The Five Areas of Professional Performance

Perhaps you remember the time when you were one of the best in your team? At work you knew what it meant to show performance on the job, you were willing to take on new tasks and responsibilities and get them done with good quality.
Maybe your manager and peers respected you because you were able to create plans that allowed you to hit your goal, time and time again.
Possibly you had a skill in solving the problems that came your way? Was it so good that even your colleagues asked you for advice?
Perhaps you were also knowledgeable about how to create profit for the company?
Remember, how your positivity that pulled other people along?
You really felt like you had it all under control, didn’t you?
How did your manager recognize your performance in your annual appraisals at that time?
Perhaps she was being appreciative of several of these things about your performance, not knowing that these were five distinct areas she was looking when she was judging her people’s professional performance to give appraisal.
But didn’t it feel good that somebody recognized that you were doing as great job and honored things you were good at doing at work?

The Five P’s of Professional Performance™

When we observe the performance of colleagues or peers at work, we can easily label the people who stick out as being professional. They constantly take responsibility to deliver on quality, they ensure that they meet other people’s expectations on time, they suggest solutions and solve problems, they are cautious with the money and other resources and they get along with others.
These are the areas that if they are displayed well, anybody would admit that this is a professional person. It is easy to spot role models at work, and could it be that you are professional in a number these areas too?
There are five areas from which we easily can judge professional performance.
We can call them the Five P’s of Professional Performance™.

1.      Personal Performance

Carrying out an action or a task against a preset expectation of standards, accuracy, and completeness, cost or speed, often judged by your superior manager.

2.      Planning capability

Being in control of a process about thinking about the activities that are required to achieve a goal within a certain expected time frame.

3.      Problem-Solving

The process of working through the details of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues.

4.      Profit control

The financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something, in terms of money, resources or time.

5.      Positivity

It is the practice of being or having a tendency to be positive or optimistic in attitude. Other people are easily pulled towards a positive atmosphere. This way it can help you to move something or somebody towards you, your cause and your ideas or expectations.

Looking at these points, do you recognize yourself, your strong points, and your successes?
Do you also see which areas you may want to improve on? Good.

This could be a good moment for you to take note of them.
You will need them later, when we talk about what happens, when things get tough, and you get tougher.

Take care
Coach Colin

An extract from the Leader’s Shift in Perspective, by Colin Luthardt