable and framed in time; aligned with organizational strategy; achievable but challenging; and supported by appropriate rewards (7). Armstrong provides the “SMART” mnemonic: S = specific/stretching; M = measurable; A = achievable; R = relevant; T = time framed (57). The creation of appropriate, measurable goals is key to the performance management process; they provide a framework for assessment and, without them, the performance management system would fail.

Assessment of Goal Achievement

After defining roles and setting goals, the manager and the employee must determine whether the employee had been successful during the assessment period. If the goals are “SMART,” then assessing the employee’s performance will be simple: if the employee met the specific goal within the time frame designated, then the assessment would be a positive one. The most important aspect of the assessment is the performance review.

There are many ways to conduct performance reviews. Some organizations conduct reviews at certain intervals throughout the year; others create a timeline based on the goals developed (e.g. develop a new subject guide in April; meet May 1 to discuss results). Many organizations have employees conduct a self-evaluation prior to the evaluation meeting; Aguinis identifies that “self-appraisals can reduce employees’ defensiveness during an appraisal meeting and increase employee satisfaction with the performance management system, as well as enhance perceptions of accuracy and fairness and therefore acceptance of the system” (39).

Both employees and employers have historically disliked the performance review process. Armstrong reports that most appraisals have existed in a vacuum, with little or no relation to the workplace: “employees have resented the superficial nature with which appraisals have been conducted by managers who lack the skills required, tend to be biased and are simply going through the motions” (9). In order to have a productive, positive performance review, Aguinis identifies six recommended steps (41):

1. Identify what the employee has done well and poorly by citing specific positive and negative behaviors.
2. Solicit feedback from your employee about these behaviors. Listen for reactions and explanations.
3. Discuss the implications of changing, or not changing, the behaviors. Positive feedback is best, but an employee must be made aware of what will happen if any poor performance continues.
4. Explain to the employee how skills used in past achievements can help him overcome any current performance problems.
5. Agree on an action plan. Encourage the employee to invest in improving his performance by asking questions such as “What ideas do you have for _____?” and “What suggestions do you have for _____?”
6. Set up a meeting to follow up and agree on the behaviors, actions, and attitudes to be evaluated.

Development Planning

After creating goals and assessing progress, the employee and employer have identified areas that can be improved; the action plan for this improvement is called development planning. This development plan ensures that employees will continue to meet the needs of the organization through the identification of their weaknesses and the opportunity to address them through workshops, classes, and other educational channels.

Benefits of Performance Management

Performance management has many benefits that the traditional annual evaluation does not. Luecke identifies three reasons “why performance management matters:”

1. Shareholders (those with a vested interest in the organization) observe better results, because the human assets of the organization are top-notch and working in unison toward key goals.
2. Managers are more successful, because their subordinates are doing the right things correctly.
3. Employees experience greater job security, career advancement, and fatter paychecks, thanks to outstanding performance (xiii).

Problems with Performance Management

The performance management system is designed to benefit the organization, but like any system it may meet with resistance or be unconstructively applied. Many supervisors resist the change from a simple annual performance evaluation process or no process at all to the performance management system for many reasons: a dislike of criticizing employees; lack of skill in the appraisal process; dislike of new procedures; and mistrust of the validity of the appraisal instrument (67). Other reasons the performance management system may fail because of lack of support from the supervisors and the employees, unclear goals or lack of support for professional development.

If performed incorrectly, an unsuccessful performance management system can have negative consequences on the organization. Aguinis identifies the following dangers of a poorly executed system (9):

1. Increased turnover
2. Use of misleading information (if performed improperly, an employee’s performance appraisal can be incorrect)
3. Lowered self-esteem
4. Wasted time and money
5. Damaged relationships
6. Decreased motivation to perform
7. Employee burnout and job dissatisfaction
8. Increased risk of litigation
9. Unjustified demands on managers’ resources
10. Varying and unfair standards and ratings
11. Emerging biases
12. Unclear ratings systems

Because of these incredibly negative effects that an improperly conducted performance management system can have on an organization, the system must be implemented thoughtfully and executed consistently.

