Profile of a Star Performance Manager

Deep within each one of us there is an inner longing to be a consistent top performing and contributing individual in the organization that we work with. Performing consistently at a high level is, in and of itself, a great pleasure; being able to see similar performances by those who work with and for you can be even more enjoyable. As a star performance manager, you will have both these pleasures.

Though their ranks are relatively small Star Performance Managers can be found almost anywhere business is conducted - in  HR departments, in Sales functions, in Software development centers, in Engineering divisions, in Accounting and Finance  offices, Restaurants, Barber shops, Medical facilities, Groceries stores, Law offices, Farms, Public transportations, and Automobile repair centers. In short, just about everywhere.

They are to be found equally among men and women and among all races, creeds and nationalities. They are also to be found among both young and old managers. It is not a matter of age that makes a Star Performance Manager. It is however a matter of sufficient seasoning. Seasoning is not the product of time spent on the job, but of time invested.

What Makes a Manager a Star Performance Manager?

Here are few tips to look into the profile if you want to hire a Star Performance Manager, whatever may be your style of interviewing:

1. Proactive - a person who is value driven(Integrity Oriented), smart, takes 100% responsibility for his own performance (which includes the team performance) and doesn't blame other people, circumstances, conditions or behavior.

2. Demonstrates Self Management skills (like Discipline, Passion etc.,).

3. Demonstrates independent achievement (Shows the evidence of Execution).

4. Has Positive self-esteem.

5. Doesn't blame himself. (A person who can distinguish between self-blame and self-responsibility).

6. Believes in controlling his own destiny.

7. Has both personal as well as professional goals.

8. Has overcome one or two serious setbacks in life.

Subroto Bagchi infact illustrates this beautifully in the chapter "Choosing the team" in his excellent book "The High Performance Entrepreneur" where he tells us how an initiative of taking responsibility of a lanky young MBA graduate impresses him in the first non-conducive meet. And how after few years this young man, Tadipati Gurucharan Prasad was picked to set up the entire HR Department. Under the leadership of a Star Performance Manager like Tadipati Gurucharan Prasad the HR dept of MindTree Consulting has become most admired in India as the company's staff strength grew from zero to more than a thousand in first five years. 

Star performance managers also create environments in which Execution / Star Performance prevails as the norm, where people work with Discipline, Integrity and Passion.

They very clearly know that what motivates one performer may not motivate the other. They appreciate the diversity and individual differences among their performers and look up on these as strengths.

Interestingly, each and every one of the Star Performance Manager that I have worked with had experienced a major setback of one kind or another in life and some how each managed to emerge from the setback stronger than ever before. They intuitively know that Stars appear in the sky only when its dark.

They are goal oriented in both personal as well as professional life. As they characteristically understand that Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.

Below are the distinctive goals of Star Performance Managers:

1. To be Disciplined, Show utmost Integrity, and be Passionate as they know that it is what that will make them to stay in the top apart from the Execution.

2. To take total responsibility for their own performance and to teach this modus operandi to others.

3. To understand the Core Drivers of Execution and Strengths of each team member and work one by one on the strengths of the team to create an environment where Star Performance Prevails as the norm.

4. To understand and effectively model motivation.

5. To offer special assistance to good performance but to stay out of the way of great performance unless asked for help.

6. To give their people sufficient reasons to want to excel.

7. To see themselves dedicated to helping others perform to their highest level.

8. To enjoy life in a star performance zone.

If not all, most of the SPM are intensely loyal to their company as they enjoy their performance in the organization. Any organization can employ a system that can create SPM zone in their organization.

How to employ a system that creates Star Performance Managers in your organization:

Consistent star performance is a challenge for anyone, but it's a special challenge for managers in that a big part of their challenge is to motivate others to do their best. As a manager, you want to help all your people to attain the highest possible level of performance, no matter what their job is. And to do this you must create in them the necessary degree of self-motivation so that they will want to perform at their highest level, because we know that star performance is, by definition, self-motivated.

It sounds like an impossible task: How do you motivate self-motivation? In fact, it is possible. All Star Performance Managers intuitively employ a system that creates the star performance motivation in their people.

Below is how we can encapsulate the same in 3 steps to create a SPM zone in any organization:

1. Be Proactive

2. Give all your direct reports good reasons to want to perform to their fullest potential.

3. Mentor your direct reports to the point where they are clearly performing to their highest potential, then stay out of their way.(Because Star Performance Managers know that disciplined people need not be micro-managed. They need to be taught, guided and directed).

Are You Ready To Become A Star Performance Manager? 

Sabarigiri Varadha is CEO of VThree Consulting, which offers Training, Recruitment and Staffing. Feedback can be mailed to sabarigv@ vthreeconsulting.com

Issue BG80 Nov07