Building Performance and Trust During Troubled Times by Denise McNerney

There is a strong sentiment of anxiety running rapid in many work environments today. Whether your own organization has experienced a layoff or not, your employees are worrying about their own job stability, the economy and how they'll ever be able to afford to retire.

Most workplaces have long since ceased being “family-like” environments or stable life-long commitments as they once were in the past. This has lead to an erosion of trust which is still critical for a healthy, high-performing work environment. Today, to build effective teams and achieve strategic goals, managers and employees alike need a simple, trustworthy process to support great performance.

Practically speaking, what can organizations do to stay focused, improve performance and build trust? Below are two simple tips.

Tip One: Establish The Pact

At its simplest, making the pact is the process of creating a mutual commitment between the boss and the individual employee that aligns the employee with organizational goals and the leader with the employee’s goals.
To create the pact:

Tip Two: Consistent Performance Support

Often missing in the typical performance management cycle is a solid performance support process that ensures leaders have regular dialogue and provide consistent guidance to support employees in successful performance.

In essence, this support process means meeting with your employee regularly to informally discuss specific areas of the employee’s plan and how things are going. Also, follow up on your pact to support. These regular meetings are the mainstay of both building a trusting and supportive work environment, and exemplary organizational performance.

Conclusion

Making a pact can make both leaders and employees better. Consistent application of a simple, clear process will help guide you through difficult times and position your organization for utmost success.

Contributor: Denise McNerney

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Denise McNerney is the Co-CEO for IBossWell, Inc. and is a business consultant specializing in strategic and business planning, organizational change, leadership and team development ,and executive coaching. McNerney has more than 25 years of experience leading business operations and coaching managers in sales, marketing, strategic planning, healthcare service delivery, business operations, team dynamics and customer relations in both for-profit as well as not-for-profit organizations. In her last corporate position as Executive Director of Managed Care and Corporate Accounts at AstraZeneca, Inc., McNerney directed all business operations of national and regional accounts; book value of over four billion. She has hired and developed hundreds of managers during her 20 plus year corporate career. In her last corporate position she was responsible for the business activities of more than 200 associates including 17 corporate directors. She has special expertise in co-leadership or “partner leadership,” a frequent result of mergers and acquisitions. McNerney has experienced the phenomenon firsthand, written about it and consulted regarding the advantages and challenges of partner leadership. She has served as an executive coach and mentor for a number of leaders, as well as a consultant/coach for the Entrepreneur Program from the National Center for Social Entrepreneurs.

McNerney has had extensive experience developing high performing teams. She has facilitated strategic, business and reorganization planning with a number of organizations, taking them from needs assessment and situational analysis, all the way through to strategy development, redesign and implementation of merger restructuring. McNerney was a member of the start-up leadership team for a new HMO, and experienced first-hand the process of building a business from the ground up.

She is currently co-authoring the book, Boss Isn’t Just a Four-letter Word, including the PeoplePACT™ —Process and Principles of Humane Leadership, which is a culmination of her extensive experience in leadership development. McNerney holds a Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, a Master’s degree in counseling, and additional work towards a Doctorate in counseling psychology.