Conclusion

Performance management, unlike traditional annual evaluation, provides employees with feedback throughout the year. The system allows constant re-evaluation of goals, progress and performance. This process requires more interaction between the supervisor and supervisee and encourages the professional development of the employee to meet the organization’s changing needs. While this more dynamic evaluation process is time-consuming, the increased productivity levels resulting from performance management have proven to be valuable to many organizations.

Works Cited

• Aguinis, Herman. Performance Management. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2007.
• Armstrong, Michael. Performance Management: Key Strategies and Practical Guidelines. London: Kogan and Page, 2006.
• Evans, G. Edward. Performance Management and Appraisal: a How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2004.
• Grote, Dick and Richard C. Grote. The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal. New York: AMACOM Publishing, 1996.
• Luecke, Richard. Performance Management: Measure and Improve the Effectiveness of Your Employees. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2006.
• McGregor, Douglas. “Uneasy Look at Performance Appraisal.” Training and Development Journal. June 1972: 41-47.
• Murphy, Kevin and Jeanette N. Cleveland. Understanding Performance Appraisal: Social, Organizational, and Goal-Based Perspectives.: New York: Sage Publications, 1995.

https://ala-apa.org/

How Employee Performance Reviews Affect Customer Service and Satisfaction

Melissa Thompson 

70% of employees say their employer should understand them to the same degree they are expected to understand customers. (Towers Watson)

Once a year employees across the working spectrum all become subjected to the dreaded performance review. The performance review is a long established tool that is used by management as a way to justify an employee’s position, determine if they are deserving of a raise or bonus and, essentially, separate the wheat from the chaff. As many advocates as there are in support of the performance review, there are as many detractors calling for the demise of this measurement of employee value and worth.

Despite the calls for the end to the performance review, you should understand its value and why it is important. Here is a history of the performance review and the role that it plays as a measuring tool. Additionally, you should understand how you should approach the review process to provide for greater input from outside influencers (i.e. customers) and allow for some flexibility and agility when judging the performance of your employees.

What We Don’t Know About Performance Reviews

Performance reviews have been a tool that has been with us as long as two millennia. The process for evaluating the work performed by workers is believed to have originated in China at around the third century AD. The advent of the Industrial Revolution in the United States during the 18th century saw a correlation between employee performance reviews and productivity. Systems used to appraise the performance of an employee were prevalent in more than 60% of businesses in America in the 1960s.

The Importance of the Performance Review Process

An effective performance review is comprised of the following five elements: agreement, measurement, feedback, positive reinforcement and dialogue. The reason for conducting the review process utilizing these elements is because it aids in creating a positive interaction between you the employer and your employees. Implementation of an employee review goal-setting process that also employs what is known as the SMART system (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time framed) helps you track employee progress, but also gives the employee targets in which to shoot for and ultimately achieve.

Making Performance Reviews Work for Your Customer Service Team

Despite what the naysayers may think about the performance review process, they are important for assessing how employees are doing relative to meeting their goals and providing excellent customer service. There are many discernible benefits that come from the performance review process. These include better results from those vested in the review process as goals are communicated clearly. Employee retention, and thus satisfaction, is decreased by 2x. Stated another way, employees who see performance reviews as inaccurate are 2x more likely to look for another job.

Employees should come to realize that the performance review process is an essential tool in improving their productivity, value and worth to your company. The trick however is to use the performance review process as an opportunity to praise good works and find ways to challenge your employees to stretch beyond their capabilities. If your employees come to dread the performance review process or view it as a draconian method used to judge and diminish their value, it may be time for you to redefine the process and make it meaningful to your business.

12 Failure Modes in Agile Transformation

Posted by Jean Tabaka in Agile

 

 

You may have heard me talk about “12 Agile Adoption Failure Modes” that concentrated on agile failure in the context of IT teams. Given the expanded adoption of Agile practices in organizations beyond the IT group, the threat of failure is now farther-reaching, with bigger impact.

Now it’s imperative that we look not just at Agile adoption, but at Agile transformation — where organizations move beyond Agile principles within their IT groups to business agility. To accomplish this, we transform from just doing Agile to being Agile.

Over the next few weeks I’ll share with you the top 12 failure modes of an Agile transformation that I’m witnessing in my work with organizations around the globe. The first three center around LEADERSHIP.

1. Lack of Executive Sponsorship

David SpinksThe Leader

 photo via Flickr CC

This failure mode evidences itself in several different ways and ultimately, it warrants its spot as the number one failure mode and drives all the other failure modes. Also known as “buzzword buy-in,” a lack of executive sponsorship can come at you from two directions

Imagine a small group of techies eager to adopt Agile in their team. With no executive sponsorship, they perform in a stealth environment — sort of a “skunkworks” adoption — under the radar of the existing organizational structure. Why? Because they’re hiding from the hierarchy of management (see the second failure mode, below) which could shut down their effort, and evading the current gate-driven approach to product delivery. While the project may gain some momentum, deliver value faster, and stir the souls of those involved, its sustainability is improbable. Lack of executive sponsorship will limit visibility into the team’s success and provide insufficient support for adoption across subsequent teams. Agile adopted this way will likely die.

 

In our second scenario, an executive decrees a switch to Agile delivery across the entire IT organization, but there’s no real follow-through: it’s simply a “checkbook commitment.” The executive demands immediate results, yet doesn’t change the metrics by which success is measured. Unengaged, the executive proclamation for an Agile adoption will never move to a true business transformation. At best, without the executive’s continued engagement, the organization will only have pockets of Agile success, typically limited to the team level. The organization will probably grow to blame Agile (and each other) for decreased quality and productivity. And the executive’s resignation letter will conveniently not include the word “Agile” in its summary of successes.

 

How do we prevent this failure? Leaders must accept that a successful transformation is a journey. Along this journey, leaders seek guidance for a transformation with a broad, sustainable impact. As part of the transformation they make a personal commitment to their teams, and in turn they recognize the personal commitment they are asking of their employees. Executives commit to measuring success differently from before, because the work is different from before. Success now favors value delivery, and time for learning is built into the transformation. Ultimately, success is celebrated across the organization and setbacks are seen not as failures or cause for blame, but as opportunities for learning and growth.

2. Failure to Transform Leader Behaviors

Isn’t it great to have managers who just get things done? They know the right actions to achieve success; they direct their teams to perform these actions; and they have the power to control all aspects of the work and do whatever it takes to get it done.

Huh?

Let’s pull this apart a little. When a manager tells the team what to do, there’s a false sense of success via control. When a manager powers through difficult circumstances regardless of the impact on the team, they leave the wisdom and the morale of the team behind.

Royce Bair.  

Telephone Switchboard Operators - a vintage circa 1914 photo

 photo via Flickr Commons

Such a management style is a classic Agile transformation failure mode. All the team-level Agile practices in the world mean nothing if the manager doesn’t embrace a behavior that is more in service to the team than control of the team. Robert Greenleaf’s work identifies the characteristics of what he calls a “servant leader”: one who serves by leading, and leads by serving. An Agile transformation success story hinges on the ability of the leaders in the organization to take on these characteristics:

• Systematic neglect: knows the limits of how much focus can be allocated to issues; learns what to focus on and what to let go of in order to support the team and achieve goals effectively
• Acceptance: knows when to let go and trust the instincts of the team; accepts the wisdom of the team and is prepared to support it
• Listening: facilitates useful and necessary communication, pays attention to what remains unspoken, and is motivated to actively hear what others are saying
• Language: speaks effectively and non-destructively; clearly and consistently articulates the vision and goals for the team
• Values: is responsible for building a personal sense of values that are clearly exhibited through consistent actions; supports team behaviors that build their sense of values
• Tolerance of imperfection: modulates his or her own sense of perfection and offers to each team member an understanding of their strengths and challenges; cares more about “How can I help the team grow?”
• Goal setting: owns the vision; doesn’t advocate for a personal belief in what is right but rather maintains the goal for a higher purpose, inviting others to align with the vision for the overall good
• Personal growth: recognizes the value of continually finding diverse disciplines that invite new ways of acting in service to the team, and models this growth behavior to inspire others
• Withdrawal: knows when to step back and allow the team to figure out its course, versus inflicting a personal sense of what is right for the team; carefully decides what to bring forward and when

3. No Change to the Organizational Infrastructure

What is your current organizational structure? How many layers of management exist around each Agile team? How is governance perceived, and who is ready to break down walls to make sure that value flows through your organization?

Sean BonnerEuropean Bike Lane FAIL

 photo via Flickr CC

 

Failed Agile transformations suffer from an inability to change the existing organizational structure. What do I mean by this? Typical organizations have been set up for sub-optimization: that is, they measure success by departmental performance, versus overall value delivery. Here’s what that looks like: In the book This Is Lean, authors Niklas Modig and Par Ahlstrom depict a soccer field scattered with teams, each one in its own tent. Success is defined as any one team getting the ball out of its tent. But is that really success overall? In this scenario, as in our traditional organizations, we create accidental adversaries. We limit visibility of the organization’s overall effectiveness, and focus on our team’s success at the expense of success for the organization.

True Agile transformations push the boundaries of these existing organizational hierarchies. In the soccer field metaphor, we remove the tents. Now everyone can see where the ball is, where everyone else is, where the goal is positioned, what the referee is indicating, what the coach is saying, and what the scoreboard says. In your effective Agile transformation, you know what the true value is, you know who needs to be involved in order for the value to be delivered, and everyone associated with the value delivery has visibility into the current state of the value stream, including its blocks. They see the goal as successful delivery of value to the customer, and they coordinate as a whole to deliver that value.

 

Here’s another symptom that your organizational infrastructure is crippling your Agile transformation: Does your organization cling to a notion of efficiency based on resource usage — believing that loading people to 100% capacity is the best way to get work done, and then measuring people annually by how well they deliver in this fully-loaded mode?

To incent greater collaboration and communication, you need to revisit how you appraise work. Instead of annually, by individual, 100% utilized, with MBOs set 12 months earlier, you should invite frequent feedback; focus more on team effectiveness; and bias performance appraisal toward efficiency of value flow versus efficiency of workers.

 

If you’re not feeling the discomfort change brings, you aren’t truly transforming. If your transformation isn’t requiring you to invest in the technology and culture to support a new mode of visibility and collaboration, you aren’t truly transforming. If you’re adopting some Agile practices at the project level without looking at the bigger picture, your Agile transformation is poised for failure. And Agile, not the failure to transform the organization, will get the blame.

https://bit.ly/3S88GmY

How to Audit Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy

It’s time to face the facts: the B2B buyer’s journey is anything but a solo act.

In fact, nearly half (43%) of B2B buyers said that the number of people involved in purchase decisions has grown. Because of this rising trend, B2B organizations must target many different stakeholders involved in the purchase. But, this becomes a complicated dance when separate teams within a single organization own different pieces of the process.

Every role within your organization—even roles within marketing—have their own tools, content types, and channels to manage. From sales to customer success to marketing, each function has a stake in the buying process. But lack of communication, or a clearly defined integrated strategy to execute upon, causes ad hoc content creation, off-brand messaging, and a disparate customer experience. To address the needs of every buyer in the purchasing process, B2B organizations need a closed-loop marketing strategy approach—meaning every team within the organization should be clued in, and have a stake in its success.

To get your internal teams on a “one-team, same-team mentality,” start by conducting an audit of your current B2B marketing strategy. This will help you assess current processes and establish company-wide goals. Here is your step-by-step guide:

1. Assess Your Internal Stakeholders

The first step to auditing your B2B marketing strategy is to assess each of your internal stakeholders, their roles, and the channels they manage. In order to serve a consistent story to all of the players involved in a B2B purchase, you and your teams need to be able to collaborate and work cross-functionally so each department within your organization is aligned around the same goals.

When assessing your internal stakeholders, start by listing out all of your internal teams. These teams could include the following: demand gen, digital, field marketing, marketing and sales operations, product marketing, and social/PR. Determine which channels each team currently manages, and the type of content they serve. Once you identify current roles and responsibilities, you can then identify gaps in the process, and address any areas where communication between teams is lacking and how to improve it.

2. Define and Map Content to Your Buyer’s Journey

B2B organizations often struggle to be in agreement across the company about the various stages in the buyer’s journey. When sales teams define the stages differently from marketing teams, the result is miscommunication, convoluted tracking and reporting, and poor visibility into the health of your pipeline.

To get your internal teams on the same page, start by outlining each stage in a buyer’s journey, from awareness to purchase to repeat customer. Identify what buyer activity looks like at that every stage, how you’re defining each stage, and which team is responsible. It should look something like this:

Once you’ve outlined each stage of your buyer’s journey, determine what content is used by which team at each stage, the goals associated, and the metrics you need to track.

Once you’ve defined your buyer’s journey—including agreed upon sales and marketing definitions—you can create a closed-loop, marketing-sales funnel. This ensures that all of your internal teams are aligned on the specific pain-points you need to address as well as the content served at each stage.

3. Audit Your Personas

Addressing multiple players in a single sale is not easy. Each person you target has a unique perspective on their company’s challenges, and they have different pain-points and concerns related to the purchase. B2B marketers are responsible for creating content that addresses these specific and unique challenges, but when the pain-point marketing addresses doesn’t match sales’ approach, there’s a disconnect that becomes detrimental to the buying process.

To conduct an audit of your current personas, survey your internal stakeholders on how they define your personas and their associated pain-points. This will help you to quickly identify where teams are in alignment, and where there is confusion. The key here is to get perspective from all your internal teams and mine them for information and insight. Your sales, customer success, and marketing teams have different interactions with each of your personas at different buyer stages. By leveraging information across these teams, you can build out better, more well-rounded buyer-personas.

Just as B2B buyer’s don’t make purchases alone, B2B marketers don’t propel leads through the pipeline alone. Gather your stakeholders, audit your current marketing activities, and get ready to build a winning B2B marketing strategy.

By Erica Lindberg • Business2Community

Exit Strategies - what every CEO needs to understand

MassTLC, along with our sponsor, Argosight, recently brought together a small group of CEOs to talk about different exit strategies, and the pros and cons that arise with each. The CEOs came from small, medium, large companies, some of who were greener and some of whom have had their fair share of exits. 

The discussion was informal and allowed the younger CEOs the unique opportunity to ask direct questions of those that have had ample experience.  

Overarching themes were focused on different types of investments, acquisitions, going public versus staying private, and most importantly having a true understanding of where you want to take your company. 

We put together the infographic below as a way to capture the substantial amount of information and ideas that were shared. Some key pieces of advice to bear in mind for any founder are:

1. Know your business, not just your function or role, but your entire business inherently. For instance, sales, sales projections, product lines, revenues under each product line, and so on.
2. When you are just starting off, read everything, learn everything. Because the decisions you make on day one will affect the decisions you will have to make years later.  That can be as little as the office lease you sign to as big as the Board you put together.
3. For those that take funding, know everything there is to know about the fund, when it was started, when it will vest, and what number your company will be in the fund.
4. Whether you are looking to be acquired or go public, it is imperative that your company is strong enough to stand on its own.

 

3 Creativity Tips For Content Marketers From Monty Python

Creativity comes easy to some, but when it comes to content marketing we are constantly tasked with being creative. Content Marketers must consistently come up with new ideas and concepts that will win over audiences and stand out from the noise of competitors, all while ever so subtly sharing our product information and building brand loyalty. Not so simple. At CMWorld, Monty Python alum John Cleese outlined three pillars of creativity that have helped him create, and more importantly replicate, pure creativity, and content marketers seeking new ideas should take note. 

1. The Overnight Phenomenon 

Cleese noted off the bat that no teacher ever noticed he had an ounce of creativity in school – even at Cambridge. He would act out but still couldn’t get the attention he craved. Eventually he realized that with a pen and a paper he could write things that would make people laugh. The problem with this, as most creatives understand, is sustaining and replicating the creative process – otherwise known as writers block.  

Cleese said that at Cambridge, he would write and write and write until he came to a point when he didn’t know where to take the story. He was stumped. Instead of writing anything just to finish the story, he would leave the pen and paper on his desk and go to sleep. The next morning when he woke up, he would stroll over to the desk with a cup of coffee and finish it right then and there. He realized that during sleep, his mind was working on his story. This overnight phenomenon was actually his unconscious working on the creative process. Even when you don’t realize that your mind is being creative – if you put yourself in the right mind frame to create – your mind will do the rest. 

Cleese noted how we all have some of our best ideas just as we’re falling asleep, and how inventor Thomas Edison frequently napped in his office with a handful of metal ballbearings over a metal bowl. The moment he fell asleep he’d be awakened by the clang of dropping the metal pieces into a metal bowl. He found he could easily solve problems and innovate in this space between being awake and asleep. Many content marketers face small teams and tight deadlines, but we should all try to build in time to “sleep on it” when working on a new piece or idea. 

2. The Intelligent Unconscious

Cleese then dove into a story about how he once, to great embarrassment, lost a script mid-story and had to start from scratch. While he was writing the new one, he found the old one at the bottom of his desk. He then compared the two – the new one he wrote from memory was significantly better. The best elements of the old story came naturally while he was able to sprinkle a whole new element of even better details in the re-write.

He likens this creative process to being behind the wheel of your car on a random Tuesday. Sometimes you just drive for five or ten minutes and before you know it you have gone a few miles without even focusing on the details of the road. Your intelligent unconscious enables you take control without focusing on the minutia. Your mind will continue to build on what it has already learned, even in an unconscious state. What does this mean for content marketers? Maybe step away from a Google doc or boilerplate that has been read and redrafted 100 times. You never know what you might come up with when you start from scratch. 

3. Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind

Lastly, Cleese recapped a book by Guy Claxton, entitled Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less. In his book, Claxton outlines two ways of thinking:

1. Hare Brain: The fast, purposeful, clear, precise, analytical way of thinking.

In this mindset time pressure, or the fear of failure or loss of status will put you in an analytical state where you can easily decide what is wrong and right. If you need to get a report on your boss’ desk by Tuesday afternoon, you can waste time by checking Twitter and Facebook or you can work on your report. Easy decision most of the time, right?

2. Tortoise Mind: The slower, meditative, creative state. 

If you need to come up with something creative or innovative, the biggest challenge is how do you get into that meditative frame of mind? It’s incredibly difficult to create on demand, yet that is expected of most content marketers. The answer is to separate your two worlds. In school, we’re taught the analytical path, but were not taught how to be creative. Cleese cited Albert Einstein, who carved out hours of his day to sit and look out the window when he needed to solve a problem, as being someone who could access his “tortoise mind.”

Claxton contends that you have to invent a creative space for yourself – a “tortoise enclosure” if you will. This is obviously easier said than done, but there are two boundaries that you must put in place for you to reach a creative state.

1. Boundaries of space

This means avoiding interruptions or working from home if you work in an open plan office. Cleese suggests you go to the park and find some time alone with no distractions. Literally distance yourself from the pressures and constraints of the workplace. 

2. Boundaries of time

You can’t just go to the park forever, you have to do it for a period of time and then go back to real life. If you go sit in a park and try to reflect, a lot of things will start to pop into your head. “I have to send this email….I have to call Bob…I have to pick up groceries…” However, if you’re patient, eventually those things will leave your mind and your mind will begin to settle. Then you will have ideas, albeit not all of them good. Once you have new ideas, you have a starting point. Then you have to oscillate between the creative and the critical process to decide which ideas are best – the key is having a point to start from. Once you have a starting point, you can let your intelligent unconscious and the overnight phenomenon do the rest. 

It’s not easy to create boundaries of time and space but its absolutely crucial for the creative process. The creative process is not easy, especially for content marketers. While you can’t live in a tortoise enclosure forever, it’s definitely a nice place to start. You should probably just sleep on this. 

By Chase Neinken • NewsCred Blog

Performance Management: It’s Review Time!

Rich Wellins, Ph.D. and Linda Miller

Looking to improve or reinvent your performance management strategy? Effective performance management requires that leaders have ongoing performance conversations with their teams—not twice a year but every day! Learn how DDI can help upskill managers to coach and develop others, or to review your approach to performance management.